Minnesota Update: Lynx, Loons go down in flames
The Lynx's season is done, the Loons's is hanging by a thread... but the Twins are actually causing some optimism?
I’ve said all season that the Lynx are a three-person team; in the playoffs, that’s become a two-person team, with Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride carrying them. Two could be enough, as Minnesota proved in their game 2 win, but in order to win Game 3, they’d need both to show up in a big way.
They only got one.
Collier, the team’s star, had 31 points on 11-for-19 shooting on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, for long stretches of the game, she was all alone. McBride scored ten points and shot 3-for-12; the non-Collier part of the team combined to shoot 15-for-41, and 5-for-19 from three-point range.
Throw in Minnesota’s customary double-digit turnovers, and inability to defend the three-point line (Connecticut was 9-for-20), and they were sunk yet again, losing 90-75 in a game that they never led and were never particularly in.
If the Lynx are going to keep moving forward, they have Collier, who is amazing.. but they need more from everyone else. Diamond Miller had 16 points in the entire series. McBride didn’t show up on Wednesday. Minnesota desperately needs a point guard - Lindsey Allen’s injury was the hidden handicap for Minnesota in this series - and some secondary scoring beyond the big two.
Next year’s draft is supposed to be a very, very deep draft, and the Lynx are going to need it to be. Finishing sixth in the league is great, but usually it means you’re not getting much for help from the college ranks next year. And if this series proves anything, it’s that Minnesota - and especially Collier - needs some help.
I’d venture to say that this has been the worst week of the season for Minnesota United, so far. Presented with the chance to push Sporting Kansas City out of the playoff picture, they lost 1-0, at home. After building a 3-1 halftime lead against the LA Galaxy, they completely switched off and somehow managed to not only blow the lead, but drop all the points, losing 4-3.
Ethan Bristow led the lowlights for Minnesota; he only entered the game in the 36th minute, after an injury to Joseph Rosales, but he still managed to earn two yellow cards and get sent off by the 74th minute. Adrian Heath is not usually one to criticize players directly, but even he couldn’t hold back on that one. “It was a stupid decision,” he said. “You know you’re booked. If you do that [tug on Tyler Boyd’s jersey], you’re going to get another yellow card, so that’s a stupid decision.”
Heath probably summed the whole thing up himself, and probably channeled the anger that most MNUFC fans are feeling right now. “We can’t keep doing the same s*** like we’re doing at the minute, and expect to get different results,” he said.
The Twins got to that magic 81-win mark yesterday, beating Cincinnati 5-3, and since Cleveland lost again, the team’s magic number is now down to a bare 1. One more Twins win, or one more Cleveland loss (and as it turns out, Detroit loss, too), and Minnesota is officially in the postseason.
With nine games to go in the year, the Twins are not… entirely out of the chase for a first-round bye in the playoffs? Minnesota finishes the year with a semi-ridiculous schedule - the hurting Angels, followed by the historically awful Athletics and Rockies - while the top three teams in the AL West are all battling for the division title. Minnesota’s currently four games behind division-leading Houston, and gets a couple of days off as well, with six of their games coming at home.
I’m just saying, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. The Twins seem like they’re kind of a really good team lately. The Reds have plenty to play for, they’re chasing a wild card, and Minnesota rolled into town and took two out of three, without Byron Buxton and mostly without Carlos Correa and partially without Royce Lewis.
It’s just something to keep an eye on, is all. There’s some pretty good feelings about the Twins right now. Of course, this whole season, every time we felt good about them, that’s when things went poorly… but for the moment, optimism is rising.
And given the Lynx and Loons, we probably need that.
St. Paul beat Toledo 6-3 on Wednesday, and after a night of rehabbers, it was a night for prospects again. Simeon Woods Richardson got the win, going 5.2 innings and allowing three runs, and Brooks Lee homered for the Saints. Chris Williams had the biggest hit of all, a three-run homer that is the catcher / first baseman’s 21st of the year.
TODAY’S SLATE
GOPHERS VOLLEYBALL at Iowa, 6pm (FS1)
SAINTS vs Toledo, 6:37pm
ON DECK
TWINS vs Anaheim of Los Angeles, Friday
GOPHERS FOOTBALL at Northwestern, Saturday
LOONS vs St. Louis, Saturday
VIKINGS vs Chargers, Sunday (noon)
WILD at Colorado, preseason, Sunday
When is it ok to cheer for a team to tank? I feel like maybe I'm in the minority here but how did making the playoffs and losing in the first round help the franchise in the long run? I think we would have been better off tanking for a top pick this year.