Lynx Defeat Dream, WNBA Fines Teams for Uniform Violations

In front of a big crowd of small people on camp day at Target Center, the Lynx didn't disappoint in a 83-65 win over the Atlanta Dream. The win moved the Lynx to 20-4 on the season, a half game behind league leading Los Angeles (20-3), and officially clinched them a playoff spot with ten games remaining in the regular season.

The Dream concentrated on Maya Moore, and successfully limited her to only four points, but the Lynx got 27 from their bench and more importantly, stifled the Dream offense to the tune of 38% shooting and 17 turnovers. After leading by as many as 17 in the first half, and 12 at halftime, the Dream got within seven early in the 4th quarter, and it looked like they might make a game of it, something we've seen several times from Lynx opponents this season. Instead, Seimone Augustus took over, making jumper after jumper and scoring 13 in the period to stretch the lead back out and put the game away.

As for the bench, it was powered by strong games from the back court duo of Jia Perkins and Renee Montgomery. Though it hasn't been perfect, those two have contributed a lot this season, helped limit the minutes of the starters, and brought needed jolts of energy at both ends regularly throughout the year. They did it once again yesterday, as the run that got them separation in the last few minutes of the first quarter happened with Moore on the bench and Perkins and Montgomery pushing tempo.

Meanwhile, three WNBA teams (and several players) were fined by the league yesterday for wearing plain black warmups in a statement about recent violence. This was started by the Lynx, who wore now well-known shirts for their game against Dallas last week. The Liberty, Mercury, and Fever all wore the plain blacks after a warning memo from the league, and hence were fined: $5,000 per team and $500 per player.

In Wolves news...there is none. Wolfson tweeted yesterday that they talked with a lot of teams in Vegas, and do not envision the current roster to be the same in October. Still looking at wings and point guards, and will likely make a trade for at least one of those. I doubt anything major happens, but could certainly see a roster balancing trade of some kind, especially since the Wolves still have plenty of cap space, which gives them some flexibility.

Today's musical birthday is Isaac Stern, born in 1920 (d. 2001)

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