For a quarter and a half Sunday at Target Center, the Lynx played almost perfect basketball. Ball movement, shots made, defense, rebounding while building a 23-point second-quarter lead.
Lynx survive WNBA playoff opener with 102-95 victory over Phoenix
Napheesa Collier scored 38 points for the Lynx, who blew a 26-point lead and trailed in the closing minutes but scored the final seven points of the game to outlast the Mercury.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 22, 2024 at 11:37PM
They spent the final 25 minutes holding on for a 102-95 victory over Phoenix in the first game of a best-of-three playoff series.
The two teams play at Target Center in Game 2 on Wednesday.
Down a point with 2:06 left, the Lynx scored seven straight points to ice the game.
The crucial sequence may have been Alanna Smith’s block on a Natasha Cloud drive, which was followed by Bridget Carleton’s corner three-pointer — off Smith’s assist that put the Lynx up 98-92 with 39 seconds left.
Napheesa Collier, who came in second in WNBA MVP voting to Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson on Sunday, scored 38 points — the second-most by a Lynx player in a playoff game — and had six rebounds and four assists. Only Maya Moore (40 on Sept. 27, 2015) had more. Collier’s 13 made free throws tied her with Seimone Augustus for most made in a Lynx playoff game.
Kayla McBride scored 20 points, Carleton had 12 and Myisha Hines-Allen 10.
And they needed every bit of it.
Because the Mercury never quit. Making 14 of 23 shots, Cloud scored 33. Diana Taurasi hit five of 10 three-pointers and scored 21. Kahleah Copper had 16.
A 17-8 start to the fourth quarter had Phoenix up a point on two Brittney Griner free throws with 4:44 left.
At the other end Courtney Williams scored. Griner missed a turn-around – with Hines-Allen getting the rebound – then Williams fed a rim-running Hines-Allen for a layup with 3:57 left and a three-point Lynx lead.
Fouled on a three-point attempt, Copper hit two of three with 3:44 left, but Williams then fed Collier for a layup.
Griner scored with 2:43 left, then blocked Natisha Hiedeman at the other end, and Cloud scored putting the Mercury up a point. But Hines-Allen scored with 1:49 left. The Lynx got a stop. Fouled, Collier made both free throws with 1:15 left to put the Lynx up three.
At the other end Smith got the huge block on Cloud’s drive. Then Carleton iced the game with a three-pointer with 38.3 left.
In a game where both teams shot just under 50 percent, the difference came from the free throw line, where the Lynx had a 24-7 edge.
The Mercury scored the first four points of the game. The rest of the first quarter?
Pretty much all Minnesota.
Collier scored 13 points in a 26-10 run that followed, which was capped by Carleton’s three-pointer that put the Lynx up 26-10 with 2:28 left in the quarter. The Lynx made four of nine threes in the quarter, which ended with Minnesota up 32-19.
And then Collier scored six points in an 18-8 start to the second quarter as the Lynx pushed the lead to 50-27 with 5:35 left in the half.
The Mercury spent the rest of the half eating into that lead. Cloud – who hit four of five shots and scored 10 points in the second quarter – led that comeback. Phoenix ended the half on a 15-6 run to pull within 14 on Cloud’s three with 15 seconds left in the half.
That lead was down to 10 when Williams had consecutive steals that led to back-to-back threes by Kayla McBride, pushing the lead back to 14.
But the Lynx just couldn’t slow the Mercury attack.
The Mercury made 10 of 19 shots overall and seven of 12 threes in a 27-21 quarter that had the Lynx down to eight entering the fourth.
Napheesa Collier scored 38 points for the Lynx, who blew a 26-point lead and trailed in the closing minutes but scored the final seven points of the game to outlast the Mercury.
