Game 1 of the semifinal series between the Minnesota Lynx and Connecticut Sun was just as physical and low-scoring as everyone expected. The Sun thrive in those situations, and were able to hold on down the stretch for a 73-70 win and a 1-0 series lead.
"I'm proud of our team," Sun coach Stephanie White said. "This was a tough, grind-it-out victory. We knew it was gonna be, that's how the whole series is gonna be with two great defensive teams. I felt like every single player made winning plays, particularly down the stretch ... It was a terrific effort on the part of our group. I'm so proud of them."
The old cliché "it's a game of runs" was never more true than the first half of this one.
Near the end of the first quarter, Dijonai Carrington led the Sun on a 9-0 burst that silenced the crowd inside Target Center. It wouldn't take long for the Lynx faithful to wake up, however, as the home team ripped off a 15-0 surge in the middle of the second quarter that featured five different scorers. They Sun would not let them run away, though, and answered with a 13-3 response to close the half.
After the break, it was the complete opposite. Neither team could sustain any sort of offense, and the biggest lead either team had was five points. That was the Lynx's advantage at the end of the third quarter after Courtney Williams hit a huge 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
The Lynx were unable to carry that momentum into the fourth. In fact, they shot 4 of 18 and managed just eight points in the final frame. "Our offense put a lot of pressure on our defense," said Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve, who was named 2024 WNBA Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year on Sunday. "We had to get stops every time. That was unfortunate."
The Sun weren't great on offense either, but they were better than that. Alyssa Thomas, not known for her scoring, hit a push-shot jumper from the free throw line with 12 seconds remaining to extend the Sun's lead to three. That proved to be enough, as the Lynx's final possession was a disaster. Napheesa Collier drove into the lane, then decided to pull the ball back out to look for a 3-pointer and barely got an attempt off.
Thomas nearly recorded another triple-double, but had to settle for 17 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and three steals.
Marina Mabrey added six 3-pointers, including one miraculous heave at the end of the shot clock, en route to 20 points. Though she had a rough shooting night, DeWanna Bonner made some big plays down the stretch and added 10 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
Napheesa Collier led the way for the Lynx in defeat with 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals, but it took her 16 shots to get there and she turned it over four times. While not a terrible performance, it was a far cry from her dominant first-round showings.
"Coming into this series, she was hot, really hot" Thomas said. "I think we did a great job tonight."
As a team, the Lynx, who led the league in 3-point shooting during the regular season, made just five of their 20 attempts from behind the arc. Kayla McBride and Alanna Smith, in particular, were just 1 of 9. They shot 40.7% and 39.8%, respectively, in the regular season, and will need to be better moving forward.
"I thought we had open shots that we missed," Reeve said. "There was a little bit of that. So when we had opportunities that we were open, we didn't make shots. [Smith's] shots, particularly early in the game, you take every one of them."
Game 2 of this series is set for Tuesday night in Minneapolis, and will tip off at 9:30 p.m. ET. The broadcast will be shown by ESPN2.