\u201cThey haven\u2019t seen us full strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what Alyssa Thomas intoned<\/a> after the No. 4-seed Phoenix Mercury punched their ticket to the WNBA semifinals, earning a best-of-five shot at the No. 1-seed Minnesota Lynx. The festivities begin with Game 1 on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET in Minneapolis (ESPN).<\/p>\n The full-strength Mercury will aim to improve upon their 1-3 regular-season record against a Lynx team that will not be at full strength, as DiJonai Carrington, Minnesota\u2019s trade deadline addition, will not only miss Game 1 but the remainder of the playoffs with a mid-foot sprain<\/a>. Carrington also did not participate in any of the regular-season matchups between the two teams, as the fourth and final game was held on July 16, well before her acquisition.<\/p>\n But as Thomas noted, none of those games provide an adequate estimation of what might occur in Game 1, as well as throughout this series.<\/p>\n The first game, a 74-71 Lynx win on May 30, did not feature Thomas, Kahleah Copper or Natasha Mack for the Mercury, while Napheesa Collier was absent for the Lynx. A few days later, on June 3, Minnesota won commandingly, 88-65, as Collier had returned but Phoenix was still missing the same three starters. The teams then met again in quick succession in mid-July. Behind a then career-high 29 points from Thomas, the Mercury, sans Copper and Satou Sabally but now with DeWanna Bonner, defeated the Lynx 79-71. A week later on July 16, with Monique Akoa Makani joining Copper and Sabally on the Mercury sideline, the Lynx cruised to a 79-66 win.<\/p>\n Finally at full health, Phoenix might be playing their best ball of the season, especially on the defensive end. In the first-round, they had the defending champion New York Liberty in disarray, delivering a particularly impressive Game 2 destruction<\/a> in Brooklyn. Across the three games, they registered a defensive rating of 84.6, the best mark of the first round\u2014by far. In Game 2, their defensive rating was an air-tight 52.6.<\/p>\n Such an aggressive, connected and versatile defense will be needed to slow the Lynx\u2019s league-best offense.<\/p>\n Although Minnesota staggered through stretches in their first-round series against the Golden State Valkyries, they exited the first round with the best offensive rating of all eight teams, establishing a mark of 114.3 that is superior to their regular-season rating of 109.5. At their best, no team can cook like the Lynx. In the fourth quarter of Game 2, when they completed their 17-point comeback<\/a>, Minnesota\u2019s offensive rating was 152.9, as they shot better than 73 percent from the field and 60 percent from 3.<\/p>\n So, if the Mercury defense and Lynx offense fight to a draw, what happens when they switch sides of the ball?<\/p>\n