The Minnesota Lynx open their semifinal series with the Phoenix Mercury at 4 p.m. Sunday at Target Center. The battle for a trip to the WNBA Finals is full of All-Star talent and elite matchups as Minnesota tries to book a return trip to the WNBA Finals.

The Lynx won the regular season series, 3-1. Here’s a look at the matchups that will define this best-of-five semifinal (stats courtesy of Her Hoop Stats and Across The Timeline)

Alanna Smith’s defense vs. Alyssa Thomas’s offense

The advanced stats back up Smith’s case as Defensive Player of the Year as she led the WNBA in defensive win shares per 40 minutes (0.08), ranked second in blocked shot percentage (2.2%) and finished second in defensive rating (93.7).

While she isn’t the biggest frontcourt player at 6-foot-4, Alanna Smith does not back down from larger opponents when it comes to physical play. And her quickness gives her an advantage when it comes to creating deflections and defending the perimeter in the pick-and-roll game.

Thomas is one of the most dominant players of this generation. The WNBA has had 59 triple-doubles in its history and Thomas has 24 of them, with her latest coming in the deciding Game 3 victory in the first round against New York on Friday.

“Nobody plays the game harder, smarter,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said of Thomas earlier this season.

The Mercury’s powerful MVP finalist is a brilliant passer, averaging 9.2 assists per game this season. But she can also get to the basket with the best in the league. She makes 66% of her shots inside five feet, and she took 197 such attempts, 12th most in the WNBA.

The bottom line: There is no stopping Thomas. But if she has one Achilles heel, it can be reckless passes. She averaged the third most turnovers per game (3.5). If Smith can survive Thomas’ powerful drives and force her into precarious passes, the Lynx have a chance to gain extra possessions by taking advantage of miscues.

Napheesa Collier’s efficiency vs. Satou Sabally’s 3-point shooting

Out of 13 players who took at least 13 shots per game in 2025, no one ranked higher in field-goal percentage than the Collier (53.1%).

The MVP finalist was dangerous from all areas of the floor, making 40.3% of her threes, while hitting 52.9% from midrange and 90.6% of her free-throws. The Lynx’s offense spreads the floor to create winnable matchups for her down low, where she can execute her signature fadeaway against any defender.

How much does Collier mean to the Lynx offensively? The forward scored 20 or more points 21 times this year and the Lynx won 18 of those games. In three games against Phoenix, she averaged 15.3 points.

The Mercury as a team took the third most three-point attempts in the WNBA (27.7). Satou Sabally averages 5.4 attempts from beyond the arc. However, she wasn’t the most efficient. Of the 48 players who took at least three three-point attempts per game and played in 30-plus games, Sabally was 41st in 3-point percentage (32.1%).

The star forward does have the ability hit from deep. Last year she made 45.2% of her 3-point attempts, which was second in the WNBA among high-volume three-point shooters.

The bottom line: The Lynx need to get Collier her shots, no matter where they happen on the floor and they must limit open opportunities for Sabally, otherwise she will make them pay.

Kayla McBride’s three-point shooting vs. Kahleah Copper’s speed

McBride is one of the best three-point shooters in the league, ranking seventh all-time in three-point makes (722) in WNBA history. This year she had the second most made triples (103), knocking down an outstanding 39.5% of her attempts.

Her importance to the Lynx’s offense can be demonstrated this way: In games they won this year, she made 41.7% of her three-point attempts. In games they lost, that number dipped to 33.3%. McBride is a momentum-shifting player, who can swing games when she catches fire.

Copper is a four-time All-Star and the 2021 WNBA Finals MVP. She is capable of shredding opponents with her lightning quick drives to the basket. That will test the Lynx’s outstanding on-ball defense.

However, this year Copper was not on the same level as previous seasons. Her shooting percentage (42.6%) was her lowest since 2019 and her points per game dropped from 21.7 to 15.6. She did not clear 15 points in any of the three first-round games against the Liberty.

The bottom line: The Lynx must lean on McBride’s shooting, especially if Phoenix is focused on stopping Collier. They also have to ensure Copper doesn’t have a breakout series. In the 2021 Finals, she shot 50% and scored 17 points per game. If that happens, it’s going to be a rough ride.

