Mercury at Lynx: Game Two

Mercury at Lynx
7:00 pm CDT
ESPNews

The Lynx once again host the Phoenix Mercury at Xcel Energy Center in game two of their WNBA semifinal. The Lynx dominated the first game with an unstoppable offense led by Maya Moore’s 31 points, and a team field goal percentage north of 60%. The Mercury have had defensive problems all season, though the Lynx can’t expect to shoot like that again. Cheryl Reeve expressed some unhappiness with the team defense after game one, and the Lynx will look to clean that up tonight.

Enter Sylvia Fowles, who was named the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year earlier today. Fowles, who experienced some foul trouble in game one, finished 5th in the league in both defensive rating and rebound percentage, as well as blocks per game. She anchored the best defense in the league, and is well deserving of the honor.

Meanwhile, Cheryl Reeve was announced as the WNBA Coach of the Year today as well, a well-deserved award after leading the Lynx to the best record in the league. This is her second COY award, the first coming in 2011. She’s obviously been hugely successful with the Lynx, much of which is attributable to the talent she’s had, but she deserves a lot of credit for keeping the team focused and intense, and figuring out tactics to take advantage of her personnel.

Both of them will need to be ready to help lead the team tonight as the Lynx look to take a commanding lead in the series before heading to Phoenix for game three.

Enjoy the game and chat about it here.