Minnesota Lynx forward Maya Moore holds two WNBA championship trophies before addressing the crowd at a victory rally, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017, in Minneapolis. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP)
With the Minnesota Lynx crowned this season’s WNBA champions and Sylvia Fowles named the finals MVP, the Lynx are the newest dynasty of the WNBA.
The Lynx currently hold the record along with the Houston Comets for the only team with four championships won. This season’s title was also the Lynx’s fourth title since 2011.
Center Fowles became the fifth player to win regular season MVP, a WNBA title and finals MVP in the same year.
As much as a force as Fowles was this season, especially this postseason with 17 points and 20 rebounds in game five of the finals, one cannot ignore the efforts of veterans Lindsay Whalen and Maya Moore.
It is evident from watching the finals that Lindsay Whalen is the heart of the Lynx. She is constantly pumping up her teammates and getting the crowd loud and involved.
After a hard foul against Sparks guard Odyssey Sims during game four of the finals which ended up being called a flagrant-one, the Lynx rallied around Whalen and pushed through to start taking control of the game. The Lynx won 80-69.
The Minnesota native attended the University of Minnesota where she was a standout before being drafted fourth overall by the Connecticut Sun in 2004. In 2010 Whalen was acquired by Minnesota where she has stayed since.
In game five of the finals Whalen had 17 points.
Then there is the woman who never stops winning, Maya Moore. The former UConn women’s basketball standout didn’t have the same striking offensive numbers that she is used to this season in the WNBA but who would doubt that she would be the one to hit the game clinching shot. The circus shot she put up was one only a superstar like Moore could make.
Moore has not gone consecutive years without a championship since high school. While at UConn she won two national championships.
While her offensive numbers may have been down this season, Moore continues to be a defensive beast who swats, blocks and pressures her opponents.
This post season Moore averaged 18.3 points-per-game, 5.3 rebounds-per-game and 1.7 steals-per-game.
So yes, Fowles may have been crowned MVP but I feel that crown can be shared three ways.
Mariana Dominguez is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at mariana.dominguez@uconn.edu.