2018 Minnesota Lynx season
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The 2018 WNBA season of the Minnesota Lynx was their 20th season in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Lynx finished the 2017 season with a record of 27–7, finishing first in the Western Conference (and the league as a whole) and qualifying for the playoffs, before ultimately beating Los Angeles in the WNBA Finals to win their league-tying best fourth championship.
| 2018 Minnesota Lynx season | |
|---|---|
| Coach | Cheryl Reeve |
| Arena | Target Center |
| Attendance | 10,036 per game |
| Results | |
| Record | 18–16 (.529) |
| Place | 4th (Western) |
| Playoff finish | 7th seed, lost in the First Round to Los Angeles 68–75 |
| Team Leaders | |
| Points | Maya Moore – 18.0 ppg |
| Rebounds | Sylvia Fowles – 11.9 rpg |
| Assists | Danielle Robinson – 3.3 apg |
| Media | |
| Television | Fox Sports North, ESPN, NBATV |
The Lynx returned to the home arena, Target Center, for the 2018 season, following a year playing at the Xcel Energy Center and Williams Arena due to renovations.
The season started out shakily for the Lynx, going 2–3 in May. The Lynx lost their season opener in a re-match of last years finals to Los Angeles. They also lost on the road to the eventual #2 and #3 playoff seeds, Atlanta and Washington. However, the Lynx turned it around in June, posting a 7–3 record. This included a 6-game winning streak, which included wins over 4 eventual playoff teams. Momentum slowed in July, with the Lynx going 6–4. Three of their four losses in July came versus teams that ended up missing the playoffs. The Lynx finished the season on a cold note, going 3–6 in August. A two-game winning streak separated two three game losing streaks. However, the team won their last game of the season to secure the 7th seed in the playoffs.
The Lynx first-round playoff matchup saw them play in Los Angeles versus the Los Angeles Sparks. This match-up was a re-match of the past 3 WNBA Finals. The Lynx lost the game 68–75.
Transactions
Summarize
Perspective
WNBA draft
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 17 | Park Ji-su |  South Korea |
Cheongju KB Stars (South Korea) |
| 2 | 24 | Kahlia Lawrence |  United States |
Mercer |
| 3 | 36 | Carlie Wagner | United States |
Minnesota |
WNBA Draft Trades
The Lynx traded the drafts rights to Park Si-Ju and Kahlia Lawrence to the Las Vegas Aces in exchange for the draft rights to Jill Barta and the rights to the Aces's 2nd Round Pick in the 2019 Draft.
Trades and Roster Changes
| Date | Trade | |
|---|---|---|
| February 1, 2018 | Re-Signed F Rebekkah Brunson[1] | |
| February 7, 2018 | Traded F Natasha Howard to the Seattle Storm for a 2018 2nd Round Pick and the ability to swap 2019 1st Round Picks [2] | |
| February 7, 2018 | Re-Signed F Cecilia Zandalasini and Signed F Lynetta Kizer and F Endy Miyem[3] | |
| February 28, 2018 | Signed F Breanna Richardson[4] | |
| March 6, 2018 | Acquired G Danielle Robinson via trade from the Phoenix Mercury and a 2nd Round Pick in 2019 in exchange for the 12th Pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft [5] | |
| March 13, 2018 | Signed G Tanisha Wright[6] | |
| April 17, 2018 | Signed 3rd Round Picks F Jill Barta and G Carlie Wagner, F G'mrice Davis, F Camille Zimmerman, and C Vionise Pierre-Louis [7] | |
| May 4, 2018 | Waived F G'mrice Davis [8] | |
| May 5, 2018 | Signed F Jillian Alleyne[9] | |
| May 9, 2018 | Waived F Jill Barta, F Breanna Richardson, and C Vionise Pierre-Louis [10] | |
| May 15, 2018 | Waived F Jillian Alleyne and G Carlie Wagner [11] | |
| May 17, 2018 | Waived F Endy Miyem [12] | |
| June 6, 2018 | Re-signed F Endy Miyem [13] | |
| June 30, 2018 | Waived F Lynetta Kizer | |
| July 5, 2018 | Signed F Lynetta Kizer to a 7-Day Contract | |
| July 12, 2018 | Signed F Erlana Larkins to a 7-Day Contract [14] | |
| July 19, 2018 | Signed F Erlana Larkins to a 2nd 7-Day Contract | |
| July 30, 2018 | Signed F Erlana Larkins to Rest-Of-Season Contract | |
| August 13, 2018 | Waived F Endy Miyem | |
| August 14, 2018 | Signed G Sydney Colson to Rest-Of-Season Contract | |
Additions
| Player | Date | Former Team |
|---|---|---|
| Lynetta Kizer | February 7, 2018 | Connecticut Sun[15] |
| Danielle Robinson | March 6, 2018 | Phoenix Mercury |
| Tanisha Wright | March 13, 2018 | New York Liberty |
| Endy Miyem | June 6, 2018 | PF Schio (Italy) |
Subtractions
| Player | Date | New Team |
|---|---|---|
| Plenette Pierson | August 21, 2017 | Retired [16] |
| Renee Montgomery | February 1, 2018 | Atlanta Dream[17] |
| Jia Perkins | February 1, 2018 | Retired [18] |
| Natasha Howard | February 7, 2018 | Seattle Storm[19] |
Roster
| 2018 Minnesota Lynx roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Schedule
Preseason
| 2018 pre-season game log Total: 1–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
May: 1–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–1)
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| 2018 season schedule | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Regular season
Playoffs
