MINNEAPOLIS _ Throughout a mistake-riddled performance Sunday, the Lynx just didn't look like their usual selves in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. The cure, guard Lindsay Whalen declared, was not complicated.
"I've been in a lot of finals," the 12-year veteran said. "There are going to be ups and downs. Our job (Tuesday) is to be ourselves."
To the great relief of the Target Center crowd, the Lynx reverted to the team they know and love with a 79-60 victory over Los Angeles in Game 2. They evened the best-of-five series at one game each with a tenacious, tireless defense and an offense that got back to its usual swift, smooth-running ways. The Lynx used a devastating 17-3 run to close out the first half, holding the Sparks without a field goal for the final four minutes, 49 seconds as they built a 17-point halftime lead.
Maya Moore finished with 21 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, and 12 rebounds. Seimone Augustus added 14, and Sylvia Fowles had 13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. The Lynx outrebounded Los Angeles 46-32.
Though Whalen was correct in her assessment, it didn't mean the Lynx would find it easy to revert to form. After they took a 44-27 lead early in the third quarter, the Sparks tore off on a 14-0 run to pull within three, 44-41. The teams traded scoring spurts in the second half, with the Lynx closing it out on a 16-7 run.
Sparks center Candace Parker was held to six points and made only 3 of 12 shots. Nneka Ogwumike led the Sparks with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Sunday's 78-76 victory was the first for the Sparks in the playoffs at Target Center in five tries. Alana Beard's jumper at the buzzer dropped the Lynx to 0-1 in the series, the third time they have lost the opening game at home in their five WNBA Finals appearances.
Moore said bouncing back from that loss would be "the greatest challenge of the season" for her team. Coach Cheryl Reeve went through the game film with her players Monday _ the fifth time she had watched it _ to study every success and stumble. Their mission was to make things much harder for the Sparks by reducing turnovers and ratcheting up their defensive pressure.
In the first quarter, the Sparks rarely got off a shot without Lynx hands in their faces. The Lynx also did a better job of closing off drives to the basket, they held Parker without a point and they outrebounded the Sparks 13-5.
The offense took longer to warm up. The Lynx made only one of their first five shots before settling in as they took an 18-14 lead after one quarter. A Kristi Toliver 3-pointer put Los Angeles ahead 10-6, then the Lynx used a 10-2 run _ capped by back-to-back jumpers by Janel McCarville _ to grab a 16-12 lead.
Anna Cruz opened the second quarter with a jumper to extend the margin to 20-14. The Sparks scored three consecutive baskets to tie it at 20 as the Lynx grew cold, hitting only one shot in a span of 5:05. But the Lynx did not allow them to take the lead _ and their big finish gave them a 14-point margin at the half.
Moore made a 3-pointer, the first for the Lynx in the series, and followed with a layup to make it 27-22. Ogwumike hit a pair of free throws when Fowles was called for a flagrant foul, and another later in the quarter after a foul on Moore. Those would be the only points the Sparks would get in the quarter's last 4:49.
The Sparks missed their last nine shots of the half as the Lynx kept rolling. Parker put up an air ball, was stuffed by Fowles on a drive and finished the half with two points on 1-for-7 shooting. Toliver made only 2 of 7 shots, and after missing a long jump shot on the last possession of the half, she lashed out in frustration and was assessed a technical foul.
The Lynx scored the last eight points of the quarter to push the lead to 39-15. Moore made a 3-pointer, then threw a lob pass to Whalen for a fast-break layup. Whalen was fouled on the play and made the free throw, and Fowles scored on a putback to end the half.
The lead grew to 42-25 when Augustus made the free throw awarded for Toliver's technical and followed up with a jumper. A cold, sloppy spell by the Lynx allowed the Sparks to make a big run, cutting a 17-point lead to only three.
The Sparks scored 14 in a row as the Lynx went without a point for 3:29. With the margin reduced to 44-41, the Lynx countered with an 8-0 run to get the lead back to 11. Moore finished that spurt with a jumper and a 3-pointer.
Six consecutive points by the Sparks to bridge the third and fourth quarters again cut the lead to single digits, part of a 9-2 run that pulled LA within 56-51.
