Lynx lose to Sparks 68-51 to close regular season

The best thing to come out of what happened at Target Center on Thursday night, the most positive thing Lynx fans can take away, is this:

It didn’t matter. None of it.

“Flush it, and let’s go,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said after the Lynx finished the regular season with a 68-51 loss to the last-place Los Angeles Sparks.

The Lynx (30-10) entered the game locked into the No. 2 seed, knowing they will start the playoffs at 4 p.m. on Sunday against Phoenix at home. Reeve rested stars Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride, starting Diamond Miller and Myisha Hines-Allen in their place.

No Lynx player played 30 minutes.

Still: The 51 points matched the lowest scored by a Reeve-coached Lynx team, the lowest since 2010. Minnesota set season lows in points in the first quarter, first half, third quarter and game. On a night when they shot about 40 percent at the rim, the Lynx shot under 30 percent overall (28.6) for the first time this season and had a season-low 11 assists.

“We never found our rhythm,” Natisha Hiedeman said. “We had to be more aggressive on offense. That’s what I saw.”

But, again, it didn’t matter.

After finishing with a franchise-record 30 wins, the Lynx (16-4) tied New York for the best home record this season.

“Right now everybody is 0-0,” Hiedeman said. “It doesn’t matter what you did before. I would say we’re prepared, mentally and physically [for the playoffs]. We’re locked in on what we need to get done as a team. Focus is a big part of playing well in the playoffs.”

If there was any frustration on the night for Reeve, it was the difficulty Hines-Allen and Alanna Smith had finishing around the rim. The two combined to go 2-for-11 overall and score 12 points.

“We didn’t get the level of penetration we needed,” Reeve said. “We didn’t get scoring at the rim from our bigs. Our pick-and-roll game was very unproductive and our reads out of that weren’t very good.”

Dearica Hamby, played all 40 minutes for Los Angeles (8-32), which ended an eight-game losing streak.

Cecilia Zandalasini and Miller each had eight points to lead the Lynx. Hiedeman scored seven. Four other players had six.

The loss ended a seven-game winning streak for the Lynx, who nonetheless finished the season winning 14 of their final 16 games.

Down nine entering the fourth quarter, the Lynx pulled within five with 7:29 left when Courtney Williams hit a three, was fouled and made the free throw.

But, out of a timeout, the Sparks scored the next 13 points and finished the game 18-3.