Sun 90, Lynx 83: Sunset on Syl’s Final Ride

After getting dismantled by the Seattle Storm in (at that point) the most important game of the season, Coach Cheryl Reeve shared that the Minnesota Lynx would show more fight in a do-or-die game to stay alive for a shot at the postseason.

Unfortunately, that fight only came in the fourth quarter.

The Connecticut Sun demonstrated that they had the talent and depth advantage all game long. They easily built an early 10-point lead which was foreshadowing of what was to come. The interior presence of the current MVP Jonquel Jones, current MIP Brionna Jones, and relentless Alyssa Thomas buoyed a 50-34 advantage in the paint. Meanwhile, Courtney Williams, Dewanna Bonner, and most importantly Natisha Hiedeman (4 3PM) complemented that interior presence with perimeter scoring. The Lynx looked out of sorts, playing with the wrong sense of desperation as they kept getting taken advantage of backdoor and on blown rotations. On offense, they looked stiff and scared. The Connecticut lead slowly but surely ballooned to as much as 19-points with 9:01 remaining in the game with all of their starters on the bench.

Finally, the Minnesota starters would find their rhythm only against the Sun bench. They would rattle off a 15-3 run, much courtesy of Aerial Powers, that injected one last breath into the Lynx season with 3:43 remaining.

Kurt Miller, who was intent on spoiling a chance for Syl to get a final postseason run, reinserted his starters despite the game having zero playoff seeding implications for his team. The Lynx pulled as close to 76-80, but had fired the last bullets in their chamber. The late surge was too little too late, as the Connecticut first-string was able to keep just enough distance away from Minnesota as they sailed to the finish line. The Sun won on pretty much the entire stat sheet despite the misleading final score.

With their 11-season postseason streak officially coming to an end, this marks the beginning of the scariest most intriguing offseason for the Minnesota Lynx. However, there’s plenty of time ahead of us to theorize what’s next for Cheryl Reeve’s team. Instead of focusing any more on that and today’s disappointing Lynx performance (Outside of Lindsey Allen, who went off for a career-high 26 points on 6/7 three point shooting), let us all rightfully spend time honoring the greatest center of all-time: Sylvia Fowles.