Fire vs. Sun: Sug Sutton's Floater With 22.6 Seconds Left Beats Connecticut 83-82 as Sun Fall to 0-5

Connecticut got one more look, then one more after that. Charlisse Leger-Walker drilled a 25-footer with under three seconds left, Portland got whistled for an offensive foul on the next play, and suddenly a team that had not won all season had the ball and a prayer. Aneesah Morrow's heave from halfcourt fell short at the buzzer. Of course it did. That is what 0-5 feels like.

So the Portland Fire escaped with an 83-82 win over the Connecticut Sun on Monday night, in front of 12,010 at Moda Center, all because Sug Sutton's floater with 22.6 seconds left dropped and everything Connecticut tried after it came up a breath short. Sarah Ashlee Barker and Bridget Carleton scored 18 apiece, and Portland evened its record at 2-2.

Fourteen Lead Changes and a Third-Quarter Flip

This one had 14 lead changes, and both teams took turns looking like the better one. Portland won the first quarter 25-24, then produced a miserable 13 points in the second while the Sun used an 8-0 run to turn a 33-29 deficit into a 37-33 lead. Connecticut took a 42-38 edge into the locker room.

The Sun stretched it to 60-53 late in the third, which is usually the part of the script where a winless team finally exhales. Instead Portland scored nine straight in 68 seconds to go up 62-60. Brittney Griner tied it at the line, Sutton went to the line herself to put the Fire back ahead, and Saniya Rivers raced the length of the floor for a jumper at the free-throw line that made it 64-64 going to the fourth.

The closing minutes were pure chaos, and for a while they belonged to Barker. Her layup tied it at 71 with 3:42 left. After Griner put Connecticut back in front, Barker scored through a foul and made the free throw for a 74-73 lead. Morrow answered, Emily Engstler answered Morrow, and then Barker did it again, another three-point play with 1:02 left for a 79-75 Portland lead.

Sutton Wins the Last Argument

Hailey Van Lith nearly ruined the whole evening. She scored on a drive with 45.6 seconds left, then buried a 20-foot pull-up with 31.4 on the clock to tie it at 79. Four points in about 14 seconds, and a building that had been getting ready to celebrate had to sit back down.

Less than nine seconds later, Sutton went into the lane and floated in a six-footer for an 81-79 lead. Connecticut then had two cracks at an answer on the same trip and could not convert either one, and Carleton came down with the board, took the foul and made both free throws with 9.7 left. Those two free throws are the entire ballgame, because Leger-Walker's three only got the Sun back within one.

Bench Fire and a Griner Near Miss

Barker was the best player on the floor when it counted. She came off the bench for 18 on 7-of-13 shooting, scored eight in the final 3:42, and fed Engstler for the go-ahead layup with 1:40 left. Carleton matched her total, going 6-of-6 at the line with five rebounds and three steals. Sutton had 12 points and five assists, two of them on Barker's late baskets. Engstler added 15 on just seven shots, and Nyadiew Puoch scored 10.

Griner led Connecticut with 16, matching her season high, and finished one point shy of 6,000 for her career. She also picked up three of her four assists in the final 2:07, as the Sun's late offense ran through her. Morrow had 12 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for her fourth straight double-double. Van Lith and Aaliyah Edwards scored 12 each, Edwards in only 17 minutes on 5-of-6 shooting, and Leger-Walker, a rookie, hit three of her four threes for 10 points, the second 10-point game of her career.

Connecticut's bench actually won its side of the ledger, outscoring Portland's 39-26, and Saniya Rivers was a big part of that with nine points, six assists and four steals. Kennedy Burke went 0-for-5 but still grabbed six rebounds and handed out three assists in 21 minutes. It is hard to take much comfort in any of that at 0-5, but it is at least something to build on.

The Numbers That Mattered

• 20-of-26 vs. 11-of-20: The free-throw line. Portland made nine more in a one-point game, and the Sun missed nine. Griner, who finished one point shy of a milestone, missed three of them, which feels personally cruel.
• 32 vs. 28: Made field goals, in Connecticut's favor. The Sun shot 51% to Portland's 45%, and each team hit seven threes.
• 27-22: Portland's margin in points off turnovers, with Connecticut giving it away 18 times.
• Plus-19: Luisa Geiselsoder's plus-minus on a night she scored two points, which is either a tribute to her four assists or a reminder that the stat is deeply weird.

Two Teams, Two Very Different Mondays

The Fire are 2-2, and all four of those games have come at home. They have gone loss, win, loss, win so far, and now they hit the road for a Wednesday date in Indiana.

Connecticut is 0-5 overall and 0-2 on the road, with this one opening a five-game trip that heads to Seattle on Wednesday. It was the closest the Sun have come to a win so far, after losses of 31, seven, 29 and seven. Griner will need just one point up there to reach 6,000, which at least gives the night something to look forward to.

Put a Floater on It

Portlandia built an entire bit around putting a bird on it. Sutton put a floater on it, and that was enough to spoil the best chance Connecticut has had all season. A one-point loss goes in the standings exactly the same way a 31-point loss does, and the Sun have now been handed both. Nobody tells you that about 0-5. The close ones are the ones that sting.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press and the Connecticut Sun.