A 29-point cushion, almost gone
Minnesota led Portland by 29. It won by four. The Lynx opened the second quarter on a 23-4 run to lead 49-27, stretched the margin to 64-35 with 8:16 left in the third, then spent the rest of the night watching the Fire chip it away before surviving 85-81.
The number that matters is 28-7. That is Minnesota’s record after this win, the best in the WNBA, and it now includes 13 victories in the last 14 games. A team this good rarely lets a lead like this turn into a scare, which is what made the fourth quarter so strange.
Try it for $0.99.
Portland’s furious answer
The Fire scored the first 13 points of the fourth, a burst that capped a 29-4 run bridging the third-quarter break and pulled them within 68-64. Portland kept pressing and trimmed the deficit to a single point inside the final two minutes, all of it without Carla Leite, who sat with a sprained knee.
Minnesota found its footing when the game demanded it. Napheesa Collier posted 20 points and nine rebounds, Kayla McBride added 19, and Natasha Howard finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Olivia Miles ran the show with 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
What the standings say
The result keeps the Lynx in firm control of the top seed as the postseason nears. Losing a 29-point lead will sting in the film room, but a win is a win at this point of the calendar.
Portland drops to ninth, 6.5 games back of the final playoff spot. The Fire lost the game and gained something harder to measure: proof they can rattle the league’s best team on its own floor.
Discover the rest of our WNBA news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply