On a night when their head coach and rookie teammate collected league honors, Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus showed why the Minnesota Lynx might not be done accepting trophies this year.
Whalen scored 20 points and Augustus added 19 as Minnesota’s MVP candidates carried the Lynx past the San Antonio Silver Stars, 66-65, in Game 1 of their WNBA Western Conference semifinal on Friday.
Whalen also made the game’s biggest defensive play to seal the victory.
With 4 seconds left, the Silver Stars ran an inbound play on Minnesota’s end of the court, looking for the game-winning shot.
But Whalen tipped Danielle Robinson’s entry pass to Maya Moore, who dribbled out the clock for the win.
“I told Lindsay that’s the biggest deflection I’ve seen in my life,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “Lindsay’s just been important to us all season long and tonight was no different. She just poses problems in the pick-and-roll game and she had a great bounce in her step.”
Rebekkah Brunson grabbed 14 rebounds, Whalen added five assists and Moore chipped in 10 points just hours after she officially was selected as the WNBA Rookie of the Year and Reeve earned Coach of the Year honors.
Danielle Adams and Becky Hammon each scored 16 points for San Antonio, while Jia Perkins and Sophia Young added 10 points apiece.
The Silver Stars lost all four regular-season games against the Lynx as well, and two of them came down to the last possession, just like Friday’s game, a trend that’s starting to wear thin with the Silver Stars.
“At some point, the ball is going to bounce our way, being so close so many times,” said Hammon, whose 3-pointer with 1 minute, 10 seconds left gave the Silver Stars a 65-64 lead.
Dream 89, at Sun 84: Lindsey Harding scored 10 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter and the Atlanta Dream rallied to beat the Connecticut Sun 89-84 in Game 1 of their playoff series in Uncasville, Conn.
Angel McCoughtry added 16 points for the Dream, despite missing most of the final period with foul trouble. Erika DeSouza and Armintie Price had 14 points apiece, and Sancho Lyttle finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
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