For most of the past decade, as the weather began to cool and the leaves in Minneapolis began to change color, it generally meant two things: Fall has arrived and so have the WNBA Finals.

“That’s finals season,” Minnesota Lynx assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson said. “The brighter the sky gets, you know. We always have that feeling around this time of year.”

From 2011 to 2017, the Lynx appeared in six WNBA Finals, hosting games at the Target Center. They won four championships during that span, with Brunson being a part of all four.

On Wednesday, Minneapolis returned to host the WNBA’s final series for the first time in seven years, with the Lynx busy defining a new era for the franchise. For a fanbase accustomed to watching champions stack rings, this year’s team will start from Championship Ground Zero. Only Lynx forward Myisha Hines-Allen has won a championship, with the Washington Mystics in 2019.

Minnesota’s coaching staff, however, is a whole different story. The championship pedigree of the Lynx coaching staff is unlike any other in the WNBA. Together they have competed in a whopping 16 WNBA championships.

Brunson won five championships as a player: her first with the Sacramento Monarchs in 2005 and the rest as part of the Lynx. Associate head coach Katie Smith won two as a player with the Detroit Shock. Her teammate on the Shock, Elaine Powell, also an assistant at Minnesota, won three championships as a player in Detroit. Head coach Cheryl Reeve has played in six championships: four as head coach of the Lynx and two as an assistant with Detroit.

“It’s so important because they know exactly what to say. They have been here.” Lynx guard Kayla McBride said this prior to Game 2 of the Finals in New York. “You can get distracted by a lot of different things, a lot of different stories, but they keep the story the same because that’s what they know.”

As the Lynx look to rally from a 2-1 deficit to the Liberty, they will lean on the lessons learned from their veteran staff as they look to lead them to the franchise’s first title since 2017.

“They know what it takes to win,” McBride said.

As someone who has been part of multiple championship teams, Brunson knows when a certain group has that It factor and are able to cover the distance. She said the Lynx coaching staff could see that It Join this year’s team right away.

Brunson appreciates the build of this Minnesota team, whose synergy both on and off the field has contributed to what she believes is winning team chemistry.

“Going into this season, we knew we had great culture adjustments and that we didn’t have a lot of holes in the roster… We had all the skills we needed,” Brunson said. “But the It factor is the way they cared for each other. You could see it when they weren’t on the field. You could see it in the amount of time they spent together outside of basketball, how they interacted with each other and how they played for each other. That’s what you need, from my experience.

“Early on you could tell they had something special. If they accepted our strategy and played as well as they could, they could play late in the season because of the chemistry they had.”

With so much title experience under Minnesota’s bench, Lynx players have been quick to tap their championship resources for tips and knowledge on what it takes to win. For McBride, that’s Smith – who, in addition to her two WNBA titles, also won two championships in the American Basketball League.

“I always talk to Katie before the games,” McBride said. “We watch our film before the game and she always says the right things to make sure I stay clear on what’s important and keep the most important thing the most important.”

Although in her first Finals with Minnesota, Natisha Hiedeman is no stranger to competing for a championship. Hiedeman was a member of the 2019 and 2022 Connecticut Sun teams along with current teammate Courtney Williams, who also appeared in the Finals. Hiedeman’s 46 career playoff games rank fourth all-time for players who have not yet won a WNBA Finals.

Brunson called Hiedeman the “question-asker” among the Lynx roster during these finals.

“She’s one of the players I think is the most excited,” Brunson said. “She was in the playoffs when she played Connecticut. And I think she’s very curious because they didn’t win, right? So she wants to know what that extra thing is that can help her get over the top, over the hump.

“She asked how it felt, what it was like and, you know, what the arena felt like. What did we say to each other? What were the things we said to help each other be the best we can be? She is one of the most curious players and she has been to the finals.’

Brunson knows that the stories and advice from the coaching staff can only take a team so far. Ultimately, nothing beats the learning experience of actually competing for a WNBA championship.

“It’s not just about strategy. We know that, and we will give it to them. But when you get to the finals, it’s really about how it feels,” Brunson said. ‘No one can tell you what it will feel like. You really have to be in it and feel it in those moments.”

However, there are lessons Brunson takes from her own Finals experiences that she hopes to convey to this current Lynx team, hoping they don’t repeat her past missteps.

In 2012, a year after winning their first WNBA title in franchise history, the Lynx met the Tamika Catchings-led Indiana Fever in the finals with a chance to repeat. Indiana robbed Minnesota of a consecutive title, defeating the Lynx in four games. It is a series that has stayed with Brunson and the lessons from which she uses in her coaching today.

“I always go back to that series and the physicality of that series,” Brunson said. I use that because that’s something you have control over as a player. You have no control over the making of all recordings. You can’t control getting every rebound, but you can always control the energy you play with. Dealing with the physicality of a Finals series. I always say it’s a series where we got really beat up physically. I use that as a reminder, like walking away from a series and feeling like you just got beat up, like they took it away from you, right? So make sure you don’t end up feeling that way.”

While being in the Target Center brings back many exciting Finals memories for Brunson – some of which now hang like banners in the rafters of the arena – what she was most excited about now was for her Lynx players to create their own Minnesota Finals moment. To play in front of a sold-out crowd (Game 3 was the largest in Target Center history at 19,521 fans) and bask in the adoration of a fan base eager for a return to fall basketball.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been here,” Brunson said. They have never experienced that in their entire career, and I know how special that feeling is.”

Many on the Lynx head into Game 4 on Friday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) with only the previous three games as their career experience in the Finals. However, Brunson said this is something great about the series: the ability to learn as you go. Brunson and the Minnesota coaching staff did what they could to smooth the learning curve and did their best to help the Lynx create their own championship memories.

The Lynx will try to avoid elimination on Friday and force a Game 5, which would be Sunday in Brooklyn. The last time a team came back from a 2-1 deficit and won a championship was 2017. The team that did that? The Lynx. It would be Brunson’s fifth and final WNBA title.

“We try to tell them everything we have. The good thing about the fact that there have been coaches is that maybe they listen to you a little more,” Brunson joked. “Just a little more.”