The No. 2-seed Minnesota Lynx and No. 3-seed Connecticut Solar proceed their sequence within the 2024 WNBA Semifinals this Tuesday, Oct. 1, with Connecticut presently holding a 1-0 sequence lead. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET, and the sport can be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
The Solar used their trademark physicality and protection to win the sequence opener in Minnesota, 73-70, holding the Lynx to eight fourth-quarter factors and outplaying them in crunch time to earn the victory. Connecticut head coach Stephanie White described it as a “slugfest;” the tightly-contested, back-and-forth nature of Recreation 1 mirrored the regular-season conferences between the Solar and Lynx, most of which had been low-scoring video games determined by just some factors. “This was a tricky, grind-it-out victory,” White mentioned after the sport. “We knew it was going to be, and and it’s how the entire sequence goes to be.”
Such is to be anticipated in a matchup between the WNBA’s high two defenses. The Solar and Lynx ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in defensive ranking through the 2024 common season, each permitting fewer than 95 factors per 100 possessions. In addition they performed at a slower tempo than most different WNBA groups, rating at or close to the underside of the leaderboards in possessions per 40 minutes.
That doesn’t imply that Connecticut and Minnesota are destined to cancel each other out offensively for the remainder of the sequence, although. There’s room for each groups to enhance—particularly for the Lynx, who can be trying to even issues up in Recreation 2.
Minnesota should discover its 3-point photographs in Recreation 2
Like White, Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve anticipated the semifinal sequence to be a tricky, aggressive one, however she was nonetheless disillusioned in her crew’s offensive manufacturing in Recreation 1. “We didn’t make photographs,” Reeve mentioned matter-of-factly after the sport, although she expressed optimism that if the Lynx get the identical appears in Recreation 2 as they did within the opener, “we’re going to love the result slightly higher.”
There’s actually purpose for Reeve, who was not too long ago named the WNBA’s Coach of the 12 months and Government of the 12 months for 2024, to suppose so. Minnesota led the WNBA in 3-point area objective proportion through the common season (38 %), however made simply 5-of-20 photographs from lengthy vary in Recreation 1. Connecticut, in the meantime, made 9-of-22, with Marina Mabrey (game-high 20 factors) making six of them.
However 3-point taking pictures variance will solely be a part of the puzzle for Minnesota. The Lynx level guard duo of Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman struggled in Recreation 1, combining to attain 10 factors on 4-of-15 taking pictures, which Reeve additionally talked about as an element within the crew’s sluggish offensive output. As a unit, Minnesota recorded simply 16 assists on 27 made area objectives—removed from the well-oiled offensive machine that set a WNBA document for help proportion through the 2024 common season.
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Reeve didn’t commit to creating any main modifications, although, and doesn’t count on White to, both. “I don’t suppose both crew goes to make a bunch of changes. We’re who we’re.”
To her level, neither the Solar nor Lynx have gotten up to now by wavering of their respective identities. Each groups know one another nicely, and Recreation 2 of the sequence will seemingly be determined simply as Recreation 1 was: by whichever crew could make sufficient photographs to beat its opponent’s robust protection.
Recreation info
No. 3-seed Connecticut Solar (1-0) vs. No. 2-seed Minnesota Lynx (0-1)
When: Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET
The place: Goal Heart in Minneapolis, MN
Methods to watch: ESPN2
Solar damage report: Tyasha Harris (questionable; ankle), Tiffany Mitchell (out; sickness)
Lynx damage report: Cecilia Zandalasini (possible; quad)
