Lynx, Sun meet in deciding Game 3. Will depth be the difference?

In the first game of their playoff series with the Lynx, Connecticut stars DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas combined for 32 points, 18 rebounds and 16 assists and the Sun won 90-60.

In the second game, Thomas and Bonner combined for 50 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists and the Lynx won 82-75 on the Sun's home court.

So what was the difference?

Everyone else.

Thanks to the WNBA's odd first-round best-of-three playoff schedule, which has the higher-seeded team getting the first two games and the lower the third, the sixth-seeded Lynx have a chance to upset No. 3 Connecticut in what promises to be a packed Target Center on Wednesday.

"It's going to be so much fun," Lynx star Napheesa Collier said. "It will be crazy, packed. I hope I can't hear myself think the whole time."

For that upset to happen, the Lynx have to do what they did in Game 2.

Yes, Collier (26 points, 13 rebounds) and Kayla McBride (28 and eight) were wonderful, pushing the Lynx to become the first team to rebound from a 30-point loss to a win in the next game of a WNBA playoff series. But Thomas and Bonner were pretty good, too.

But it's the other players, the supporting cast.

In Game 1 the trio of starters Rebecca Allen and Tiffany Hayes and reserve Tyasha Harris were a combined for 41 points on 12-for-15 three-point shooting. They made all but four of the Sun's 16 made threes on a night when Connecticut had 28 assists on 33 made shots.

In Game 2? That trio combined for 18 points, making one of nine threes.

On the other side, a different story: Rookies Diamond Miller and Dorka Juhász rebounded from difficult playoff openers with strong play in Game 2. Off the bench, the play of Bridget Carleton and Rachel Banham was vital. Carleton's three with 7:44 left in the game ended a 14-0 Sun run that had cut a 16-point Lynx lead to two.

Wednesday night, it might be the supporting cast playing a starring role.

"There is no question about it," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "Connecticut is probably in position to maybe impose their will with players outside of [the stars]. I suspect that's what their game plan is. Both teams will need players outside of [the stars]."

Juhász, Miller and Tiffany Mitchell were a huge part of the Lynx defense that held Connecticut in relative check in Game 2, during which players other than Thomas and Bonner combined for only 25 points on 10-for-26 shooting.

There are other factors, certainly. The Lynx were outscored 30-9 on points off turnovers in the first game, with six of the nine Lynx players who saw action having two or more turnovers. But in Game 2, six of eight players had one or fewer turnovers as Minnesota won that battle 20-6.

And the pressure. Reeve did her best to put it all on the Sun.

"We did exactly what we wanted to do," she said, "which is put pressure on the three seed that has aspirations of winning the championship to come here and win a game. For us the mind-set is, this is fun. We have the opportunity to make a statement about our playoff format and upset some people. That's fun. I don't know that we'll feel pressure."