Minnesota Lynx ‘dynasty’ talk grows among fans excited about a WNBA final
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As the Minnesota Lynx begin their best-of-five series Thursday with the New York Liberty, fans say they’re excited about the possibility of another WNBA championship and what they hope will be a winning team for the long run.
The Lynx have long had a loyal fan base. The team’s averaged about 8,800 ticket sales per game since 2011, good for third best in the 12-team league, just behind Phoenix and Los Angeles, according to Across the Timeline, which tracks WNBA attendance.
With the Lynx back in the league finals for the first time since 2017, fans are primed for victory. But they also say their affection for the team goes deeper than wins and losses.
“They treat their fans really well,” said Colin Titcomb of Plymouth, a season ticket holder since 2000. “They’re a blast to watch. Even during the lean years, they were fun to watch. It’s just a really fun atmosphere here at Target Center.”
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Titcomb said he’s missed only a dozen or so home games the past 24 years.
He loved the championship years — with the lineup of Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson, Sylvia Fowles and Seimone Augustus — that helped make the team the state’s most successful professional sports franchise. From 2011 to 2017, they won four WNBA titles in six trips to the finals.
Devin Xiong of St. Paul loves men’s pro basketball. But WNBA talk drew him in.
“Just the hype around women’s basketball and just how much ‘team’ it is compared to the NBA. There’s more teamwork, more passing and it’s a fun environment," Xiong said.
He’s now evangelizing for the WNBA, bringing friends to Target Center for playoff games.
“I would say they’re almost there at a dynasty level,” he described the current team. “Just because we have Napheesa [Collier], we have all the pieces in play. I can see a good run for the Lynx for a while. So no matter what, this is the start of something.”
Collier came in second for WNBA MVP this season. But the success, players and fans say, arises from the way this team fits together.
The Lynx picked up guard Courtney Williams and forward Alanna Smith in the offseason. They rely on scoring from Kayla McBride and Bridget Carleton. Individually, these players might not all stand out, but as a group they play well together.
Coach Cheryl Reeve noticed the cohesiveness the second day of training camp, before they had the usual bonding experiences of being on the road, winning and losing.
“We had a way about us that we played for each other that was really obvious, was really exciting,” she said.
Reeve’s name comes up over and over when talking to fans.
“I think she’s just got razor sharp vision on all kinds of aspects of the game. She knows how to tell them at halftime, ‘OK, you’re not doing this and this and this’ and getting them out there and doing it again,” Jen Rivera, a 10-year attendee, said.
JP Porter of Minneapolis said the rest of the league is finally seeing how good Minnesota actually is this season.
“We’ve got Defensive Player of the Year, we’ve got Coach of the Year, we’ve got Executive of the Year, we have second team defensive, we have first team defensive — Just this year,” she said. “Nobody expected us to be here except us — everybody in Minnesota knew we were going to be an amazing team.”
The Lynx begin their best-of-five series in New York City Thursday night with tipoff at 7 p.m. Game 2 is set for 2 p.m. Sunday, then the Lynx return to Minneapolis for Game 3 Wednesday at 7 p.m.
