Game Report: Atl. Dream @ Minn. Lynx 5-5-2017

[Striper69]

All Lynx games this season have been moved to the Xcel Center in St. Paul, Mn. I'd never been to St. Paul and had to guess which exit to take on I-35E. I got lucky and took one and made a right. The Excel Center was 2 blocks away! There is no free parking around the area cause it seems to be Party Central for St. Paul. All kinds of sports bars and pubs line the streets.

Got a good ticket off the Lynx website and it said that my credit card was my ticket and I'd just have to show it to get in. It took about 20 minutes until I found that they couldn't process some of the Ticketmaster purchases with their swipers. One guy had about 3 of them hanging off his waist and none of them would work with my card. I finally had to go to the box office to get a hard copy of my ticket so I could get in. The people need to get their act together with this. How long has Ticketmaster been selling tickets?

Got to my seat behind the Dream bench and chatted with a Lynx fan about stuff. The Dream didn't have Liz Williams, Sancho Lyttle or Pleinett Pearson so this wasn't really a representation of what the team will be like when the season starts but a game for Coop to evaluate what the new players would do in a game situation. Brittany Sykes stood out and she should take this opportunity since Angel is taking the year off.

The Lynx looked like they will be the team to beat this year with the addition of Natasha Howard. She had a very good game. I can't understand how the Fever let her get away. The Lynx jumped out to an early lead and never let up the entire game. The second team did just about as well as the familiar starters.

The standout (and the crowd favorite this game) was a girl from China named Shao Ting. She started out in the second quarter getting a bunny under the basket all alone and blew it. You could tell that she was nervous from living out her dream to be playing in a WNBA game. She settled down and was playing some good defense and hit most of her shots the rest of the game. Every time she scored the crowd she got a big round of applause. I hope she makes the team and if she does I'll be there for the opener on May 14.

One downer for the game: at the end of the second quarter Maya was chasing a ball along with a Dream player to the sideline and came up limping and was wincing. She got back on offense but I was hoping she'd take it easy but the Dream got the ball and a player drove to the basket and Maya blocked her shot! The half ended and I didn't see if she was still limping or not.

She didn't play any more last night but was not limping after the game. I don't think she was doing her usual victory dance at midcourt though. Renee Montgomery did the post game interview on the big screen.

 

[VAMike23]

All Lynx games this season have been moved to the Xcel Center in St. Paul, Mn. I'd never been to St. Paul and had to guess which exit to take on I-35E. I got lucky and took one and made a right. The Excel Center was 2 blocks away! There is no free parking around the area cause it seems to be Party Central for St. Paul. All kinds of sports bars and pubs line the streets.

Got a good ticket off the Lynx website and it said that my credit card was my ticket and I'd just have to show it to get in. It took about 20 minutes until I found that they couldn't process some of the Ticketmaster purchases with their swipers. One guy had about 3 of them hanging off his waist and none of them would work with my card. I finally had to go to the box office to get a hard copy of my ticket so I could get in. The people need to get their act together with this. How long has Ticketmaster been selling tickets?

Got to my seat behind the Dream bench and chatted with a Lynx fan about stuff. The Dream didn't have Liz Williams, Sancho Lyttle or Pleinett Pearson so this wasn't really a representation of what the team will be like when the season starts but a game for Coop to evaluate what the new players would do in a game situation. Brittany Sykes stood out and she should take this opportunity since Angel is taking the year off.

The Lynx looked like they will be the team to beat this year with the addition of Natasha Howard. She had a very good game. I can't understand how the Fever let her get away. The Lynx jumped out to an early lead and never let up the entire game. The second team did just about as well as the familiar starters.

The standout (and the crowd favorite this game) was a girl from China named Shao Ting. She started out in the second quarter getting a bunny under the basket all alone and blew it. You could tell that she was nervous from living out her dream to be playing in a WNBA game. She settled down and was playing some good defense and hit most of her shots the rest of the game. Every time she scored the crowd she got a big round of applause. I hope she makes the team and if she does I'll be there for the opener on May 14.

One downer for the game: at the end of the second quarter Maya was chasing a ball along with a Dream player to the sideline and came up limping and was wincing. She got back on offense but I was hoping she'd take it easy but the Dream got the ball and a player drove to the basket and Maya blocked her shot! The half ended and I didn't see if she was still limping or not.

She didn't play any more last night but was not limping after the game. I don't think she was doing her usual victory dance at midcourt though. Renee Montgomery did the post game interview on the big screen.

Great report! Wish I could see the Lynx at home too.

I think P Pearson is actually with the Lynx this year but I'm not 100% sure that she is yet contracted for the regular season. Probably is though (rather than just a training camp contract). Natasha Howard was very good at times for the Lynx last year and will definitely be first off the bench. She lit it up for the Select squad in the National team's first pre-Olympic warmup last summer in Delaware. She needs more minutes !!!

Interesting comments about Shao Ting. I think the last spot will be a choice between her and Tami Fagbenle - who had 6 fouls in less than 20 mins!! She might not be quite ready for WNBA game speed yet as this is her first year in the pros.

Looking forward to more Lynx reports! Go Lynx , and go Maya !!

P.S. betting Maya rolled her ankle a little bit , at least I hope that's all it was. Last year she did have a high hamstring strain that bothered her early in the season but it seemed to have cleared up quickly. Hope this goes away fast as well

 

[Striper69]

Great report! Wish I could see the Lynx at home too.

I think P Pearson is actually with the Lynx this year but I'm not 100% sure that she is yet contracted for the regular season. Probably is though (rather than just a training camp contract). Natasha Howard was very good at times for the Lynx last year and will definitely be first off the bench. She lit it up for the Select squad in the National team's first pre-Olympic warmup last summer in Delaware. She needs more minutes !!!

Interesting comments about Shao Ting. I think the last spot will be a choice between her and Tami Fagbenle - who had 6 fouls in less than 20 mins!! She might not be quite ready for WNBA game speed yet as this is her first year in the pros.

Looking forward to more Lynx reports! Go Lynx , and go Maya !!

P.S. betting Maya rolled her ankle a little bit , at least I hope that's all it was. Last year she did have a high hamstring strain that bothered her early in the season but it seemed to have cleared up quickly. Hope this goes away fast as well

The fans seem to love her!

There were a couple of Chinese guys sitting in front of me and they were excited about her playing her first game. I asked a couple of questions but they didn't understand what I was saying. Could've been my bad english though...