Amazing numbers for Lynx in latest win

In the paint, on the boards, the Lynx ruled Sunday.

August 31, 2011 at 7:36PM

The Lynx beat San Antonio 72-61 on Sunday to clinch the Western Confernce regular-season title. That's a franchise first. The best they had ever done in 12 seasons before was a tie for third place.

But there are many more amazing numbers from this latest win of the surging Lynx. They are 23-6 and have won five in a row. And:

* The Lynx outscored San Antonio 30-4 in the paint. That's a team record for keeping an opponent out of the lane. The previous low by an opponent was 12, set by Phoenix on July 9, 2004.

The Silver Stars were 11 of 28 on threes, but only eight of 25 on two-point attempts. In other words, they scored 33 points on threes, only 16 on twos.

"You look at the game and we just really didn't shoot the ball very well; made the game kind of hard," San Antonio coach Dan Hughes said. "I'll look at the tapes, but I thought we had some decent attempts.

"Their rebounding was very difficult for us to deal with. They rebound at all five positions pretty well. I thought defensively, we evolved through the game and really gave ourselves a chance, but we just couldn't realize it.

" Quite honestly, you're not going to shoot 30% against that team and have any chance of winning. It's disappointing. I thought defensively we moved into a position to give ourselves a chance. We just couldn't realize it."

* The Lynx outrebounded the Silver Stars 50-27, a huge difference of 23.

The two forwards, Rebekka Brunson and Maya Moore, had 14 and 12 rebounds, respectively, for a total of 26, or within one of San Antonio's total. Center Taj McWilliams-Franklin had eight and starting guards Seimone Augustus and Lindsey Whalen had five and four giving the backcourt nine. Backup center Jessica Adair added six.

HAMMON STILL CONFIDENT

Becky Hammon has especially struggled the past two games agaist the Lynx, going 1 for 20 from the field and being held scoreless in an 85-75 loss on Friday at Target Center and to nine points on Sunday. The Silver Stars' record against the Lynx is 0-4 this season.

"Two of the last four games they beat us by last second shots," Hammon said. "I'm not so discouraged with this Minnesota team. I feel like we can compete with them.

" It was just little mental breakdowns here and there that we have to clean up a little bit. This league is tough. They pounded us on the boards and we have to stay committed and get back to our own defensive identity. We can't worry about what other teams are doing and worry about ourselves."

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