2008 Connecticut Sun season

2008 Connecticut Sun season
Coach	Mike Thibault
Arena	Mohegan Sun Arena
Attendance	7,644 per game
Results
Record	21–13 (.618)
Place	2nd (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Lost in First Round
Team Leaders
Points	Asjha Jones (17.0)
Rebounds	Asjha Jones (6.1)
Assists	Lindsay Whalen (5.4)
Media
Television	WCTX
← 2007 season 2009 season →

The 2008 WNBA season was their tenth season and their sixth in Connecticut. The Sun successfully advanced to the WNBA Playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. Lindsay Whalen was a key contributor to the club, averaging 14.0 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, and 5.4 assists per game.^[1]

Offseason[]

Expansion Draft[]

The following player was lost in the Atlanta Dream expansion draft:

• Erika DeSouza

^[2]

WNBA Draft[]

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	9	Amber Holt	United States	Middle Tennessee
1	12 (from Indiana)	Ketia Swanier	United States	Connecticut
2	23	Jolene Anderson	United States	Wisconsin
3	37	Lauren Ervin	United States	Arkansas

^[3]

Transactions[]

• August 27: The Sun signed Svetlana Abrosimova and waived Jolene Anderson.
• June 27: The Sun waived Kamesha Hairston.
• May 15: The Sun waived Cori Chambers.
• May 7: The Sun waived Jessica Foley, Tracy Gahan and Christina Quaye.
• May 6: The Sun waived Meredith Alexis and Natalie Berglin.
• April 28: The Sun waived Crystal Erwin, Laura Hall and Jessica Richter.
• April 23: The Sun waived Antoinette Upshaw.
• March 20: The Sun signed Tracy Gahan to a training camp contract.
• March 7: The Sun signed Sandrine Gruda.
• March 5: The Sun signed Jessica Foley to a training camp contract.
• March 3: The Sun signed Natalie Berglin and Kerri Gardin to training camp contracts.
• February 19: The Sun re-signed free agents Lindsay Whalen and Jamie Carey.

^[4]

Date	Trade
February 19, 2008	To Connecticut Sun	To Indiana Fever
	Tamika Whitmore, Jessica Foley, 12th pick in 2008 Draft	Katie Douglas
March 6, 2008	To Connecticut Sun	To Houston Comets
	Barbara Turner	Megan Mahoney
March 14, 2008	To Connecticut Sun	To Minnesota Lynx
	Tamika Raymond	Kristen Rasmussen

Free agents[]

Roster[]

Connecticut Sun roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From SF 25 Abrosimova, Svetlana 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 172 lb (78 kg) Connecticut PG 10 Carey, Jamie 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) 135 lb (61 kg) Texas PF Ervin, Lauren  (DP) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Arkansas SF 41 Gardin, Kerri 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Virginia Tech C 7 Gruda, Sandrine 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) France G/F 1 Holt, Amber 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 167 lb (76 kg) Middle Tennessee State PF 15 Jones, Asjha (C) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 198 lb (90 kg) Connecticut PF 52 Page, Danielle 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 179 lb (81 kg) Nebraska PG 31 Phillips, Erin 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 162 lb (73 kg) Australia PF 34 Raymond, Tamika 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 199 lb (90 kg) Connecticut G/F 42 Sales, Nykesha  6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Connecticut PG 11 Swanier, Ketia 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 144 lb (65 kg) Connecticut G/F 22 Turner, Barbara 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 182 lb (83 kg) Connecticut PG 13 Whalen, Lindsay (C) 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 150 lb (68 kg) Minnesota PF 00 Whitmore, Tamika 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Memphis	Head coach Mike Thibault (St. Martin's University) Assistant coaches Scott Hawk (Nebraska-Omaha) Bernadette Mattox (Georgia) Athletic trainer Jeremy Norman (Keene State College) Strength and conditioning coach Jodi Hopkins (Ohio) Legend (C) Team captain (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended Injured

Season standings[]

