It should be clear that the Minnesota Lynx won't just sail through the postseason as they did in much of the regular season.

The expansion Golden State Valkyries showed that as they pushed the Lynx in the second game of the best-of-three first round, with Minnesota winning 75-74.

Their next challenge comes in the semifinal round against the Phoenix Mercury, with Game 1 on Sunday in Minneapolis.

"The offense wasn't going to be pretty," coach Cheryl Reeve said of the decider against Golden State.

Now, with a clean slate, Minnesota and Phoenix head into the best-of-five semifinals, with the Lynx at home for the first two games.

The Mercury advanced by defeating the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty with Friday night's 79-73 triumph in Game 3 of their series.

The Lynx won three of

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