Minnesota Lynx win the 2011 WNBA championship – A Look back at their playoffs journey: Part 3
Western Conference Finals Game-1: Minnesota Lynx 95 – Phoenix Mercury 67
Seimone Augustus once again led from the front, scoring a team-high 21 points and dished out seven assists as Minnesota Lynx touted Phoenix Mercury 95-67 in the opener of the Western Conference finals series on September 22 at the Target Center.
Maya Moore tallied 15 points, 13 in the first quarter, and grabbed seven rebounds while Candice Wiggins came off the bench with 14 points. Rebekkah Brunson also played with responsibility and recorded a double-double in the victory, scoring 13 points and grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds.
Mercury were led by Diana Taurasi with 22 points and five rebounds. Marie Ferdinand-Harris had 12 points while DeWanna Bonner ended with 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in the loss.
Lynx proved to be just too strong in game-1. After being outrebounded in the opening period, Minnesota dominated the boards, finishing with a 42-26 rebounding edge.
Moore scored 13 of her points in the first quarter as Minnesota carried a 28-11 lead into the second. Mercury regained their shooting touch in the second quarter and outscored Minnesota 25-19 to trim their deficit to 47-36 at halftime.
Augustus started slow but picked things up in the second half. She scored eight points in the third quarter as Minnesota stretched their lead to 74-55 at the end of quarter. Minnesota then scored the first six points of the fourth to make it 80-55 and never looked back from there.
Western Conference Finals Game-2: Minnesota 103 – Mercury 86
On September 25 at US Airways Center, six Lynx players reached double figures as Minnesota swept Mercury out of the conference finals with a 103-86 win.
Taj McWilliams-Franklin recorded a season-high 21 point, grabbed six rebounds and dished out seven assists. Rookie forward Maya Moore also added 21 points while Lindsay Whalen totalled 18 points in the victory. Augustus had 16 points, Brunson chipped in 12 points and Jessica Adair came off the bench with 10 points.
DeWanna Bonner did all she could for Mercury and registered a double-double in the losing effort with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Diana Taurasi also had 22 while Candice Dupree ended the night with 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Minnesota shot 54.2 percent from the field, including 57.1 percent from three-point range. Their defence was spectacular, limiting Phoenix to only 43.4 percent from the floor.
Lynx led 24-20 after the first quarter, but Phoenix turned it on in the second quarter and converted their four-point deficit into a 45-43 lead at halftime. After a back and forth third quarter, Minnesota struck late to take a 70-65 lead into the final stanza.
Lynx maintained their lead in the fourth and reverse dunk by Jessica Adair pushed their lead to 10, 77-67, with 06:49 left in the fourth period. That dunk pretty much decided sealed the fate of the series.
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