The Minnesota Lynx will play for a WNBA championship. The Lynx played host to the Connecticut Sun in Game 5 of their semifinal series on Tuesday night at the Target Center, and thanks to a dominant first half performance, Minnesota was able to defend its home court and pick up an 88-77 victory that will send them to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2017.
While the Sun came out and held a 5-point lead in the opening moments of the game, the Lynx were dominant throughout the first quarter. Whether it was their crisp, efficient performance on the offensive end of the floor or their usually stingy defense, Minnesota looked like a team worthy of competing for a championship, as the team closed out the first on a 27-9 run to take a 31-18 lead into the second.
In particular, Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams used the first quarter to set the tone they wanted to set in a win-or-go-home Game 5. The former scored 10 points and knocked down a pair of threes in the opening frame, while the latter had nine points and three assists.
The second quarter was much of the same, as Minnesota continued to take it to Connecticut behind the three-headed monster of McBride, Williams, and Napheesa Collier. In particular, the Lynx’s ability to turn the Sun’s mistakes into points led to easy buckets that built up their lead to as many as 21 points — Minnesota scored 12 points on 10 first-half turnovers, while Connecticut failed to score a single point off of the four turnovers they generated.
As a result, the Lynx went into the locker room flying high, holding onto a 53-34 lead that seemed nearly insurmountable. Williams led all scorers with 15 points, McBride had 14, and Collier nearly had a double-double with 13 points and seven rebounds. For Connecticut, Marina Mabrey led the way despite hurting her ankle during the first half, scoring eight points in 12 minutes off the bench.
With their backs fully against the wall, the Sun came out of the locker room at halftime and, despite some issues scoring from the field, were able to get to the free throw line and cut into the lead. They started the third quarter on a 7-0 run, with five of those points coming from the charity stripe. But while it took them nearly four and a half minutes to get their first bucket of the frame, Minnesota took advantage of Connecticut being cold from the field by ripping off 12 straight points and extending their lead to as many as 24.
The Lynx did not score a point on either side of that run, but their defense was able to limit the Sun to only 14 points in the third — they closed the period on another 7-0 run, but were unable to cut into the lead any more, which meant that Minnesota went into the fourth holding onto a 65-48 lead. And while Connecticut’s offense had, by far, its best quarter in the fourth, the team was just not able to put together enough stops to get the deficit down to single digits.
Collier put forth a monster effort to lead her team, going for 27 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, four blocks, and a steal. Williams was likewise brilliant with 24 points, seven assists, five rebounds, two steals, and a block, while McBride went for 19 points. For Connecticut, four players scored in double figures, with Dijonai Carrington (17 points, 12 rebounds) and Brionna Jones (16 points, 10 rebounds) registering double-doubles.
With the win, Minnesota earned a spot in the WNBA Finals for the seventh time, which is the most in WNBA history. They will take on the 1-seed in the postseason, the New York Liberty, which earned a spot by taking down the Las Vegas Aces in four games on Sunday. The Lynx and the Liberty faced off three times in the regular season, with Minnesota coming out on top twice. Additionally, the two teams went head-to-head in the Commissioner’s Cup championship, which the Lynx won, 94-89.
Game 1 of the 2024 WNBA Finals will take place on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.