The Lynx Still Got 'It'

Travel with me back to 2003. You might notice my cool, long, baggy, dark black long-sleeve shirt stuffed inside a short-sleeved Meteora Linkin Park shirt. My iPod mini headphones are wrapped around itself 47 times so that the sound doesn’t cut out. Limewire is downloading music while also filling my parents' computer with viruses.

In the background, a brand new episode of Futurama is playing. In it, Bender is becoming a daytime TV star. A news alert states that Antonio Calculon had a breakdown on set and that “all my circuits” will have an open casting call for child robots. In a moment, a seemingly self-aware Bender looks to the handicapped young robot Tinny Tim.

“An open casting call for all child robots, Tinny Tim, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Bender asks Tinny Tim.

Tinny Tim stands up. “What’s that, sir?”

“That I, Bender, am perfect for the role,” Bender shouts.

“You raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly, sir.” Tinny Tim says, sitting back down. “Bravo.”

Snapping back to reality (“Ope, there goes gravity.” Lose Yourself came out in 2002, but all of us were saying this.), this clip pretty expertly describes what it is like to be a Minnesota sports fan. Regular season excellence followed by postseason disappointment that crushes the hopes of fans across the country.

The Vikings, Twins, Wolves, and Wild have all combined to form some of the worst postseason luck and most heartbroken fans in the world. Luckily for Minnesotans, the Minnesota Lynx have mostly avoided that trend. However, this summer, the collective fan base has been worrying that the Lynx may be slipping into the Minnesota curse category.

That was the only fear with the Lynx heading into the 2025 playoffs. Over the last 15 games of the series, the Lynx arguably are showing signs of slipping.

Their previously top-ranked offensive rating (109.5) fell to third at 108.4. Meanwhile, their league-best defensive rating of 97.5 fell to fifth at 102.2. That resulted in their net rating dropping to fourth in the league (6.2), also behind the Las Vegas Aces and Atlanta Dream, the Golden State Valkyries, whom the Lynx play in the first round of the playoffs.

However, league MVP candidate Napheesa Collier only played in seven of those 15 games. Still, the Lynx saw numerous other advanced stats plummet. Their second-ranked assist percentage fell to eighth, and their top-ranked assist-to-turnover ratio fell to fourth.

Minnesota’s rebounding was eighth over this time, and it committed the fourth most turnovers by percentage. That made the Lynx look mortal as they finished the season 10-5. Their true shooting remained constant through the latter third of the season, remaining at second overall, which led to three separate conclusions.

I thought it was the third option. The Lynx were 24-5 with 15 games to go, and had a commanding lead for the top seed in the WNBA. The New York Liberty (19-10) had the second-best record at that time, giving Minnesota a five-game lead for the top seed. The Lynx beat the Liberty 86-80 on August 16, without Napheesa Collier, giving them a 28-5 record and effectively sealing the top seed. From that point on, they closed the year 6-5.

Over those 11 games, the Lynx lost those five games to playoff teams battling for seeding: the Liberty, Dream, Fever, Aces, and Seattle Storm. Combined with the end-of-season statistics, that rightfully causes concern amongst many in the fanbase. However, the Lynx really didn’t need to win any of those games. They ended the season still having a four-game lead over the top seed.

The Aces went on a remarkable 16-game winning streak and still fell four games short of the Lynx. The Dream finished the season 8-2, and were also four games short. The Liberty lost ground from their August 16 game and finished seven games behind the Lynx. Truth be told, other than the Lynx playing for stats and pride, the last 11 games of the season were more of a formality.

That bore out in Game 1 of the playoffs when the Lynx dismantled the eighth-seeded Valkyries, 101-72. It was such a lopsided victory that Napheesa Collier didn’t play the entire fourth quarter and finished with just 26 minutes. No one on the Lynx played more than 28 minutes. They effectively did in Game 1 what they had done in the regular season: gain a large lead that made the final quarter irrelevant.

Most impressively, the Lynx won by attacking Golden State’s strengths. The Valkyries were the top-ranked post defense team in the regular season, only allowing 29.0 points in the paint per game, but the Lynx scored 44 in Game 1. Golden State forces opponents to shoot a league-leading 40.5% from the field, and the Lynx shot 51.0%. The Valkyries force teams to play isolation against the zone-heavy defense, allowing only 19.2 assists per game (third in the league), while the Lynx had 25.

The Lynx broke Golden State’s zone and then picked them apart as they struggled to handle Minnesota’s ball movement and base in man coverage. It was the epitome of Lynx basketball from an offensive standpoint.

On the other side, the Lynx defense broke Golden State’s offense. The Valkyries lead the WNBA, having 37.5% of their total points coming off three-point buckets, and 45.8% of their total shot attempts come from behind the arc.

In Game 1, the Lynx dared the Valkyries to drive to the rim or shoot contested threes in their offense. As a result, the Valkyries shot 9 of 31 from three, and the Lynx forced 16 turnovers, most of which came on the drive.

At least in one playoff game, the Lynx proved that their play through the end of the season wasn’t a matter of complacency or a matter of just not being a good team. They took what the Valkyries did best and proved that they could exploit them. The Lynx will have a chance to close the series out on Wednesday at 9:00 PM. If they advance, they will keep hopes raised, at least for one more round.