2016 Minnesota Lynx season

2016 Minnesota Lynx season
2016 Minnesota Lynx season
Coach	Cheryl Reeve
Arena	Target Center
Attendance	per game
Results
Record	28–6 (.824)
Place	1st (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost 2016 WNBA Finals
Media
Television	ESPN
	← 2015 season 2017 season →

The 2016 WNBA season of the Minnesota Lynx is the 18th season in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Lynx were the defending WNBA champions. The Lynx finished with a record of 28–6, finishing first in the Western Conference (and the league as a whole) and qualifying for the playoffs. Minnesota advanced to their second straight Finals. Their 2016 roster included five competitors in the 2016 Rio Olympics (Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Sylvia Fowles, and Seimone Augustus of the U.S. squad and Anna Cruz of the Spanish team) as well as seven current or previous all-stars (Moore, Whalen, Fowles, Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson, Jia Perkins and Renee Montgomery) with an astonishing 22 total past selections to the all-star game between them.

Draft picks edit

The Lynx made three selections in the 2016 WNBA Entry Draft in Uncasville, Connecticut:

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	WNBA Team	School/Team/Country
2	14	Jazmon Gwathmey	United States	Minnesota Lynx^{[nb 1]} (then traded to San Antonio)^[1]	James Madison
2	22	Bashaara Graves	United States	Minnesota Lynx^{[nb 2]}	Tennessee
3	35	Temi Fagbenle	United Kingdom	Minnesota Lynx	USC

Roster edit

Minnesota Lynx roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	DOB	From	Yrs
G/F	33	Augustus, Seimone	6' 0" (1.83m)	169 lb (77kg)	04-30-1984	LSU	11
F	32	Brunson, Rebekkah	6' 2" (1.88m)	185 lb (84kg)	12-11-1981	Georgetown	13
G	51	Cruz, Anna	5' 9" (1.75m)	136 lb (62kg)	10-27-1986	Spain	3
C	34	Fowles, Sylvia	6' 6" (1.98m)	212 lb (96kg)	10-06-1985	LSU	9
F	24	Hampton, Keisha	6' 1" (1.85m)	171 lb (78kg)	02-22-1990	DePaul	R
F	3	Howard, Natasha	6' 2" (1.88m)	171 lb (78kg)	09-02-1991	Florida State	2
F/C	4	McCarville, Janel	6' 2" (1.88m)	218 lb (99kg)	11-03-1982	Minnesota	11
G	21	Montgomery, Renee	5' 7" (1.7m)	143 lb (65kg)	12-02-1986	Connecticut	8
F	23	Moore, Maya	6' 0" (1.83m)	178 lb (81kg)	06-11-1989	Connecticut	6
G	7	Perkins, Jia	5' 8" (1.73m)	168 lb (76kg)	02-23-1982	Texas Tech	13
G	13	Whalen, Lindsay	5' 9" (1.75m)	166 lb (75kg)	05-09-1982	Minnesota	13

Head coach: Cheryl Reeve (La Salle)
Assistant coaches: Shelley Patterson (Washington State)
Jim Petersen (Minnesota)

Athletic trainer: Chuck Barta (Wisconsin-La Crosse)
Assistant trainer: Kate Taber (Iowa)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(FA) Free agent
(IN) Inactive
(S) Suspended
Injured

Game log edit

Preseason edit

2017 pre-season game log
Total: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0)

Pre-season: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
1	May 5	New York Liberty

2016–17 season schedule

Standings edit

Western Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1 - Minnesota Lynx	28	6	.824	-	15–2	13–4	15–1
2 - Los Angeles Sparks	26	8	.765	2	14–3	12–5	11–5
7 - Seattle Storm	16	18	.471	12	10–7	6–11	7–9
8 - Phoenix Mercury	16	18	.471	12	11–6	5–12	6–10
e - Dallas Wings	11	23	.324	17	6–11	5–12	8–8
e - San Antonio Stars	7	27	.206	21	4–13	3–14	1–15

Eastern Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
3 - New York Liberty	21	13	.618	-	10-7	11-6	11-5
4 - Chicago Sky	18	16	.529	3	11-6	7-10	8-8
5 - Indiana Fever	17	17	.500	4	8-9	9-8	8-8
6 - Atlanta Dream	17	17	.500	4	11-6	6–11	9-7
e - Connecticut Sun	14	20	.412	7	8-9	6-11	4-12
e - Washington Mystics	13	21	.382	8	5-12	8-9	8-8

Regular season edit

2017 game log
Total: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0)

May: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0)

Game	Team	Record
1	Phoenix Mercury	1–0
2	Chicago Sky	2–0
3	Seattle Storm	3–0
4	Phoenix Mercury	4–0
5	Indiana Fever	5–0
6	New York Liberty	6–0

June : 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record

2016–17 season schedule

Playoffs edit

The Lynx qualified for the 2016 playoffs, and, as the team with the best regular season record in the WNBA, received two automatic byes, advancing straight to the best-of-five semifinal against the eighth-seeded Phoenix Mercury. They swept the Mercury three games to none to advance to the 2016 WNBA Finals.

2017 playoff game log
Total: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0)

Conference semifinals: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	High points	High rebounds
1	September 28	Phoenix Mercury season	Maya Moore (31)	Sylvia Fowles (10)
2	September 30	Phoenix Mercury season	Maya Moore (26)	Rebekkah Brunson (11)
3	October 2	Phoenix Mercury season	Maya Moore (20)	Rebekkah Brunson (9)

2017 playoff schedule

Transactions edit

Additions edit

Player	Signed	Former Team
Anna Cruz		New York Liberty

Awards edit

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Maya Moore	Player of the Week award
Maya Moore	Player of the Week award
Maya Moore	Player of the Week award
Maya Moore	Player of the Month award
Maya Moore	Player of the Month award
Sylvia Fowles	Defensive Player of the Year Award
Cheryl Reeve	Coach of the Year Award