Five takeaways from the Connecticut Sun’s loss to the Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals

The Connecticut Sun dropped Game 1 of the WNBA Finals 67-64 against the Las Vegas Aces on the road Sunday afternoon.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series will be played at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.

There’s a lot on the line for both sides, each looking to win its first championship in franchise history.

Here are five takeaways from the start of the series:

The Sun made things messy

The Sun got the game in the defensive, messy style they wanted to limit a high-powered Aces offense. Still, they couldn’t come out with a win.

Connecticut held Las Vegas to 39.7% (23 of 58) shooting from the field and 20.8% (5 of 24) from 3-point range. The Sun also had a 40-22 edge in the paint, outrebounded Las Vegas 38-33 and won the second-chance points battle 10-8. Additionally, the Aces’ 67 points were their fewest in a game all season. They had previously gone 0-5 when held at or under 76 points.

The Aces matched the defensive intensity and showed they can play that style as well, forcing multiple shot clock violations in the process. The Sun struggled on offense, as they often have when playing in a messy style throughout this playoff run, shooting just 37.8% (28 of 74) from the field. Still Connecticut is confident it can pull out a win on the road if it can dictate the style it wants again in Game 2.

“Coming into this series we understood it was going to be a really good offense against a really good defense,” the Sun’s Jonquel Jones said. “That’s what it’s going to be. I think it’s our MO. We were able to make the game a little bit messy, getting into them, making things tough and making them make extra passes, and that’s what we do.”

A tale of two halves

The Sun fell into an early hole and trailed the Aces by as many as 12 points in the first quarter. They chipped at the deficit and were down 25-17 at the end of the opening frame, and then went off for a monster second quarter to take the lead.

Connecticut held Las Vegas to 20% (3 of 15) shooting and nine points in the second quarter, outscoring its opponent 21-9 in the period. The Sun led 38-34 at halftime, holding the Aces to their fewest points at the half all postseason.

Aces head coach Becky Hammon lit into her team at the break, and they responded. The second half was a different story.

“We ramped up our physicality,” Hammon said. “It felt like we had to get punched in the face before we reacted. … That’s a (Connecticut) team that the end of the day they play so hard the entire game. They are relentless. That team is relentless, and so you can never let your foot off the gas.”

The Sun led by as many as eight points toward the start of the third quarter, but the Aces took control from there. Las Vegas had a 33-26 scoring edge in the second half, holding Connecticut to 15 points in the third quarter and 11 points in the fourth.

Who did, and didn’t, step up for the Sun

The Sun were led by a strong showing from Alyssa Thomas. She finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, along with five assists, three blocks and three steals.

Jonquel Jones had 15 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Brionna Jones was the only player to score off the bench, contributing 12 points — 10 of which came during Connecticut’s run in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, it was an off night from DeWanna Bonner and Courtney Williams, who have often been the X-factors for Connecticut throughout this postseason. The wing duo combined for just eight points on 3 of 18 shooting from the field and 2 of 7 from deep.

Thomas went on a 6-0 run late in the fourth, converting on steal-and-score buckets for four of those points. Her efforts set up Connecticut with a chance to win the game, down 67-64 with a little over 30 seconds left.

After getting a stop on the defensive end, the Sun had an opportunity to score on the final possession with 13.4 seconds left. Despite her poor shooting performance up until that point, the Sun went to Bonner for the shot to win the game. She dribbled with the ball on the wing and put up an awkward looking 3-pointer off one leg with under 4 seconds left while most of her teammates stood still instead of getting open or calling for the ball.

“Obviously they have Bonner. They have JJ (Jonquel Jones), like everybody is pretty much capable of making the 3. So we just wanted to lock in, no 3s and no and-ones,” Chelsea Gray said of the Aces’ defense on the final possession. “Bonner shot a shot contested. If that ball goes in, we would be happy with our defense. But we got the stop, and we got a rebound.”

Connecticut struggled to slow Wilson and Gray

The Sun had no answer for Aces stars A’ja Wilson and Gray throughout the afternoon.

Wilson, who was named the 2022 WNBA MVP earlier this month, finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Gray had 21 points, three assists and two rebounds, able to consistently knock down tough shots no matter what defense was thrown her way.

Despite her production, Connecticut head coach and general manager Curt Miller was pleased with his team’s ability to force Gray into six turnovers and contested shots.

“Nothing came easy for Chelsea. Nearly every single shot, again, was contested or made difficult,” Miller said. “We did some good things. She just is a tough shot-maker, but as long as they are contested, we are going to be pleased that over the course of 40 minutes, if you just continue to try to make them as difficult as possible. We gave her different looks. A lot of different people guarded her. We tried to keep her off-balance.”

Though it didn’t show up in the stat sheet, Dearica Hamby also made a big difference for the Aces. Coming back from an injury, she played just under 11 minutes, but was tied with the best plus/minus (+7) of the game. She had two crucial offensive rebounds to set up Las Vegas as well.

Sun couldn’t get to the stripe

The free-throw disparity made a noticeable difference in Sunday’s game. Las Vegas hit 16 of 19 free throws. Meanwhile, Connecticut was only 3 of 5.

“The big stat line difference tonight in a lot of areas was their ability to get to the foul line and play through contact,” Miller said. “We struggled to get to the foul line and any kind of offensive rhythm there in the second half, and that’s a credit to their defense.”

Wilson was a huge part of that effort for the Aces. She went 12 of 14 at the free-throw line, getting a large chunk of her scoring production — exactly 50% — by drawing contact inside.