BOSTON — Connecticut Sun All-Star forward Alyssa Thomas greeted her hometown fans for the first time on Tuesday after returning from Paris after winning gold with the USA Basketball women’s Olympic team.
But Thomas’ moment had a unique twist, as she celebrated her achievement before the Sun’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks, the first WNBA game to be held in Boston.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Thomas said. “Women’s basketball, I keep saying, is trending in (the right) direction, and we’ve been Connecticut a long time, so to play in front of a fan base like this, I mean, I think it gave us another level of energy today.
“Definitely (feeling) jet lag, definitely tired, but I think you knew this was how it’s going to be going into the season – and it was for a great reason, to win a gold medal. But I’m excited to be back and trying to pick up where we left off.”
‘The Engine’ certainly played her part in the Sun’s 69-61 win over the Sparks, scoring nine points and registering 14 rebounds, eight assists and three steals. After going scoreless in the first half, Thomas attacked the rim aggressively in the second, generating easy looks for herself and providing the Sun with high-scoring opportunities in transition.
“Most of (the Sparks’) offense was coming from second-chance opportunities,” Thomas said. “For a stretch, they were getting a lot of rebounds on us.
“I’m just trying to get in there and clean up the best we can. Those are (the) opportunities I love to get so I can get out in transition.”
Thomas played a similar role to a lesser degree in Paris with Team USA, filling in the gaps between the team’s primary scoring options such as Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty) and A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces).
“I was talking to (DeWanna Bonner) about this the other day,” Thomas said. “It’s kind of weird, playing with (the Sun) the first half of the season, and then just stopping and going to learn a completely different system, and then just picking up where we left off and trying to remember everything that we were doing before.”
Thomas played in all six games for Team USA, averaging 3.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 17.4 minutes per contest. Thomas becomes the third player in franchise history to win gold at the Olympics with Team USA.
