2016 Minnesota Lynx season

The 2016 Minnesota Lynx season was the 18th season for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association, and the 7th season under head coach Cheryl Reeve.

The Lynx were the defending WNBA champions. Their 2016 roster included five competitors in the 2016 Rio Olympics (Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Sylvia Fowles, and Seimone Augustus of the U.S. squad and Anna Cruz of the Spanish team) as well as seven current or previous all-stars (Moore, Whalen, Fowles, Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson, Jia Perkins and Renee Montgomery) with 22 total past selections to the all-star game between them.

The Lynx started the season well, winning all six of their games in August. The closest game of the run was a three-point home win over Indiana on May 27. The Lynx carried their momentum into June and won their first seven games of the month to extend their winning streak to thirteen games. Los Angeles ended their winning streak on June 24 despite the Lynx having beaten Los Angeles three nights before. The Lynx lost the next two games, including an overtime game against New York to end June 7–3. The team won the first two games of July before losing to Connecticut by four-points on July 7. The Lynx then won their next six games in a row to finish July 8–1 and head into the Olympic break with an overall record of 21–4. They lost again by four points to Connecticut upon their return from the Olympic break, but re-gained their winning ways with a twelve-point win over Seattle. They extended their winning streak to five games before losing at Chicago in overtime. They won their last two games of the season to finish 28–6.

The Lynx' record of 28–6 earned them the first seed in the 2016 WNBA Playoffs. As the first seed, they received a bye to the semifinals where they matched-up against Phoenix. Minnesota won the first two games at home eighteen points and ten points. They dominated game three on the road, winning by fifteen points to win the series 3-0. Minnesota advanced to the WNBA Finals where they matched-up with Los Angeles. The Lynx were unable to win game one at home, losing by just two points. They rebounded with a nineteen point win in game two and evened the series as it moved to Los Angeles. The Lynx lost game three by seventeen points, but staved off elimination in game four, winning by six points. The deciding game five was in Minnesota, but home court advantage was not enough for the Lynx to repeat as champions. The Lynx lost the game by one-point on a last second shot.

Transactions

WNBA draft

The Lynx made three selections in the 2016 WNBA Entry Draft in Uncasville, Connecticut:

Round Pick Player Nationality WNBA Team School/Team/Country 2 14 Jazmon Gwathmey Minnesota Lynx (then traded to San Antonio) James Madison 2 22 Bashaara Graves Minnesota Lynx Tennessee 3 35 Temi Fagbenle Minnesota Lynx USC

Trades and roster changes DateTrade February 2 Re-signed Sylvia Fowles The Lynx acquired Natasha Howard from the Indiana Fever in exchange for Devereaux Peters Signed Renee Montgomery April 14 The Lynx acquired the rights to Jazmon Gwathmey from the San Antonio Stars in exchange for Jia Perkins

Roster

Game log

Preseason

Regular season

|- style="background:#bbffbb" | 7 || June 4 || Dallas || W 80–63 || Sylvia Fowles (16) || Rebekkah Brunson (8) || Lindsay Whalen (8) || Target Center7,634 || 7–0 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 8 || June 7 || Phoenix || W 89–81 || Fowles, Moore (21) || Rebekkah Brunson (9) || Brunson, Montgomery, Moore (4) || Target Center7,207 || 8–0 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 9 || June 10 || @ Atlanta || W 110–78 || Maya Moore (19) || Sylvia Fowles (11) || Montgomery, Perkins (5) || Philips Arena5,368 || 9–0 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 10 || June 11 || @ Washington || W 83–76 || Seimone Augustus (21) || Rebekkah Brunson (12) || Maya Moore (5) || Capital One Arena7,751 || 10–0 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 11 || June 14 || Indiana || W 87–63 || Maya Moore (16) || Fowles, Moore (8) || Lindsay Whalen (6) || Target Center7,623 || 11–0 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 12 || June 19 || @ Seattle || W 96–84 || Maya Moore (18) || Maya Moore (7) || Renee Montgomery (10) || KeyArena5,749 || 12–0 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 13 || June 21 || @ Los Angeles || W 72–69 || Seimone Augustus (13) || Sylvia Fowles (11) || McCarville, Montgomery (4) || Staples Center9,112 || 13–0 |- style="background:#fcc" | 14 || June 24 || Los Angeles || L 76–94 || Maya Moore (28) || Sylvia Fowles (11) || Maya Moore (4) || Target Center13,003 || 13–1 |- style="background:#fcc" | 15 || June 26 || @ Washington || L 63–87 || Sylvia Fowles (13) || Jia Perkins (6) || Seimone Augustus (5) || Capital One Arena6,322 || 13–2 |- style="background:#fcc" | 16 || June 29 || New York || L 92–95 (OT) || Maya Moore (24) || Rebekkah Brunson (10) || Rebekkah Brunson (5) || Target Center7,721 || 13–3

