The Connecticut Sun’s victory over the Minnesota Lynx provides the perfect showdown in the WNBA playoffs

MINNEAPOLIS – Basketball may be about runs, but Connecticut-Minnesota basketball is about inches. No matter the arena, the lineup, or the month, no two WNBA teams have been better matched shot-for-shot than these this season. The most recent data point — Connecticut’s 73-70 win over Minnesota in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals — was another one of those nail-biting, tricky contests that are anyone’s game.

Basketball fans should be happy about this. That’s what you want to see in the playoffs. Two teams so perfectly aligned that every possession – and really every decision within every possession – could be the moment that changes everything.

That Marina Mabrey 3. No, it was the Bridget Carleton 3. Wait, it was the Alyssa Thomas shot that feels most important. There’s no way this Alanna Smith block is going to change everything.

It was a game where every moment felt monumental because you just knew the final lead would be microscopic. It’s a series brimming with the parity of the 100-meter dash, a basketball game that requires the equivalent of a photo finish.

THE ENGINE 🔥#BringTheHeat pic.twitter.com/6yDNLosIX8

—Connecticut Sun (@ConnecticutSun) September 30, 2024

The three meetings between Connecticut and Minnesota in the regular season were decided by just eight total points. Entering the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s game at Target Center, Minnesota held a one-point lead over Connecticut overall after 155 minutes of Lynx-Sun basketball this season (Lynx 295 – Sun 294).

“It was a physical series all season long. “Every game is crucial in the fourth quarter,” Suns forward Alyssa Thomas said. “We expected nothing less.”

In Game 1, Connecticut had the advantage and picked up a win on the road. Thomas, who was one assist shy of a triple-double, continued her role as the Sun’s stabilizing force throughout the season. She understood the gravity of every possession and the intent with which she pursued every rebound spoke to that.

Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve is well-versed in Thomas’ specific type of drive and how he can change possessions and games. This was the reason Reeve brought Thomas back into the player pool upon his appointment as Paris Olympic coach in 2022, after Thomas had declined camp invitations for ten years.

On Sunday evening, Thomas fought against his Olympic teammate Napheesa Collier. After setting records in the first round of the playoffs, Collier averaged just 19 points and nine rebounds. On another night that might feel like a pretty good statistic, but Collier — the Lynx’s catalyst — will likely remember the nine shots she missed or the 50-50 balls that went the other way. Pretty good isn’t good enough for a game between Minnesota and Connecticut, let alone a WNBA semifinal matchup between the two.

Reeve emphasized that she was preparing the Lynx for the long haul against Connecticut. Nobody planned to leave this match without completing nine rounds. The 13 lead changes in Sunday’s game? That was because of the script. So the Lynx go down 0-1? Not ideal, but no reason to panic either. “It’s 40 minutes out of 200,” Reeve said. “That’s the good news for us.”

It wasn’t the prettiest 40 minutes of basketball for either team, but with the WNBA’s two best defensive teams on the court, “pretty” isn’t exactly the goal. Minnesota and Connecticut will look back at their game film and realize there’s a lot to clean up, but that’s only because the wiggle room here is so small.

“The further you get in the playoffs, the harder it gets,” Reeve said. “Now it’s two teams that just play back and forth and don’t make anything easy. And then it’s just a matter of the players finding a way to make a play.”

Take care, it’s coming. 🫣 pic.twitter.com/LwPw9Nu1zf

– Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) September 30, 2024

The good news for both teams is that they have rosters full of players who can find ways to make plays. They may not have the name recognition or star power that the other semifinal between Las Vegas and New York has, but these squads are full of players who have made careers by making the most of their opportunities.

Mabrey, who was traded to Connecticut in July, has been a sharp threat and pick-and-roll power for the Sun since her arrival. DeWanna Bonner is quietly racking up double-doubles while being a matchup headscratcher 14 years into her career. DiJonai Carrington, who played all 40 minutes Sunday, had a coming out party in her first full season that began in the West.

Carleton, a second-round pick in 2019 (in a league that eliminated lottery picks), has worked his way into the Lynx starting lineup and become Big-Shot BC in the Twin Cities. Alanna Smith, who thought her WNBA career might be over when the five-win fever sidelined her in 2022, gives Collier – the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year – a run for her money as the league’s best undersized paint defender.

If history is any indication, these two teams have a lot more (highly competitive) basketball to play. It’s the type of basketball and significance a WNBA semifinal should have. Both teams are preparing for the performance.

“It’s a long series,” Carleton said. “It’s a five-game series for a reason.”

(Photo of Napheesa Collier and Alyssa Thomas: David Berding / Getty Images)