Lynx-Silver Stars Preview

By BRETT HUSTON
Posted Jul 30 2011 2:34PM

The Minnesota Lynx and the San Antonio Silver Stars are the top two teams in the Western Conference, but they have yet to meet with the season halfway over.

That's about to change.

The Lynx and Silver Stars play twice in five days and four times in the next four weeks, beginning Sunday afternoon at the AT&T Center with first place in the West on the line.

Minnesota (12-4) owns a one-game lead on San Antonio (11-5) and is arguably the league's hottest team. After returning from the All-Star break with an 85-72 victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday, the Lynx won their fifth in a row - tying Atlanta for the WNBA's longest active streak - by throttling reigning champion Seattle 92-67 on Friday.

"I think there's a lot more ahead," said guard Seimone Augustus, scoring 19.4 points per game in July after averaging 13.9 in June. "The best is yet to come. We're just now starting to hit our stride. Everybody is feeling good about themselves right now. It's scary the possibilities that we have with this team, the opportunities ahead of us to do great things."

Minnesota can tie its 2010 win total Sunday while winning a sixth straight for the first time since 2004. The Lynx have outscored opponents by a league-leading average of 9.1 points, nearly double San Antonio's second-best average of 4.8.

The Lynx won three of five meetings in 2010 with the Silver Stars, who visit the Target Center on Thursday. The teams also play a home-and-home series Aug. 26 and 28.

San Antonio has won four of five, with its latest margin its most lopsided victory since the second week of the season. Becky Hammon carried the load Thursday against Phoenix, finishing with a season-high 33 points and seven assists in a 102-91 win.

"I thought we really played well as a team today," Hammon said. "... We did a great job of moving the ball around, and we shot better because of it. It's just a great team win."

Facing the league's worst defensive team may not have been the best primer for Minnesota, however. The Lynx hold opponents to 41.3 percent shooting, easily the lowest in the West.

The Silver Stars will need to shoot well, too, because getting second-chance points won't be easy. Minnesota's plus-6.4 rebounding margin is nearly triple the league's next-best club, while San Antonio's minus-5.1 margin is second-worst in the WNBA.

With 10.0 rebounds per game, Lynx forward Rebekkah Brunson is the conference's only player averaging a double-double, and the Silver Stars' chances on the boards will be even worse if Danielle Adams can't go. The rookie All-Star missed the win over Phoenix after spraining her right toe Tuesday at Washington, and her status for Sunday is unknown.

Adams, who averages 4.6 rebounds, leads all rookie scorers at 14.3 points per game - 0.6 more than Minnesota's Maya Moore.

Whalen lifts Lynx over Silver Stars 70-69

Posted Jul 31 2011 6:40PM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) In the first meeting of the season between the two best teams in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Silver Stars had no answer for Minnesota's Lindsay Whalen.

Whalen hit a fadeaway jumper from the right corner over Jayne Appel with 1.5 seconds left to give the Lynx a 70-69 victory over the Silver Stars on Sunday.

Becky Hammon had a chance to win it for San Antonio but missed a runner at the buzzer.

Whalen had a season-high 23 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals, while Seimone Augustus scored 16 and Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 15 for the Lynx (13-4), who have the WNBA's best record.

Minnesota has matched its win total from last year and moved two games ahead of the Silver Stars (11-6) in the Western Conference.

``(Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes) was yelling to foul, so I wanted to get the shot off because I knew there wouldn't be enough time to run another set play after a foul,'' Whalen said. ``I just tried to get a shot up and over the defender and it went in.''

Jia Perkins scored 18 points, Hammon had 15, and Sophia Young and Danielle Robinson added 10 apiece for the Silver Stars.

``It was a tough shot,'' said the 6-foot-4 Appel, who is six inches taller than Whalen. ``There's not much more I could have done.''

The Lynx have won six straight games, matching the longest single-season winning streak in franchise history. They also won six straight in 2004.

The teams meet again Thursday in Minnesota, the first of three more meetings over the remainder of the regular season.

Rebekkah Brunson had 13 rebounds for the Lynx, who outrebounded the Silver Stars 43-28. Minnesota held San Antonio to 39.3 percent shooting to improve to 8-0 when holding an opponent under 40 percent.

The Lynx trailed by 12 points at halftime, but a combination of Whalen and Minnesota's defense helped turn the tide in the third quarter. Whalen had 12 points, four assists and two steals, while the Silver Stars shot only 33.3 percent in the quarter.

``You don't know until you've been in that spot,'' McWilliams-Franklin said. ``This is the first time we've been down and had to come back. The games we lost, we were up and let the other teams come back on us. It was our first real challenge on the season.''

Whalen either scored or assisted on the Lynx's final 12 points of the quarter - including Brunson's jumper with 1.7 seconds left to give the Lynx the lead for the first time since the first quarter.

``We kind of came together at halftime,'' Whalen said. ``We knew it wasn't us, it wasn't the team we wanted to be on the floor in the first half.''

The Silver Stars were playing their second game without All-Star rookie Danielle Adams, who is expected to miss four to six weeks with a sprained right foot. She was on crutches and wearing a walking boot.

Even though it was the first meeting of the season between the teams, four Lynx players were in San Antonio only eight days ago for the All-Star game. Whalen, Augustus, Brunson and Maya Moore represented the West. Hammon and Adams were the Silver Stars' All-Stars.

• Lynx: --
• Silver Stars: --

• Lynx: --
• Silver Stars: Hughes

• Lead Changes: 12
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #39 Michael Price, #43 Brenda Pantoja, #8 Daryl Humphrey
• Attendance: 7260
• Duration: 1:56