The Game 

The Lynx take on the Wings on Saturday night in their first road game of the season. It will be a good chance for Minnesota to prove that their excellent performances in the first two games of the season were not a fluke.

Dallas isn’t the same team they were last year when they were led by MVP runner-up Liz Cambage and perennial All-Star Skylar Diggins-Smith, but they still have a promising collection of talent on their roster.

Playing on the road comes with its fair share of challenges. The Lynx have been boosted by a great hometown crowd in their last two games and that’s helped to cover up for some mistakes, most notably in the turnover department. After playing very loose with the ball in the early part of the season, the Lynx need to tighten up on the offensive end if they expect their success to translate to a more hostile environment. 

What: Lynx at Wings
When:  7 p.m.
Where: College Park Center
Watch: Fox Sports North, League Pass

Familiar Faces

Facing off against Chicago, Napheesa Collier went head-to-head with one of her best friends—college teammates Katie Lou Samuelson. Now it’s fellow rookie Jessica Shepard’s turn to face a former college teammate.

Arike Ogunbowale, taken with the No. 5 pick in the 2019 draft, has real star potential and the Wings are betting on her turning into the type of go-to scorer that she was in college. Ogunbowale’s efficiency will likely take time to develop, but her ability to put the ball in the hoop is undeniable.

While Shepard and Ogunbowale play different positions, so they won’t be defending one another, it’s safe to assume that Shepard had some inside scouting on her Notre Dame teammate. Hopefully that will give the Lynx an edge. 

Next Woman Up

The Wings don’t have the talent they did last year but the absence of Cambage and Diggins-Smith opens up a lot of opportunity for other players—something that can be hard to come by in a very deep league. Players like Ogunbowale, Allisha Gray, Kayla Thorton and Glory Johnson have a chance this league to prove they are deserving of bigger roles.

The Wings have a very deep team—in their opening-night loss to the Dream, the bench outplayed the starters. Many players will get opportunities to play meaningful minutes on this team. While consistency is important for a team, that unpredictability also makes them harder to scout. They’ll ride the hot hand as much as possible until their future stars emerge.

Injury Report:

Lynx: Seimone Augustus (knee) is out and Karima Christmas-Kelly (knee) is questionable.
Wings: Azura Stevens (concussion) and Skylar Diggins-Smith (personal) are out.

Probably Starters: 

Lynx: PG—Robinson, SG—Sims, SF—Collier, PF—Dantas, C—Fowles
Wings: PG—Hill, SG—Ogunbowale, SF—Davis, PF—Harrison, C—Johnson