The Lynx’s depth vs. the Mercury’s depth

One of the reasons the Lynx had the best record in the WNBA this year was their depth.

Guard Natisha Hiedeman averaged 9.1 points per game on 49.3% shooting, while forward Jessica Shepard had the best shooting percentage in the league (63.8%) and averaged eight points. The Lynx picked up 2024 All-Defensive player DiJonai Carrington at the trade deadline. In Minnesota’s Game 2 win over Golden State to advance to the semifinals, the three key bench players played 21, 19 and 14 minutes, respectively.

Phoenix’s depth was greatly improved when they signed six-time All-Star DeWanna Bonner mid-season. She splits minutes with defensive specialist Natasha Mack. The Mercury also bring two-time champion Sami Whitcomb off the bench as a 3-point specialist.

The bottom line: Overall, Minnesota has the most impressive bench in the league. They are capable of winning the bench minutes and wearing down Phoenix as the series goes on.

Cheryl Reeve vs. Nate Tibbetts

There is an enormous gap in coaching experience, as Reeve has four championships and Tibbetts is only in his second year coaching women’s basketball. The South Dakota native was previously an NBA assistant from 2011-23.

Despite the difference in WNBA resumes, Tibbetts’ team has a lot of the signals of a modern, well-coached team. The Mercury ranked second in percentage of points from distance and fourth in assisted shot ratio, demonstrating their ball movement and focus on outside shooting.

However, Reeve’s team is No. 1 in points per possession, No. 1 in points per possession allowed, No. 1 in three-point shooting and No. 1 in assist-to-turnover ratio.

She has also had two years with most of her current players and they are very comfortable in her system.

The bottom line: No coach in the WNBA is better at adapting in-game or within a series than Reeve and she has the players to adjust when needed. The Lynx should have an edge on the sidelines.

Series schedule

Game 1: Sunday, 4 p.m. at Target Center on ESPN

Game 2: Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. at Target Center on ESPN

Game 3: Friday, 8:30 p.m. in Phoenix on ESPN2

Game 4*: Sunday, Sept. 28 in Phoenix

Game 5*: Tuesday, Sept. 30 at Targe Center

*= if necessary

The Twins were still waiting for word on Pablo Lopez before they started a double-header against the Guardians at Target Field on Saturday.

Lopez went for imaging on his right arm this morning after falling on it awkwardly on a third-inning play in the Twins’ 6-2 loss to Cleveland on Friday. The veteran right-hander was diving to toss a ball to the first baseman when he was hurt.

He pitched one more inning but was taken out the next inning when his forearm tightened up. The issue, really, is whether Lopez and the Twins want him to make one more start, which would be in the season-ending, three-game series at Philadelphia.

“There’s only so much that can be going on with the forearm or elbow, so my mind definitely takes me to worse places, worst-case scenarios, which is less than ideal,” López told reporters Friday night.

Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober, respectively, are scheduled to start the double-header for the Twins against the Guardians, who have won eight straight and, after sweeping first-place Detroit this week, are only 2½ games out in the American League Central.

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Amy Lindgren

Once in a while I gather random thoughts into one column. Here are two ideas I’ve been pondering recently.

Running into walls

A colleague and I were talking about the walls job seekers run into when trying to reach employers. Soon the conversation turned from frustrating turndowns into something more psychological: The propensity some of us have for putting up our own walls.

For example, the person who balks at personal outreach or opts out of LinkedIn despite knowing that’s where recruiters look.

Running into walls or building them? One seems inevitable while the other seems controllable. Since I like to be in control when I can, I’m trying to ensure I’m not building the walls I’m running into.

A lesson from the movies and from bikes

One of my favorite movie scenes comes from the original Jurassic Park (1993). In a film filled with jump scares, the juxtaposition of laughs was genius.

If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know the scene: Three of the characters are trying to escape in a Jeep when the camera zooms in on the sideview mirror. There, perfectly framed, is a T-Rex in full pursuit. Unfortunately, the trio isn’t as far ahead as they’d thought, confirmed by the mirror’s classic warning, “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” Uh-oh.

