Who plays great defense?

Who plays great defense? Seattle? Ha!

The Minnesota Lynx, that's who! The Lynx raced out to a 48-31 half-time lead, holding the L.A. Sparks to, well, 41 percent shooting, which actually isn't terrible. But L.A. had just 1 offensive rebound and 9 turnovers, while the Lynx had 7 offensive boards and just 5 turnovers, and shot a red-hot 58 percent.

The 2 teams traded baskets in the 2nd half, which the Lynx could of course afford to do and L.A. could not. The final was still a 17 point difference, 94-77.

L.A. led 15-10 late in the 1st quarter when the Lynx went on their 1st tear, outscoring the Sparks 24-5 to put the game away. Seimone Augustus and Rebekah Brunson each scored 8 points in the run, and finished the, half with 12 and 10 points respectively.

In the 2nd half, it was Maya Moore stepping up with 17 points after scoring just 3 in the 1st. The Lynx' largest lead was 63-41, and the closest the Spakrs ever got was 10 points at 71-61 and 73-63 at 5:57.

How well did the Lynx execute MY game plan?

Inside D: Well, Candace Parker did some damage with 25 points and 11 boards. But everybody else struggled for L.A., especially Kristi Tolliver who had 2 1st half points and zero assists.

3-Ball: Minnesota 9-of-21 (Moore 4-for-6), L.A. 5-of-13. Bingo!

Lindsay: Finished with 12 points and just 2 assists, but just 1 turnover, and out-played the aforementioned Tolliver.

Moore: The Lynx pulled away in the 2nd quarter without a lot of production from Maya. Most of Maya's points came in the trading-baskets portion of the game. But, hey, that certainly helped keep L.A. from ever mounting a threat.

Blocking and tackling: The Lynx only out-shot L.A. 49 percent to 48, but out-rebounded 'em 37-25 including 13-4 on the offensive end. WNBA.com wrote in its pre-game analysis that rebounding could decide the game. I'd say that's pretty smart. Rebekah Brunson had 10, Seimone 6, Maya 5 and Amber Harris 4.

Bench: Our bench out-scored their bench 26-15.

So, anyway, wow. How a team could struggle so mightily vs. Seattle and then blow out L.A. is beyond me. It's all about match-ups, they say, and that, too, looks pretty smart. They'll probably match-up differently in game 2 in L.A., however. Game 2 is on Sunday. Game 3, if necessary, is on Wednesday.