The Minnesota Lynx must stop the LA Sparks’ backdoor cuts in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals

The Los Angeles Sparks took Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on a dramatic buzzer-beater from Alana Beard. Beard’s shot was one of the few contested long jumpers the Sparks needed, because they kept finding their way to the rim with ease.

L.A. stars Nneka Ogwumike and Candace Parker held a clinic in getting to the basket for layups against a normally tenacious Minnesota Lynx defense on its own court. Though the Lynx were still close to pulling off the victory, they must make a defensive adjustment to stay in this series as Game 2 tips off Tuesday night.

The Lynx posted the best defensive rating in the league this season, allowing just 96.4 points per 100 possessions. They averaged the third-most steals at 8.2 per game, and forced the third-most turnovers at 15.1 per game. Their defensive pressure typically forces teams out of rhythm, but LA was able to use it against them in Game 1 thanks to the savvy pair of current and former MVP bigs.

The Lynx start a pair of All-Defensive team players at forward and center in Rebekkah Brunson, who defended Parker for much of the game, and Defensive Player of the Year Sylvia Fowles, who took Ogwumike. Guarding a 6’4 center who shoots 38 percent from deep, attacks off the dribble, and can pass like a point guard with five assists per game in Parker isn’t what earned Fowles or Brunson their defensive honors though. Parker moves in ways players of her size aren’t able to. She took advantage of her speed on a number of backdoor cuts in the first half for points she hardly had to work for.

Parker took Brunson off the dribble early on and faded back into some difficult step-back shots. Brunson then started to play her closer. Recognizing that Brunson was overplaying, Parker held her hand out to let the ball handler — typically Ogwumike — know she was cutting backdoor. Parker then used a series of swim moves, taking the arm she used to signal with and running it over the top of Brunson. In one swift motion, Parker had more than a half-step advantage to the rim and Ogwumike was able to lob in easy passes.

Usually Fowles would be there to meet Parker at the rim, but she was tasked to defend Ogwumike, another deep threat, away from the basket. The remainder of the Lynx defense was locked in on contesting shots from the best three-point shooting team in the league.

“When you’re trying to pressure, when you’re trying to be aggressive, good teams and good players will try to react to that pressure,” said Maya Moore during a media availability. “And unfortunately, they got some easy buckets in the paint, which is typically not what we want to give up. Of course we’ll make adjustments and they’ll try to continue to score in the paint because they score in the paint really well.”

Minnesota may have to look into using a 2-3 zone like the clearly overmatched Chicago Sky team did to take a game against the Sparks without Elena Delle Donne in the semifinals. With much less talent, Chicago was able to keep both Parker and Ogwumike out of the paint and force the pair into taking contested shots or others into making plays.

The zone took away backdoor cuts entirely with each player defending an area, ready to step in front of Parker or Ogwumike as they head towards the basket. Parker didn’t score for an entire half.

Fowles may not have the size Imani Boyette does for the Sky, but the skilled vet would serve as the perfect anchor in the center of the zone to keep Parker or Ogwumike off the offensive glass. Lindsay Whalen, Maya Moore, and Renee Montgomery are all quick enough to run the perimeter and force Parker to overdribble or give up the ball. Seimone Augustus and Brunson would provide the perfect second wall as help if they are beaten.

The Sky used their zone after made baskets, and that’s something Minnesota ought to implement to keep from getting burned on simple cuts. Candace Parker is the catalyst in L.A.’s dynamic offense. If a zone is even able to rattle her for one play, that could be the difference as three of these teams’ four games over the season have been decided by one possession.