One more story before I tie this back to job search: Last week I was driving in a city neighborhood at the posted 20 mph. Mid-day, mid-week on a nice day for outdoor activities. Coming to a stop at a four-way intersection where cross traffic doesn’t stop, I noted only some cyclists partway up the hill to my left, a half-block away. Nothing to my right. I put my foot on the gas and proceeded, only to be serenaded by unseemly language through my open window.

Two middle-aged women on bikes, one with a broad vocabulary, had come up the hill at a pace unlikely for even an athletic soul. Since they weren’t clad in racing shorts and had baskets on the front of their bikes, I had apparently made the judgment upon seeing them 50 yards away that I wouldn’t need to look left again.

You already know the punchline: They were riding electric bikes. Baskets or no, they were zipping along fast enough to be nearby when I headed through the otherwise empty intersection.

New lesson for this driver: Bikes ridden by pretty much anyone may be traveling faster than you think — up to 28 mph according to what I’ve since learned.

You know what else comes faster than you expect? Layoffs and slowed job growth. Although I’ll admit, I’ve been expecting the most recent (poor) national job numbers for quite awhile, based on other indicators. I’m not an economic analyst, but as an observant career strategist with some experience, the past two years or so have felt recession-y to me.

Some economists have been saying the same, while others counter this could just be a new reality, where traditionally predictive factors don’t produce the anticipated crises.

But here it is. “Objects in mirror,” etc. We haven’t advanced to seeing the T-Rex’s foot-tall teeth fill the frame, but neither are we looking at its silhouette in the far distance. Poor job reports, increased layoffs and slight upticks in the unemployment rate are producing what Jeff Goldblum’s Jurassic Park character called “impact tremors” — the occasional ominous ripples in the water that become more frequent as the T-Rex draws closer.

Now what? Maybe the economy is just right-sizing, with companies returning to more normal employee head-counts after recent hiring sprees. Maybe … well, with the strange way the numbers have played out, maybe anything could be interpreted from them.

I’ve stopped trying to define whether we’re heading into a recession or what the future will bring for jobs; it really isn’t my expertise. Instead, I’m very much living in the moment with my clients, focused on pursuing whatever actions can be taken right now, such as paying down debt or creating backup plans for job loss.

Meanwhile, returning to the surprisingly fast e-bikes — I’m not sure what the related metaphor would be, except that almost nothing seems “normal” anymore, including how long it takes a cyclist to come up a hill. The translation for careers, if there is one, would be a warning that more things have changed than we might realize.

Otherwise? The message is just the message: Be careful when you’re driving, and look a second time. The bikes, at least, are truly coming faster than you expect.

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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.

It’s been more than 15 years since the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota began purchasing easements from property owners to extend the popular Gateway Trail into Scandia.

Now, that work is finally coming to fruition.

City officials next month expect to approve the plans and specifications for a trailhead on city-owned land near Meister’s Bar & Grill along with a tunnel under Oakhill Road (Washington County Road 52) and a one-mile trail connecting the two, said City Administrator Kyle Morell. The estimated cost of the project is $4.6 million. Construction could start in May and should be complete by the end of 2026, he said.

A Sept. 19, 2025, map shows the Gateway Trail plans between Scandia and William O’Brien State Park, which include a tunnel under Oakhill Road. (Kathryn Kovalenko / Pioneer Press)

But the tunnel, which has an estimated price tag of $1.5 million, has been controversial. Officials from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the agency that will own, operate and maintain the state trail, say it is a necessary safety measure.

The Gateway Trail is one of the state’s most heavily used trails, attracting an estimated 314,000 users in 2024. It currently runs 19 miles from St. Paul to Pine Point Park in Stillwater Township. Plans call for a four-mile extension of the Gateway Trail from the east entrance of William O’Brien State Park to downtown Scandia, and the number of users is expected to only increase, said Kent Skaar, the senior project manager for acquisition and development for the DNR’s parks and trails division.

