No energy should be used to downplay those four WNBA championships and six finals appearances for the Lynx from 2011 to 2017. Those were loaded teams and the last two five-game finals, shared with Candace Parker and the Los Angeles Sparks, provided excellent drama.

The playoffs were played at Williams Arena in 2017, and the joyous post-game media sessions with Moore, Whalen, Fowles, Brunson, all, after a victorious Game 5 in a packed Barn remain unforgettable.

However, this is different because the WNBA is different now. It has shed its roots as a league that started the NBA out of obligation and to fill empty arenas for some dates in the summer.

The league started in 1997 and the Lynx started in 1999, and it should be noted that Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, who also owns the Minnesota Star Tribune, stuck with it while most of his NBA contemporaries were bailing out. Taylor is so committed to the cause that he spent $1 million in 2017 to provide temporary air conditioning for Williams’ teams and fans.

The NBA relinquished ownership in 2002, and it took a long time, but the WNBA has gained more momentum in 2024 than ever before. And with this Lynx as an unlikely force in the middle of it.

This is not based on the arrival of Caitlin Clark. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was right in the preseason when he said the competition was about more than one player, even though Caitlin Nation went crazy and kept complaining that Olympic coach Reeve was anti-Clark.

Ridiculous. Clark certainly focused more attention on the competition, but she didn’t belong on the Olympic team and could have been left off the All-WNBA first team announced this week if she received as much attention for her record-breaking turnovers as she did for points and assists.

Heck, I go way back as a Clark booster, but without her in sight, the favored New York Liberty and the ruthless Lynx put on an unforgettable finale, and that was just three games into the best-of-five going into Friday night. in Target Center.