The Connecticut Sun’s win over the Minnesota Lynx sets up the perfect showdown in the WNBA playoffs

On By Vaseline

MINNEAPOLIS – Basketball may be a game of runs, but basketball between Connecticut and Minnesota is a game of inches. No matter which arena, which lineup or which month – no two WNBA teams are more evenly matched this season than this one. The most recent data point – Connecticut’s 73-70 win over Minnesota in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals – was another one of those nail-biting, stomach-churning, it’s-anyone’s-game kind of games.

That’s why basketball fans should rejoice. This is what you want to see in the playoffs. Two teams that fit together so perfectly that literally every possession – and indeed every decision within every possession – can be the moment that changes everything.

That Marina Mabrey 3. No, it was the Bridget Carleton 3. Wait, Alyssa Thomas’ shot feels the most important. Absolutely not, that Alanna Smith block is going to change everything.

It was a game where every moment felt monumental because you just knew the final margin would be microscopic. It’s a series that breathes the parity of the 100 meters, a basketball game in need of whatever the equivalent of a photo finish may be.

The three regular season games between Connecticut and Minnesota were decided by just eight points total. Heading into the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s game at Target Center, after 155 minutes of Lynx-Sun basketball this season, Minnesota had – overall – defeated Connecticut by one point (Lynx 295 – Sun 294).

“It’s been a physical series all season. Every game in the fourth quarter came down to the wire,” Sun forward Alyssa Thomas said. “We didn’t expect anything else.”

In Game 1, Connecticut got the advantage and stole a road win. Thomas, who finished one assist short of a triple-double, continued her season-long role as the Sun’s stabilizing force. She understood the gravity of every possession and her intent in pursuing every rebound spoke to that.

Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve is well aware of Thomas’ specific brand of drive and how it can change possessions and games. It was why Reeve, after being named Paris Olympic coach in 2022, brought Thomas back into the playing pool after Thomas had declined camp invitations for a decade.

On Sunday night, Thomas competed against Olympic teammate Napheesa Collier. After setting records in the first round of the playoffs, Collier was held to just 19 points and nine rebounds. On another night, that might feel like a pretty good stat line, but Collier — the Lynx’s catalyst — will likely remember the nine shots she missed or the 50-50 balls that went the other way. Fairly good isn’t good enough for a game between Minnesota and Connecticut, and certainly not for a WNBA semifinal between the two.

Reeve emphasized that she was preparing the Lynx for the long haul against Connecticut. No one was going to leave this match without completing nine rounds. The 13 lead changes in Sunday’s game? That was according to the script. So the Lynx go down 0-1? Not ideal, but no reason to panic either. “It’s 40 minutes of 200 minutes,” Reeve said. “That’s the good news for us.”

It wasn’t the prettiest 40 minutes of basketball for either team, but with the two best defensive teams in the WNBA on the floor, pretty isn’t exactly the goal. Minnesota and Connecticut will look back at their game film and see that there is plenty of cleanup to be done, but that’s only because the margin is so small here.

“The further you get in the playoffs, the harder it gets,” Reeve said. “Now it’s two teams going back and forth and not making it easy. And then it’s about players finding a way to play.”

The good news for both teams is that they have rosters full of players who can find ways to make plays. They may not have the name recognition or star power that the other semifinal between Las Vegas and New York does, but these squads are packed with players who have made careers out of making the most of opportunities.

Mabrey, who was traded to Connecticut in July, has been a sharp threat and pick-and-roll force for the Sun since her arrival. DeWanna Bonner is quietly picking up double-doubles while being a matchup head-scratcher fourteen years into her career. DiJonai Carrington, who played all 40 minutes on Sunday, had a coming-out party in her first full season in the W.

A second-round pick in 2019 (in a league that has eliminated lottery picks), Carleton has worked his way into the Lynx starting lineup and has become “Big-shot BC” in the Twin Cities. Alanna Smith, who thought her WNBA career might be over when the five-win rush interrupted her in 2022, is giving Collier – the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year – a run for her money as the league’s best undersized paint defender.

If the past is any indication, these two teams have a lot more (highly contested) basketball to play. It’s the kind of basketball and importance that a WNBA semifinal should show. Both teams prepare to perform.

“It’s a long series,” Carleton said. “It’s a five-game series for a reason.”

(Photo of Napheesa Collier and Alyssa Thomas: David Berding/Getty Images)