Lynx, Sun will play in a decisive Game 5 after Connecticut rallies for victory

UNCASVILLE, CONN. – Tuesday, 7 p.m. at Target Center.

That’s where this slugfest will end, when either the Minnesota Lynx or the Connecticut Sun will emerge from this WNBA semifinal series with a chance to play the New York Liberty for the championship.

The reason: The Lynx, who entered Sunday’s game at Mohegan Sun Arena with a chance to close out the series, instead saw the Sun close the game on a big-time roll.

The final: Sun 92, Lynx 82.

But, perhaps, that score is a bit misleading. The Lynx led by 10 points with 3 minutes, 24 seconds left in the second quarter. Starting with DiJonai Carrington’s layup 9 seconds later, the Sun outscored the Lynx 61-41 over the final 23-plus minutes.

“This is how they felt after the last game,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “This is how we feel after this game. That makes for a great Game 5.”

Everything in this game can be divided by halftime. The Lynx shot 64% and made nine of 14 three-pointers in the first half. They shot 34.5% and made one of 12 threes in the second.

The Sun, meanwhile, rebounded from a slow first quarter to score 77 points in the final three quarters.

Napheesa Collier continued her playoff roll, scoring 29 points with 13 rebounds and three assists. But afterward, the Lynx star only wanted to talk defense.

“We have to get back to what got us here in the first place,” she said. “Which is our defense. We’re not happy with the way we came out the last two games. Our offense was able to lift us up in the last game. But if it’s not working you have to rely on your defense.”

That defense got harder with the return to apparent health of guard Tyasha Harris. Limited in the first three games of the series because of injury, she returned to the starting lineup Sunday, scoring 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 4-for-5 on threes.

Guarding the Sun changes when Harris is on her game. She spaces the floor and gives the team depth. Harris provides both scoring and the space for Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and Carrington to do the same.

BOXSCORE: Connecticut 92, Lynx 82

Thomas and Bonner both scored 18 points. Thomas also had 11 assists and eight rebounds. Bonner had eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. Sun coach Stephanie White said she and her staff decided to start Harris late the night before, informing her at morning shootaround.

“She gave them a lift,” Reeve said of Harris. “I don’t think it changed the way we guard anything. We just didn’t guard her. She got free a couple times on threes because of help. That’s going to happen. We did not guard her. And it wasn’t just her. [The Sun] had 10 straight line drives to the basket. Ten. Our defense was subpar.”

But for all that, Reeve felt it was the Sun defense — which gets far harder to play against when you have to take the ball out of the basket — that was the difference.

“We were certain they were going to ratchet things up a little bit, get more aggressive,” Reeve said. “We were not surprised by that. What was a surprise is that our defense didn’t match their defense.”

The Lynx offense was volatile, too. Natisha Hiedeman scored 16 points off the bench. Courtney Williams had 11. But Bridget Carleton made just two of 11 three-point attempts. From the start of the third quarter until the Sun went up 15 in the fourth, the Lynx made eight of 23 field goal attempts.

“We just didn’t present ourselves in a way to really compete and go toe-to-toe against a team that you knew would be really desperate,” Reeve said.