Tensions are starting to boil over for the Connecticut Sun.

The Sun lost to the New York Liberty, 92-81, on Friday night, falling to the brink of elimination in their best-of-five WNBA semifinal series. And in the first quarter, after New York took a 20-point lead, there was an intense moment between Connecticut players on the bench.

DeWanna Bonner got in between DiJonai Carrington and Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who were yelling at each other. Bonner pushed Carrington away from the bench to break up the screaming match.

The Liberty lead the series 2-1 and can clinch a berth in the finals with a Game 4 victory Sunday.

“Just, you know, disappointed certainly with the way that we started the game,” Sun head coach Stephanie White told reporters afterward. “I felt like our energy level from the beginning was just really poor for whatever reason. You know, I’m proud of our group for the second through the fourth quarter, but that’s not good enough when you’re planning for an opportunity to go to the finals.”

Alyssa Thomas (23 points, 14 assists, nine rebounds) was a bright spot for the Sun, but she also expressed some frustration during the game. Shortly after the bench altercation, Thomas turned toward the Connecticut bench and shouted:

“Somebody want to play today? Anybody. Does anybody want to play today?” she said, according to the Register Citizen.

The Liberty outscored the Sun, 37-16, in the first quarter, and though Connecticut made it more competitive, the early gap was too much to overcome. Forward Breanna Stewart led New York with 25 points and 11 rebounds.

“We love each other. We’re all sisters,” Sun point guard Ty Harris said. “So we talked about it. We come together. That’s pretty much it honestly. It’s a game of runs, basketball; things get heated but we still love each other. We’re gonna come together and bring a better effort next time.”

Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson came in third in WNBA MVP voting. For head coach Becky Hammon, that’s a sure sign that the voters “didn’t do their homework.”

On Tuesday, the WNBA announced New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart as the 2023 MVP, and Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas as the runner-up. Wilson finished in third in one of the closest races in league history. Just 13 points separated Stewart and Wilson in the final tally.

“A’ja was the most dominant player in the league this year, on the most dominant team, on the most dominant offense the league has ever seen with the No. 1 defense,” Hammon said. “I don’t know what else the girl has to do.

“Other than the East Coast media probably needs to wake up and watch our games.”

The fans at Las Vegas’ Michelob Ultra Arena made their thoughts clear, serenading Wilson with “MVP!” chants during Tuesday’s Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals against the Dallas Wings. Wilson led her team with 30 points and 11 rebounds in the 91-84 win, which put the Aces up 2-0 in the series.

The MVP award would have been the cherry on top of her season, Wilson acknowledged after the victory. But she is keeping her focus on the main course: a second consecutive WNBA championship.

“The sundae is still good without the cherry,” she said. “This team still has so much more to do.”

Still, Hammon took some responsibility upon herself for Wilson’s narrow defeat in the MVP vote. Wilson averaged fewer minutes (30.7) than Thomas (36.2) and Stewart (34.1), which could have deflated her per-game statistics.

Wilson averaged 22.8 points on 55.7% shooting from the field, and she also had 9.5 rebounds, all career highs.

“She put together the greatest individual performance this league has ever seen, when you’re talking efficiency, field-goal percentage, rebounding, defense, the whole thing,” Hammon said. “And it’s just a real shame, because we’re talking about the MVP of the league.”

Wilson’s college coach, South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, also called out WNBA awards voters for not giving enough respect to Wilson.

In particular, Staley called out one voter who put Aces guard Chelsea Gray in third place on the ballot over Wilson. Every other ballot included Stewart, Thomas and Wilson in the top three slots.

“To the fourth place voter, your hate is real and on display,” Staley wrote on X.

“You can’t guard me!”

Sun guard Tiffany Hayes made this emphatic statement to Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu during Tuesday’s Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals. But Ionescu got the last laugh, leading New York to an 84-77 win and evening the series with Connecticut.

Hayes did score a game-high 30 points at New York’s Barclays Center. In the fourth quarter, as she made another move toward the basket, she was fouled by Ionescu in the paint, which triggered her trash talk.