Eastern Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Detroit Shock x	22	12	.647	–	14–3	8–9	16–4
Connecticut Sun x	21	13	.618	1.0	13–4	8–9	13–7
New York Liberty x	19	15	.559	3.0	11–6	8–9	11–9
Indiana Fever x	17	17	.500	5.0	11–6	6–11	12–8
Chicago Sky o	12	22	.353	10.0	8–9	4–13	10–10
Washington Mystics o	10	24	.294	12.0	6–11	4–13	6–14
Atlanta Dream o	4	30	.118	18.0	1–16	3–14	2–18

Schedule[]

Preseason[]

show 2008 Game Log: Preseason Game Date Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 1 May 1 @ Minnesota L 57-68 Gardin (8) Gahan, Gardin, Holt (4) Carey, Hairston, Turner (2) Target Center 1,155 0-1 2 May 4 Phoenix W 94-66 Holt (15) Gahan (10) Swanier, (3) Mohegan Sun Arena 6,252 1-1 3 May 9 Houston W 88-80 Whalen (18) Anderson (7) Whalen (8) Mohegan Sun Arena 4,411 2-1

Regular season[]

2008 Game Log: Regular Season
show May Game Date Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 1 May 17 Atlanta CSS W 100-67 Whitmore (22) Whitmore (10) Whalen (8) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,420 1-0 2 May 18 @ New York WCTX NBA TV W 77-63 Whitmore (17) Whalen, Raymond (6) Whalen (8) Madison Square Garden 10,460 2-0 3 May 24 Sacramento W 87-64 Whalen (21) Holt (7) Whalen, Whitmore (5) Mohegan Sun Arena 6,402 3-0 4 May 27 Indiana ESPN2 L 46-75 Whalen (11) Jones (7) Whalen (5) Mohegan Sun Arena 5,245 3-1 5 May 30 New York MSG NBA TV W 89-84 Whitmore (18) Whalen (6) Whalen (7) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,052 4-1
show June Game Date Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 6 June 1 @ Chicago W 75-73 Whalen, Whitmore (19) Whalen (7) Whalen (7) UIC Pavilion 2,276 5-1 7 June 6 Minnesota W 78-77 Jones (25) Whalen (9) Anderson, Gardin (5) Mohegan Sun Arena 6,327 6-1 8 June 8 Washington WCTX NBA TV W 87-79 Jones (16) Whalen (7) Whalen (7) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,174 7-1 9 June 10 @ Minnesota ESPN2 W 75-66 Jones (18) Whitmore (12) Whalen (6) Target Center 7,186 8-1 10 June 13 @ Los Angeles L 93-98 (OT) Whalen (20) Whalen (7) Jones (3) STAPLES Center 8,702 8-2 11 June 16 @ Seattle WCTX NBA TV W 74-67 Jones (15) Raymond (9) Whitmore (4) KeyArena 6,872 9-2 12 June 18 @ Phoenix L 81-102 Jones (18) Turner (5) Whalen (5) US Airways Center 4,478 9-3 13 June 20 @ Sacramento W 72-56 Jones (14) Whalen, Anderson (6) Whalen (5) ARCO Arena 5,895 10-3 14 June 24 Detroit WCTX NBA TV W 85-68 Jones (20) Holt (8) Whalen (6) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,501 11-3 15 June 26 @ Detroit FSN-D L 61-70 Jones (14) Jones (7) Whalen (4) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,501 11-4 16 June 27 Atlanta W 109-101 (OT) Jones (30) Jones, Whalen (10) Holt (8) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,612 12-4 17 June 29 Phoenix L 80-87 Jones (16) Jones (9) Whalen (8) Mohegan Sun Arena 9,518 (sellout) 12-5
show July Game Date Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 18 July 1 Houston W 78-68 Jones (15) Turner (9) Whalen (9) Mohegan Sun Arena 6,357 13-5 19 July 5 @ Indiana FSN-I NBA TV L 74-81 Jones (20) Gardin (9) Jones, Whalen (3) Conseco Fieldhouse 6,329 13-6 20 July 8 @ Detroit FSN-D L 82-88 Jones (21) Whalen (7) Jones, Whalen (8) Palace of Auburn Hills 7,623 13-7 21 July 13 @ Washington ABC L 64-69 Whalen (33) Whalen (8) Jones, Whalen (6) Verizon Center 9,610 13-8 22 July 15 New York ESPN2 L 71-77 Whalen (19) Jones (9) Jones (5) Mohegan Sun Arena 8,244 13-9 23 July 18 @ Chicago WCTX NBA TV L 65-73 Jones (18) Gruda (11) Jones, Swanier (3) UIC Pavilion 3,379 13-10 24 July 20 Chicago W 74-67 Jones (23) Jones (10) Whalen (6) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,367 14-10 25 July 24 Los Angeles WCTX NBA TV W 87-61 Whalen (22) Jones (8) Whalen (4) Mohegan Sun Arena 9,518 (sellout) 15-10 26 July 27 @ Washington CSN-MA NBA TV W 82-60 Jones (27) Whalen (8) Whalen (7) Verizon Center 9,357 16-10
show August Game Date Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record Summer Olympic break 27 August 28 @ Indiana FSN-I NBA TV W 84-58 Whitmore (15) Turner, Raymond (5) Gruda, Jones (4) Conseco Fieldhouse 6,435 17-10 28 August 29 @ Atlanta W 98-72 Whitmore (27) Whitmore (6) Whalen (8) Philips Arena 11,442 (sellout) 18-10 29 August 31 Seattle ABC W 80-76 Jones (20) Holt (5) Gardin (4) Mohegan Sun Arena 9,518 (sellout) 19-10
show September Game Date Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 30 September 5 Chicago W 80-75 Whitmore (17) Jones (6) Whalen (6) Mohegan Sun Arena 8,088 20-10 31 September 7 San Antonio ABC L 73-85 Jones (22) Jones (9) Abrosimova (6) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,956 20-11 32 September 9 @ Houston WCTX L 68-75 Jones (22) Whalen (8) Whalen (5) Reliant Arena 5,769 20-12 33 September 11 @ San Antonio L 74-78 Jones (18) Gardin (14) Carey (7) AT&T Center 6,791 20-13 34 September 13 Washington WCTX NBA TV W 87-81 Phillips (18) Phillips (8) Gruda, Swanier (4) Mohegan Sun Arena 8,652 21-13

