MINNEAPOLIS – After a pulse-pounding series opener, the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks return to Williams Arena for Game 2 of the 2017 WNBA Finals on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.

The Sparks captured Game 1 in dramatic fashion as Chelsea Gray knocked down a step back jumper with two seconds remaining to cap off a frantic back and forth that saw the lead change four times in the final minute.

What do these two teams have in store for an encore? Here are five things to watch for heading into Tuesday’s pivotal Game 2, which can be seen on ESPN2 at 8 PM ET.

Strong Starts Are A Must

The Sparks opened the 2017 WNBA Finals by outscoring the Lynx 28-2 in the first eight minutes of action and led 32-11 at the end of the first quarter.

How important is having a first quarter lead?

In the 12 meetings between these teams over the past two years – regular season and Finals – the team that leads the game at the end of the first quarter has gone on to win 10 of 11 games, with the other being tied at the end of the first period.

The only exception to this rule was last year’s Game 5, which saw Nneka Ogwumike knock down the game-winner and series-clincher with just 3.1 seconds remaining. Outside of that, every time a team has had the lead at the end of the first quarter, has gone on to win the game.

2016 Season
6/21/16: MIN wins 1st qtr 25-21, wins game 72-69
6/24/16: LAS wins 1st qtr 18-15, wins game 94-76
9/6/16: MIN wins 1st qtr 26-18, wins game 77-74

2016 Finals
Game 1: LAS wins 1st qtr 21-18, wins game 78-76
Game 2: MIN wins 1st qtr 18-14, wins game 79-60
Game 3: LAS wins 1st qtr 32-17, wins game 92-75
Game 4: MIN wins 1st qtr 22-20, wins game 85-79
*Game 5: MIN wins 1st qtr 18-17, LAS wins game 77-76

2017 Season
7/6/17: MIN wins 1st qtr 25-14, wins game 88-77
**8/11/17: Tied after 1st qtr 20-20, LAS wins game 70-64
8/27/17: LAS wins 1st qtr 22-15, wins game 78-67

2017 Finals
Game 1: LAS wins 1st qtr 32-11, wins game 85-84

*: Team trailing at end of first quarter went on to win game
**: Game was tied at end of first quarter

Minnesota Fire

During their film session following Game 1, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve let it be known that her team could not replicate the type of effort they displayed in Game 1 if they hope to win the championship.

“It wasn’t just a first quarter issue, it was throughout the game,” Reeve said Tuesday morning following the team’s shootaround. “We had some really long clips of players not being engaged on a championship level. And it’s just unacceptable. If it didn’t bother them, then I don’t want them to play today. I want people that it hurts and you want to be passionate about what you’re doing. So that’s the solution – to play every possession like its your last.”

Reeve added that she didn’t just talk to the team about their effort, but that they discussed tactics as well. But she does see a direct connection between the energy her team plays with and level of execution they are able to achieve.

“A lack of energy leads to a lack of execution,” she said. “I told them when we play with a great deal of passion and energy, they don’t run the schemes exactly right, but it works out. Because anytime you play hard good things happen to you. It may not have gone exactly the way we drew it up but usually something good happens when you pour it all out there and you’re passionate about what you’re doing.”

After hearing that message over the past 48 hours, expect the Lynx to respond with a ferocious attack on Tuesday night.

Small Ball

After getting crushed in the early minutes of Game 1, Reeve went to Jia Perkins off the bench to provide a spark. Reeve added a third guard to the lineup in place of power forward Rebekkah Brunson, which shifted Maya Moore to the four spot alongside Sylvia Fowles.

This in-game adjustment worked well for the Lynx as they battle back in the second quarter to close the 26-point lead to a more manageable 10-point gap at the half. Reeve stuck with the switch to open the second half as Perkins ended up playing 28 minutes – the most she’s played since Aug. 3 and more than her previous two playoff games combined (24).

Perkins posted a plus/minus of plus-25, which was the highest mark of any player by a wide margin on Sunday – 10 points better than L.A.’s Ogwumike, who finished second.

At shootaround, the Lynx’s standard starting five of Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus, Moore, Brunson and Fowles ran through plays together, which suggests there will not be a change to the starting lineup for Game 2. However, it will be interesting to watch how soon and how much Reeve employs her smaller lineup to help defend the Los Angeles backcourt of Chelsea Gray and Odyssey Sims, who finished with 27 and 16 points, respectively, in Game 1.

Adjusting To The Adjustment

Minnesota’s small lineup help get them back into the game as it took time for the Sparks to figure out how to combat the new-look lineup.

“We hadn’t seen that all year,” said Ogwumike. “We have to be able to react.”

For Ogwumike, the small Lynx lineup meant either her or Candace Parker had to guard Moore rather than a post player like Brunson. Both Sparks bigs possess the defensive skills and athleticism to defend a player like Moore, but they are not accustomed to doing so for more than a few possessions. When that small lineup is on the court for extended minutes, it requires what Ogwumike described as reprogramming.

“As post players, me and Candace we can keep up with guards but we’re not used to guarding out here [on the perimeter],” she said. “So you have to kind of change your mindset and now you’re expecting screens to be set on you instead of you being the one managing what happens with the screen.”

“Understanding that, chasing people off of screens, not helping too much, because as post players we’re programmed to help. It’s all about changing that defensive mentality and you have to stay focused on it. You can’t have any type of lapse.”

Ogwumike said things were especially tough in transition when it came to matching up properly and running out to the perimeter rather than getting back toward the rim like post players normally do.

“When they’re small, your brain is thinking ‘Where’s the post, where’s the post’ and they you realize ‘Oh I’ve got to pick up Lindsay Whalen,'”she said with a laugh.

But that is the beauty of a five-game series; it allows for the chess match to play out as coaches and players make adjustments from game to game and try to anticipate what their opponent will throw at them.

Who Will Be Ready For Their Moment?

If there is anything we’ve learned from watching these two teams in the Finals over the past two years is that they are evenly matched and the game will usually be decided in the final minute.

In fact, three of Los Angeles’ four wins over Minnesota in six Finals games have come on a game-winning shot within the final three seconds of play. There was Alana Beard’s buzzer beater to win Game 1 in 2016, Ogwumike’s putback to win the title in Game 5 and Gray’s stepback jumper to clinch Game 1 of this year’s series.

That is three different players making the game-winning shot, which means everybody has to be ready when they are called upon to deliver.

Ogwumike is a perfect example of this. During the second regular season matchup between these teams, she was held to three points and made just one basket the entire game. That one basket came with 28 seconds to play in the game as she knocked down a baseline jumper to answer a Brunson putback that cut L.A.’s lead to three points just 20 seconds earlier. Ogwumike’s only basket pushed the Sparks’ lead back to five and they went on to win 70-64.

Ogwumike averaged just 12.7 points per game against the Lynx in the regular season – her lowest average against any opponent. She was held to single-digit scoring only twice all season – both came against Minnesota.

Things were playing out the same way in Game 1 on Sunday. Ogwumike had nine points in the final minute of Game 1, had not made a basket since there was 7:14 remaining in the second quarter, but her moment came with 26 seconds left and she delivered a bucket in the lane to put L.A. up by one point.

“It wasn’t necessarily the game-winner but that shot had to go in,” she said. “That’s just how the game is.

“You have to stay active and stay ready because at some point it could be your moment.”