Lynx defense looks pourous in loss at San Antonio

Bring on the playoffs -- quickly.

The Lynx limped into the playoffs, losing two of their last three games. And not looking good in either loss.

On Sunday, they gave up 60 points -- in the first half -- in losing at San Antonio 99-84. Yes, the Lynx sat Rebekkah Brunson and other starters played fewer minutes, but the Silver Stars sat their two best players, Sophia Young and Becky Hammon, and still scored at will at times.

Looking for positives. Here are a few:

* Lindsay Whalen, the small-town girl from Hutchinson, will get another performance award from the WNBA. She repeated as the league assists champion. She averaged 5.39 assists per game, edging Sue Bird of Seattle (5.35) and Hammon (5.33).

* The Lynx set two WNBA records and came close to another.

As a team, they averaged 20.8 assists per game. That broke the record of 20.2 set by Phoenix in 2010.

A third WNBA record, best field goal percentage, just eluded the Lynx. They finished at 47.29 percent from the field. The record was 47.33 percent. ... They shot 46.1 percent from the field last season.

SAN ANTONIO HAS MO

"We want momentum this time of year," Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes said after his team be the Lynx. "I think Minnesota was certainly trying to win that basketball game, and we were trying to win that basketball game. We wanted to give some minutes to some people, but we wanted the execution too because we ended the year with three playoff teams in a row.

"We wanted them to get that feel of what we think it's going to be like against that caliber of teams. It was a good day for us. I really thought we shared the ball well. Golly, we execute and moved the ball in that situation. When you look at the 24 assists on 32 baskets, wow. That's moving the ball in a way that we wanted to play. We wanted to get something out of it."

Said forward Danielle Adams, "Minnesota is a good team and we know that we have to play well, so this game showed us that we're ready"

MATCHING 2011

* Because of scheduling conflicts, the first two games of the San Antonio vs. Los Angeles best-of-three opening round series will be played at different venues.

The Sparks will host San Antonio on Thursday at the Galen Center on the Southern Cal campus. The Trojans men's and women's basetball teams play there.

The second game of the series will be played on Saturday at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, not the AT&T Center, the Silver Stars' usual home. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have the AT&T Center booked that night for a concert.