Lynx Win 2015 WNBA Title

Game 5 in Target Center, Minneapolis: Minnesota 69, Indiana 52

 

Key Players (Lynx):

Sylvia Fowles- 20 points, 11 rebounds

Seimone Augustus- 16 points, 3 rebounds

Rebekkah Brunson- 10 points, 14 rebounds, 3 steals

Renee Montgomery- 9 points, 4 assists, 3 steals

Maya Moore- 5 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks

 

Key Players (Fever):

Tamika Catchings- 18 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers

Briann January- 13 points, 3 assists, 5 turnovers

Shenise Johnson- 10 points, 5 rebounds

 

Game Story:

 

As lopsided as Game 4 was in favor of the Fever, Game 5 was just as lopsided the other way.  After all of the upsets and road wins that have kept Indiana in the running for the championship, I was disappointed that they didn’t put up more of a fight.

Both teams looked a little off in the early goings, committing several turnovers and missing open shots.  Briann January was one of the few exceptions, as she scored 7 of the Fever’s first 9 points, picking up right back where she’d left off in the rest of the series.  Sylvia Fowles did the same for the Lynx, continuing in her post domination with 7 points, 4 rebounds in the first quarter alone.  Rebekkah Brunson had been very quiet in the Finals series thus far- not tonight.  8 minutes in, she had 4 points and 4 rebounds, outdoing her Finals rebounding average of 3 and looking much more like the board-battling beast we’ve come to know and love.

7 Indiana turnovers led to an 8-0 Minnesota run midway through the second quarter that put them up 23-17.  Strangely, Maya took nearly 14 minutes to get her first points.  Minnesota didn’t capitalize nearly as much as they could have off of the Fever’s bewilderingly poor offense, shooting only 27% late in Q2.  At the end of the half, both teams were hitting only 30% of their field goals, Indiana had 12 turnovers to Minnesota’s 8,  and the Lynx led 27-21 in what turned out to be the lowest scoring half ever in a WNBA Finals game.  Not exactly the kind of record you want to set, but we did get to see some excellent defense.

The Fever fell apart in the third quarter, while the Lynx caught fire.  Maya continued to be almost a nonfactor, but Minnesota showed they didn’t need any more scorers.  They outplayed Indiana in almost every way, forcing more turnovers and making their shots (finally!).  It was a blowout 48-29 going into the final 10 minutes.

Indiana started to score in Q4 behind a few from Shenise Johnson and Tamika Catchings, but the Lynx found an answer every time, keeping the lead at about 20.  The Fever went on a run that made the score 63-52 Lynx with four minutes left to go and included 2 threes from Catchings.  The home team closed out strong, though, and continued to score to get the final 69-52 victory.

So congratulations to the Minnesota Lynx for another WNBA championship!  Finally, they get the chance to win the title at home in front of some very supportive (and LOUD) fans.  Thus far, they’ve won in 2011, 2013, and 2015, and I’m sure they’ll be in the running for another one next year, especially with newly crowned Finals MVP Sylvia Fowles in the mix.  They’ll be facing some tough opponents- LA, if they’re healthy again, New York, who’ll be anxious for another crack at it after being upset in the Eastern Conference Finals, and Phoenix and Tulsa, who will both have their respective stars (Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins) return, to name just a few.  Heck, maybe even Seattle will have a crack at it, with our promising young players and a number one draft pick that will almost certainly result in the acquisition of Breanna Stewart.  It should be an exciting season starting May 2016!

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