Playoffs[]

In the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the Sun had to face the New York Liberty. Since the Sun had the better record, the series would be played with game 1 at New York, game 2 at Connecticut, and game 3 (if needed) at Connecticut. The Liberty won the first game, but the Sun won the second to force a game three. The Sun were upset on their home floor by the Liberty and were eliminated from the playoffs.

• For the sixth consecutive season, the Sun advance to the playoffs.
• For the second consecutive season, the Sun do not advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

2008 Game Log: Postseason

show Eastern Conference Semifinals Game Date Opponent TV Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Series 1 September 18 @ New York MSG NBA TV L 63-72 Whitmore (16) Jones, Whitmore (6) Whalen (6) Madison Square Garden 7,649 0-1 2 September 20 New York MSG NBA TV W 73-70 Jones (16) Whitmore (6) Whalen (4) Mohegan Sun Arena 7,234 1-1 3 September 22 New York ESPN2 L 62-66 Whalen (19) Jones (11) Whitmore (4) Mohegan Sun Arena 6,011 1-2

Depth[]

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Inactive
C	Tamika Whitmore	Sandrine Gruda	Danielle Page
PF	Asjha Jones	Tamika Raymond
SF	Kerri Gardin	Barbara Turner -- Amber Holt
SG	Svetlana Abrosimova	Erin Phillips	Ketia Swanier
PG	Lindsay Whalen	Jamie Carey

Regular Season statistics[]

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Player statistics[]