“Yeah, they can’t guard her,” Sun forward Alyssa Thomas said after the game. “They can’t guard her, whether they tried to trap her, whether they tried to guard her one-on-one — hence why they went to a zone. They have no answer for her.”

For Ionescu, though, the victory speaks for itself. She led the Liberty with 21 points, and every New York starter finished in double digits.

“I’m not really focused on what other people say and how they try and rattle us,” she said. “For me, it’s all about winning. But it’s fun when you go against competitors that are into the game and want to talk. At the end of the day, it’s all about winning.”

The series continues with Game 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Arena.

The announcement of the 2023 WNBA MVP award, won by New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart, elicited a flood of reactions on social media.

Stewart won the award with 446 points, but received fewer first-place votes than runner-up Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun. Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson finished in third place.

Dawn Staley, who coached Wilson at South Carolina, congratulated Stewart on her victory and Thomas on her historic season. But she had harsh words for one voter, who put Aces guard Chelsea Gray in third place on the ballot over Wilson.

“To the fourth place voter, your hate is real and on display,” Staley wrote on X.

U.S. women’s national team and San Diego Wave star Alex Morgan also complimented Stewart.

Several WNBA players and members of the media called out the voting process. Each voter on a national panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters listed their top five candidates, with the No. 1 player on each ballot receiving 10 points. Each subsequent spot on the ballot received fewer points, from seven for a second-place vote down to one for a fifth-place vote.

 

Washington Mystics guard Natasha Cloud wanted to see members of the voting panel stand behind their choices. Voters can reveal their ballots, but they are not required to do so.

Cloud already had slammed the WNBA awards voting process after being shut out for the All-Defensive Team selections, writing in a since-deleted post: “Voting for this league is a joke.”

Meanwhile, Indiana Fever rookie Aliyah Boston joked about her own MVP prospects. The former South Carolina star appeared on one MVP ballot, receiving a single point for a fifth-place vote, but she remains the frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year award.

“I’m almost there don’t play,” she wrote on X.

Breanna Stewart won the 2023 WNBA MVP award despite receiving fewer first-place votes than Alyssa Thomas.

How did that happen? The New York Liberty star benefitted from the ranked voting process, which allowed Stewart to accumulate more points than Thomas.

Thomas, who posted a WNBA record six triple-doubles during her historic season for the Connecticut Sun, received 23 first-place votes, compared to 20 for Stewart and 17 for A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces. But Stewart finished with 446 points, compared to 439 for Thomas and 433 for Wilson.

Each voter on a national panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters listed their top five candidates, with the No. 1 player on each ballot receiving 10 points. For a second-place vote, a player received seven points, while a third-place vote equaled five points, a fourth-place vote three points and a fifth-place vote one point.

Together, Stewart, Thomas and Wilson received all the first-place and second-place votes. The trio received 59 of the third-place votes, and Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray received one. Wilson also received one fourth-place vote.

In total, Stewart received 20 first-place votes, 23 second-place votes and 17 third-place votes. In contrast, Thomas received 23 first-place votes, 12 second-place votes and 25 third-place votes; her larger number of third-place votes sunk her in the overall tally.

This marks the second time in WNBA history that the MVP runner-up finished with more first-place votes than the winner. The first time was in 2005, when Lauren Jackson received more votes for the top spot but Sheryl Swoopes won the award.

2023 WNBA MVP: Voting results

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Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas lost the 2023 WNBA MVP race, a long-expected outcome in a season defined by the battle of the superteams in New York and Las Vegas.

Yet while MVP winner Breanna Stewart and 2022 MVP A’ja Wilson headlined the clash of titans, Thomas put up numbers never seen before. The 31-year-old forward has posted six triple-doubles so far in 2023. No other WNBA player has had more than two in a single season.

Indeed, Thomas received more first-place votes (23) than Stewart (20) and Wilson (12). But each voter lists their top five candidates, and Stewart received more total points, edging Thomas 446-439. Wilson came in third at 433.