|- style="background:#bbffbb" | 17 || July 2 || San Antonio || W 91–68 || Natasha Howard (21) || Rebekkah Brunson (12) || Maya Moore (5) || Target Center7,534 || 14–3 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 18 || July 5 || Chicago || W 87–82 || Maya Moore (33) || Rebekkah Brunson (8) || Lindsay Whalen (4) || Target Center7,433 || 15–3 |- style="background:#fcc" | 19 || July 7 || @ Connecticut || L 89–93 || Maya Moore (40) || Maya Moore (8) || Jia Perkins (6) || Mohegan Sun Arena6,739 || 15–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 20 || July 9 || Dallas || W 93–56 || Lindsay Wahlen (22) || Sylvia Fowles (10) || Maya Moore (7) || Target Center7,613 || 16–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 21 || July 12 || @ San Antonio || W 81–57 || Maya Moore (22) || Sylvia Fowles (8) || Maya Moore (7) || AT&T Center11,171 || 17–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 22 || July 15 || New York || W 88–70 || Seimone Augustus (20) || Seimone Augustus (7) || Lindsay Whalen (8) || Target Center8,123 || 18–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 23 || July 17 || @ Dallas || W 98–97 (OT) || Maya Moore (20) || Sylvia Fowles (19) || Maya Moore (6) || College Park Center5,752 || 19–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 24 || July 20 || Atlanta || W 83–65 || Seimone Augustus (19) || Rebekkah Brunson (12) || Seimone Augustus (5) || Target Center16,132 || 20–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 25 || July 22 || Seattle || W 79–72 || Maya Moore (21) || Sylvia Fowles (12) || Renee Montgomery (6) || Target Center12,124 || 21–4

|- style="background:#fcc" | 26 || August 26 || @ Connecticut || L 80–84 || Fowles, Whalen (16) || Rebekkah Brunson (11) || Moore, Whalen (3) || Mohegan Sun Arena7,381 || 21–5 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 27 || August 28 || Seattle || W 92–80 || Lindsay Whalen (24) || Sylvia Fowles (11) || Natasha Howard (4) || Target Center11,834 || 22–5

|- style="background:#bbffbb" | 28 || September 2 || Washington || W 75–69 || Maya Moore (27) || Sylvia Fowles (17) || McCarville, Whalen (4) || Target Center7,523 || 23–5 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 29 || September 4 || Connecticut || W 93–79 || Maya Moore (24) || Sylvia Fowles (8) || Lindsay Whalen (6) || Target Center7,632 || 24–5 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 30 || September 6 || @ Los Angeles || W 77–74 || Sylvia Fowles (21) || Rebekkah Brunson (11) || Fowles, Moore, Whalen (3) || Staples Center7,224 || 25–5 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 31 || September 11 || @ San Antonio || W 81–76 || Seimone Augustus (20) || Rebekkah Brunson (11) || Maya Moore (6) || AT&T Center5,705 || 26–5 |- style="background:#fcc" | 32 || September 13 || @ Chicago || L 97–98 (OT) || Maya Moore (27) || Fowles, Howard (7) || Maya Moore (5) || Allstate Arena6,050 || 27–5 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 33 || September 16 || @ Indiana || W 82–75 || Maya Moore (15) || Rebekkah Brunson (9) || Cruz, Montgomery (4) || Bankers Life Fieldhouse8,663 || 27–6 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 34 || September 17 || Atlanta || W 95–87 || Sylvia Fowles (30) || Natasha Howard (9) || Maya Moore (8) || Target Center11,663 || 28–6

Playoffs

|- style="background:#fcc" | 1 || October 9 || Los Angeles || L 76–78 || Fowles, Moore, Whalen (18) || Sylvia Fowles (13) || Lindsay Whalen (6) || Target Center12,113 || 0–1 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 2 || October 11 || Los Angeles || W 79–60 || Maya Moore (21) || Sylvia Fowles (15) || Sylvia Fowles (4) || Target Center12,832 || 1–1 |- style="background:#fcc" | 3 || October 14 || @ Los Angeles || L 75–92 || Brunson, Fowles (14) || Maya Moore (7) || Maya Moore (5) || Galen Center8,093 || 1–2 |- style="background:#bbffbb" | 4 || October 16 || @ Los Angeles || W 85–79 || Maya Moore (31) || Sylvia Fowles (13) || Augustus, Moore (5) || Staples Center12,885 || 2–2 |- style="background:#fcc" | 5 || October 20 || Los Angeles || L 76–77 || Maya Moore (23) || Brunson, Fowles (9) || Maya Moore (11) || Target Center19,423 || 2–3

Standings

Playoffs

The Lynx qualified for the 2016 playoffs, and, as the team with the best regular season record in the WNBA, received two automatic byes, advancing straight to the best-of-five semifinal against the eighth-seeded Phoenix Mercury. They swept the Mercury three games to none to advance to the 2016 WNBA Finals.

Statistics

Regular season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Maya Moore 34 34 29.7 44.8% 40.4% 86.8% 5.1 4.2 1.6 0.7 19.3 Sylvia Fowles 34 34 28.5 59.5% — 71.7% 8.5 1.2 1.3 1.8 13.9 Seimone Augustus 29 29 26.4 46.0% 33.3% 80.4% 2.9 2.4 0.5 0.4 11.2 Rebekkah Brunson 33 33 24.6 47.7% 0.0% 85.7% 7.3 1.8 0.9 0.3 7.4 Lindsay Whalen 32 32 24.6 51.3% 27.3% 89.2% 2.6 3.8 0.6 0.0 9.8 Jia Perkins 34 5 20.7 36.6% 22.8% 83.3% 2.6 1.3 0.9 0.2 6.4 Renee Montgomery 34 2 19.3 39.7% 32.1% 82.8% 0.9 2.8 1.0 0.1 7.5 Natasha Howard 34 1 14.6 57.4% 20.0% 67.7% 3.6 0.8 0.7 0.7 6.7 Janel McCarville 33 0 12.6 45.7% 18.2% 60.0% 2.5 1.6 0.6 0.3 3.3 Anna Cruz 6 0 10.0 45.5 100% 100% 1.0 2.0 0.3 0.0 2.8 Keisha Hampton 27 0 6.8 33.3% 33.3% 87.0% 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.1 2.6 Bashaara Graves 12 0 3.4 28.6% — — 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.3

Playoffs

2016 Minnesota Lynx season

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