WNBA Finals Preview: Everything to Know for Sun vs. Aces

It’s Jonquel Jones vs. A’Ja Wilson. Connecticut vs. Las Vegas. And it’s two teams searching for their first WNBA titles.

A postseason full of thrilling contests is nearing its conclusion with the 2022 WNBA Finals set to begin on Sunday afternoon. The series will pit some of the sport’s top players against each other, with each of the two most recent league MVPs set to face off, in ’21 winner Sun forward Jonquel Jones and ’22 winner Aces forward A’ja Wilson.

Las Vegas, which features Wilson and a starting lineup full of All-Stars and Olympians, is making its second Finals appearance in three years and is hoping to claim the franchise’s first-ever title. Connecticut, similarly, was a recent Finals participant, losing in 2019 to Washington. Like its current foe, the Sun have never won a WNBA title.

According to ESPN, the first two rounds of the postseason have resulted in the league’s most-viewed playoffs in 20 years. The Finals should be similarly eye-catching so before things tip off on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, here’s everything you need to know about what’s set to take place.

Las Vegas Aces

How they got here:

The Aces were the league’s No. 1 seed, finishing the regular season with a 26–10 record. Under first-year coach Becky Hammon, they featured the league’s best offense, scoring 114.7 points per 100 possessions, and were No. 1 in net rating. Wilson, who was recently named both the league’s MVP and Defensive Player of the Year—the fifth time both awards have been given to the same player in the same season—is one of four All-Stars on the roster. Guards Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young were also named as starters in the July exhibition, while forward Dearica Hamby was an All-Star reserve.

In the postseason, Las Vegas cruised past Phoenix in a first-round sweep, before outlasting Seattle in a thrilling four-game affair. Of late, guard Chelsea Gray, who is a four-time All-Star and 2020 U.S. Olympian, has been especially prolific, averaging 24 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in the playoffs, on 62.6% shooting from the field and 59.5% from three.

Plum and the Aces guards will be key in this series :: AP Photo/John Locher

Big question: Can Las Vegas’s backcourt continue to shine against the Sun’s size?

As evidenced by being named the league’s MVP, Wilson was again fantastic this season. But equally key to the Aces’ success in the 2022 campaign has been the play of their guards. Gray, Plum and Young logged more than 700 minutes together during the regular season, putting up a +14.0 net rating over that span. Young, an elite defender and slasher, put up a career year and made significant strides—she was named the league’s Most Improve Player—in large part because of the development of a consistent three-point shot. Plum, similarly, recorded a career season, finishing second in the WNBA in scoring at averaging 20.2 points per game, while also logging a career-high 5.1 assists per contest. The Sun’s strength lies with their size and frontcourt play (more on that later), so if Las Vegas’s three-headed backcourt is able to control the series’s pace and style of play, it should bode well for its title hopes.

X-factor: What will Hamby be able to contribute?

Hamby, a two-time Sixth Player of the Year winner, moved into Las Vegas’s starting lineup when Hammon replaced Bill Laimbeer. While she took on a new role, she continued to thrive, averaging 9.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per contest this season. Hamby, however, suffered a right knee bone contusion on Aug. 9 and only returned midway through Las Vegas’s series with Seattle. Against the Storm, she played less than eight combined minutes and was still working her way back from the injury.

One of the effects of her absence was the further strain it put on the team’s starting lineup. Center Kiah Stokes had moved into the first five with Hamby out, leaving guard Riquna Williams as the lone member of the Aces bench to average more than 10 minutes of action per contest in the playoffs. If Hamby looks like her All-Star self, it would not only provide a big boost to those on the court, but also help bolster the team’s depth, a potentially important factor if the series does last five games. If she doesn’t, Las Vegas doesn’t have a lot of reserve options.

Connecticut Sun

How they got here:

If not for a record-breaking 18–0 run to close Game 5 of their second-round series vs. the Sky, the Sun would have fallen in the semifinals for the third consecutive season. Instead, however, the team’s fourth-quarter blitz marked the longest run to close out a WNBA playoff game in league history, according to ESPN Stats & Info. It also held Chicago to only five points in the last 10 minutes, the fewest in the fourth quarter of a deciding playoff game in league history.

Defense has been central to Connecticut’s success throughout the year. It was the No. 2 unit in the regular season, allowing only 96.3 points per 100 possessions, and in the second half of games it proved to be the league’s top defensive unit. One season after dropping only six contests and finishing with the league’s best record, the Sun fell 11 times during the regular season and ended up as the No. 3 seed. Unlike Las Vegas, Connecticut needed three games to advance out of the first round, having to win a deciding affair in Dallas to move past the Wings. It then won another road win-or-take-all matchup on Thursday night to defeat Chicago and advance to the Finals.

Jones will need to look like her former MVP self in this series :: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

Big question: Which version of Jonquel Jones will appear?

Don’t get it twisted, Jones is still one of the league’s best players, but against the Sky, there were times she didn’t look like her MVP-winning self. In Game 3, she scored only six points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field, and was benched for more than two minutes late in the contest, with her team down only two points. (Coach/general manager Curt Miller said the decision was based on “kind of a feel” he had and of a desire to improve the team’s movement.) Then, in Game 4, Jones scored just nine points, though the Sun did cruise to a 24-point win.

Connecticut features a loaded frontcourt, with 6’4’’ wing DeWanna Bonner a multi-layered threat on offense and 2022 Sixth Player of the Year Brionna Jones and Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year Alyssa Thomas both being prolific players around the basket. Thomas missed all but six games in 2021 with a torn Achilles tendon. And while her return has been a boost to the Sun, Jones has seen her minutes decrease this season. In the ’22 campaign Jones averaged only 26.4 minutes per contest, her lowest since 2018. It’s certainly a luxury that she can sometimes float into the background of victories, but in the Finals, if Connecticut wants to emerge victorious, she will have to star.

X-factor: Can Natisha Hiedeman thrive vs. the Aces’ backcourt?

Now in her fourth WNBA season, Hiedeman is playing her biggest role yet. Due to Sun guard Jasmine Thomas missing the majority of the season with an ACL tear, Hiedeman was thrust into the Connecticut starting lineup, where she been for more than 30 contests. In the regular season, Hiedeman averaged career highs in points (9.1) and assists (3.3), while also shooting a 43.1% from the field. If Hiedeman is able to either consistently create for others, or herself, much like she did against the Sky when she scored 14 points in three of the series’s five games, then her contributions will help offset Las Vegas’s backcourt advantage. While not as prolific defensively as Thomas, if Hiedeman is able to slow down one of Plum, Young or Gray, then the series could swing in her team’s favor.

Prediction:

The Aces went 2–1 against the Sun in the regular season, though Miller did not coach in the first game due to COVID-19 protocol and Jonquel Jones did not play in the third meeting for the same reason. While Connecticut’s frontcourt has the potential to wreak havoc on Las Vegas, and slow down the series’s style of play, the Aces’ star guards have both experienced past success against the Sun and are playing some of their best basketball of the season. Las Vegas might routinely lose the points in the paint battle, but the difference between the teams’ three-point shooting—the Aces averaged three more makes from three than Connecticut in the regular season and is averaging nearly seven more makes in the playoffs—could prove paramount. Aces, in an exciting five-game affair.