Last Sunday, the Connecticut Sun, for a sixth-straight time, failed to finish off the Chicago Sky, falling to the defending champions in another close loss, 94-91.
A subsequent trip to southern California has appeared to cleanse any lingering frustrations for the Sun squad. While taking advantage of the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine, Connecticut also captured two comfortable wins over the sputtering Los Angeles Sparks.
On Tuesday, Jonquel Jones posted a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Sun cruised to the 97-71 victory. Thursday, Connecticut again demolished LA 93-69 behind 17 points and eight rebounds from J. Jones, with Alyssa Thomas stuffing the stat sheet with 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
The second victory in Los Angeles also locked Connecticut into the third playoff seed. The Sun will play the sixth-seeded Dallas Wings in the first round of the playoffs, a three-game series that will begin at Mohegan Sun Arena Thursday.
First, on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET, the Sun will close out the regular season, hosting the Minnesota Lynx for Sylvia Fowles’ final regular-season game.
Since Sunday’s game has no postseason ramifications for Connecticut, now is a good time to take a look back at 2022 season, offering a short evaluation of the Sun’s top six rotation players.
Sun player snapshots
Jonquel Jones
On the surface, it would not be unreasonable to argue that Jonquel Jones has had a disappointing season. The 2021 MVP has not been in the conversation for the league’s top award this season, with her stats down across the board. However, per 36 minutes, Jones’ stats, while still lower, are comparable to the numbers she posted last season. It could be posited that if her usage percentage was the same (23.3 in 2022 vs. 26.3 in 2021) her 2022 season would be nearly indistinguishable from last season’s MVP campaign.
Of late, Jones’ numbers have increased — epitomized by her four-straight double-doubles (a streak that ended Thursday evening) — suggesting that, as the playoffs approach, the Sun are upping her usage. Yet, Jones’ usage percentage in five August games is the lowest usage percentage for any month of the 2022 season. Rather, her 15.8 points per game in August is the product of hot shooting, particularly a 53.3-percent performance from 3 on an average of three attempts per game.
Although the stats indicate that the Sun would be wise to direct more usage to Jones, the burden for being at…
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