For the first eight-plus minutes Friday night in Chicago, the Lynx defense was hot, the Sky was cold and the visitors led by nine.
The rest of the game was a different story.
After opening the game 3-for-18 and trailing by nine, Chicago went 32-for-57 the rest of the way, including 10-for-17 from three-point range in a 92-87 victory over the Lynx.
The Lynx had a two-game winning streak broken in the penultimate regular season game. And it could be a costly one.
The loss dropped the Lynx (19-20) from the fifth seed to sixth behind Atlanta (19-20), which owns the head-to-head tiebreaker vs. Minnesota.
The Lynx — who finish the season Sunday at Indiana — will finish either fifth or sixth. They would finish No. 5 with a victory over the Fever if Atlanta loses at home to Dallas. That would mean an opening-round playoff series with Dallas. A Lynx loss or an Atlanta win would put the Lynx sixth, which would mean a playoff series with Connecticut.
Chicago (17-22) clinched the WNBA’s final playoff spot with the victory.
Four of five Lynx starters scored in double figures, but their reserves were outscored 25-3. Napheesa Collier scored 28 with eight rebounds. Diamond Miller had 24 points, Kayla McBride 16, Tiffany Mitchell 10.
Chicago got 20 points from Kahleah Copper, 19 from Marina Mabry (who made four of seven threes), 13 from Courtney Williams and 10 off the bench from Ruthy Hebert.
Chicago drew within three entering the second quarter, led by five at the half. The Lynx drew within four entering the fourth quarter.
With four of five starters scoring at least four points, the Lynx started strong, defended well, and built a 19-10 lead on Miller’s three-pointer with 1:48 left. But the Lynx — going with mainly bench players — didn’t score again in the quarter.
Instead it was Chicago that fished the quarter on a 6-0 run, drawing within 19-16 on Hebert’s two free throws with 3 seconds left. The Lynx entered the second quarter leading by only three points despite shooting 60% while holding Chicago to 27.3.
Much of the rest of the half belonged to Chicago.
That 6-0 run to end the first became a 15-6 run after Dana Evans scored to tie the game at 25. By the time the second half ended the Sky had made 13 of their final 21 first-half shots. From the moment Miller’s three put the Lynx up nine in the first until halftime the Sky out-scored Minnesota 34-20 to lead 44-39 at the half.
Just 3 minutes into the third quarter that Sky lead was up to 11 on Williams mid-range. Chicago still led by nine with 2:51 left until two free throws by McBride began a 7-0 run that ended with Collier’s three-point play that drew the Lynx within two. But a Sky bucket made it a four-point game entering the fourth.
The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.