| 2018 playoff game log Total: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0) | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WNBA First Round: 0–1 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–1)
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| 2018 playoff schedule | ||||||||||||||||||
Standings
| # | Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Storm (1) | 26 | 8 | .765 | – | 13–4 | 13–4 | 11–5 |
| 2 | Phoenix Mercury (5) | 20 | 14 | .588 | 6 | 9–8 | 11–6 | 8–8 |
| 3 | Los Angeles Sparks (6) | 19 | 15 | .559 | 7 | 11–6 | 8–9 | 9–7 |
| 4 | Minnesota Lynx (7) | 18 | 16 | .529 | 8 | 9–8 | 9–8 | 9–7 |
| 5 | Dallas Wings (8) | 15 | 19 | .441 | 11 | 10–7 | 5–12 | 7–9 |
| 6 | e –Las Vegas Aces | 14 | 20 | .412 | 12 | 8–9 | 6–11 | 4–12 |
Notes
- (#) – Conference Standing, Playoff Seeds shown to the right of team name
- x – Qualified for playoffs
- e – Eliminated from playoffs
Playoffs
| First round: Single elimination (Aug. 21) | Second round: Single elimination (Aug. 23) | Semifinals: Best-of-five (Aug. 26 – Sept. 4) | WNBA Finals: Best-of-five (Sept. 7 – Sept. 12) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Seattle Storm | 91 | 91 | 66 | 84 | 94 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Connecticut Sun | 86 | 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 87 | 87 | 86 | 86 | 84 | |||||||||||||||
| 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 101 | 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 96 | 1 | Seattle Storm | 89 | 75 | 98 | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | Dallas Wings | 83 | 3 | Washington Mystics | 76 | 73 | 82 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Atlanta Dream | 84 | 78 | 81 | 76 | 81 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Washington Mystics | 96 | 3 | Washington Mystics | 87 | 75 | 76 | 97 | 86 | |||||||||||||||
| 6 | Los Angeles Sparks | 75 | 6 | Los Angeles Sparks | 64 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Minnesota Lynx | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Teams re-seeded after second round and semi-finals.
Statistics
| Legend | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage | TO | Turnovers per game |
| PF | Fouls per game | Team leader | League leader | ||||
Regular season
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maya Moore | 34 | 34 | 31.8 | .423 | .365 | .833 | 18.0 | 5.4 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 0.4 |
| Sylvia Fowles | 34 | 34 | 32.0 | .619 | .000 | .757 | 17.7 | 11.9 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Seimone Augustus | 33 | 33 | 26.2 | .467 | .318 | .706 | 10.8 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Rebekkah Brunson | 25 | 25 | 27.6 | .405 | .375 | .673 | 7.2 | 6.8 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Danielle Robinson | 28 | 2 | 18.6 | .445 | .158 | .854 | 6.5 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 0.0 |
| Lindsay Whalen | 32 | 29 | 19.3 | .363 | .357 | .881 | 5.7 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| Cecilia Zandalasini | 29 | 6 | 16.5 | .409 | .383 | .840 | 5.7 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Tanisha Wright | 33 | 4 | 17.8 | .383 | .396 | .741 | 4.3 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| Sydney Colson | 2 | 0 | 8.5 | .429 | .000 | .500 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| Alexis Jones | 26 | 0 | 8.8 | .352 | .320 | .750 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Temi Fagbenle | 30 | 2 | 9.4 | .506 | .000 | .696 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Erlana Larkins | 13 | 0 | 12.9 | .444 | .000 | 1.00 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.2 |
Awards and Milestones
| Recipient | Award/Milestone | Date Awarded |
|---|---|---|
| Maya Moore | WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week | June 24, 2018[20] |
| July 2, 2018 [21] | ||
| Rebekkah Brunson | WNBA's All-Time Leading Rebounder (3,318) | July 5, 2018 [22] |
| Cheryl Reeve | WNBA's Winningest Female Head Coach (206) | July 5, 2018 [23] |
| Maya Moore | WNBA Cares Community Assist Award - June | July 12, 2018 [24] |
| Seimone Augustus | WNBA All-Star Selection | July 17, 2018 [25] |
| Maya Moore | ||
| Sylvia Fowles | ||
| Maya Moore | Best WNBA Player - ESPY's | July 19, 2018 [26] |
| Rebekkah Brunson | WNBA All-Star Selection Replacement | July 25, 2018 [27] |
| Maya Moore | WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week | August 13, 2018[28] |
| Sylvia Fowles | WNBA Peak Performer – Rebounds | August 19, 2018[29] |
Top 20 Players
With the Lynx entering their 20th season in the league, the organization began ranking their Top 20 Players of All-Time.[30]
- 1. Maya Moore
- 2. Seimone Augustus
- 3. Lindsay Whalen
- 4. Sylvia Fowles
- 5. Rebekkah Brunson
- 6. Katie Smith
- 7. Svetlana Abrosimova
- 8. Tamika Williams
- 9. Teresa Edwards
- 10. Taj McWilliams-Franklin
- 11. Betty Lennox
- 12. Janel McCarville
- 13. Renee Montgomery
- 14. Nicole Ohlde
- 15. Monica Wright
- 16. Tonya Edwards
- 17. Kristen Mann
- 18. Charde Houston
- 19. Nicky Anosike
- 20. Devereaux Peters
References
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