The end of the 2019 WNBA regular season is quickly approaching, as the Minnesota Lynx enter Monday with just four games left to go before postseason play begins around the league in early September.
As the new week begins, the Lynx hold an even record of 15-15 overall, winners of two straight games at home, to sit in the No. 7 seed in the WNBA standings.
Minnesota nearly clinched a playoff berth on Sunday night after topping the Las Vegas Aces in an impressive performance at Target Center in Minneapolis, but needed a victory and an Indiana Fever loss to officially clinch a spot in the postseason. The Lynx, however, didn’t get any help from the Fever, who took down the Seattle Storm in Seattle.
Minnesota’s magic number to grabbing a playoff berth is down to just one and could clinch their ninth straight postseason appearance with a win over the Chicago Sky on Tuesday night in downtown Minneapolis.
The Lynx could still improve their seeding in the playoffs as the regular season continues to wrap up, trailing the Storm and the No. 6 seed by just a half-game. They could also stand pat or even fall in the league standings in the final four games of the regular season, currently ahead of the Phoenix Mercury and the No. 8 seed by one game.
With the regular season slate inching closer to a conclusion, the playoff race and shifting within the standings is starting to heat up and could change a few times before postseason action officially kicks off in September. It should be a fun and entertaining finish to the regular season, to say the least.
With just a few weeks left in the season, let’s take a dive into some questions you submitted surrounding the Lynx:
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Marcie Anderson: What’s going on with Seimone?
Seimone Augustus, who has been battling a knee injury for a majority of the season after undergoing surgery on her knee at the tale end of training camp, was absent from Sunday night’s game against Las Vegas.
After missing the first half of the season while rehabbing from that surgery, Augustus had returned to the Lynx starting lineup following the All-Star Break and appeared to be healthy in her return to the rotation.
Last Thursday, however, Lynx head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve mentioned that Augustus is still dealing with some issues with her surgically repaired knee, having it drained the morning prior to Minnesota hosting the Dallas Wings at Target Center.
Although Reeve didn’t seem too terribly worried about Augustus and her status moving forward following the game against the Wings, questions surrounding Augustus’ health surfaced once again on Sunday, as she was a healthy scratch from the win against the Aces in Minneapolis.
When asked about why Augustus didn’t play following the game, Reeve didn’t really answer the question directly, adding that by the time she thought about putting Augustus in the game, it was already the fourth quarter and seemed to be too late to throw her into the mix.
“It was one of those things, just a feel for the game. I thought when Lexie (Brown) came in, she did some good things and we needed a solid three-point threat,” Reeve said after Sunday’s game. “With Seimone, the next thing you know the game was in the fourth quarter and we couldn’t put her in at that point. It was just one of those things and we made that call and we’ll try again next game.”
It will be interesting to see how the health of Augustus progresses or regresses in the final few games of the regular season and if she is able to get back to the floor soon for Minnesota.
It could be something as simple as Reeve and the Lynx giving her rest to allow her to get back to being fully healthy ahead of the postseason, but it will be a storyline that many will be watching closely in the remaining four games.
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Carolyn Harris Soule: Any word on Maya’s plans?
Prior to the start of the 2019 regular season, Lynx forward Maya Moore shocked the league when she announced that she would be taking the summer off from playing professional basketball.
Moore, who has had a strong religious background throughout her life, announced that she would be sitting out the season to invest time in ministry dreams that had been on her mind for a while.
Since she announced that she wouldn’t be playing for Minnesota this summer, we haven’t really heard from Moore as her focus has been off the court and away from basketball this season.
Reeve mentioned throughout training camp and leading up to the start of the regular season that she has been in contact with Moore and the two sides had continued positive dialogue while she takes the summer to pursue her non-basketball dreams.
As far as what Moore’s plans are moving forward beyond 2019, we haven’t heard any rumblings surrounding where she is at in terms making a return to the court in 2020.
The Lynx, who have publicly stated their support of Moore throughout this process, hopes Moore considers a return to basketball next summer. She is a top five player in the league, after all, and her presence on the floor is one that Minnesota has missed throughout the course of the 2019 campaign.
Have we seen the last of Moore in a Lynx uniform and in the WNBA? That question has yet to be answered, but will be a hot topic following the season and heading into the offseason once the playoffs conclude.
That will do it for this week’s mailbag. As always, thanks for submitting your questions and for reading, Lynx fans. Enjoy the week and the finish to the regular season schedule.
SUBMIT YOUR LYNX MAILBAG QUESTIONS
Our Mitchell Hansen will continue to publish Lynx mailbags every other Monday throughout the course of the 2019 WNBA season here at Zone Coverage.
Have a question surrounding the Lynx that you would like answered? Submit them by tweeting him @M_Hansen13! The next Lynx mailbag will be on Monday, Sept. 6, the day after the final regular season game of the year for Minnesota.
