During Minnesota’s post-game locker room celebration, Catchings stopped by to offer her congratulations to the WNBA champions and gave several Lynx players hugs in the process.
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Reeve said Wednesday that if she had seen Moore with only five points in the final box score before the game, she would have thought that the Lynx lost by 20 points.
“But we were dedicated to it”, Fowles said.
“I had to adjust to them and knowing how they want the ball, where they’re going to be on the floor, where they need screens to be set”, she said.
Moore dominated game 3, outscoring all players in both teams with 24 points and landed a buzzer beating shot and broke a 77-point tie at the end of the game, according to the WNBA.
Seimone Augustus added 16 points and Rebekkah Brunson grabbed 14 rebounds for the Lynx, who also won it all in 2011 and 2013.
That 2002 team might be considered the greatest ever, but Moore’s 2009 and 2010 undefeated teams involved Lynx teammate Kalana Greene, with Renee Montgomery a senior on the 2009 edition.
It was a bit of an anticlimactic ending for a series that saw each game won by no more than six points, but Indiana just couldn’t find a way through Minnesota’s defense.
Fever coach Stephanie White said her team was “outplayed in every single way” by the Lynx.
“Maya is about winning”, Reeve said.
With strong fundamentals and bevy of selfless veterans, including Seimone Augustus and Finals MVP Sylvia Fowles (a midseason addition to the team), the Lynx have drawn comparison to another basketball dynasty, the San Antonio Spurs. “It is a testament to the players that we have, and the leadership that we have and the system that we have”.
Minnesota forward Maya Moore shoots against Indiana forward Tamika Catchings in a September 4 game. She sat out the first half of the season – which she said she would not recommend to anyone – as she waited to be traded by Chicago. She was an assistant coach with the Detroit Shock when they were in five game series in 2006 against the Sacramento Monarchs and 2007 versus the Phoenix Mercury. Also looking strong were a few of Minnesota’s bench players. “The rise is always easiest, people tell you”.
When a local reporter asked her was she coming back next season, her 10th WNBA campaign, she replied, “Why not?”, appearing puzzled by the question.
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Sections of Hennepin Avenue and Seventh Street will close for approximately 90 minutes starting at 11:30 a.m. The parade launches at 11th Street and Hennepin Avenue and will head north on Hennepin then take a left on 7th Street before finishing at Target Center.
