What seemed like a pipe dream two months ago is now a distinct possibility and a testament to never giving up.The Connecticut Sun were buried as the losses mounted early in the season. But now a late push, Connecticut has won five of six games, and the Sun have a little pep to their step.The Sun went 2-8 in their first 10 games and heading into the Olympics Games break they were 8-16 with a two-game winning streak.Since returning from the Rio break, the Sun have continued to win and what was unthinkable in the heat of the summer is now a golden opportunity for Alex Bentley and Chiney Ogwumike.Connecticut is tied for the eighth and final playoff spot with Seattle. On Sunday, the Sun can make a statement that they are for real, but standing directly in their way is the Minnesota Lynx with the leagues best record (tied with Los Angeles) at 23-5.Two of those losses came at the hands of the Sun, so Connecticut wont be intimidated when the two collide at 7 p.m. EDT at the Target Center in Minneapolis.Back on July 7, the Sun overcame Lynx star Maya Moores 40 points to post an overtime win. Then on Aug. 26, Moore was held to eight points as the Sun defeated the Lynx again.That game seemed to give the Sun a shot of confidence heading into the seasons homestretch.In Fridays win, Ogwumike scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the Phoenix Mercury. Jasmine Thomas notched 18 points and Bentley added 16 points as the Sun were playing their first game since rookie Morgan Tuck, the third overall pick, was lost for the season because of a knee injury.Tuck was the top reserve coming off the bench, averaging just under 17 minutes and 7.0 points per game.Her loss will be felt, but Jonquel Jones and Courtney Williams picked up the slack and combined for 15 points and seven rebounds in the win over the Mercury.As usual, Moore paced the Lynx against the pesky Mystics in a win on Friday. Moore scored 27, including 12 from the free-throw line.But if it werent for Sylvia Fowles, the Lynx might be trying to recover from an upset instead of trying to maintain hold on the best record in the league.Fowles recorded 15 points and 17 rebounds, while piloting the defense that held Connecticut to less than 40 percent shooting from the field.The Lynx wont take the Sun lightly, in fact, they will have revenge on their minds. 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The Mike Krzyzewski-coached Americans have won 71 games in a row internationally, including 48 in FIBA competition, but they trailed Australia by five points at halftime and didnt gain any meaningful separation until the final 30 seconds of an eventual 98-88 win.The U.S. women were watching in the crowd, just a few hours after a record-setting performance from Taurasi against Serbia stretched the ladies win streak to 35 games in official FIBA play.Its safe to say no team understands the pressure shouldered by the Team USA men better than Taurasi and her teammates, since both teams are not only expected to win every time they step onto the court, but win handily.We all have em in stretches, Taurasi said of the Australia scare. Its good that they had it early. You know they played a really good team. Australia has five [NBA] pros. They play hard. And it was all the European things that youre not used to. The calls. The flopping. The calls that in the NBA you get [but] you dont get in international play.Its just experience and you put it in the bank. And down the line theyre going to benefit from that.Taurasi added: We lost a game like that in Brazil 10 years ago where we didnt overcome that stuff and Russia beat us, and we got third place in the World Championship. Weve been in that place. Theirs happened in ppool play.dddddddddddd And they still got the win, so I think thatll help em down the line.The Americans needed a massive game from Carmelo Anthony to escape the stubborn Aussies. Anthony finished with 31 points -- including nine 3-pointers -- and combined with Kyrie Irving to score 26 of Team USAs 28 points in the fourth quarter. The U.S. defense also improved dramatically after surrendering an uncharacteristic 54 points in the first half.I think the best thing about it was, there was no panic meter, swingman Paul George?said. There was no one in the locker room nipping at each other. There was no thought of defeat.Said forward Draymond Green: I dont think there was any point that anyone felt we were gonna lose the game. But in saying that, were not saying, Oh, were invincible. ... I think it also gave us kind of a feel of what a medal-round game would be like.Friday marks the first Olympic meeting between the U.S. men and Serbia, which features only one NBA player: Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic. But Serbian center Miroslav Raduljica has played in the league, and guard Bogdan Bogdanovics rights were recently acquired by the Sacramento Kings in a draft-day trade with Phoenix.The Serbians (1-2) are coming off a one-point loss to France on a late Tony Parker basket, and they lost by 15 points to Australia after opening the Olympics with a 24-point rout of Venezuela. Team USA (3-0) won the teams last meeting in the World Cup by 37 points after falling into an early five-point deficit.As for the sky-high expectations of both USA Basketball teams, Taurasi said: Id rather be on this team than the other [team]. Thats a pressure that we relish. ' ' '