By: Scott Mammoser
Following a very un-Maya Moore-like performance of nine points in Game Three, the cornerstone of the Minnesota Lynx’s three WNBA championships responded with a night of 31 points and nine rebounds in the 85-79 win over the Los Angeles Sparks in Game Four of the Finals Sunday.
“You know, this is the Finals,” Moore told the media following Game Four. “You can’t dwell too much on the past mistakes or past struggles. You have to just stay in the moment, and that’s what I tried to do, being aggressive.”
This star-studded series shifts to Minneapolis for a decisive Game Five at 8 p.m. ET Thursday on ESPN2. It is the second-consecutive Finals Game Five at Target Center, as the Lynx took care of the Indiana Fever last season after dropping Game Four on the road, and it is not short of storylines.
Los Angeles forward Nneka Ogwumike, the MVP, still isn’t getting respect. According to WNBA.com, when the league’s 20 greatest players of its 20-year anniversary were gathered last week (four are playing in this series), they were surveyed of which current young players could be named to the 25-year team. Capping off a season of 19.5 points per game, nine rebounds and shooting 66 percent, Ogwumike was eighth in the voting.
“When it comes to the focus and awareness, we can sharpen up there,” Ogwumike said after the recent loss. “We have to do just that, just sharpen up the focus and awareness, but we fought. We’re going to fight again.”
Sparks forward Candace Parker is just one win away from joining the exclusive club of players with NCAA, Olympic and WNBA titles to their names. Possessing back-to-back titles at Tennessee and gold medals from Beijing and London, she looks to join Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Tamika Catchings, Cynthia Cooper, Asjha Jones, Moore, Ruth Riley, Sheryl Swoopes, Diana Taurasi, and Kara Wolters. A bronze medalist from the 2006 World Championships, Parker and Riley would be the only ones of that particular group not to have won the world gold medal.
Alana Beard of the Sparks and Jia Perkins of the Lynx have a combined 26 seasons of WNBA experience, but neither one has lifted the trophy, having played most of their careers in Washington and San Antonio. Beard is a four-time all-star and Perkins was one in 2009.
Sparks coach Brian Agler, who guided Minnesota from 1999 to 2002, can become the first coach to win titles with two different teams, having won in 2010 at Seattle. Meanwhile, Cheryl Reeve can tie former Houston coach Van Chancellor for the record high of four.
The quartet of Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus, and Sylvia Fowles can join Swoopes (2000), Bird (2004), Katie Smith (2008), and Catchings (2012) as players to win the Olympic gold medal and the WNBA title in the same season. Note that Lynx backup point guard Anna Cruz just won the silver for Spain and Sparks guard Ana Dabovic the bronze for Serbia. One of those will join Janeth Arcain (2000) and Lauren Jackson (2004) as the only non-Americans to win an Olympic medal and the WNBA title within two months of each other.
In total, 40 minutes will decide whether the Lynx can be judged as the greatest team in league history or if the Sparks players cut from the Rio roster will get the last laugh.
“We still haven’t done anything yet,” Fowles said Sunday. “It’s going to be great to play in front of our fans. At the same time, L.A. beat us at home in Game One. We have to be ready for whatever they throw at us. We have to make sure we’re ready for that.”
(*Scott Mammoser covers international and women’s sports, he has attended five Olympics and covered world championships for FIBA and the IAAF.*)
