Playoff Scouting Report | Lynx at Storm

The Game 

It’s playoff time in the WNBA.

For their first test, the Lynx will travel to Seattle to face the Storm. It’s been a mixed bag for the Lynx against the Storm this season, so they’ll need to be prepared. Minnesota beat Seattle in May but lost the other three contests the two teams played this season. In the game that Minnesota won, the Lynx critically held Seattle to 36.4 percent from the field and just 13.3 percent from three.

The Lynx will have to be particularly conscious of Natasha Howard on Wednesday. Howard has been very efficient against the Lynx this season, shooting over 50 percent from the field against them. However, the Lynx have done a good job keeping her off the boards and limiting her performance from distance. Minnesota will need to keep up those positive aspects of their defense of Howard while working to make her less productive from the field. Howard was the fourth-highest scorer this year in the WNBA but shot only 43.9 percent from the field. If the Lynx can keep her around that or lower, they will be in good shape.

Additionally, Jordin Canada has been a breakout star for the Storm this year, especially in terms of running the Seattle offense and distributing the ball. The Lynx guards have done a good job on Canada this year, holding her to just around her average in assists, but she is another player that has torched them from the floor, shooting 55.9 percent from the field against them.

Despite losing their last game of the regular season in Los Angeles, the Lynx are still in the midst of one of their best stretches of basketball of this year. They have won five of six and over that stretch have the second-best net rating in the league. They have also tightened up their ball security and are fourth in the league in assist to turnover ratio in the last six games.

Minnesota couldn’t have picked a better time of the season to get hot and despite being the underdog in Seattle they are certainly not counting themselves out. It should be a fun contest and the Lynx will be fired up and ready to fight. You won’t want to miss it.

What: Lynx at Storm
When: 9 p.m.
Where: Angel of the Winds Arena
Watch: ESPN2
Listen: BOB FM 106.1

Something You Might Not Have Known…

Despite the Lynx’s struggles in head-to-head matchups with the Storm they are the better team by almost every advanced metric available. The two teams came into the league facing similar circumstances—very different key contributors from the previous year and an underdog mentality. However, both have succeeded. To beat the Storm, the Lynx just need to figure out how to translate the success they have had against other teams over the last few weeks to the Storm.

Injury Report: 

Lynx: Karima Christmas-Kelly (knee) and Jessica Shepard (ACL) are out.
Storm: Sue Bird (knee) and Breanna Stewart (Achilles) are out.

Probable Starters:

Lynx: PG—Robinson, SG – Sims, SF—Collier, PF—Dantas, C—Fowles
Storm: PG—Canada, SG—Lloyd, SF—Howard, PF—Clark, C—Russell