With Williams Arena providing a fitting home-court advantage, the Minnesota Lynx clinched the WNBA title on Wendesday.
Primarily the home for University of Minnesota basketball, Williams Arena was called upon to fill a void for the Lynx during the WNBA playoffs. With the team’s regular season home–the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul–unavailable for the postseason, the Lynx shifted their postseason games to Williams Arena.
Their run at the venue lasted through the WNBA finals, which ended with the Lynx winning the championship on Wednesday night. The Lynx clinched their fourth title in seven years in front of 14,632 fans, and the atmosphere and intensity on display at the arena left an impression on the team. More from The Pioneer Press:
“There’s so much history here like (with) Whalen, so on, so forth, it’s a great environment, great atmosphere,” Augustus said. “I think a lot of us haven’t been to a college arena in a while, played in a college arena, so it’s kind of fun to get back and enjoy having the fans like right there with you as opposed to be in the bigger arenas where it’s still loud, but not like college.”
Is it possible Williams Arena provides a great home-court advantage than, say, Target Center?
“I think so,” [Seimone] Augustus said. “The Target Center is fine, but this is just because of the setup of it. The intimacy of it. We can hear the fans yelling, screaming, it’s just the vibe of the Barn is pretty awesome.”
Xcel Energy Center provided the team a home this summer as renovations took at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The Lynx are slated to return to the Target Center next season, but Williams Arena clearly managed to make an impression in its short time hosting the team.
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