There was a moment early in the 2018 WNBA All-Star Game that told the story of the game from a Minnesota perspective.
Diana Taurasi drained a three, and the crowd in Target Center gradually sat down — similar to Lynx fans’ tradition of sitting after the home team’s first made basket.
The All-Star Game had all the strangeness of any such celebration across sports, with two Lynx players on each team and an array of the greatest women in basketball on both sides. It was a resounding success, cheered loudly by the Minnesotan crowd, as Candace Parker’s team defeated Elena Delle Donne’s selections 119-112.
Parker, no stranger to Target Center but usually not a recipient of the building’s loud cheers, had outstanding performances from many members of her team. Parker’s team trailed by four points at halftime but took control of the game after a strong third quarter by Skylar Diggins-Smith, who was in consideration for the game MVP but did not recieve it.
The game’s MVP, hometown hero Maya Moore, kept Team Parker ahead of a furious late individual run by Kristi Tolliver, and received the loudest cheer of the day when her third straight All-Star MVP was announced.
Moore finished the game tied for her team lead with 18 points, and added eight rebounds and six assists. She was never the most flashy player on the floor, but as she so often does for the Lynx made the critical shots to keep her team ahead at the end of the game, and was a worthy choice for MVP in addition to being the crowd-pleaser.
Moore took home one trophy for the evening, and her teammate, the Chicago Sky’s Allie Quigley who scored 18 points in the game, took home the other key trophy with her second straight victory in the WNBA’s three-point contest.
Quigley scored a record 29 of 34 possible points in her third attempt at the 25 shots after she and Kayla McBride tied with 18 points in the final, giving McBride an impossible total to reply to. Quigley’s win earned $10,000 for the Patrick Quigley Memorial Foundation, in memory of her father’s passing.
In comments to the television broadcast, Moore gave credit to Quigley for inspiring her performance in the second half, and Quigley’s response was surprising.
“Yeah, I was shocked,” Quigley said. “I mean, Maya is a proven winner. She’s a legend. For her to say that, that’s just the kind of person she is, the kind of player she is. She wins an MVP and she’s talking about the rest of her team and how amazing the fans are, so she’s just a class act and great for our league.”
Moore was similarly glowing in her reflection on Quigley’s victory in the three-point contest.
“Yeah, I’m a fan. I’m a basketball fan,” Moore said. “I’m a fan of greatness. I think anybody who knows anything about basketball is its great shooters. That’s kind of one of the first things you think about, people who can shoot the ball, and Allie is one of those players.
“Candace and I and Chelsea [Gray], we were just watching her and just commenting like, just look at her, just her form, just how efficient she is with her shot. It just seems to float off of her hand into the rim. Candace was like, look at the way she just adjusted when she was just a little bit off, and I was commenting on the depth of her shot. Like we were just admiring one of the great players in our game.”
The Minnesota crowd received plenty of respect from the players in the game, both for Saturday’s occasion and for its consistent excellence in regular season games.
“Yeah, Minnesota does it big even for their regular-season games, so we knew bringing the All-Star Game here, it was going to be nothing less,” Quigley said.
“They definitely packed the house, and you can tell they love women’s basketball, they love the WNBA, and like Liz [Cambage] said, we appreciate that support because without
them we can’t be here. We’re really happy that Minnesota was able to put on a great show.”
“I mean, a Minnesota fan high-fived me, and I was like, whoa, this is the All-Star Game,” Parker said. “Wow. No, I mean, it’s great. You saw the crowd. Their support for their team, and that’s the main thing in the WNBA, when we have fans, even if they’re against you, they rally behind their team. I respect it, so it was fun. It was a great All-Star Game. They did a great job putting it on.”
Before the game, WNBA president Lisa Borders announced that next season’s game would be hosted in Las Vegas, which will provide a vastly different experience than summer in Minnesota. The Lynx organization sends the game on after a rousing success, a loud crowd and a fun game for everyone involved.
