Tight series reaches showdown
Sparks reset, ready to deny Lynx a repeat title
The Minnesota Lynx have been here before, facing a Game 5 in the WNBA Finals after a backand-forth series.
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 games since 2009. On Thursday, they’ll look to repeat and for their fourth title since 2011.
“Game 5 is going to be a culmination of all four games,” Lynx guard Renee Montgomery said. “And it’s going to be a knockdown, drag-out.”
Montgomery said the one thing the team had learned through this WNBA champion- ship series and its previous playoff runs was that every point mattered. She pointed to a buzzer-beater three that Maya Moore hit to win Game 3 of the 2015 Finals. This year, a similar buzzerbeater came in Game 1 from the Los Angeles 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 Parker’s career. They have to reset after a Game 4 that saw two blown calls in the final minute and Parker and Ogwumike held to 25 points — far less than their average of 36.9 points per game and six fewer than Maya Moore’s 31 points.
The WNBA said Monday 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 with less than 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 Wednesday that she hadn’t even realized the officials’ error until the league issued a statement about the eightsecond 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,” Ogwumike 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 might not have the experience the Lynx do 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 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.”