Lynx roll into WNBA Finals by beating Connecticut 88-77 in decisive closeout game

The Lynx had just finished off the Connecticut Sun 88-77 in Game 5 of their WNBA semifinal at Target Center on Tuesday.

They had just advanced to the Finals for the first time since 2017.

After it ended, after Napheesa Collier had stuffed another stat sheet, she ran courtside near the Lynx bench.

And she hugged Lindsay Whalen.

If this isn’t a symbolic passing of the torch, what is? The star of a new-generation Lynx team headed to the Finals hugging the retired point guard of a team that won it all four times?

“[Whalen] has continued to text me, this season and last season,’’ said Collier, who scored 27 points with 11 rebounds, four assists and four blocks. “That means so much. A Hall of Famer. To have her support us. I wanted to give her a hug. Thanks for showing up at the game. Thanks for passing this legacy on to us.”

The perfect end, perhaps to a near-perfect evening.

The Lynx dominated from the start in front of a sellout crowd of 8,769 fans. Minnesota came out and dominated early, maintained late, advanced to the Finals against the New York Liberty, which start Thursday in Brooklyn.

The Finals appearance is the seventh for the Lynx, a WNBA record. The Liberty, regular season champions of the league, have been in the Finals six times.

BOXSCORE: Lynx 88, Connecticut 77

The Lynx led 31-18 after one quarter Tuesday, 53-34 after two and by as many as 24 points in the second half.

“I can’t tell you how badly our staff wanted it for this team,” said coach Cheryl Reeve, who improved to 3-1 in Game 5s. “It’s been a special group. … Just an overwhelming feeling of pride. We played Lynx basketball tonight.”

Before the game, Reeve promised the team would return to playing good defense. She was better than her word. The Lynx brought defense, they brought offense. They brought toughness.

And they brought it from the start.

The Lynx blitzed the Sun in the first quarter — and the first half. After the Sun scored the first seven points of the third quarter, the Lynx responded with 12 consecutive points.

And if that dwindled a bit down the stretch? It doesn’t matter. The Lynx hit first. The Sun never recovered.

“I can’t even tell you what happened,” Sun forward DeWanna Bonner said. “They punched us in our face. We got shellshocked and we couldn’t fight back.”

The game exemplified what has made the Lynx — the playoffs’ No. 2 seed, the league’s hottest team since the Olympic break — so hard to play against this season.

Team defense: The Sun shot 38.5% from the field.

Balanced scoring: Courtney Williams added 24 points, seven assists and five rebounds. She made all six of her first-half shots. After a slow start to the third, she responded with seven fourth-quarter points. Kayla McBride had 19 points. The Lynx shot 49.3%, with the five starters shooting 51.7%.

Since 2011, the Lynx are 180-6 when holding a team under 40%.

They defended at one end, blocking nine shots, scoring 22 points off 19 Sun turnovers. They shared the ball on offense, with 23 assists.

Reeve was asked to compare this team to those with players’ jerseys hanging from the Target Center rafters. Those teams had a collection of Hall of Famers, she said, while this one is a cohesive group playing around Collier, whose jersey will get up there one day.

But both teams played for each other.

“Every successful team I coached had, at the core of them, a selflessness,” Reeve said. “A chemistry. I think, for this team, their belief in themselves is off the charts. It never wavers. I’m so happy they have the chance to experience being in the Finals.”

That showed through after the game. Reeve talked about her players. Williams talked about Collier: “Her humility, the way she carries herself? It’s actually insane,” Williams said.

And the Lynx are actually in the Finals.

“You want to do it with your teammates,” Collier said. “That makes the ride so much sweeter. We want to keep playing because we want to stay together. We don’t want to leave each other yet.”