Neal: Flagrant foul on Bridget Carleton set a spark, and Lynx went on a tear

When the Lynx took the floor at the beginning of the third quarter on Wednesday, they had given up 100 points to the Phoenix Mercury over the previous two halves of postseason basketball.

That’s 53 points in the second half of Game 1 on Sunday then 47 in the first half on Wednesday. This is not the team we’ve come to Target Center to watch play their brand of stifling, unrelenting, spirit-breaking defense.

In addition, the Lynx missed eight of their first 10 shots, and only managed to get back in the game in the second quarter after Phoenix point guard Natasha Cloud picked up her third foul and landed on the bench. The Lynx led 49-47 at halftime, but they had to work for that lead.

Phoenix was playing with force. So when were the real Lynx going to show up?

They needed a moment like the one with almost eight minutes remaining in the third quarter to help them rediscover to their high standard of basketball.

That was when Bridget Carleton was fouled hard by Phoenix’ Sophie Cunningham, causing Carleton to crumple to the floor. Lynx guard Courtney Williams did not appreciate the skulduggery and let Cunningham know it.

Cunningham got a flagrant foul. Williams was given a technical.

Carleton sank both free throws. The Lynx inbounded the ball, and Kayla McBride buried a three-pointer. A 7-1 run gave the Lynx 60-53 lead. They defense tightened; turnovers followed. Suddenly, the Lynx hit shots from all over the court. They were connected again. The Lynx took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter. Phoenix’s physical tactics were foiled.

“I know it impacted us,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said of the foul. “I know how we felt. We had to respond physically in this game, we knew that. That they were going to come after us and play in a way that would knock us off our stride.

“That’s probably the thing I’m most proud of. That we stood in there and we took a lot of hits.”

Final: Lynx 101, Mercury 88. Series over. Phoenix scored 41 points in the second half. The Lynx had 27 free throw attempts in the game from all the fouling. The Lynx swept the best-of-three series and will play host to Connecticut on Sunday in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals.

Napheesa Collier was brilliant again, scoring at will, burning Phoenix with cuts to the basket for buckets, posting up and filling it in from deep. She followed a signature performance on Sunday with another one on Wednesday with 42 points — on 14-of-20 shooting from the field — with five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal. The Mercury had no answers for Collier and, thus, are out of the playoffs.

And it could be the end of Diana Taurasi’s sterling 20-year career. Fans, while being thoroughly entertained by the return of the real Lynx, took time out to give the Phoenix guard a standing ovation as she left the court for possibly the last time of her career. She scored 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field.

The Lynx join Connecticut, Las Vegas and New York — all the higher seeds in the first round — in the WNBA semifinals. The Lynx are back in the final four for the first time since 2020.

If they play the way they did after Cunningham’s clobbering of Carleton, their season won’t end anytime soon.