The Minnesota Lynx go into Friday night’s game at Chase Center with three players out, a thin edge that matters because the Golden State Valkyries have been one of the league’s sharpest shooting teams all season. Emma Cechova, Napheesa Collier and Dorka Juhasz are all listed out for Minnesota, while Golden State has no listed injuries.
That is why this matchup is drawing attention now. The Lynx and Valkyries both sit among the best teams in the WNBA, both have been strong to the over, and both arrive on 7-3 runs over their last 10 games. Minnesota has hit the Game Total Over in four straight games, with the total set at 169.5, so the scoring pace is part of the story before the ball is even tipped.
Janelle Salaun is the player most likely to tilt the game’s math. She ranks fifth in the league in three-point attempts at 6.7 per game and third in makes at 2.7, with 63.7% of her shots coming from beyond the arc. She is shooting a career-best 40% from downtown, made five threes in her first matchup with the Minnesota Lynx and has hit three or more treys in 53.3% of her games this season. Veronica Burton gives Golden State another perimeter threat, with 1.6 triples per game, a career-best 36.9% from long range and multiple makes in 60% of her games.
The first meeting between these teams gave a clean preview of how this one could play out. The Valkyries took 37 triples and Salaun made five of them, while opponents have already attempted a league-high 29 triples against Minnesota this season. That matters with the Lynx missing three rotation pieces, because it leaves less room to absorb foul trouble, cover the arc and still keep enough scoring on the floor.
So the question on Friday is not whether these teams can score. It is whether Minnesota can survive that missing depth against a Golden State group that lives beyond the arc and has already shown it can push the Lynx into the kind of game that turns into a shooting contest.
