Lynx Must Solve Sparks, or Else

When the Sparks first qualified for the WNBA playoffs, the first hard lesson learned was that the playoffs are not the same as the regular season.

The second hard lesson was how to break through against a team that’s beating you like an old rug, as Houston was doing during the Comets’ four-year run as league champions.

“It’s about making [the right] adjustments,” the Sparks’ Tamecka Dixon said.

So where does that leave Minnesota, which hasn’t beaten the Sparks in four years?

The fourth-seeded Lynx, who open a Western Conference best-of-three playoff series tonight at home against the top-seeded Sparks, have one victory over the two-time defending league champions. That was the first time the teams met -- June 24, 1999, in Los Angeles. Since then, the Sparks have run off 16 victories in a row against the Lynx, including four games this season.

WNBA officials said it is the longest winning streak by one team against another in the league’s seven-year history, slightly ahead of the Sparks’ 14-game winning streak against Phoenix. Both streaks count only regular-season games.

The Sparks, who won the regular-season Western Conference title for the fourth consecutive year and ended the regular season on a five-game winning streak, would be confident against any first-round opponent. Make it Minnesota, and Coach Michael Cooper and staff have to shield the team from overconfidence.

Cooper said that is not a problem.

“This is the playoffs, we know what time it is, and we understand who we are playing,” Cooper said. “Minnesota has always played us hard except for the last game. We are warning our players to not be complacent.

“We’ll anticipate they will change up some things. The good thing is we can make game adjustments. So we’ll worry more about what we do, and see how they adjust.”

One of the frustrating aspects of the streak for the Lynx is that the games, for the most part, have been close. Eleven of the 16 losses have been by eight points or fewer.

That pattern held this season. The Sparks won the first three meetings by a total of eight points. Game four was a 23-point blowout, in part because Lynx players were fatigued from playing at Phoenix the night before.

Minnesota Coach Suzie McConnell Serio, who in her first season led the Lynx to their first winning season and playoff berth in the franchise’s five-year history, said she does not want her team dwelling on its failures against the Sparks.

“It shows how dominant L.A. has been,” McConnell Serio said. “But this is also a new time of year, a new focus. We’re trying to get the players to realize that.

“We played three close games with L.A. We’re getting into the mindset that we played with this team when we were rested and ready to play.”

Only one player on the Lynx’s playoff roster, All-Star guard Katie Smith, has been with the team for every game against Los Angeles. She and the other Minnesota players share the view of fellow guard Teresa Edwards -- respect the Sparks, but don’t bow to them.

“I don’t think we feel [the weight] of the streak this year because this year we feel we’ve been in almost every game,” Edwards said.

“We’ve been one play or a basket away. So it’s not an issue of confidence.

“We know we’re right there with them regardless of what others think.”

Edwards said the Lynx have to take better care of the ball. Detroit (17.9) is the only team among the eight in the playoffs that averages more turnovers per game than Minnesota (16.4).

“We’ve been a team of turnovers,” Edwards said. “We have to clean that up and make smart decisions that help us for the playoffs. For sure it is time to do that. We cannot have defensive letdowns.”