The No. 2-seed Minnesota Lynx’s quest for a fifth WNBA championship begins this Sunday, Sept. 22, when they’ll meet the No. 7-seed Phoenix Mercury in the first round of the 2024 WNBA playoffs. The best-of-three series tips-off with two games in Minnesota and will then shift to Phoenix for a third game, if necessary.
The 2024 regular season was inarguably a successful one for Minnesota. The Lynx went 30-10 and finished second overall in the WNBA standings, winning 75 percent of their games for the first time since the glory days of the franchise and significantly exceeding most preseason expectations. Phoenix, meanwhile, struggled with consistency for much of 2024, hovering around .500 for most of the season and ultimately finishing with a 19-21 record. This was still plenty good enough to clinch the Mercury a playoff spot, though, as they finished four games ahead of the No. 8-seed Atlanta Dream and had more or less been operating as if they were a championship contender.
The last time the Lynx faced the Mercury in the playoffs was during the “bubble” season in 2020, and needless to say a lot has changed since then. Here’s how the two teams stack up and what we’ll be watching for when they take the court.
How the Lynx and Mercury match up
To say the Lynx are…
