Sacramento at Minnesota

Minnesota has been really getting some help from 1st year players, and it has done 2 things. It has taken scoring pressure off of Seimone Augustus, and elevated the level of play for the entire team. Charde Houston, a first year player from Uconn has been averaging 10.8ppg, and Candice Wiggins from Stanford has been lethal, contributing 16.2ppg. It has allowed Minnesota to put all its home wins away with double digit margins. The Monarchs have dropped all 3 of their road losses by double digits, and what appears to be missing is that go-to player at crunch time, and they have payed for it, especially on the road. The West is a much tougher conference, and the 2 road wins have come against weaker East teams. The Lynx appear to be for real with big contributions from newcomers, and we will back them here.