With the playoff seeds already set and his team guaranteed to play New York in the first round of the WNBA playoffs, Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault isn't going to take any chances and will let point guard Lindsay Whalen rest her tender ankle when the Sun wrap up the regular season with a home game against Washington Saturday.

Even though the Sun could finish tied with Detroit with a win against the Mystics and Detroit loss to New York, Detroit would earn the No. 1 seed by winning the season series against Connecticut.

The Sun and Liberty will play Thursday at 7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. Game two is Sept. 20 at Mohegan Sun Arena and the third game, if necessary, would be on Sept. 22 also in Uncasville.

In other news, Tamika Raymond is the Sun's candidate for the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award. Former Connecticut Sun players Taj McWilliams-Franklin (Detroit), Shannon "Pee Wee" Johnson (Houston) and Kristen Rasmussen (Minnesota) as well as former UConn star Sue Bird (Seattle) are others up for the award.