Mercury-Lynx Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Jun 26 2012 12:49PM

The Minnesota Lynx continue to have their way with opponents at home, where they haven't lost since late last season. The injury-plagued Phoenix Mercury seem unlikely to threaten that streak.

The Lynx try for a 14th consecutive home victory and sixth straight win over the Mercury, who have lost four in a row on the road, Wednesday night.

Minnesota (12-1) has bounced back from its lone loss with back-to-back blowouts, following up a 102-70 victory over New York on Thursday with a 79-67 win over Chicago on Saturday.

Lindsay Whalen posted game highs of 25 points and eight assists for the Lynx, who have outscored opponents by an average of 14.7 points in winning 13 straight on their own court.

"We know anybody can step up on this team. When we play as a team really good things happen," Whalen said.

Phoenix (3-8) knows all too well of Minnesota's ability to dominate. The Mercury suffered a two-game sweep at the hands of the Lynx in the conference finals last year and have dropped five straight in this series.

Phoenix, which fell at 105-83 at Minnesota in its season opener May 20 and 78-60 to the Lynx at home June 15, could have a hard time keeping up again in this one. In addition to five-time scoring champion Diana Taurasi's prolonged absence, a left knee contusion could keep second-leading scorer Candice Dupree (15.8 points per game) out for a third consecutive contest.

The Mercury beat Eastern Conference-worst Washington 80-77 last Wednesday despite having eight players in uniform, but they had a rough go of it during a 93-84 loss to Los Angeles on Saturday. Phoenix was outscored 30-8 in the second quarter before picking up the pace a bit in the second half.

"We had a lapse where we got cold," guard Sammy Prahalis, who scored a season-high 22 points, said of the Mercury's second-quarter woes. "That killed us. We dug ourselves into a hole. But when we played hard, and played the way we can, we were right there in the game. ...

"We just want to win. We didn't want to get embarrassed, so we just kept playing hard."

Averaging a team-leading 19.5 points, DeWanna Bonner scored 24 but shot 7 of 21 and 1 for 9 from 3-point range.

While Phoenix is shooting a WNBA-low 27.7 percent from beyond the arc, Minnesota has struggled from the free-throw line. The Lynx have made 71.9 percent of their foul shots - second worst in the league.

"It's on me as a coach," Cheryl Reeve told the team's official website. "I think it's all about how you approach it and probably to this point, I haven't made it important enough ... I have to take the blame for our lack of focus or our lack of understanding of how important it is."

The Mercury have been outscored by an average of 15.7 points during their four-game road skid. They haven't dropped five in a row as the visiting team since a six-game slide June 1-29, 2010.

Lynx improve to 13-1 with 96-80 win vs. Mercury

Posted Jun 27 2012 11:34PM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) With the WNBA's best record and playing in front of a sellout crowd, everything pointed to a blowout for the Minnesota Lynx.

The short-handed Phoenix Mercury still made things interesting.

Rebekkah Brunson and Seimone Augustus each scored 16 points as the Lynx became the second team in WNBA history to start 13-1 after beating the Mercury 96-80 on Wednesday night.

Phoenix, playing the first game of a season-high four-game road trip, got 23 points from DeWanna Bonner. The Mercury stayed within single-digits through three quarters, but fell to 3-9, losing to Minnesota for the third time this season.

``They're doing the best they can,'' Phoenix coach Corey Gaines said. ``They're playing hard with a young point guard, but they're doing OK. (Bonner) shoots 3s well, and usually she's open, so she's doing what she's supposed to do.''

Maya Moore had 15 points and Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 13 for the Lynx, who broke open a close game in the second half to match the 1998 Houston squad that started 20-1 en route to a 27-3 record. Still, the Lynx coach was unsatisfied despite holding Phoenix to 35 percent shooting from the field.

``I felt we didn't play that well defensively,'' Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. ``The players think I'm nuts when I tell them, `We didn't do this, we didn't do that' and we held them to 35 percent, so what's my problem? But I think playoff basketball.''

Samantha Prahalis added 20 for the Mercury, but had to leave during the third quarter due to bleeding from a left leg injury.

The Lynx, used to winning handily on their home court en route to the league's best record, could not shake the short-handed Mercury in the first half. That was mostly due to the efforts of Bonner, who hit a pair of 3-pointers and had 18 points at the break.

McWilliams-Franklin had 11 first half points to lead the Lynx, who scored the last seven points of the half to lead 51-45 after 20 minutes.

``We were very aggressive in the first half,'' said Bonner, who was held scoreless in the fourth quarter. ``In the third quarter, we came out and shot a lot of jumpers and you can't do that against Minnesota, coming out down six points. You have to attack the basket. They have a great team and they're rolling right now, so it's hard to get a win in here.''

Phoenix already playing without injured regulars Penny Taylor and Diana Taurasi, also lost forward Candice Dupree for the game against Minnesota. Listed as a starter in the pregame notes, Dupree was scratched for the third straight game with a left knee injury. Taylor has missed the entire season, while Taurasi has played two games and is not expected back until after the Olympics.

``This team has a lot of fight and a lot of competitors, so we understand what they bring to the table even if they don't have their top scorers,'' said Augustus, who was among six Lynx players scoring in double figures. ``It's the new Lynx. In previous years, it was, `Stop Seimone and you stop the team,' but there are so many weapons on this team.''

• Mercury: --
• Lynx: --

• Mercury: --
• Lynx: --

• Lead Changes: 9
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
• Officials: #42 Roy Gulbeyan, #7 Clarke Stevens, #13 Cameron Inouye
• Attendance: 9674
• Duration: 1:56