The 2014 season never felt quite right for Maya Moore and the Minnesota Lynx.

Practices were moved to various gyms around the area during construction of their new facility. Starting forward Rebekkah Brunson and sixth woman Monica Wright were sidelined with injuries to start the season.

Five-time All-Star Seimone Augustus joined them on the injured list in June, and it seemed “there were like nine people going in and out of the training room every single day,” Moore joked.

“It was just a circus,” she added, “and I think it weighed a lot on us.”

Leave it to Moore to put together a historic MVP campaign for a 25-9 team and label the season a “circus.” But that comes with the territory in Minnesota, where expectations are sky-high following a run of three straight WNBA Finals and two championships (2011 & 2013) since her arrival.

If 2014 left something to be desired — Minnesota never clicked on all cylinders in time for the playoffs, and perhaps it was simply the Mercury’s year to make history — then 2015 is beginning with a feeling of good fortune.

Led by the Big Three of Moore, Augustus and point guard Lindsay Whalen, the championship crew is back together. And with several of their challengers in the Western Conference either missing key pieces or working on integrating new ones, the path to a title appears to be cleared for the Lynx.

All they have to do is take advantage.

“Hopefully it will remind us of 2011,” Augustus said. “That’s what happened in 2011 where everybody was there healthy. … That chemistry that we had from day one just continued throughout the season.”

“It’s important,” echoed Moore. “We have chemistry. We’ve got history. We don’t have to spend a lot of time getting to know each other.”

In a season marked by roster turnover across the league, Minnesota is hoping continuity will be king — along with, of course, outstanding talent.

The franchise has won 105 of 136 regular-season games and gone 22-7 in the playoffs since drafting Moore with the No. 1 pick in 2011. Moore, Augustus and Whalen have combined to make 13 All-Star appearances, and their games blend together in a way coaches dream of when star players align.

In other words, there’s a reason eight of the league’s 12 general managers tabbed the Lynx to win a third title this season in WNBA.com’s 2015 GM Survey.

“The longer we’re together, the more comfortable we are with the offense, the more comfortable we are with each other, the more we learn each other’s tendencies,” Wright said.

A better Lynx team and a better Moore in particular is a harrowing thought for the rest of the league. The absences of Diana Taurasi and Candace Parker also cement Maya’s status at the top of the game even further.

The MVP enters 2015 as hungry as ever.

“Every single team in the WNBA has the ability to win every night, so I’m not looking at it as a cakewalk by any means,” Moore said. “I’m just focused on improving from last year, not being happy with not getting what we wanted last year, and making sure that we do everything that we can do be better than we’ve ever been. Not resting our laurels on 2011 and 2013, but being the best Lynx team that the organization has ever seen this year.”