Lynx, Sun take season-long duel into semifinal series

After the Minnesota Lynx held off the Connecticut Sun to earn the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, they will take their earned home-court advantage into a matchup of the teams in a best-of-five WNBA semifinal series.

Minnesota will play host to Game 1 on Sunday at Minneapolis after it advanced in the opening round with a two-game sweep of the Phoenix Mercury. Third-seeded Connecticut reached the semifinals after sweeping the Indiana Fever.

The Lynx were powered in their opening playoff series by the continues superb play of Napheesa Collier, who scored 80 combined points in the pair of wins over the Mercury on 25-of-39 shooting (64.1 percent) from the floor.

Collier, a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team this past summer and recently voted as the AP Defensive Player of the Year, has delivered some of her best basketball in a crucial part of the season.

The Sun made it out of the first round after using a total team effort and smothering defense. Led by DeWanna Bonner - who had 22 points in Game 1 and 15 points in Game 2 - the Sun stifled WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark, holding her to a combined 14-of-40 shooting (35 percent).

Alyssa Thomas - who was on the Olympic team with Collier - also was a big reason why the Sun won their opening series, dropping a 13-assist triple-double in Game 1, then piling up 19 points with 13 assists in Game 2.

"A.T. is a monster," Lynx forward Bridget Carleton said. "They pressure the ball. They make things hard on you offensively, just trying to take care of the ball. They feed off that. They're a physical defensive team. They're going to bring it."

DiJonai Carrington also has provided a big boost for the Sun and was voted the most improved player in the WNBA this season. The Baylor product averaged career-bests in points (12.7), rebounds (5.0), assists (1.6) and steals (1.6) while starting in the 39 games she played.

Carrington's tenacity on defense has been key too, posting a top-40 defensive rating of 94.7 this season after a top-10 mark of 92.6 last season.

"She has elevated her game in every way," Sun coach Stephanie White said of Carrington. "She's been consistent, she's been productive. She's been instrumental in every one of our wins. Whether she's scoring the basketball or whether she's defending the best perimeter player, her ability to make plays for us has been huge."

The Lynx went 1-2 against the Sun in the regular season, with those competitive games decided by an average of just 2.7 points. In a July 4 home loss to Connecticut, Collier played only 24 minutes. In their most recent meeting, a 78-76 win for the Lynx on Sept. 17 in Connecticut, Collier had 25 points and the Lynx forced the Sun into 16 turnovers.

This is the second consecutive season the Lynx and Sun have met in the postseason, after Connecticut beat Minnesota 2-1 in the first round of the playoffs last year.

--Field Level Media