Dream-Lynx Preview

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI
Posted Oct 01 2011 11:26AM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve noticed at the All-Star break that teams in the league were taking a difference view of her Lynx.

Until then, most looked at Minnesota's tremendous start with skepticism. These were the Lynx, after all. The same franchise that hadn't made it to the postseason in six years and had never won a playoff series.

``There was so much talk that we had the best winning percentage,'' Reeve said. ``They became believers. There wasn't the idea that there was going to be some kind of collapse as there had been before.''

The Lynx also had Rookie of the Year Maya Moore and a solid group of All-Star players around her.

Minnesota steamrolled the rest of the league, finishing with a 27-7 record that was six games better than the next closest team. The Lynx needed three games to dispatch San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs before decisively sweeping Phoenix in the Western Conference finals to advance to the WNBA finals against the Atlanta Dream on Sunday night.

Moore said the Lynx knew they had the makings of something special starting in training camp.

``Now we're at a point where we put ourselves in position to reach that ultimate goal,'' Moore said. ``I'm not going to say we're surprised, but it is nice to be so close to get that final goal.''

The Dream lost to Seattle in the finals last year, a run that they say prepared them to take on the best team in the league.

``I believe the difference from last year to this year is the fact that we were like, 'Oh my god, we're here!''' Dream star Angel McCoughtry said. ``This year is not 'Oh my god, we're here.' It's 'we're here. Let's go. We're meant to be here.'''

Game 1 of the best-of-five series is Sunday night in Minneapolis, where the Lynx have managed to gain a solid following in a town that has suffered from the recent failures of the Twins, Vikings and Timberwolves. The lower bowl of Target Center has been close to full for all three home playoff games in the playoffs, and the team is expecting a record crowd on Sunday night.

``The buzz around here is very energizing,'' Reeve said. ``Sunday night we'll have by far our best crowd.''

The Lynx and Dream are the two highest scoring teams in these playoffs, the only two teams to average in the 80s. Both love to get up and down the court and flow into transition quickly, taking advantage of their versatility to score in bunches.

The Lynx may be new to this whole championship thing, but one of their youngest players is no stranger to big stages. Moore, the No. 1 overall pick, is one of the most accomplished athletes in NCAA history from her time at Connecticut, but even she said there is a difference at this level.

``The WNBA level is different than college in that talent level is so much greater,'' Moore said. ``A UConn, we tried to bring that same intensity no matter who we played. But here, if you don't bring it, you get beat. That's a little bit different.''

With All-Stars Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus, Moore and Rebekkah Brunson, the Lynx didn't get beat often this season. With so much talent, and finally able to stay healthy all season, the Lynx overwhelmed opponents on both ends of the court, learning how to deal with the expectations along the way.

``There are some people who are still getting used to the Minnesota Lynx being a dominant team and waiting for the moment where we're going to fall apart,'' Reeve said. ``We've handled all of those things well and been very determined and very hungry.''

They went 2-0 against the Dream during the regular season, with a 96-85 win at home and a 77-64 win in Atlanta in June. But both of those games came before the Dream hit their stride.

Atlanta lost seven of its first nine games. The Dream finished the regular season on an 11-3 tear and upset No. 1 seed Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals.

``Been a long time,'' Dream coach Marynell Meadors said of when the teams played in June. ``Seems like it was two years ago. I just feel like we've gotten better, but they've also gotten better. So I think it's going to be a great series.''

The Dream won't have starting 6-foot-5 center Erica De Souza for Game 1 while she plays with the Brazilian national team in an Olympic qualifying tournament. She is expected to be back for Game 2, but the Dream seemed to have found something by going with a smaller, quicker lineup.

``We love being the underdog. We do,'' Meadors said. ``One thing about it, we've been there, we know what it takes to win. We've just got to go to play.''

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AP National Writer Paul Newberry in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Dream 74, Lynx 88

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI
Posted Oct 03 2011 12:10AM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) More than 15,000 fans walked into Target Center on Sunday night, hoping that the Minnesota Lynx could give them a little relief from the sports abyss the Twin Cities sit in at the moment.

