Minnesota races away from Connecticut to earn spot in WNBA finals

Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier (24), Connecticut’s Brionna Jones (center) and Bridget Carleton box out during Tuesday night’s WNBA playoff game in Minneapolis. The Lynx won 88-77 to advance to the WNBA finals.  (Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images)

Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve has led her team to four WNBA championships. Playing tough defense has been at the core of all four championships, Reeve said Tuesday night.

On Tuesday night, two teams whose identities revolve around their defensive prowess and skill met with the winner advancing to the WNBA championship series against the New York Liberty.

Minnesota imposed their will upon the Sun and advanced to their first WNBA final since 2017 with an 88-77 win over Connecticut to win the best-of-five semifinal, 3-2. Minnesota led by as many as 24 points and their lead never dipped below nine points after the first quarter.

“They are a great defensive team,” Connecticut’s DeWanna Bonner said. They play well on defense. They help each other. They beat you up. They’re physical. They feed off each other very well. It was two heavyweight teams going at it. They just got the upper hand.”

“We played Lynx basketball too. We’re proud to get back to that,” Reeve said. “I guaranteed you we would play the defense we played. That (Connecticut) team was special and it was necessary to close them out.”

Minnesota showed no mercy, especially in a dominating first half. They harassed the Sun, picked up key rebounds and were sharp shooting the basketball.

Former Sun guard Courtney Williams, who was a shooting guard with Connecticut, now plays at the point for the Lynx. But she was 6-for-6 from the floor in the first half with 14 points. Kayla McBridge had 15 points, including a pair of three-point shots in the first half.

Connecticut cut the lead to nine, 31-22 with a basket in the paint from Brionna Jones but the Lynx went on a 13-4 run to take a 20-point lead. The Sun didn’t score a field goal for a period of 6:10 in the second quarter.

Naphessa Collier closed out an outstanding series by scoring 27 points and pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds along with four assists and four blocks. She became the first player in WNBA history to score at least 25 points and pull down 10 rebounds in three consecutive WNBA playoff games.

Williams cooled off a bit in the second half but still finished with 24 points while McBride scored 19 for Minnesota.

Connecticut was led by DiJonai Carrington, who scored 17 points – all in the second half with Jones getting 16 points and Bonner scoring 14. Ty Harris added 12 but much it came in the second half when the was out of reach.

Marina Mabrey turned an ankle when she accidentally stepped on the foot of a photographer midway through the second quarter and didn’t play in the second half.

But the game was already decided. Connecticut trailed by 19 at the half, 53-34 but cut the lead to 12 points with a 9-0 run to open the third quarter.

But even with that run, Minnesota was still playing tough defense. The Sun missed 10 of their first 11 shots in the third quarter.

Once Alanna Smith drained a three-point shot with 5:38 left in the third quarter, it ignited a Lynx burst. Minnesota ripped off 12 straight points to build its biggest lead of the game.

The run was full of great plays for Minnesota with Williams getting a steal from Bonner and driving to the basket, Collier taking a great feed from Smith after a Sun turnover and Collier capping off the run with an open three-point shot from the corner.

The Sun had numerous defensive lapses and when they left shooters wide open in the corner, they would drain three-point shots. Minnesota scored 22 points off 19 Connecticut turnovers.

“They knocked us in the mouth and that deficit was a lot to overcome,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “But I am proud of what we’ve done as a team throughout the year.”

But she couldn’t help but wonder about what could have been.

“Unfortunately, we had a good opportunity in front of us but we couldn’t take advantage of it,” she said.

Trailing 2-1 in the best-of-5 semifinal, the Sun played tough defense in the second half of Sunday’s game four win at the Mohegan Sun Arena to force game five. The Sun were in the semifinals for the sixth straight year.

It’s been an exciting six-year run for the Sun, who have played in two WNBA finals and have been in the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons, the longest current streak in the league. But the league championship still eludes this franchise.

And what will this team look like next year? Bonner is 37 and has played for 15 seasons. She is an unrestricted free agent along with Jones and Thomas, 32, according to Spotrac.com.

The WNBA finals begin Thursday night in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center.

Notables

• Carrington led the Sun with a postseason career-high 17 points. She also recorded a double-double with a postseason career-high 12 rebounds and added one assist, three steals and one block in the game.

• Jones notched her third career postseason double-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in the effort. She grabbed six offensive rebounds on the night, one offensive rebound shy of her postseason career-high

• The Sun shot 38.5% (25-65) from the field, while the Lynx went 49.3% (34/69) on the night. It marked the ninth time this season Connecticut shot less than 40% from the floor. The Sun finish the year 3-6 when doing so.

• The Lynx’s 53 points were the most the Sun have allowed in a first half this season. Their 19-point half-time deficit was also their largest of the season.

• Connecticut dished out just 11 assists in the game, 11 assists under their 2024 postseason average. The last time the Sun had 11 assists or fewer came on June 17, 2021 (regular season).

Minnesota 88, Connecticut 77
At Minneapolis
Connecticut (77) Bonner 4-13 3-3 14, Thomas 2-6 3-4 7, Jones 7-12 2-2 16, Carrington 4-14 9-11 17, Harris 4-8 2-2 12, Mabrey 3-5 0-0 8, Burton 1-7 0-0 3. Totals 25-65 19-22
Minnesota (88) Carleton 1-7 0-0 2, Collier 10-16 6-8 27, Smith 2-3 1-2 7, McBride 8-16 0-2 19, Williams 9-16, 3-3 24, Hines-Allen 1-3 0-0 2, Zandalasini 0-4 0-0 0, Hiedeman 3-4 0-0 7. Totals 34-69 10-15
Connecticut                          18  16  14  29  — 77
Minnesota                             31  22   12  23  — 88
Three-point goals: Connecticut 8-23 (Bonner 3-7, Carrington 0-3, Harris 2-4, Mabrey 2-4, Burton 1-5); Minnesota 10-26 (Carleton 0-6, Collier 1-2, Smith 2-3, McBride 3-9, Williams 3-3, Zandalasini 0-2, Hiedeman 1-1)