The Mystics will have their hands full with this Sun squad…

Game Info

When: Tuesday, August 31 at 7 p.m. ET

Where: Entertainment and Sports Arena, Washington, DC

How to watch: NBA TV, NBC Sports Washington, NESN+

Injury Report

Mystics: Elena Delle Donne (Back, Questionable); Tina Charles (Left Gluteal Strain, Out); Alysha Clark (Foot, Out for season)

Sun: Alyssa Thomas (Achilles, Out)

Game notes

The Washington Mystics (10-15) are playing the Connecticut Sun (20-6) for the third time this season Tuesday night. They’ve dropped both games against the Sun, which took place in May and June. The Mystics are certainly a different team than they were in past months and just when things were staring to look up, Tina Charles suffered a left gluteal strain and Elena Delle Donne seems to be having some setbacks with her back.

According to The Washington Post’s Kareem Copeland, it is unknown whether Delle Donne will suit up Tuesday. “She did not participate in the live portion of practice today,” Copeland tweeted. The Mystics injury report has Delle Donne listed as “questionable.”

Not having Charles and Delle Donne are huge losses but the Mystics showed some fight when they pulled off a one-point win against the Wings on Saturday. Natasha Cloud helped her team come back from a 18-point deficit, putting up a team-high 21 points and 5 assists. All of her points came in the second half. Myisha Hines-Allen followed with 15 points.

Unlike Washington, Connecticut has won their last six games and are at the top of WNBA standings with a 20-6 record. The Mystics will have to slow down the Sun, who have a pretty loaded team minus Alyssa Thomas, who is out with an Achilles injury.

Last game, Ariel Atkins went scoreless in her 20 minutes on the court and that simply cannot happen again if the Mystics want to compete with Connecticut. It going to take more than Atkins showing up and Natasha Cloud building off her 21 point performance last game for the Mystics to pull off their second consecutive win.