Alexander Shun

Web Editor Associate | @alexpshun

Minnesota Lynx (13-4) vs. Atlanta Dream (7-11) | 7:00 P.M. CT

WHERE TO WATCH: No TV

WHERE TO LISTEN: 106.1 BOB FM

The competition in the WNBA only gets tougher as the season goes on. Sometimes it is due to the teams you play, sometimes it is due to injuries and sometimes it is due to the amount of games you play.

For the Minnesota Lynx, it is all three.

The Lynx will host the Atlanta Dream tonight at Target Center; it will be the second game of a three-games in five nights run for Minnesota.

Entering tonight’s game, Minnesota should be riding high. Newly-acquired center Sylvia Fowles played her first game as a member of the Lynx on Wednesday night and played well, scoring 11 points and grabbing five rebounds. Guard Lindsay Whalen returned from an eye injury and dropped 24 points and six assists. Everything is good, right? Wrong.

Late in the fourth quarter, guard Anna Cruz rolled her ankle and was forced to leave the game. Cruz and Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve have both said the injury isn’t too serious, but just serious enough to potentially keep her out of tonight’s game.

There is no word as to whether Cruz will play tonight as she is listed as a game-time decision. Cruz has easily been one of Minnesota’s best defenders since her arrival and with guard Seimone Augustus already missing time due to a knee injury, Cruz’s absence could be costly. Players such as Renee Montgomery and Tricia Liston will need to play well and fill the void if Cruz is unable to play.

For the Atlanta Dream, tonight’s game will be…bittersweet in a way.

Dream forward Reshanda Gray and center Damiris Dantas will be returning to Minnesota, just days after being traded away from the Lynx. Such players will assumedly have some extra motivation entering tonight’s game.

Gray was Minnesota’s second-round pick in this year’s draft and simply couldn’t get minutes due to Minnesota’s log-jam in the frontcourt. She is getting minutes with the Dream and she is making the most of them.

In her previous game, Gray scored 13 points in 14 minutes off the bench for Atlanta; she scored just six points in 10 games with the Lynx.

The Dream are a team in a state of flux right now, dead-last in the Eastern Conference and seemingly evaluating the young talent on their roster to prepare for next year. That doesn’t mean the players are looking past this season though.

Dream guard Angel McCoughtry, the league’s third-leading scorer at 20.1 points per game, has been stellar of late, providing great leadership for a now youthful roster, and even went so far as to come off the bench for Atlanta so as to provide time for the younger players.

The Dream are yet another team that, despite the disparity in records, play much better than their record shows and will give this Lynx team all that they can handle.

LAST MEETING

Tonight’s game will be the first meeting of the season between the Lynx and the Dream, but if the game goes anything like the last time these two teams met, fans will be in for one heck of a game.

The Lynx and Dream last faced-off on July 22 last year in the friendly-confines of Target Center. Both teams were in need of a win to secure their playoff position and neither were willing to back down.

It looked as though the Lynx were going to run away with this one as they led by 14 points midway through the fourth quarter, but the Dream had one final push in them. They closed regulation on an 18-4 run and sent the game to overtime.

In overtime, Dream guards Angel McCoughtry and Tiffany Hayes hit consecutive three-pointers to put Atlanta up 95-89. Lynx guard Maya Moore responded with a three of her own and guard Lindsay Whalen tied the game with a jumper to force a second overtime period.

In the second overtime, Minnesota closed the door. After Moore nailed two jumpers, Lynx guard Tan White hit a jumper of her own to seal the win.

Moore finished with 48 points, the second-most ever in the league and three points shy of the all-time record, to go with her 10 rebounds and four assists. Whalen finished with 26 points, five rebounds and nine assists in the thrilling victory.

Forward Sancho Lyttle led Atlanta with 26 points and 12 rebounds, while McCoughtry and Hayes finished with 21 and 22 points, respectively.

KEY MATCHUP: REBEKKAH BRUNSON VS. DAMIRIS DANTAS

Let’s be honest, neither of these players is going to drop 40 points or make the flashy, awe-inspiring plays, but both can have a huge impact on the game in their own way.

Brunson has been lockdown defensively, clogging the paint for opposing teams and grabbing any and all rebounds (I swear there are times where it looks like she has five or six arms). Brunson is fifth in the league in rebounding and has been a constant on a team filled with injuries and changes of late. Now she is tasked with shutting down a player that had played alongside her all season.

Dantas averaged 5.9 points and 4.5 rebounds during her tenure in Minnesota, but proved to be developing well and was becoming quite a threat in the low-post. Having played with Brunson for the past two seasons, these two know each other well and there will certainly be no bad-blood of any sort between them; however, it will be a lot of fun to watch these two battle in the post as they fight for key rebounds at big moments of the game.

PROJECTED STARTERS

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

Dream:  PG – Carter, SG – Hayes, SF – Hodges, PF – Dantas, C – Henry