Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said her team can match Indiana's intensity tonight in the first game of the WNBA Finals at Target Center.
"We like to think that we play pretty hard, too," she said after Saturday's practice. "So we just want to make sure that we understand that we are being ourselves and we are playing hard. And, if we don't, Indiana's going to, so it's not necessarily matching Indiana as it's being who we are every possession."
One player Reeve rarely has to worry about is power forward Rebekkah Brunson. She always plays at a fast pace. "Every day Rebekkah plays the game – she rebounds the ball and the way she approaches her business is one with great intensity," Reeve said. "She only knows one way – that's to go full speed, and it's been huge for us. She is very confident in scoring the ball when it's a face-up situation and down on the block she has been very effective.
"At this point in the playoffs, she has been our MVP. We've had some solid performances around her, but she's been really big for us."
Brunson, who turns 31 in a few months, is often overlooked because of the star power on the Lynx with three Olympians: Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen.
"[Rebekkah] likes it that way – she doesn't want me to run a play for her," Reeve said. "She is that kind of player. She'll do her thing, she'll go get what she is going to get. She is happy with the others doing their thing and she'll fit in where she can."
BRUNSON EXCITED FOR FINALS
Brunson said she is excited to be in the WNBA Finals again. "It's somewhere that we've been, but this is a whole new year, a whole new season, and we had to work hard to get here," she said. "Even when playoffs started, going through Seattle and Los Angeles to get here, it was tough, so we're excited."
