Lynx-Fever Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Jul 14 2011 9:59PM

The Indiana Fever have won seven in a row and are atop the Eastern Conference. Still, the club knows it has to play better as it closes out a five-game homestand.

The Fever go for their seventh straight victory at Conseco Fieldhouse and the season sweep of the Minnesota Lynx on Friday night.

Undefeated since a 93-89 overtime loss at Phoenix on June 19, Indiana (10-3) owns the league's best record and is on its best run since a franchise-record 11-game winning streak from June 9-July 17, 2009.

The Fever, two games in front of second-place New York in the East, played what coach Lin Dunn called "as good a first half" as she's seen from the team in Wednesday's 90-78 home win over Connecticut. They shot 52.9 percent and built a 23-point lead but yielded 48 points in the final 20 minutes.

Indiana is among the league's best, holding opponents to 73.9 points per game on 41.5 percent shooting.

"You've seen glimpses of how good the team can be, and if we can put it together for 40 minutes, we can be an extraordinary team and a championship team," forward Tamika Catchings said after scoring 13 points with seven assists and five rebounds. "We're not to that point yet."

The Fever have one of the deepest teams in the WNBA, with 10 players having scored at least 10 points at least once. Led by Katie Douglas' 20 points, six players reached double figures Wednesday for the third time in franchise history.

"That's what makes this such a great team," said Catchings, who along with Douglas were voted All-Star starters Thursday. "We have so many different weapons."

The Lynx (7-4) have their share of offensive threats with Seimone Augustus (15.2 points per game), rookie Maya Moore (14.5), Lindsay Whalen (13.6) and Rebekkah Brunson (12.5), but coach Cheryl Reeve's team will likely bring in a defensive mindset following a 112-105 home loss to the Mercury on Wednesday that dropped it out of first place in the West.

"Some game for a fan to watch, people like scoring, but if you're a fan of defense and a fan of the Lynx, defensively we just didn't get it done," said Reeve, whose club allowed 39 fourth-quarter points.

The Lynx are holding teams to 32.9 percent shooting from 3-point range, but guarding Indiana's long-range shooters could present a significant challenge. The Fever shot a franchise-record 64.7 percent (11 of 17) from beyond the arc Wednesday, with Douglas hitting three to increase her league-leading total to 32.

Douglas had 22 points and Catchings added 17 - they also combined to score 15 consecutive fourth-quarter points - in a 78-75 win June 26 that prevented the Lynx from opening 4-0 at home for the first time.

Moore, the first rookie voted to start in the All-Star game since Catchings and Seattle's Sue Bird in 2002, scored 17 of her team-best 21 points in the opening 20 minutes of last month's meeting.

Indiana has lost three in a row at home to Minnesota since an 83-64 victory May 19, 2007.

Brunson, Moore lead Lynx over Fever 80-70

Posted Jul 15 2011 10:08PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) If the Minnesota Lynx were going to snap Indiana's seven-game winning streak, they knew they were going to have to do something different in the second half.

The Lynx took a slim one-point lead into halftime before stepping up the defensive pressure in the second half to beat the Fever 80-70 on Friday night.

Rebekkah Brunson scored 20 points and Maya Moore added 18 to lead the Lynx.

Tamika Catchings scored 22 points and Jessica Davenport had 13 for the Fever, who remain two games ahead of New York atop the Eastern Conference.

``The biggest thing for us was that we finally locked down and defended in the second half,'' said Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve. ``We were disappointed with how well we let the Fever move the basketball, we thought they really had their wheels rolling.''

The Fever never led by more than four points and didn't allow a double-digit lead until the second half.

``Minnesota did a super job on us defensively,'' Fever coach Lin Dunn said. ``We did not match their intensity. They disrupted what we were trying to do.''

The Fever shot just 28 percent in the second half and were held to 3-of-15 shooting from 3-point range.

Minnesota led by as much as five points in the third quarter before falling behind at one point when the Fever took a three-point lead late in the third, their biggest lead of the second half.

It didn't last long. Brunson scored under the basket and Moore made a 3-pointer and a long jumper to give Minnesota a 55-51 lead.

Douglas hit a 3-pointer to pull within a point, but Minnesota's Monica Wright drove to the basket and Jessica Adair hit a jumper for a five-point lead at the end of the quarter.

``It was a game of runs,'' said Moore, who scored 21 points in the Fever's 78-75 win over the Lynx on June 26. ``We came out at the start of the game pretty well,'' Moore said. ``We knew it was going to be tough, but we made the adjustment.''

The Fever missed five shots and Minnesota forced three turnovers within the first 3:19 of the third quarter and the Lynx jumped to a nine-point lead by the 4:47 mark in the fourth.

Indiana hadn't lost since a June 19 overtime defeat to the Phoenix Mercury.

• Lynx: --
• Fever: --

• Lynx: Reeve
• Fever: --

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 9

• Arena: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
• Officials: #38 Lamont Simpson, #13 Cameron Inouye, #55 Eric Brewton
• Attendance: 7538
• Duration: 1:58