FINALS BOUND

LYNX 88

SUN 77

Five months ago, nobody saw this coming. The Lynx looked to be a lower level playoff team at best, still a long way away from contending for a 5th franchise title.

And now the Lynx are 3 wins away from that title, as this most unexpected great season rolls on after they slayed the pesky Sun in a deciding game 5 on Tuesday night at a raucous and then very joyous Target Center.

This series should have ended in game 4 this past weekend. The Lynx controlled the first half, only to then spend the 2nd half imploding in a mess of missed shots and poor defense.

But it didn't take very long in game 5 to show that the Lynx were not going to have any sort of hangover. Yeah, the Sun were hot in the opening minutes and took a 9-4 lead, but that was wiped out by a 10-0 Lynx run, and the Sun would never lead again. 

The first half was basically perfect for the Lynx. Up 13 after 1, up 19 at the half, they were dominant on both ends. The defense was stifling, and the shooting was on fire, particularly from Phee and Courtney Williams, who had an amazing game. 

Still, the memories of what happened in hame 4 were fresh. And the Lynx did open the 3rd quarter in very sloppy fashion, surrendering almost half their lead in just a couple minutes. 

But any fears that a game 4 rerun was happening was obliterated in a 12-0 Lynx run that pushed the lead up to a game high 24.

Connecticut stabilized, and had a small run of their own, but the Lynx went to the final quarter up 17. So the Sun had only chopped 2 points off the Lynx halftime lead.

The 4th quarter was mostly a formality. The Lynx simply were not going to allow the Sun to make it a game. You could see it. Once the Lynx locked back in on defense in that 3rd quarter, it was ballgame. The Lynx offense wasn't great after halftime, but it didn't matter. The Sun had 18 turnovers and shot 38%. They never could sustain anything.

I predicted a monster Collier game, and she had what by now is almost a standard boxscore (27 points, 11 boards, 4 blocks). Williams almost outdid her, with 24 points and 7 assists. McBuckets added 19, with a couple of dagger threes. 

It was pretty much just those 3. Alanna Smith had one huge 3 to end that Sun run in the 3rd, and Natisha Hiedeman had some big minutes off the bench.

So the Lynx now advance to face the New York Liberty in the finals. The Lynx beat them 3 out of 4 in the regular season and should at least have an easier time running their offense without that swarming Sun defense mucking up the works. Unfortunately, the Liberty have the advantage of extra rest since they only needed 4 games to beat the Aces. And they have home court.

The Lynx are the underdogs here for sure, and it could be that this is as far as it goes. But the Lynx absolutely have a chance in this series.