Bench play was key in Game 2 for the Lynx, Dream look to rebound from series deficit
- Game 1: Minnesota 88, Atlanta 74
- Game 2: Minnesota 101, Atlanta 95
- Game 3: Friday, Oct, 7, 8 p.m. ET, Atlanta, ESPN2/ESPN3.com
Thursday was a travel day for the Minnesota Lynx and the Atlanta Dream as the two teams made their way from the “Land of 10000 Lakes†to the “Peachtree state.†Even though the Dream have home court advantage, they host the Lynx with a two-game deficit in the best-of-five series for game three.
The first two games were second half turnarounds for the Minnesota with game two boiling down to a fourth quarter rally fueled by Seimone Augustus and with a huge boost from the Lynx’s bench. The teams were pretty evenly matched in points in the paint and rebounds. Minnesota had a 50 percent field goal percentage to Atlanta’s 44.7.
With rookie star Maya Moore in foul trouble for most of the game and copious fouls committed by both teams, a whopping 56 combined, the Lynx needed their reserves in order to come out on top.
The Lynx’s bench outscored the Dream bench 25-18. Both teams had four reserves contributing minutes. For Minnesota, Alexis Hornbuckle and Charde Houston did not play. Atlanta’s Sandora Irvin saw no action while Shalee Lehning is out of action due to a torn ACL.
Iziana Castro Marques scored the bulk of the points for Atlanta’s reserves. Minnesota got a scoring boost from Jessica Adair (13 points) and Monica Wright (six points).
Bench play by the numbers:
| Atlanta | ||||||||||||||||
| min | fgm-a | 3pm-a | ftm-a | +/- | off rebounds | def rebounds | total | ast | pf | st | to | bs | ba | pts | ||
| I. Castro Marques | 24:36 | 5-10 | 3-5 | 1-6 | +10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | |
| A. Bales | 19:55 | 1-4 | 1-2 | 0-0 | +6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| C. Paris | 07:00 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | +2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| C. Miller | 03:40 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | +3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| S. Irvin | DNP – Coach’s Decision | |||||||||||||||
| S. Lehning | DND – Torn ACL | |||||||||||||||
| Minnesota | ||||||||||||||||
| min | fgm-a | 3pm-a | ftm-a | +/- | off rebounds | def rebounds | tot | ast | pf | st | to | bs | ba | pts | ||
| C. Wiggins | 13:00 | 0-4 | 0-1 | 1-2 | +1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| M. Wright | 17:07 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 0-1 | -13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| J. Adair | 17:58 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 9-11 | +3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 13 | |
| A. Harris | 05:42 | 2-3 | 1-1 | 0-0 | +5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| A. Hornbuckle | DNP – Coach’s Decision | |||||||||||||||
| C. Houston | DNP – Coach’s Decision | |||||||||||||||