They waved white pom-poms and hollered at the top of their lungs, and Rebekkah Brunson and Co. made sure they didn't go home disappointed.

Brunson had 26 points and 11 rebounds and Seimone Augustus added 22 points to lead the Lynx to an 88-74 victory over the Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of the WNBA finals.

``It was amazing,'' Brunson said of the charged-up atmosphere. ``The city's been excited about this team from the beginning of the season and everybody keeps jumping on and jumping on and we love it. We love the fact we can come in here and play in front of a crowd like this.''

Lindsay Whalen added 15 points and six assists and the Lynx turned a close game into a runaway with a 13-0 run to open the fourth quarter. Taj McWilliams-Franklin added eight points and 10 boards while battling an illness.

Angel McCoughtry scored 19 of her 33 points in the third quarter and Lindsey Harding scored 20 points for the Dream.

Atlanta led by 12 points midway through the second quarter, but the Lynx kept them off the board for the first 4:34 of the fourth quarter to take control. With starting center Erika de Souza missing the game while playing for Brazil in an Olympic qualifying tournament, the Dream were outrebounded 40-28 and outscored in the paint 52-30.

``Look at the rebounds,'' Harding said. ``We needed her.''

De Souza will be back for Game 2 of the best-of-five series, which is Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

For those who say the women's game lacks everything that makes the sport great - athleticism, shot-making and competitive fire - Game 1 will not help them make their case.

Maya Moore's sensational reverse layup, a scoop shot that started from clear on the other side of the rim, got the Lynx started on a third-quarter surge that got them back into the game. Brunson finished a three-point play and Augustus's no-look pass was finished by Whalen's reverse layup to cap a 9-0 run that gave them a 51-49 lead.

``We've got some athletes up in here!'' Brunson boasted.

On the other end, McCoughtry was simply unstoppable, hitting a incredible array of jumpers from odd angles all over the floor, blocking shots and forcing steals to keep her team from faltering. She scored all but four of Atlanta's 23 points in the third and the game was tied at 62 heading into the fourth.

Whalen started the deciding surge with a three-point play and a shooter's roll jumper and the Lynx turned up the pressure on the defensive end to get two fast break layups to take a 75-62 lead with 5:45 to play.

``We knew our run would come at some point,'' Whalen said.

The Lynx blocked a WNBA finals record 11 shots and held Atlanta to 37 percent shooting in their first finals game in franchise history.

``We couldn't find the rim for about four minutes,'' Dream coach Marynell Meadors said. ``And everything we did resulted in points for Minnesota.''

After 12 largely anonymous and often wretched seasons of existence, the Lynx finally broke through this year in a major way. With Augustus healthy for the first time in three years and Moore coming from UConn with the No. 1 overall pick, the Lynx blew the doors off the rest of the league, finishing 27-7, six games better than the second-best team.

The Twins and Timberwolves both finished in last place and the Vikings are off to an 0-4 start, leaving Minnesota's sporting public desperate for someone to cheer for.

The fired-up crowd of 15,258 - the second-largest in franchise history - was treated to a nerve-racking start.

The Dream just seemed a step quicker than the Lynx in the early going, with Harding running circles around Whalen and the rest of the Lynx in the first 13 minutes. They forced six turnovers and Harding hit two 3s as they jumped out to a 29-17 lead early in the second quarter.

The Dream are playing in the finals for the second year in a row after losing to Seattle last year. Not bad for a franchise that just started four years ago. They dispatched top-seeded Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals to get here, winning on the road in Game 3 to advance.

``The crowd energizes them and it just weighs you down,'' McCoughtry said. ``It's good to know that we were the ones that kind of messed ourselves up. That's a good thing for us because we can adjust that.''

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Follow Jon Krawczynski on Twitter: http:www.twitter.com/APkrawczynski.

• Dream: --
• Lynx: --

• Dream: --
• Lynx: --

• Lead Changes: 16
• Times Tied: 7

• Arena: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
• Officials: #55 Eric Brewton, #9 Denise Brooks, #42 Roy Gulbeyan
• Attendance: 15258
• Duration: 2:03