“Coming into the game, we knew that rebounding would be important for us”, Brunson said. Minnesota led throughout the second half.
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And, in a 67-60 victory over Phoenix at Target Center on Thursday, in the first game of the best-of-three series, the combination of Rebekkah Brunson and Sylvia Fowles absolutely, completely dominated.
Before the game, Head Coach Cheryl Reeves kept her message short and to the point. She proved her worth with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
The WNBA playoffs is heading into the conference finals and in the east it will be the New York Liberty against the Indiana Fever, while the west has the Phoenix Mercury taking on the Minnesota Lynx in the west. “Our sponsorship people need to get on that right now”.
Augustus helped spark the Minnesota offense with a clutch second-half performance and 14 points on the night, but Moore’s tenacity and nifty finishes in the paint came at the most pivotal times for the Lynx. “She was so engaged”.
Candice Dupree had a team-high 12 rebounds for Phoenix, but was assessed a technical foul in the fourth quarter for protesting a call.
With three minutes left, they jumped out to an eight-point lead, but the game came down to the wire as Bonner drained two threes to cut the lead to four with under 40 seconds remaining. The question will be whether or not the Mercury will be able to sustain long periods of offensive success against a Lynx team that’ll grind down its opponents with solid rebounding on one end and plenty of offensive firepower on the other. Needless to say, her players took the message to heart despite Phoenix jumping out to a 10-4 lead early in the first quarter. Bonner’s three-point play with 1:46 left brought the Mercury within one, but Brunson’s putback at the halftime buzzer made it 35-32.
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2015’s WNBA Western Conference Finals is the rematch that a lot of fans were expecting and hoping for. They is up in to furthering onto the Finals and get a last vertical time past season but were really been rejected beginning with the game from the Phoenix Mercury. Minnesota swept in 2013 on the way to the league title, while Phoenix matched them last season, winning the series 2-1, then capturing the WNBA crown.
