Alexander Shun

Web Editor Associate | @alexpshun 

Oh how good it is to be home.

It’s no secret in the WNBA, teams like playing on their home floor, proven by the fact that nine of the 12 teams in the league had winning records at home. No team played better at home than the Minnesota Lynx.

“We have the best fans in the world and they show up every home game and give us so much energy, it’s really unlike anywhere else in the league,” said Lynx guard Renee Montgomery. “Home games here are so much louder than anywhere else.”

Many people both in and around the league agree that games at Target Center are some of the loudest in the WNBA.

In the 2015 WNBA.com GM Survey released at the beginning of the year, the Lynx were voted by WNBA general managers (41.7 percent) to have the best home-court advantage in the league, taking the spot from the Seattle Storm who had held the title for the previous five years.

“I’m thrilled for our fans that we were able to overtake because Seattle’s environment has been nothing short of tremendous through the years. So that says a lot for our fans,” said Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve when told the results of the survey.

The Lynx and their fans lived up to such a title, going 13-4 at home this season, tied for the best record in the league at home this season with the Chicago Sky and Phoenix Mercury. Being one of the best at home though is nothing new for the Minnesota Lynx, achieving one of the best, if not the best, home record in the league for the last five seasons.

Since the 2011 season, the Lynx have been either the best or second-best home record in the league every single season and have combined to go 73-12 at home, including this season’s record.

“There’s a reason why people work so hard to get home-court advantage in the playoffs,” said Reeve. “We just want to be mindful of all the work that we put in and how hard it was to get here.”

The Lynx will open their 2015 WNBA Playoffs on Friday night at the Target Center against a very tough and very talented Los Angeles Sparks team; a team they beat three of the four times they faced during the regular season, with the lone loss coming on the road in Los Angeles. Minnesota is very aware of how important it will be to win the first game of the series on their home floor.

“If you’re the road team, that’s the game you know you gotta get it,” said Reeve, speaking about how important Friday night’s series opener will be at home. “If you’re the home team, it’s the game that you know that you’re in the driver’s seat. It’s your home games, you’ve gotta win your home games and that’s what we worked for all season.”

Home-court might mean even more to this Lynx team after last season’s Western Conference Finals match-up with the Phoenix Mercury during which, in a best-of-three games series, they lost two games to the Mercury, including the series-deciding game which was played in Phoenix. Should there be a rematch between these teams, the deciding game would be played in Minnesota, a much better outcome for the Lynx.

“It’s not something that we thought about this season, but it definitely gives us an advantage should that situation arise again,” said Reeve speaking about Minnesota’s mindset throughout the season regarding gaining home-court advantage. “Playing in front of your home fans and the energy and excitement that they bring and that they give our players gives us a lot of momentum not only in the regular season, but come playoff-time.”

Minnesota’s home-court advantage is strong in the regular season but is even stronger in the playoffs, evidenced by the fact that the Lynx have not lost at home in the playoffs since the WNBA Finals in 2012 which is the only home playoff game that Minnesota has lost in the last five years.

Many within the organization credit such success to that home-court advantage and having played so many games in the playoffs at home. With such an immense amount of success at home and with the Lynx obtaining home-court through the Western Conference playoffs, opposing teams can be certain that Minnesota is going to be one of the hardest teams to beat in the 2015 WNBA Playoffs.

“Our home-court advantage, since I’ve been here, has been felt by all and that’s been a huge reason as to why we’ve been able to be successful,” said Lynx forward Maya Moore. “We take our home-court very seriously and we want to make sure that it’s really, really hard for teams to win when we’re at the Target Center.”