Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. We’re going strong in the WNBA Playoffs.
The Minnesota Lynx are back in the WNBA Semifinals for the first time since 2017.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Stephen Gosling/Getty Images.)
The Minnesota Lynx continue to be that resilient team. It’s been their signature throughout their surprisingly excellent season.
It’s also a LITTLE surprising despite their higher seed because they were going against a veteran team that has been there before. Yes, the Phoenix Mercury were missing Brittney Griner and Bria Hartley. But they have Diana Taurasi, only the greatest of all-time. And she had never lost a single-elimination game in her WNBA playoff career. Until Thursday.
And Diana came out hot. She scored 16 points by the half as the Mercury took a 9-point lead. Nobody was surprised about that; it’s Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury. We were, however, a little baffled about the performance of Crystal Dangerfield. She only scored two points by the half and we thought that the Lynx can’t win without her or Napheesa Collier doing well. Sylvia Fowles had also returned in time for the playoffs but she wasn’t as impactful as Minnesota hoped her to be.
The Mercury went up by double digits before the Lynx got going. Dangerfield woke up and scored some big buckets. Damiris Dantas, who has been having a nice run as of late, was key in the comeback as well. And Odyssey Sims, who came back after maternity leave, got her jumper going. The Lynx caught the Merc in the third.
When they were tied at 64 (NINTENDO SIXTY-FOOOOUUUURRRR!!!), the Lynx got back-to-back threes from Dangerfield and Dantas. Then Crystal made back-to-back buckets to give Minnesota a 74-67 lead. Still, Taurasi kept the Merc afloat with her SECOND four-point play in the fourth. Sims and Skylar Diggin-Smith exchanged jumpers and the game was at 80-79, Lynx.
Phoenix had the ball with 14 seconds left. Diggins-Smith’s pass was tipped by Collier and Brianna Turner couldn’t save the ball. Mercury had to play the foul game and it was successful as Dantas missed both foul shots. But Phoenix had to hurry to the frontcourt since they had no timeouts. Diggins-Smith missed a desperation three and it is Minnesota advancing to their first semifinal series in three years.
Crystal Dangerfield was emotionally spent after the game but what a performance it was for the Rookie of the Year. She scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half. Dantas led the Lynx with 22 points while Sims put in a courageous 14 points. Taurasi led all scorers with 28.
I thought the Merc would advance because it’s hard to go against Diana. But what ended up happening was that Diana got her first career WNBA single-game elimination loss. The Lynx will now face the powerful Seattle Storm by virtue of what happened in the other second round game.
But I hope Sue Bird is healthy enough so we can get Bird vs Dangerfield in a series.
Bullet Passes
So the Los Angeles Sparks got word that Nneka Ogwumike wasn’t playing because of a migraine (let me tell you how much migraines suck). The Connecticut Sun got the jump on them early and limited the Sparks to 8 POINTS in the first quarter. The Sparks were able to cut the deficit to 29-23 but the Sun scored 10 straight to end the half. The Sparks never got close again.
However, what did end the half was the rare LEDGIE. As in the ball stayed on top of the rim.
That happened.
As mentioned, Crystal Dangerfield won Rookie of the Year. Congrats to her. Her coach, Cheryl Reeve, won Coach of the Year for the third time in her career. Congrats to Reeve as well.
A’ja Wilson ended up winning the Most Valuable Player. Well-deserved. She won the vote convincingly. I thought Breanna Stewart would win it but the noise seemed to get louder for A’ja as the season came to a close. Congrats to Wilson.
I suppose I should make predictions for the semifinals, right?
#1 LAS VEGAS ACES vs #7 CONNECTICUT SUN
The Aces handled the Sun in the regular season; they blew them out in both games. But I’d like to think that DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas are much different in the postseason. They’re not going to go away without a fight.
But the Aces are deeper and have the best regular season record for a reason. Wilson is such on a roll on both ends right now and Angel McCoughtry and Kayla McBride provide the supplemental scoring that the team needs. Plus Jackie Young has been a force off the bench. I’m not saying it’ll be easy for Las Vegas but they just have more.
PREDICTION: ACES IN FOUR.
#2 SEATTLE STORM vs #4 MINNESOTA LYNX
I wanna see how a young team like the Lynx can handle a championship team in the Storm. Stewie will get hers. Jewell Loyd can score in bunches. Natasha Howard has found her rhythm. And Alysha Clark is just that steady defender that rounds out the core. And like I said, I hope Sue Bird is healthy.
Crystal Dangerfield proved against Phoenix that the moment wasn’t too big for her then. Would it be too big against Seattle? And they need more from Colllier than what they got against the Merc. Too many ifs for me for Minnesota to win so…
PREDICTION: STORM IN FOUR.
Double U Scoreboard
#4 MIN 80 vs #5 PHX 79 (MIN advances to semifinals)
#3 LA 59 vs #7 CON 73 (CON advances to semifinals)
Watch This Play
Incredible pass by Alyssa to DeWanna here.
DB AND-1⃣💪
📺 ESPN2 | #BradentonArea pic.twitter.com/Y92eDaOIKx
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 18, 2020
Semifinals start on Sunday. Stay safe in the Wubble, everyone!
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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