In the 2023 regular season, Thomas averaged 15.5 points, 9.9 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game, all career highs. She has continued that dominance in the postseason, averaging 19.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 9.5 assists through Game 1 of the semifinals.

Teammate DiJonai Carrington summed up Thomas’ performance well after her third triple-double of the season: “I don’t want any of y’all to get used to and normalize what she’s doing out there, for real. Like, that’s not normal.”

Thomas led the league in rebounds in the regular season. She finished in second place on the assists leaderboard, behind only Liberty guard Courtney Vandersloot (8.1), but played more games than Vandersloot, which allowed her to break the single-season assists record (316). She also ranked 20th in points, and she led her team in all three categories.

In contrast, Stewart averaged 23.0 (2nd), 9.3 rebounds (3rd) and 3.8 assists (17th), and Wilson averaged 22.8 points (3rd), 9.5 rebounds (2nd) and 1.6 assists (64th).

While Thomas isn’t one to toot her own horn, her teammate and fiancée DeWanna Bonner is pushing her to recognize her accomplishments, and Thomas did so in an interview with the Washington Post’s Kareem Copeland.

“I think the biggest thing is I’m putting up something that has never been seen before,” Thomas said. “We live in an era now where it’s so much focused on scoring that I think we lose sight of the all-around game and how impressive it is.”

And Bonner has no problem giving Thomas her flowers.

“She puts people in the right position. She finds people on the court and makes it easy for everyone out there,” Bonner told the Associated Press. “I feel like she’s elevating everybody’s game on our team. That’s the definition of an MVP, and I think she’s done it night in and night out.”

New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart won the 2023 WNBA MVP award, beating out Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun and A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces.

The 2023 season has been defined by the battle of the superteams in New York and Las Vegas, and dominant performances from Stewart and Wilson exemplified the rivalry. Thomas, meanwhile, has been the engine behind the Sun’s run to the semifinals this season, reaching unprecedented heights from the forward position.

Stewart got the edge in MVP voting, claiming the league’s top individual honor for the second time in her career with 446 total points to Thomas’ 439 and Wilson’s 433. Thomas finished with the most first-place votes (23), but Stewart beat her out with 23 second-place votes (worth seven points) to Thomas’ 12. Wilson received 17 first-place votes and 25 second-place votes, as well as as a fourth-place vote. Her Aces teammate Chelsea Gray earned one third-place vote.

Stewart also won the MVP award in 2018 with the Seattle Storm. Wilson was named MVP in 2020 and 2022. This is the second time in WNBA history that the MVP runner-up finished with more first-place votes than the winner; the first was in 2005, when Lauren Jackson received more top votes but Sheryl Swoopes won the award.

A free agency frenzy surrounded Stewart ahead of the 2023 season, and she fed the beast with cryptic emoji-filled tweets. In the end, she chose New York as her destination, joining 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot among the Liberty’s prized offseason acquisitions.

Stewart lived up to the sky-high expectations, averaging 23.0 points per game, second in the WNBA only to Storm guard Jewell Loyd (24.7). The 29-year-old forward also ranked third in rebounds (9.3) and 17th in assists (3.8).

Thomas shattered the WNBA triple-double record this year, with six in 2023 alone and 10 total for her career. She averaged 15.5 points (20th), 9.9 rebounds (1st) and 7.9 assists (2nd) per game in 2023, all career highs.

Wilson averaged 22.8 points (3rd), 9.5 rebounds (2nd) and 1.6 assists (64th) for the No. 1 Aces.

“We’re at a special place in women’s basketball when there are so many great players doing so many great things every single night,” Stewart told the Associated Press earlier this month. She also won the Associated Press Player of the Year award, edging Wilson by one vote.

Stewart and the Liberty are facing off against Thomas and the Sun in the WNBA semifinals. Connecticut won the opening game of the series, 78-63, but New York will look to even the score in Game 2, which tips off at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday.

