Lynx coach Reeve won't rest starters for season's final game

After putting her team through a rather rigorous practice that included a lot of scrimmage work Thursday, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said she had no intention of sitting many of her players in Friday's finale in Seattle.

This despite the fact her team has already clinched the Western Conference title.

"It's obviously a hard situation, to balance everything," she said. "But we lock into is what we can control. We want to go there and win the game. We want to go there and get a hard road win. That's our mindset.''

In a sense, with injured players Seimone Augustus (mid-foot sprain) and Lindsay Whalen (Achilles) still out, she is already sitting some of her stars. But, with those two out, it's not like she has the players available to let players like Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles and Rebekkah Brunson sit.

That said, I would expect Reeve to be very cognizant of not giving those players too many minutes.

Meanwhile, Reeve said she still had a "reasonable" hope that both Augustus and Whalen would be ready to return to practice next week as the team prepares for its first-round series with Los Angeles. It starts at Target Center either Thursday or Friday.

Meanwhile, the league has announced the schedule for the conference semifinals.

The Lynx will open the Western Conference semifinals against Los Angeles at 8 p.m. next Friday at Target Center. It will be televisted on NBA TV. The second game is at Los Angeles at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20 and will be on ESPN. A third game, if necessary, would be at Target Center on Sept. 22, the time to be determined. It would be carried on ESPN2.

The Phoenix-Tulsa series will start next Thursdayat Phoenix at 9 p.m. on ESPN2. The secopnd game is at Tulsa next Saturday at 8 p.m. on NBA TV. A third game, if necesary would be at Phoenix Sept. 21.

In the Eastern Conference, top seed New York and second seed Chicago each have home court advantage. Chicago's series starts next Thursday, New York's on Friday.