Player	GP	GS	MPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Svetlana Abrosimova	6	0	17.8	3.3	2.0	1.33	0.00	5.7
Jolene Anderson	24	7	15.3	2.4	1.1	0.29	0.04	4.0
Jamie Carey	33	3	15.1	1.2	1.4	0.24	0.03	4.2
Kerri Gardin	34	15	15.9	3.3	1.2	0.85	0.21	4.0
Sandrine Gruda	31	1	15.4	3.5	0.9	0.61	0.84	6.2
Amber Holt	34	34	21.0	3.1	1.9	0.44	0.15	6.5
Asjha Jones	33	33	29.2	6.1	2.5	0.61	0.79	17.0
Danielle Page	3	0	4.0	2.0	0.0	0.00	0.00	2.0
Erin Phillips	8	0	10.8	2.1	0.4	0.50	0.13	5.1
Tamika Raymond	34	1	11.0	2.9	0.4	0.29	0.03	2.5
Ketia Swanier	25	6	9.2	1.2	1.0	0.56	0.04	1.6
Barbara Turner	34	6	19.5	3.2	1.5	0.35	0.41	8.0
Lindsay Whalen	31	31	29.3	5.6	5.4	1.45	0.03	14.0
Tamika Whitmore	34	33	26.8	4.7	1.4	0.59	0.38	12.6

Team statistics[]

Team	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
Connecticut Sun	.422	.330	.746	36.4	17.9	6.2	2.8	14.3	18.5	79.1
Opponents	.418	.321	.740	35.3	16.3	7.4	3.1	14.7	20.7	74.7

Team Ranking[]

This table shows how the Sun rank compared to the other teams in the league (14 total teams):

FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
8th	8th	12th	3rd	2nd	14th	12th	13th	13th	3rd

Playoffs statistics[]

Player statistics[]

Player	GP	GS	MPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Svetlana Abrosimova	3	2	21.0	3.7	1.3	1.33	0.00	8.0
Jamie Carey	1	0	00.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00	0.0
Kerri Gardin	3	3	19.0	2.3	1.0	1.67	0.33	3.7
Sandrine Gruda	3	0	8.7	1.3	0.3	0.33	0.00	2.7
Amber Holt	3	1	18.3	4.0	1.3	0.33	0.00	3.7
Asjha Jones	3	3	32.3	7.3	1.3	0.67	0.33	15.0
Danielle Page	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00	0.0
Erin Phillips	3	0	12.0	0.7	1.7	1.00	0.33	3.0
Tamika Raymond	3	0	9.3	2.3	0.3	0.33	0.33	1.3
Ketia Swanier	0	0	00.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00	0.0
Barbara Turner	3	0	19.0	3.3	0.3	0.00	0.33	5.3
Lindsay Whalen	3	3	30.0	4.7	4.0	1.33	0.00	13.3
Tamika Whitmore	3	3	29.0	4.7	2.0	1.33	0.00	10.0

Team statistics[]

Team	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
Connecticut Sun	.360	.218	.800	34.3	13.7	7.3	1.7	12.3	15.7	63.0
New York Liberty	.448	.433	.606	33.7	16.3	6.7	5.0	18.7	18.7	69.3

Awards and honors[]

• Head Coach Mike Thibault was named 2008 WNBA Coach of the Year.
• Lindsay Whalen was named to the All-WNBA First Team.
• Asjha Jones was named to the All-WNBA Second Team.
• Amber Holt was named to the All-Rookie Team.
• Lindsay Whalen was given the Peak Performer award (for assists) for leading the league in assists per game (5.4).
• Lindsay Whalen was the second player in WNBA history to average at least 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game for the season. Only Nikki Teasley has previously accomplished this feat.
• Lindsay Whalen was named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of May 27, 2008.
• Asjha Jones was named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of June 30, 2008.
• Lindsay Whalen was named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of July 14, 2008.
• Asjha Jones was named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of July 28, 2008.

^[5]

Attendance[]

• A sellout for a basketball game at Mohegan Sun Arena is 9,518.

Regular Season Attendance

Year	Average: Home	Average: Away	High	Low	Sellouts	Total for Year	WNBA Game Average
2008	7,644 (11th)	7,132 (14th)	9,518	5,245	3	129,951	7,948

References[]

External links[]