Alexander Shun

Web Editor Associate | @alexpshun

Minnesota Lynx (18-6) at Washington Mystics (13-9) | 3:00 P.M. CT

WHERE TO WATCH: No TV

WHERE TO LISTEN: 106.1 BOB FM

The Minnesota Lynx look more and more like a playoff team with every game they play.

After knocking off the San Antonio Stars last Sunday night to clinch a berth in the 2015 WNBA Playoffs, the Lynx traveled to Atlanta to take on a very tough and fearless Dream team. After surrendering a 16-point lead to the Dream, Minnesota, like any gritty and veteran playoff team would do, battled back and knocked off Atlanta 84-82.

“There’s always a time to come back because it’s such a fast-paced game, so we just stayed calm and continued to trust in our game plan,” said Lynx forward Maya Moore, speaking on her team’s comeback win over the Dream. “We weren’t happy, we never want to be down that much, but we didn’t give up… we were squeezed and resilience came out.”

Moore has returned to MVP-form, scoring 20+ points in her last three games, including a season-high 36 points in Atlanta. The game was Moore’s third 30+ point game of the season and a franchise record 17th of her WNBA career.

While Moore is back to dominating teams once again, she has been getting a ton of help from center Sylvia Fowles.

Fowles finished Friday night’s game in Atlanta with a season-high tying 19 points to go with her game high eight rebounds. Fowles also blocked five shots on the night, making her just the sixth player in Lynx history to block five or more shots in a game.

With Moore and Fowles leading Minnesota down the stretch, they will be counted on heavily this afternoon against a very tough and determined Washington Mystics team.

The Mystics, who at one point this season were winners of five-straight and leading the Eastern Conference, have lost three of their last five games and slipped to fourth in the Eastern Conference standings.

After suffering a tough loss to the Indiana Fever last week, the Mystics will be well-prepared to take on the Western Conference-leading Lynx.

Center Stefanie Dolson has led Washington this season, averaging 12.5 and 6.6 rebounds, despite being in just her second year as a pro. Guard Ivory Latta has been sensational as well, averaging 12.2 points per game this season, including a 13 point performance her in last game against the Fever.

The Mystics will use Latta to get good penetration in the lane so as to open up jump shots for her teammates and, eventually, open up the paint for bigs like Dolson to do what she does best.

It is going to be a tough game between two teams battling for position in the playoffs and whichever team comes out on top will have the advantage heading into the back-end of these team’s home-and-home games.

LAST MEETING

These two teams last met on June 20 last season at Target Center in Minnesota.

Maya Moore led the way, scoring a game-high 20 points to go with 10 rebounds and seven assists while leading the Lynx to a 75-65 victory. Guard Seimone Augustus added 19 points in her first game back since suffering knee bursitis in her previous game and guard Tricia Liston added seven points off the bench.

Mystics guard Kara Lawson led Washington, scoring 14 points wile adding two rebounds and three assists off the bench. Guard Kia Vaughn and forward Bria Hartley each added 10 points in the loss.

The score was much closer than the game actually was.

Minnesota jumped out to a 43-34 lead at halftime and never looked back; the Mystics never got closer than nine. After a Hartley three-pointer cut the Lynx lead back to nine with just over three minutes left in the game, but the Lynx scored four quick points to close out the game and get the win.

KEY MATCH-UP: THE DEFENSES

This match-up is quite easy to follow; the team that holds the other team to less points will win the game. Fairly obvious, but let’s look closer.

The Lynx, after holding the Atlanta Dream to just 30-of-78 (38.5 percent) shooting from the floor, improved to 13-0 on the season when holding their opponent to under 40 percent shooting. Minnesota has also won 72 of their past 73 games when holding their opponent to under 40 percent shooting. Clearly the key number is 40 and the number the Lynx will be hoping for during today’s game.

The Mystics on the other hand have excelled when they play well defensively. Having only three players averaging double-digits in scoring this season, the Mystics have relied heavily on their defensive prowess. In their 13 wins this season, the Mystics have held their opponents to just 67.6 points per game, while in their nine losses, they have given up 76.5 points per game.

I am sure that many will think that defense is an obvious match-up to watch for, but the case of these two teams, the defenses are what they rely on and what will make all the difference in, not only deciding the outcome of the game, but deciding which team performs better offensively as well.

PROJECTED STARTERS:

Lynx: PG – Whalen, SG – Augustus, SF – Moore, PF – Brunson, C – Fowles

Mystics: PG – Ruffin-Pratt, SG – Latta, SF – Cloud, PF – Meesseman, C – Dolson