How No. 6 Sky crashed the party

It’s like the Chicago Sky has all of us punky and Ashton Kutcher is getting ready to come out to explain. Nostalgia is all the rage these days.

The Skies were nothing like the team that struggled throughout the regular season, finishing 16-16 and raising questions about even the possibility of coming out of the first knockout game. Now they’re back in the WNBA Finals, three title wins, having beaten the Connecticut Sun No.1 powerhouse in four games.

The first game is Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on ABC against the No.2 Las Vegas Aces or the No.5 Phoenix Mercury.

“It’s a special group,” Sky forward Candace Parker said after Game 4. “I think the way you face adversity built our character and revealed it. I think we all thought we would be sitting here before the playoffs., Frankly.”

Obviously, for those paying attention since May, there is a clear reason why a sixth-seeded club crushed the five-year-old group of No.1 teams qualifying for the final. It was a # 6 club purely by chance.

“This is what we’ve been expecting for two years,” Sun head coach Curt Miller said after Game 4. “That’s why throwing the 16-16 – whatever their record – out the window. Is just dynamic offensively and there’s real confidence with them right now. But what’s really impressive is how they play hard. You have to thank them for playing well. [Sky coach] James [Wade] push all the right buttons. “

Not only are they a team Sky fans have been waiting for a long time, but they’ve added double MVP Parker in free agency and are all healthy and available. They are also trained and click at the right time.

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“She’s the most dangerous person, someone who knows who she is,” Wade said after Game 4. “I know who our team is, and that makes us dangerous. Our team knows who we are, and that makes them dangerous.”

The Candace Parker effect

Parker’s signing in February was arguably one of the biggest free agency moves in WNBA history, a direct result of the new collective agreement signed last year. This coming week, that’s exactly why she signed with Sky in the first place: to win another title.

Parker, 34, is still at the top and impacts every part of the game. But it is his energy and experience of winning a championship with the Sparks in 2016 that is proving to be the most beneficial.

“I don’t know if in our locker room, if we finish the 16-16 season, if Candace isn’t in this locker room if they believe as they believe,” Wade said. “And she took that weight off them and she brought us to that point. She deserves a lot of credit for that and for her leadership. [and] his ability to make plays at his position. “

And this is her hometown, her pride and joy, the place where she grew up and learned the game. Of course, she wants to bring this city her first WNBA Championship and her first professional basketball title since. victory for the Bulls in 1998.

“I was coming home for a reason,” Parker said after Game 4, reiterating a position she has said all season. “It’s a complete moment. Looking in the stands and seeing all the people in front of whom I started playing basketball, for me, that’s super special. But this is a special group.

Years of turmoil and sorrow

There is something to be said about a team’s will to win. It’s an expression often used to say that a team “wants more” because there is some truth to it. Heartbreak certainly adds to that.

League MVP Jonquel Jones wrote about it for The Player’s Tribune ahead of the semi-final series.

That arc of redemption hasn’t happened for Jones or the Sun, who have been on the verge of championships in recent seasons. But that’s happening for Sky, a team that have also been there despite not making it past the knockout heats.

It’s hard to forget the Hamby Heave that shattered their 2019 run. Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, Stefanie Dolson, Kahleah Copper and Diamond DeShields won’t.

“It was a pain we would never stop feeling,” said Copper, adding that it helped prepare the team for the final.

There is Parker’s own reader. And Sky’s longest-serving Quigley and Vandersloot know what it’s like to lose in the final when they did in 2014.

Part of the Sun’s flickering is due to chance

There is no doubt that the Sun organization will have to address some aspects during this offseason. But the No.1 team is ruled out of the playoff race in large part because they attracted the Skies and faced them at the wrong time.

The Sun went 26-6 in the regular season to earn their top spot and two of those losses were suffered by the Sky. There were asterisks to those games, like Missing Sun Jonquel Jones, but it’s still noticeable. There was a double overtime loss and a Game 3 loss in which Connecticut had several late chances. They were close.

Connecticut needs to improve on guard from a scoring and facilitation standpoint. The last two MVPs before Jones thrive with Breanna Stewart’s with Sue Bird and A’ja Wilson now with Chelsea Gray.

But Jones is an unrestricted free agent and will likely receive a salary upgrade. Briann January, their fully defensive first-team goalkeeper, is also a UFA. Connecticut will have about $ 505,000 of ceiling space and five to six list spots to work with, according to Her Hoop Stats.