Alexander Shun

Web Editor Associate | @alexpshun 

So I discovered the other day that Minnesota Lynx fans are seemingly quite forgetful. I received multiple emails and tweets from fans wanting to provide their breakdown of an upcoming match-up for the Lynx, but all wanted to provide analysis of the game tomorrow night against the San Antonio Stars. Did fans forget that the Lynx had a game last night against the Los Angeles Sparks? It wouldn’t appear so based on the number of fans that came out to the game, yet I found nobody willing to analyze the Lynx/Sparks game. Oh well, I guess that’s not as enticing to fans. The good news is, I had lots of fans wanting to breakdown tomorrow night’s game against the Stars.

For the game against the Stars, I talked to University of Minnesota-Duluth student Carly Mitchell. Mitchell has been a Lynx fan for just a short time (since Maya Moore was drafted in 2011) but she is a proclaimed die-hard fan now and watches every game she can. Her favorite player, of course, is forward Maya Moore, but says she models her basketball game after guard Lindsay Whalen, though admittedly she’s not nearly as good (that’s okay though, few players are). I asked Mitchell to give me her breakdown of the upcoming game against the Stars and, like a pro, Mitchell delivered.

If fans want to give their perspective on a game and be featured on the Lynx website, just tweet at me @alexpshun or email me at alexander.shun@timberwolves.com.

Give me your first thoughts on the match-up against San Antonio. What stands out to you?

Carly: Well this could definitely be a trap game. The Stars have struggled this year and have a pretty bad record so, of course, the Lynx should win. I think we should win the game but we can’t get overconfident. We need to approach this game like a playoff game, especially with the Mercury so close to us in the standings now. Perkins is a great player and I like the way that [Danielle Robinson] plays. They have some talented players on their team and if we’re not careful, we will lose. 

What is the key match-up for this game?

Carly: It has to be their guards against our guards. We have great guards like Lindsay [Whalen] and Anna [Cruz] and Seimone [Augustus] and they’re going to have a tough time against the Stars’ guards. If Seimone plays – I doubt she will – but if she plays then we’ll have a huge advantage. Lindsay has played really well lately and I think her leadership has really been important and will be important again against the Stars. We have to stop Perkins first and Lindsay has done great at that in other games this year so hopefully she can do it again.The guards are going to decide everything.

What do the Lynx need to do to win this game? What is most important?

Carly: I think the most important thing to do is be smooth on offense. We have so many great players that can score pretty much whenever they want to and then we have other great players that can play well defensively and protect the basket and get rebounds and blocks and stuff so we have a great team, we just get…hurried, at times. It looks like we try to run the ball up-court so quickly sometimes that we end up losing control of the ball or we make a mistake that leads to a basket for the other team. We can’t do that anymore. If we take good open shots and drive the lane when it’s available then we should put up a lot of points and beat the Stars.

Who is going to be the surprise MVP of the game?

Carly: I don’t know if Lindsay Whalen is really a surprise. Does she count? I just think a lot of people expect Maya and Sylvia [Fowles] to score 20 points each and they’ll be the stars, but I think Lindsay is ready to have a huge game. I think she’s going to score around 20 points and have six or seven assists too. I know she’s going to play well defensively, I just think she’s ready to explode offensively and since nobody on the Stars’ team will be expecting her to score that much, she’ll be able to get to the lane and get easy lay-ups. They don’t have to be easy though because I know she can make lay-ups while getting hit. She’s probably the best in the league at doing that.

Which team wins and what is the final score?

Carly: Well the Lynx are going to win but I don’t know by how much. I think the Lynx win 90-67. I know that it’s a lot of points but I think the Lynx can do it, especially if Lindsay scores as many points as I expect her to score. I’m sure other people are going to laugh at this score, aren’t they? I could switch it but I think that 90 is a good number. Plus, I picked the Lynx to win so that’s good enough. As long as the Lynx win then I don’t care what the score is so go Lynx.