MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Lynx soared last season past the consensus external expectations for their ceiling, surging into the WNBA Finals where they suffered an oh-so-close loss in the winner-take-all fifth game.

This year, they’ve been the clear team to beat.

After cruising to the No. 1 seed with a franchise-record 34 wins, the Lynx used a fierce rally from a 17-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday and post the only first-round sweep of these playoffs.

They’ll host Game 1 of their semifinal series on Sunday, facing a stacked Phoenix Mercury team that’s in a roughly similar situation as the Lynx were last year. With plenty of collective experience in the postseason but none before with this current group, the No. 4 seed Mercury stormed back from a loss to the New York Liberty in their playoff opener to win the next two and eliminate the defending champions on Friday night.

“Every time we go through something, it’s going to be the first time together. We’ve got a lot of veteran players on our team who’ve done it with other organizations, but you never really get it as a group until you go through some stuff,” coach Nate Tibbetts said. “I’ve just been proud the whole year. In close games, we’ve been really good, and I think it’s because we guard, and there’s a certain level of trust.”

There’s that other commonality with the Lynx: defense.

Coach Cheryl Reeve’s drive for five — the franchise won titles in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 — has been founded on a tenacity and a togetherness on that end of the floor, and the Lynx again led the WNBA in defensive rating (97.5) during the regular season. The Mercury (100.4) were fifth, but against the Liberty they allowed a playoffs-best average of just under 70 points per game.

“We’ve got talented players. We’ve got players who can score,” said Tibbetts, who’s in his second year with the team. “I think we’ll find our way offensively, but what we’ve done, how we’ve committed to that defensive end, how we’ve committed to each other, I think it’s very impressive with such a new group.”

Only two players in the current rotation, Kahleah Copper and Natasha Mack, were with the Mercury last season when they were swept in the first round by the Lynx. Copper and Mack just joined the team last year. The offseason acquisitions of Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally and the midseason signing of DeWanna Bonner have paid off, and the dividends are just beginning to come.

“No one has picked us to win,” Thomas said after her postseason-record 20-point triple-double that helped oust the Liberty, “but also no one has been paying attention this year.”

Bonner, 38, has 90 career playoff games on her resume. She won titles with the three-time champion Mercury in 2009 and 2014 and has provided valuable leadership and toughness off the bench.

“This is why we’ve tried to go and get her to come back home to Phoenix the last two offseasons,” Tibbetts said.

Thomas and Bonner were together last year with the Connecticut Sun, who took the Lynx the distance in the semifinals before falling in the decisive fifth game in Minnesota. They’ll be back on that court on Sunday, about 42 hours after their Game 3 victory in Phoenix.

The Lynx will have three full days of rest and a loud crowd on their side, not to mention league MVP candidate Napheesa Collier and the co-winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award Alanna Smith. Collier won it in 2024.

“Any rest you can get is huge at this time of year,” Collier said. “The games are super physical.”

Collier hit the go-ahead jumper with 1:24 left against the Valkyries, who were thriving on their home floor behind a raucous crowd until the Lynx took over, refusing to settle for playing the decisive third game at home.

“I’m thankful that we didn’t just slide into that,” Reeve said, “especially when things weren’t going well for us.”

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