--The official Lynx shoe color for the WNBA finals? Try lime green.
The Lynx returned to the court for practice Wednesday after taking two days off, knowing they will be facing Indiana in the best-of-five league finals, which start Sunday afternoon at Target Center.
And they were wearing lime green sneakers.
As you might know, the Lynx, as a team, to with different color shoes for every playoff series. They went royal blue for the Western Conference finals.
Now, green.
OK, moving forward:
The Lynx went through a relatively light practice today. They did not do scrimmage work against the men. That will come later in the week. With Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus still on the mend, not yet 100 percent (they might not reach that this season), coach Cheryl Reeve gave the team two days off after the series clincher against Phoenix and then went rather light today. Much of today's practice was focused on execution of particular plays.
The main theme post-practice is that this is a rematch of the 2012 series. Now, the players did what they could to downplay that aspect of this series. But the fact remains, most of the key players on both teams are back from that 2012 series, when Tamika Catchings and the Fever came to Target Center and stole game one on the way to a 3-1 series victory.
"We have the opportunity to win the title against a team that's very familiar to us," Augustus said. "One that kind of gut-punched us before. … We were right there. And we just kind of let 'em steal Game 1. We bounced back in Game 2, but never fully recovered.''
--The Lynx very much needed the week off that came with their eliminating Phoenix in two games. Particularly Whalen and Augustus. Augustus returned from a month off dealing with a sprained left foot and went right into playoff action. She has been up and down – scoring at crucial times – but should be better for the finals. Reeve feels the same way about Whalen, who dealt with ankle and Achilles pain for much of the season, missing the final few games because of it.
--That said, the Lynx, who battled through injuries, adjusted to the addition – on the fly – of players like Sylvia Fowles, Anna Cruz and Renee Montgomery, feel they have emerged from an up-and-down regular season toughened up enough for this rematch with the Fever.
"My black eye is gone, but it's still there, underneath," said Maya Moore, referring to the shiner gained when her nose collided with Fowles' elbow in a victory over Indiana Sept. 4. "We've been battle tested, which is great. It didn't feel good going through it. August (when the team went 6-6) was tough for us. The last week, with a broken face, didn't feel too good. But we're ready to move forward together, whatever happens.''
That's it for now. Have a good rest of your day.