With the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty playing in opposite semifinal series, the buzz around a possible battle of the superteams in the WNBA Finals reached a fever pitch. But the Connecticut Sun silenced the noise, at least for a little while, with a 78-63 win Sunday against the Liberty.

New York struggled to score in Game 1 of the series, which head coach Sandy Brondello called “the worst game of the season.” The No. 2 seed Liberty shot 34% from the field in the loss on their home court at Barclays Center.

“They are such an offensive juggernaut, we had to make things as difficult as possible and I think our team took ownership of that today,” Sun head coach Stephanie White said.

DeWanna Bonner led the No. 3 seed Sun with 20 points, and four Connecticut players finished with seven rebounds, including Bonner and MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas. Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 19 points. While the Sun lost all four meetings with the Liberty in the regular season, that didn’t matter Sunday.

The best-of-five series continues with Game 2 at the Barclays Center, which is set to tip off at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Stephanie White’s first season with the Connecticut Sun has been a success. Now, her work has been formally recognized.

White was named 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year, the league announced Sunday, having received 36 of 60 possible votes. The Sun earned the No. 3 seed in the playoffs after a 27-13 regular season despite significant roster turnover.

“We’re honest. We’re transparent. We expect a lot, they give a lot, and they expect a lot from each other, and they expect a lot from us,” White said in an interview with ESPN. “I think that allows us to, I guess for lack of a better term, overachieve when people think we might not be or would have been in the position that we’re in.”

The Sun lost Jonquel Jones, the 2021 WNBA MVP, and Jasmine Thomas in the offseason. Then, two-time All-Star Brionna Jones suffered a torn Achilles in June, ending her season.

But Connecticut marched on, with Alyssa Thomas and others leading the way. Thomas averaged 15.5 points, 9.9 rebounds, 7.9 assists and 1.8 steals during the regular season.

“Everyone here has had the expectation that we want to compete for a championship, and that’s just our mindset,” White said.

The Sun earned their seventh-straight playoff berth, and then beat the Minnesota Lynx, 90-60, in the first game of their opening round series.

“We know their back is against the wall, but we have to play like our back is against the wall every possession as well,” White said. “So I’m pleased with how we came out and performed, but I know that game’s over and we’ve got to do that again and we’ve got to take it to another level.”

Aerial Powers’ future in Minnesota is up in the air. But in the WNBA playoffs, coach Cheryl Reeve expects Powers to be ready to perform off the bench for her team, she said Tuesday.

The 2023 season has been an unexpected one for Powers, who is earning $201,984 from the Lynx but is averaging less than 10 minutes per game. The 29-year-old forward is in the final year of her three-year contract, and she will enter the offseason as an unrestricted free agent.

In Game 1 of Minnesota’s first-round playoff series against the Connecticut Sun, Powers played 14 minutes in the 90-60 loss. She recorded 4 points (all at the free-throw line), 3 rebounds and 1 block, and she also had 3 turnovers.

The Lynx will face the Sun again at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, and they will need a win to avoid elimination. Before Tuesday’s loss, Reeve said that the Lynx will need help from their bench, including Powers, if they want to pull off the series upset.

During the 2022 season, Powers had cemented herself as a starter and a big piece of the Minnesota attack. She started in 31 games and led the Lynx in scoring with 14.42 points per game. This season, though, she has barely seen the floor.

Powers battled an ankle injury early in the season, but once she got healthy, her minutes didn’t increase. The guard is averaging 9.8 minutes per game – the lowest of her career – and scoring 5.2 points per game – also the lowest in her career.

The Michigan State product expressed her frustration with the situation on Twitter a few weeks ago, saying that she was looking forward to her fans watching her play “with another organization” next season.

Despite the limited minutes, Powers has scored in double-digits five times this season. One of those performances came against the Sun in an 87-83 victory on July 30. She finished with 14 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and a block in 23 minutes of playing time.

“When she gets her opportunity, hopefully she has similar success,” Reeve said Tuesday, referring to the July 30 game. “I suspect she will have their full attention. In that game, she had a great first half, and then they put the kibosh on that. They got pretty aggressive with it.”