With the final seconds of overtime fading away, Natasha Cloud drove inside, cleared out Natisha Hiedeman with a little bump and appeared to have a clean look at a game-tying layup. Brionna Jones had other ideas, and arrived from the weak side to swat Cloud’s shot out of bounds.
After Myisha Hines-Allen’s desperation heave off the ensuing inbounds play came nowhere close, the Connecticut Sun completed their remarkable 17-point second-half comeback Sunday, and escaped with a dramatic overtime win over the Washington Mystics, 74-72. This was the second-biggest comeback in a WNBA game this season.
It was fitting that perhaps the biggest play of the game was a block, as the Sun keyed their big comeback win with some stifling defense. With 5:53 remaining in the third quarter, the Sun trailed 55-38; they allowed just 17 points over the remainder of the game.
In the third quarter, they held the Mystics to 10 points, which at that point was Washington’s lowest-scoring quarter of the season. That mark didn’t last long, however, as the Sun then one-upped themselves and held the Mystics to just seven points in the fourth quarter.
All told, the Mystics scored 23 points in the second half and overtime combined — fewer points than they had in the first quarter of the game — and had more turnovers than made field goals. Over those 25 minutes of game action, the Sun limited the Mystics to 9 of 37 from the field, and forced them into 11 turnovers.
The Sun’s activity and energy during the comeback often overwhelmed the Mystics. When the Mystics weren’t turning the ball over, they often had to settle for tough jumpers. And on possessions where they were able to find a path into the paint, the Sun’s bigs were there to clean things up.
After a red-hot 12-4 start, the Sun haven’t been playing their best basketball as of late. They were crushed by the league-leading Chicago Sky earlier this week (the eight-point margin was not respective of how that game went), and got down big to a Mystics team without Elena Delle Donne. Even with Sunday’s comeback, they’re 2-3 in their last five games, and have fallen to third place in the league at 14-7.
The second half and overtime against the Mystics, though, were a reminder that this is still one of the best teams in the league, and the defense is capable of being devastating even without Jasmine Thomas (out for the season due to a torn ACL).
