Mystics vs. Lynx game 3 preview: Washington fights to stay alive

The Mystics take on the Lynx in Game 3 of the WNBA Semifinals on Sunday in a do or die game.

Where and When?

It’s on Sunday, September 17, 2017 at 3 p.m. at Capital One Arena. You can watch the game on ESPN2 or WatchESPN here in the USA.

What’s at stake?

It’s obvious. If the Mystics win, they’ll host Game 4 at Georgetown University on Tuesday. If they lose, the season’s over.

This season was certainly a different one for me than many past Mystics seasons. In some years like 2011 and 2012, they were just horrible and hope was hard to come by. But in the last four years of the Mike Thibault Era, I saw good moments, but I knew that the Mystics still had no hope of a championship regardless of how well the team played.

This season, the Mystics brought in Elena Delle Donne, Kristi Toliver, and Kristi Toliver around their existing young core of Emma Meesseman, Tayler Hill, and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt. Though injuries and EuroBasket Women threw off chemistry, we still saw that this team had the potential to be in the championship picture in the not too distant future.

Though they’ve had their moments in short stretches, most of the core players of the Lynx have been together for many years. Their existing experience as a playoff team certainly played a major reason why they’re heading into D.C. ready to put the final nail in the coffin. Barring something crazy, the Lynx will win this series. In fact, they’ll probably win Game 3 because they have more playoff experience together throughout this decade.

That said, it’s hard for one pro team to beat another pro team six times in the same year. The Mystics are now in desperation mode and this game should show us their “mettle,” if you will. I can’t explain how the Mystics can win this game, because their best shots at the Lynx weren’t enough. Minnesota had an answer and then some every time.

Of course, I still hold out some hope. So like George Gipp once said in a famous movie:

or in a D.C. context, like the late Abe Pollin once said,

“Win one for me.”

Again, I don’t know how the Mystics can continue their long playoff run. I just hope that they can.

Talk about the game here as well!

Use this place to chat about the game. Win one for the District, ladies.