Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve expects second-round series vs. Sun to be much lower scoring

The Lynx averaged 101.5 points, shot 50% overall and 40% on threes in their two-game sweep of Phoenix in the first round of the WNBA playoffs.

But coach Cheryl Reeve warned fans not to expect that kind of scoring in the team’s semifinal matchup with Connecticut. That best-of-five series starts Sunday night at Target Center.

“It’s going to be very different than what we saw in the first series,” Reeve said after Friday’s practice. “For both teams.”

Instead, you can expect a repeat of the three-game regular-season series between the two teams. The Sun won the first two, the Lynx won at Connecticut in the second-to-last game of the regular season to lock up the No. 2 seed and won the home-court advantage in this series.

The average margin of victory in those games was fewer than three points. The Lynx lost a game in overtime in May. Shortly before the Olympic break the Lynx lost by five at home to the Sun in a game Lynx star Napheesa Collier left after injuring her foot late in the third quarter of what was then a two-point game. Bridget Carleton’s long three gave the Lynx the win in the third game.

Connecticut was first in the WNBA in defensive rating at 94.1 this season. The Lynx were second at 94.8.

”It should be hard for either team to get separation in a game,” Reeve said. “It will be hard physically on both of us.”

What makes the Sun so hard to play against?

“It’s not even, really, about the game plan,” Reeve said. “It’s about the physical toughness in moments. They have been able to win with defense.”

The Lynx lost in three games to the Sun in last year’s first round of the playoffs, splitting the first two games in Connecticut before losing the decisive Game 3 at Target Center.

But the Lynx are a much different team now.

“We’re a far better offensive team than last year’s team,” Reeve said. “I go back and watch [last year’s series] and I wonder how we were 40 minutes away from being in the semifinals. This [Lynx] team poses a lot more challenges. We have the highest effective field goal percentage against Connecticut.”

Both Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman played in a lot of big games for the Sun, both appearing in the WNBA Finals with the franchise. Now they’re the Lynx’s 1-2 punch at point guard.

“Obviously we played there,” Williams said. “We know the players, we know kind of what they do. It’s going to be a fun matchup. We know they’re going to come in being tough. But you’ve got to be tough.”

Carleton also has Sun ties. She was drafted in the second round by the Sun in 2019 out of Iowa State, but appeared in only four games for them that season before being released. She was picked up by the Lynx a month later and has been in Minnesota ever since.

Williams on Collier, who has scored 80 points in two playoff games: “She’s insane. Y’all haven’t been watching? She’s been going crazy. She’s making history, man. I’m just excited I can be a part of it.’’