By Roman Augustoviz, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) –
MINNEAPOLIS — Indiana was on the road and guard Katie Douglas, one of its top scorers was back home, rehabilitating her sprained left ankle.
Seemingly a bad scenario for the Fever against the Lynx, who were 19-1 on their home court this season.
But not Sunday night. Indiana upset the Lynx 76-70 in the first game of the best-of-five WNBA Finals despite 14,322 fans screaming against the visitors.
Erlana Larkins was the difference. The 6-1 forward was a bench player throughout the season. Now she’s becoming a double-double phenom in the playoffs.
Larkins had 16 points and 15 rebounds and Tamika Catchings had 20 points, three steals and four blocks. The two hurt and frustrated the Lynx on both ends of the court.
Seimone Augustus led the Lynx with 23 points but the home team had trouble handling the ball (17 turnovers) and shooting from behind the arc (5-for-18).
This is the first time the Lynx, the defending WNBA champions and the top seed this year, have trailed in three playoff series this year.
Indiana took a 14-7 lead four minutes into the game on Catchings’ three-pointer, her second of the game.
The Lynx’s response was a 7-0 run. Rebekkah Brunson started it with a drive up the lane and ended it with a rebound basket. In between, Augustus made a three-pointer following Maya Moore’s miss of a three-point shot, rebound and pass to the left corner.
The first quarter ended with Indiana ahead 25-20. Catchings had eight points, as did Brunson .
The Fever made three of its first four shots in the second quarter to open up a 10-point lead at 32-22. January hit a long jumper, Phillips made a three-point and Larkins scored on a layup off a Briann January pass, her third assist of the game.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve had seen enough and called timeout.
It worked to settle down the home team. An 8-0 Lynx run ensued, with Augustus scoring four of the points, and the Fever lead was down to 32-30.
But the Lynx could not take the lead or tie Indiana the rest of the half. The Fever shot 52.8 percent, and at halftime, Indiana’s lead was 43-40. Catchings had 11 points and Larkins was 5-for-5 on close-range shots for 10 points.
Augustus led the Lynx in the opening half with 13 points. The Lynx were shooting 51.7 percent but had nine turnovers to the Fever’s four.
The Lynx took their first lead since 2-0 midway through the third quarter at 52-50 on Lindsay Whalen’s drive, and still were ahead 58-56 into the fourth quarter.
But Indiana outscored the Lynx 20-12 over the final 10 minutes. The Lynx had only two baskets that quarter and fell behind by 10 points at 72-62 with about 3:30 left.
The Lynx beat Indiana twice during the regular season in back-to-back games in mid-September. Whalen’s basket with 1.6 seconds left gave the Lynx a 66-64 road win on Sept. 14. Three days later the Lynx won 86-79 at home behind Moore’s 29 points. She made six three-pointers and was 5-for-5 on three-point shots in the third quarter, tying a league record for three-pointers in a quarter.
In this game, Moore appeared much too anxious. She had a foul near midcourt at 30 seconds and picked up two more, so she played only 14:20, the least time of any starter in the first half. She finished with three points in the first half.
Moore finished with 14 points on 4-for-14 shooting Sunday.
