Practice Report | Lynx Await Their Playoff Opponent

Mitchell Hansen
Web Editorial Associate
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The Minnesota Lynx returned to practice on Thursday afternoon at The Courts At Mayo Clinic Square in Minneapolis as they prepare to begin postseason play.

The Lynx, who are the top-seeded team in the 2017 WNBA Playoffs Presented by Verizon, are still awaiting to find out who they will face in Game 1 of the semifinal round on Tuesday at Williams Arena.

Minnesota could face three of the four teams that are currently sitting in the second round of the playoffs: No. 4 Connecticut Sun, No. 5 Phoenix Mercury or No. 6 Washington Mystics.

The Lynx will face the lowest remaining seed left in the playoffs following the second round of action on Sunday. If No. 3 New York beats Washington on Sunday, Minnesota will face the winner of the Phoenix/Connecticut game. If Washington beats New York, Minnesota would host the Mystics in the semis (view the updated playoff bracket here).

“Right now, we are worried about ourselves. We’ve kind of combed through our playbook and want to make we focus on things that bring out the best in us,” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said after practice Thursday. “We are focusing on how we think teams are going to play us, we think that’s really important.”

The Lynx will find out on Sunday night, after the second-round games conclude, who they will be facing on Tuesday at the University of Minnesota.

But until then, all they can do is wait and get themselves ready for whoever that opponent is.

“Certainly on Monday, when we know for sure who we are playing, we’ll do our deep dive in our prep between that day and our shootaround. We should have it covered, because we’ve played everybody three times,” Reeve said. “Some of them more recently than others, but we have a general idea of the identities of the teams that are left.

“We’re preparing ourselves to kind of expect the unexpected.”