After seven straight home losses to the Connecticut Sun, including an opening loss on Sunday, the Minnesota Lynx found their winning formula. And something else.
The Lynx won convincingly on Tuesday, defeating the Sun 77-70 to even their WNBA semifinal series at 1-1 as the series heads to Connecticut.
In a matchup between the two best defensive teams in the WNBA, it was Minnesota that eliminated the competition. The Lynx held the Sun to 36.4% shooting from the field with 12 turnovers. No player was more valuable than WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier, who finished the game with nine points, twelve rebounds, five assists, four blocks and a steal.
On the offensive side, it was a group effort with 17 points ahead of Courtney Williams. Every Lynx player who logged a minute scored at least four points. Alyssa Thomas was again the star for the Sun, with 18 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks.
The Lynx victory was likely welcome news for the WNBA, which has seen every first-round series end in a sweep. The Sun’s win in Game 1 was its first road victory of the entire postseason, but the league was likely more concerned about another sweep, especially after the New York Liberty defeated the Las Vegas Aces hours earlier defeated and had taken a 2-0 lead.
The match did not start at a good pace. The two teams combined to miss their first 14 shots from the field, with the first goal coming on a layup from Courtney Williams 3 minutes, 38 seconds into the game. The dam did not break through there either, because at the end of the first quarter the score was only 12-10 Lynx.
The Lynx instead steadily opened up their lead, going from two at the start of the second quarter, to four in the middle, to six at the end. They finally scored the point they needed at halftime, scoring the first seven points of the third quarter to take a double-digit lead.
The fourth quarter did not go entirely smoothly. The Sun cut the lead to single digits for much of the second half of the frame, which would have qualified as a nail-biter if a few plays had ended differently. Chants of “Our House” rained down as the Lynx’ losing streak against the Sun was finally broken.
The Lynx and Sun play Game 3 on Friday in Connecticut (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
