Mitchell Hansen
Web Editorial Associate
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The celebration tour for the 2017 WNBA Champions Minnesota Lynx continued Friday night in Minneapolis.
The Lynx returned back to their home at the newly-renovated Target Center on Friday and were recognized in front of a sold out crowd at the Minnesota Timberwolves home opener.
Minnesota forward Rebekkah Brunson and guard Seimone Augustus were both in attendance at the game representing the Lynx, along with the 2017 championship trophy.
“It was great to feel that. I think we hear it a lot when we’re outside of the arena that everybody in this city is behind us and all the other sports franchises and fans are rooting for us too,” Brunson said Friday night. “So to be able to go into a stadium or arena that is filled to capacity and hear that support, it feels really good.”
Friday’s stop was the fourth sports venue that Minnesota has been to so far during their celebration tour this offseason. Brunson and Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve led the “Let’s Play Hockey” chant at the Minnesota Wild home opener, and the Lynx were recognized at a Minnesota Vikings game and Minnesota United match prior to Friday’s Wolves game.
“It’s been great. Everything we do, we do for the city, and everything we accomplish, we want to share it with the city,” Brunson said. “That isn’t limited to just the people that come to the Minnesota Lynx games and just our fans, but our city as a whole. It’s been great to go to the Wild game, go to the Vikings game and now here. Every stadium that we’ve been at has been packed. I’m happy to share this with all of the fans in this city.”
The Lynx, of course, are coming off of beating the Los Angeles Sparks in five games of the WNBA Finals earlier this month. Minnesota now has four titles in franchise history, which ties the Houston Comets for the most titles for a single franchise in WNBA history.
And since winning title No. 4, the Lynx have received nothing but love from the city of Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota.
“It’s been awesome. People are talking about a dynasty, not just in women’s basketball history or in Minnesota women’s basketball history, but just history in Minnesota is being made,” Seimone Augustus said. “It’s just great to know that people here honor and respect what we’ve been doing over the last seven years.”
At Friday night’s Wolves game, Brunson and Augustus were recognized at mid-court during the third quarter of the Wolves’ game against the Utah Jazz. The two Lynx players were greeted with a loud applause and a standing ovation from the sold out Target Center crowd.
“It means a lot, especially to me. I remember when the Target Center was a little bit emptier than what it is now,” Augustus said. “But to be able to grow the game and to grow our fan base to see the newcomers and the new faces in the stands, it means a lot.”
The Lynx will continue celebrating their 2017 title for a few more months before turning their focus to the 2018 season back in front of the Target Center crowd that they stood before on Friday night.
Although this title is as sweet as the others were, the Lynx like the idea of making history with the fifth title in franchise history in 2018. And for Brunson, who is the only player in WNBA history with fifth rings, she wouldn’t mind adding a sixth to her other hand.
“I’m ready. It never gets old. Right now, we are making the No. 5 tour, we’re still enjoying that,” Brunson said. “I think that we are all ready to keep going and see how far we can take this.”