“The tunnel is absolutely a safety consideration,” Skaar said. “Do we have crossings of highways like Oakhill Road? Absolutely. Are we intentionally trying to find them and build them? No. We’re building tunnels where we can and where it makes sense, and here it really does.”

But Linda and Loren Nickelson, the couple who owns land on Oakhill where the tunnel will cross the highway, say it is unnecessary and poorly planned.

Linda Nickelson grew up in the area and owns 54 acres of undeveloped land on the north side of Oakhill. The land in question has been in her family for generations. “My great-grandparents came from Sweden and settled in the area in the mid-1800s,” she said during a recent tour of the property. “It’s where I grew up.”

Nickelson, who lives in Crosslake, Minn., said she only recently learned of the plans for the tunnel, which she claims will “destroy more than half of our road frontage and create a wetland on the remaining portion.”

She is asking city officials to halt the plans before it is too late.

“I’m not against the trail,” she said. “But just because some people put the cart before the horse and went forward with partial payment for preliminary work on this tunnel does not mean this tunnel should come to fruition and sit there dormant for many years into the future. The Gateway Trail hasn’t even been constructed to connect to the tunnel.”

Plans call for trail sections on both sides of a realigned Oakhill Road to accommodate bicycles, pedestrians and horseback riders. The tunnel crossing is designed for pedestrians and bicyclists; they will be directed to use the trail section on the north side of the road and cross under Oakhill via the tunnel. Horseback riders will be directed to a trail section on the south side of the road, so horses do not have to go through the tunnel; they will cross at an at-grade crossing further northwest on Oakhill Road, where the trail meets the road at the property just north of Nickelsons’ land.

“The fact that a very short distance down the road, there will be a crossover for horses, bikers and pedestrians who do not want to use the tunnel, makes this whole endeavor seem foolish,” Nickelson said.

The trail also will require the “clear cutting” of 100-year-old oak and maple trees north of their property, Linda Nickelson said. “That’s a pity considering how very few people will end up using that trail.”

The state in 2017 purchased a trail easement for $91,000 from the property owner on the south side of Oakhill, and no construction easement is required on an adjacent property as the new alignment will be contained within the easement, Skaar said.

Linda Nickelson said it makes more sense to have the entire trail built on the south side of Oakhill Road and come out on city-owned property near where the city’s new Water Tower Barn Arts and Heritage Center will be built.

“That brings the trailhead out in close proximity to pickleball and tennis courts, a playground, picnic tables, the Gammelgården Museum and a much larger parking lot for horse trailers,” she said. “Isn’t that a much safer alternative? There would be no need for a tunnel, no crossover, no need to construct a parking lot in an extremely busy section of Scandia. No removal of 100-year-old oak and maple trees, no unlawful destruction of wetlands, no very expensive road reconfiguration.”

If the tunnel is deemed unnecessary, that money “could go towards the actual trail construction,” she said. “A tunnel to nowhere serves no purpose.”

The majority of the easements for the existing state trail corridor were acquired between 2007 and 2010 following consideration of potential options, community support and landowner interest, Skaar said. Several options were considered during the corridor selection and property acquisition, including the south side of Oakhill, he said. “This included the consideration of potential trailhead locations, including a ‘shared-use’ facility as suggested, which as I remember was considered too impactful to the city’s current activities and uses,” he said.

Skaar said all state trail corridor acquisition is from “willing sellers only.”

He also said the trail segment from Scandia to the tunnel will have “limited wetland impacts.” The plans have been completed in compliance with the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act, and the impacts will be mitigated, he said.

Project deadline

The tunnel and trail will be located on county-owned right-of-way that abuts the Nickelsons’ property. Officials have asked the Nickelsons for a temporary construction easement to access her property to grade the slopes from the property to the trail, but she said she will not grant it. “That would be like putting a stamp of approval on foolish spending,” she said.

Crews can work around it, but it will mean constructing a two- to five-foot retaining wall and a fence in the right of way “to construct the trail at the appropriate grades and not infringe on their property,” said Mayor Steve Kronmiller.

