Lynx looking to repeat as league champs
Los Angeles fails to close out series in front at home, giving Minnesota a chance at its 4th title in last 5 years
The Minnesota Lynx have been here before, facing a Game 5 in the WNBA Finals after a back-and-forth series.
And for the WNBA, that’s incredibly rare.
In 2015, when the Lynx won in Game 5, it was the first championship series to go to five since 2009. On Thursday, they’ll look to repeat for their second consecutive title and fourth since 2011.
“Game 5 is going to be a culmination of all four games,” said Lynx guard Renee Montgomery. “And it’s going to be a knock-down dragout.”
Montgomery said the one thing that the team has learned through this WNBA championship series and their previous playoff runs is that every point matters. She pointed to a buzzer-beater three that Maya Moore hit to win Game 3 of the 2015 finals.
This year, a similar buzzer-beater came in Game 1 from the Sparks’ Alana Beard, who sunk the shot after the Lynx defense sank on Candace Parker and Nneka Ogwumike.
“The way we have to win is we have to do what we did all season,” Montgomery said. “We finished No. 1 (in the regular season) for a reason. We did the same thing every game. If we come in and stay true to our identity, I think we can win.”
The Sparks are looking to regroup after failing to close out their title run at home and clinch their first title since 2002 “and the first of longtime star Candace Parker’s career.
They have to reset after a Game 4 that saw two blown calls in the final minute and where Parker and Ogwumike were held to 25 points “far less than their average Los Angeles 2, Minnesota 2 Oct. 9: Los Angeles 78, Minnesota 76 Oct. 11: Minnesota 79, Los Angeles 60 Friday: Los Angeles 92, Minnesota 75 Sunday: Minnesota 85, Los Angeles 79 Thursday: LA at Minnesota, 5 p.m., ESPN2 of 36.9 points per game and six less than Maya Moore’s 31 points.
On Monday, the WNBA said that officials missed a Lynx backcourt violation with 26.1 seconds left in the game. The Lynx were leading by two at the time and went on to shoot free throws after a questionable foul was called on Parker after with under 13 seconds remaining in the game.
“Champions don’t make excuses. We had our opportunities,” Sparks coach Brian Agler told the Associated Press this week.
Ogwumike said on Wednesday that she hadn’t even realized the officials’ error until the league issued a statement about the 8-second violation. In Game 5, she said the team needed the bench to step up like Chelsea Gray did in Game 4 when she put up 20 points.
“It’s definitely a lot of things collectively that we need to understand that can get us to where we want to go,” she said. “There are certain things that are non-negotiable. And I think aside from points, Candace and I playing hard is essential.”
And though they may not have the experience the Lynx does playing in a Game 5, the Sparks couldn’t be more ready for Thursday.
“We’ve been really good with handling adversity,” Ogwumike said. “And I think that’s throughout the season we’ve done a better job of handling it in the game and also learning from it after the game and also learning what we do well. But I think people are maintaining a pretty even-keeled focus. People seem relaxed. And I think everyone’s just really excited to be in this opportunity to be playing in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals.”