Alexander Shun

Web Editor Associate | @alexpshun 

2015 WNBA FINALS | FEVER LEAD SERIES 1-0

Minnesota Lynx (0-1) vs. Indiana Fever (1-0) | 7:00 P.M. CT

WHERE TO WATCH: ESPN 2

WHERE TO LISTEN: 106.1 BOB FM

In the WNBA Finals, anything can happen. Regular-season records and previous meetings mean nothing. Even the always precious asset of home court is slightly diminished; the Indiana Fever proved that on Sunday afternoon when they defeated the Minnesota Lynx 75-69 in Minneapolis in game one of the WNBA Finals.

“We covert the home court, but Indiana has been a team that hasn’t needed it,” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “A three-game series, a five-game series, it doesn’t matter. They just have a strong belief, as [Tamika] Catchings described, that it’s a collective effort of their 12 players contributing.”

Not all 12 players contributed in game one, but the Fever did receive a very balanced effort offensively, having five Indiana players score in double-figures, led by guard Briann January who finished with 19 points, four rebounds and six assists. Forward Marissa Coleman added 16 points and forward Tamika Catchings chipped in 12 points, six rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocked shots. their collective effort fueled the Fever to steal game one and capture home court advantage from Minnesota.

“Homecourt advantage can be huge if you make it huge,” Lynx forward Maya Moore said. “We’re going to come in with energy, passion and protect what we’ve worked so hard in the regular season to get.”

“Taking care of home,” Lynx center Sylvia Fowles said when asked what her team’s mindset was entering game two. “This is our home-court and there are things that we do so well that got us to this point that we got away from in the first game.”

The Fever won game one of the 2012 Finals between these two teams as well and eventually went on to win the series 3-1; the Lynx won game two of that series by the way. Game two will be played tonight in Minneapolis before the series heads to Indiana for games three and four. Minnesota obviously wants to avoid heading to Indiana in 2-0 hole, but the Lynx don’t necessarily see game two as a must-win game.

“Every game feels like a must-win for both teams, for both sides, so that’s not new,” Moore said. “That reality is a part of being in the Finals. Every team wants to win every game because every game is so valuable with a five game series…We definitely want to win, but how we do that is where our focus will be.”

In game one, Moore led Minnesota finishing with 27 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and three blocked shots. Fowles had an up-and-down afternoon for the Lynx finishing with 21 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and three blocked shots while committing five turnovers. Moore and Fowles were the only Lynx players to score in double-figures

To win game two, Minnesota will aim to avoid Indiana from getting as many second chances as they did in game one. Indiana grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and was able to accumulate 22 second-chance points, many of those points coming from three-pointers to end a Lynx run.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Lynx went a 7-0 run to not only eliminate a six-point Fever lead, but give themselves a one-point lead. The run forced Indiana to take a timeout and regroup. After the timeout, Indiana forward Marissa Coleman clanged a three-point shot, but January collected the offensive rebound and kicked it back out to Coleman who calmly took advantage of the second opportunity by nailing the three-pointer and putting the Fever back in the lead; the Lynx would fail to get any closer.

Such sequences occurred consistently throughout game one, but the Lynx are determined to correct such things.

“We could walk out of here and go, ‘Well we just gotta keep em off the glass,’” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “Well that’s not exactly what the situation was all the time…It’s really obvious we can just go, ‘well second-chance points hurt you,’ but it doesn’t just get fixed when we go out there for the next game. What exactly created those situations that we could try and eliminate?”

Many of the problems that the Lynx had in game one can be fixed and fixed quickly, or at least one would think. Missed free-throws, missed rebounds and missed opportunities muddled a solid game one performance for Minnesota; however, there were many positives from game one that the Lynx can be pleased with, including shooting 26-of-62 (42 percent) while they held Indiana to just 27-of-75 (36 percent) shooting.

Tonight, the Lynx will look to continue their solid shooting while taking better care of the ball (15 turnovers in game one) and making their free-throws while giving the Fever fewer second chances. If they can do that while getting a bit more offense out of guards Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus, they will be in a good position to win game two and even the series at a game a piece.

KEY MATCH-UP: LYNX FRONTCOURT VS. FEVER FRONTCOURT

Entering game one on Sunday afternoon, the Fever were averaging a league-best 35.7 points in the paint this postseason, while Minnesota entered having held its postseason opponents to a league-best 28.8 points in the paint. The frontcourts were held rather quiet though.

Minnesota’s frontcourt finished with a combined 22 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocked shots. Indiana’s frontcourt registered a combined 16 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocked shots. Uncharacteristically low numbers for the frontcourts surely will not continue in game two.

Minnesota’s duo of forward Rebekkah Brunson and center Sylvia Fowles have combined this postseason to average 17 points, 18.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists. Well Brunson played defensively in game one, she was non-existent on the offensive side of the ball, something she will assumedly change in tonight’s game. Fowles, despite scoring 21 points and collecting 11 rebounds, committed 5 turnovers, including four in the first quarter, contributing to her slow start. The Lynx have always thrived when Brunson and Fowles set the pace of the game early on, something they were unable to do in game one. To set the desired pace though, the Lynx will need to battle a tough Indiana frontcourt.

Forward Tamika Catchings and center Erlana Larkins have been nothing if not consistent for Indiana this postseason, combining to average 27.5 points, 13.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Catchings is one of the league’s all-time greatest forwards and the five-time Defensive Player of the Year certainly provides an extremely difficult match-up for Minnesota, evidenced by both her offensive and defensive performance in game one on Sunday afternoon. If Catchings can help to contain Brunson and provide her team with as much energy as she did on Sunday afternoon, he Lynx will be hard-pressed to get a win and avoid a 2-0 hole.

Both teams find a great deal of success inside and, despite the lack of post play in game one, will surely make their interior play much more prevalent tonight.

PROJECTED STARTERS

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

Fever: PG – January, SG – Johnson, SF – Coleman, PF – Catchings, C – Larkins