WNBA Finals Showdown: Sparks vs Lynx
- By Shorty
- Oct 6, 2016
- 3 min read
The moment we've all been waiting for is finally here as the WNBA Finals featuring the Minnesota Lynx and the LA Sparks is set to tip-off this Sunday at 3 PM ET on ABC. The western conference foes have been the two best teams in the league and with the new format change, it made it possible for the Lynx and Sparks to meet in the finals. Let's take a quick review of how these two teams made it to the Finals:
Minnesota finished with the No. 1 overall record of 28-6. Los Angeles finished with the No. 2 overall record of 26-8. Because they were the top two seeds, each team received a double-bye to the Semi-Finals.
Semi-Finals: Lynx won their series against the Mercury in a sweep 3-0 while the Sky forced a game 4 in their 3-1 series loss to the Sparks.
To get everyone set up for Sunday. let's take a look at how they compare by the numbers. For starters, WNBA.com has done a great job of compiling the regular season stats for both teams so check out their Finals Preview, What I'm going to do is compare playoff stats between the teams to give you an idea of how they've been preforming and what to look for in this series.
Note: These are stats for the Lynx through 3 games played and 4 games played for the Sparks in the Semi-Finals.
Prediction: This will probably be the hardest prediction I'll have to make all season long, but as much as I love Los Angeles, there are glaring flaws that Minnesota will exploit in this series. The two categories that stands out the most are turnovers and turnover percentage. The Sparks averaged 16.3 turnovers (in 4 games) and committed 20.1 turnovers per 100 possessions. That cannot happen against a team like Minnesota who can easily get 20-25 points off of those high amount of turnovers, LA will need to clean up those miscues if they want to stand a chance in the finals. The Sparks will also need to shoot better from behind the arc even though they aren't far from their season average of 37.5% (ranked 1st in the league), however the Lynx are shooting better than their season average of 33.7%.
Then there is the second unit who will make an impact for both team, but as we all know. Minnesota's bench is pretty stacked with players that can put up points quickly. On the other hand, Los Angeles only have 3 solid bench players who they can really count on including Sixth Woman of the Year winner Jantel Lavender.
As great as the Lynx are, however they are not without their faults, Sylvia Fowles did find herself in foul trouble in their last series. It will be tough to compete with the pure athleticism of Parker and Ogwumike without Big Syl on the floor, so they are going to need her as much as possible. I expect nothing less from the stars to shine such as Maya Moore, Candace Parker, Seimone Augustas, Nneka Ogwumike, Lindsey Whalen and many more to make this a great WNBA finals match-up to see. Ok guys here we go, Final Result: 3-2 in favor of the Lynx. I have faith that LA can at least win two games against Minnesota so we'll see how it all plays out and good luck to both teams in the finals.
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