Alexander Shun

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Minnesota Lynx (5-2) vs Seattle Storm (2-4) | 9:00 P.M. CT

WHERE TO WATCH: No TV

WHERE TO LISTEN: 106.1 BOB FM

Losses are never easy, especially when suffered at home.

The Minnesota Lynx had multiple chances to take control of their game against the Tulsa Shock on Sunday night, but they simply couldn’t stop Tulsa’s penetration and continued to give the Shock second-chances when they missed.

The Seattle Storm are a much different team than Tulsa; and it’s not just because of the team’s respective records.

Seattle relies heavily on their defense (opponents have shot under 40 percent in their two victories and over 40 percent in three of their four losses) and look to hit their open shots while slowly working the ball inside through the post. This should work out well for the Lynx; provided of course that they don’t allow 46 points in the paint as they did against the Shock.

Lynx forward Rebekkah Brunson was solid on Sunday night, finishing the night with 18 points and nine rebounds while forward Maya Moore had 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists. The big surprise of Sunday night was the play of Lynx center Damiris Dantas off the bench.

Dantas came in and scored 15 points while adding six rebounds and three assists in the loss.

Seattle is looking to avoid their third straight loss by shooting better, especially from beyond the arc.

In their game against the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday night, Seattle could only muster a pitiful 1-of-13 (7 percent) shooting beyond the arc, which makes them 3-of-24 (12 percent) on three-point shots through their last two games.

Despite the poor shooting, the Storm actually had a chance to beat Phoenix, only trailing 71-69 with just over five minutes left in the game; the game quickly got away from Seattle.

Phoenix proceeded to go on a 13-3 run and was aided by two shot-clock violations by Seattle in the last 90 seconds. The Storm will look to close their game against the Lynx much stronger than they did against Phoenix.

Seattle has been led thus far by forward Crystal Langhorne who is averaging a team-high 10.7 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game in just 26.7 minutes per game.

LAST MEETING

On June 11, the Minnesota Lynx hosted the Seattle Storm at Target Center. The game was over after the third quarter.

The Lynx, leading only 39-29 at halftime, came out in the third quarter and outscored the Storm 30-19 to push the lead to 69-48.

Minnesota was fueled by the bench play of guards Tricia Liston and Jennifer O’Neill who scored 15 and 12 points, respectively. The duo combined to go 6-of-9 (66 percent) from beyond the arc and added three rebounds and five assists.

Forward Rebekkah Brunson and guard Seimone Augustus added 12 points each as the Lynx shot 35-of-66 (53 percent) on the night and beat the Storm easily, 94-70.

Veteran guard Sue Bird led the Storm with 12 points and six assists while Renee Montgomery added 10 points and five assists. Forward Crystal Langhorne had eight points and eight rebounds in the loss.

KEY MATCHUP: LYNX FRONTCOURT VS. STORM FRONTCOURT

After giving up a ridiculous 46 points in the paint against the Shock, the focus for the Lynx would assumedly be to protect the paint more.  Well, the Storm have a pretty good frontcourt so forward Rebekkah Brunson and center Asjha Jones are going to be challenged.

Storm forward Crystal Langhorne leads the team in scoring (10.7) and rebounding (6.7) while forward Abby Bishop has averaged only 5.8 points and three rebounds while playing just 22.8 minutes per game. Seattle also has depth in their frontcourt with center Quanitra Hollingsworth coming off the bench and averaging almost four points and four rebounds per game.

If the Lynx can receive another bench performance from center Damiris Dantas like they did on Sunday night, the frontcourts will be battling and the paint will be action-packed. As the Lynx learned on Sunday night, points in the paint can really hurt an opposing team and they will look to have a ton of them on Thursday night against the Storm

PROJECTED STARTERS

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

Storm: PG – Bird, SG – O’Hea, SF – Clark, PF – Bishop, C – Langhorne