History will be made in Boston today, as the Connecticut Sun host the Los Angeles Sparks in the first-ever WNBA game to be played at TD Garden. The game is already sold out — much to the excitement of Sun players — and the court has already transformed to reflect team’s orange and blue home colors.
Here for Connecticut Sun practice at TD Garden, where players are getting shots up ahead of tomorrow’s sold-out game against the Sparks. pic.twitter.com/8Pv9zbVtQj
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzell) August 19, 2024
On one hand, this moment is a reflection of what is to come — women’s basketball is booming, and the fact that a small-market team from Uncasville, Connecticut was able to sell more than 19,000 tickets for a Tuesday night game against a lottery team in August is a reflection of that.
“When we came here, we didn’t know how the crowd was going to react, and to get a sell-out, it’s like ‘oh my god,’” said DeWanna Bonner, the 36-year-old who doubles as the fourth-leading all-time scorer in WNBA history.
On the other hand, all of the hoopla around the TD Garden game has shone a light on where the franchise has fallen short. Connecticut is one of a handful of WNBA teams who don’t have their own practice facility nor around-the-clock access to a gym, putting the them at a competitive disadvantage compared to other teams in the league. During the Olympic break, for example, the Tribal Practice Facility court wasn’t available, so the team stayed at a hotel in Rhode Island and practiced there for a week. If players want to get extra shots up, that’s not always an option.
“It’s not okay,” said Alyssa Thomas, the team’s perpetual MVP candidate. “It’s time for us to have our own things. Basketball is changing, and we gotta pick it up.”
For one day, however, those challenges are on the back burner. When the TD Garden stands fill with fans, the national anthem plays, and the starting lineup is announced, what the players will feel is gratitude for the opportunity at hand.
It won’t be their first time playing in a massive arena — away games in Indiana, New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas have all averaged more than 11,000 fans per game this season.
“But for it to be someone cheering for us?” Bonner said with a smile. “We’re always on the opposite, on the ‘boo’ side.”
The Sun hope to inherit the Celtics’ championship success
The last time a full-court, professional basketball game was played at TD Garden, the Celtics won the NBA championship after years of coming close and falling just short. The Sun have similarly been right there in recent years, losing in the Finals in 2022 and in the semi-finals in 2023 — just like the Celtics.
Both teams have also been consistently elite regular season squads — over the past five years, the Sun have had a 67.7% win percentage, while the Celtics have had a 65.6% win rate. Both play team-oriented basketball in which individual accolades come secondary. Both have a defensive-oriented backcourt that no opposing team wants to match up against — for the Celtics, that’s Jrue Holiday and Derrick White; for the Sun, that’s Ty Harris and DiJonai Carrington.
“I feel like they are our brother team a little bit.” Bonner said. “So to see them win a championship it was kind of like ‘man, they kind of can bring a lot of inspiration to this entire city.’”
Thomas echoed that sentiment: “We’ve been to many games. I just love what they do here.”
Both teams have had similar dilemmas when it comes to the starting lineups — both have a clear ‘Top Six players,’ meaning that one starting-caliber player on both franchises had to be relegated to the bench. For the Celtics, when Kristaps Porzingis was traded to Boston, Al Horford became the sixth man. For the Sun, when Marina Mabrey was traded to Connecticut last month, Ty Harris was pushed to the bench, with Brionna Jones, Carrington, Thomas, Bonner, and Mabrey rounding out the starting lineup.
“It’s not unique in the New England area — the Celtics have the same situation. We’ve got six players that can start,” head coach Stephanie White said before Sunday’s game. “For us, it’s trying to find the right combination that gives us a strong start, the right combination depending upon our matchup, and the right combination to push us over the hump in the playoffs to get to where we want to get to.”
The Celtics finally got over that hump in 2024. The Sun hope to similarly bring a championship to New England this year. Owner’s of the WNBA’s second-best record this season, a title is certainly on the table. And, the TD Garden game will give them a taste of the championship air — and the chance to play in front of a Celtics fanbase that just watched it all go down.
“We want them to embrace us as well, want them to see what kind of basketball we play, because I feel like we play similar to them,” Bonner said. “I think we play great basketball, we have a great group of girls, and we carry ourselves that way, and then we play really, really hard on the court. So, hopefully we can give them a show, and if they can actually see us live, it will either help boost our fans a little bit.”
The Sun won’t turn down the opportunity to entice new fans — the organization currently has the smallest social media following of any WNBA team, on both Instagram and Twitter, something Thomas called attention to last week.
“But, at the same time, we still love our Sun fans in Connecticut,” Bonner said. “They’ve been there since day one. But, I mean, this is amazing.”
At practice on Monday at TD Garden, Marina Mabrey identified herself as a Celtics fan, noting that Jayson Tatum is one of her favorite players. For her, that makes this sell-out game at the Celtics home arena even more exciting.
“It’s kind of like a championship feeling in here,” Mabrey said, motioning to the parquet.
Bonner said she thinks a WNBA team is eventually coming to Boston.
“It’s just inevitable with the way women’s basketball is. So many things are changing, with different teams getting different facilities and buildings,” Bonner said.
In the meantime, Tuesday is a perfect opportunity for the Sun to continue to grow the game — and maybe, just maybe, get closer to an elusive championship.
“We have a lot of support in this area, but just excited to be here,” Thomas said. “Trying to get some of this championship energy that the Celtics have, and just go out here and have fun.”