If the Nickelsons, who would like to build senior housing on the property, agree to the construction easement, the city would create an access to the property that meets city standards, he said.

Scandia Mayor Steve Kronmiller. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“Right now, they’re driving through a wetland on a farm road to get to their property,” he said. “If we’re not allowed to have the easement, our costs are going to go up in order to build the retaining wall and all of that. If they want to develop their property in the future, they’re going to have to build that access themselves.

“We’ve been trying to work with them. They just don’t like the tunnel, and I think they’re trying to find a way to stop it, and I understand that.”

The city got a $2.68 million grant from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources to extend the trail from the trailhead behind Meister’s Bar & Grill to Oakhill Road. The money also will cover a realignment of 2,000 feet of Oakhill Road and the raising of the road by 6 feet to accommodate a new tunnel under the road.

Funding for the trail extension, per the terms and conditions of the LCCMR grant appropriation, must be expended by June 30, 2027, Skaar said.

“If it is not complete, the funding disappears,” Skaar said. “At this point, the plan is basically complete. Right now, the intent is to proceed to a construction contract and award this fall with construction next year. It can be done in a year.”

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Washington County is contributing $800,000 for work related to the tunnel and the realignment of Oakhill and another $200,000 for the project is coming from the Federal Recreational Trail Grant Program that the DNR applied for and received, Skaar said.

Scandia officials are taking the lead in the design and construction of the trail. If the winning bid comes in higher than anticipated, the DNR will work to help secure that additional funding, Skaar said.

Washington County agreed to help pay for the project because a tunnel is needed for the “long-term safety and comfort of trail users,” said County Engineer Wayne Sandberg. “It’s consistent with how we have been managing other regional and state trails at uncontrolled crossings of county highways.”

The speed limit on that section of Oakhill is 55 mph.

Said Kronmiller: “Even if we reduce the speed limit to 30 mph, the sight lines in that area aren’t the greatest. If you’re not really familiar with the area, especially if you’re coming in from Highway 95, you’re going to come up and all of a sudden there’s this crossing in the middle of nowhere that you just wouldn’t expect to be there. … It would be unsafe to have a pedestrian crossing at grade.”

“We’ve learned that at-grade crossings don’t work well with that much bicycle traffic,” Sandberg said. “That’s why we were really strong on going into this one, that if we’re going to extend the Gateway up to Scandia, we need to make sure this is a tunnel from the very beginning, so we don’t have a tragedy right out of the chute.”

Washington County officials will not allow the trail to cross Oakhill, a county highway, at grade, Sandberg said. To support a grade separation, county officials agreed to contribute financially toward a tunnel option, he said.

Built in segments

Doug Ferron, of Forest Lake, rides along Oakhill Road on his way through Scandia on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. Today the Gateway Trail ends 10 miles south of Scandia at Pine Point Regional Park, but plans call for it eventually to reach Scandia via William O’Brien State Park. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Eventually, the trail will go south from the tunnel to a new trail entrance to William O’Brien State Park on the north side of the park. The trail will go through the park and then eventually connect to Pine Point Park, the current terminus of the trail.

The trail is being built in segments as money and land become available, Skaar said.

Why build the northernmost part of the trail before the rest of the trail is constructed? Skaar said all long trails are built in phases, and that it makes sense to do the Scandia segment first.

“It is really a circumstance, admittedly, of funding,” he said. “When it comes to state trails, we are building incrementally when funding and the corridor is available.”

Building a trail from Scandia all the way to Pine Point Park would be a substantial project to design and construct “in a typical period,” he said. “Building them in 1-, 2- or 3-mile segments is really the most efficient. … That has been the history of the program and remains so.”

The DNR is obtaining design work for the portion of the trail from the tunnel at Oakhill to William O’Brien and is estimating construction to be “three to five years out,” he said.

In 2024, William O’Brien State Park had 205,747 day uses and more than 22,000 overnight uses. Many of those visitors will be traveling up to Scandia once the trail is constructed, Kronmiller said. “When you look at all of these factors, now all of a sudden (a tunnel) makes sense.”

Scandia resident Susan Rodsjo said she predicts the Gateway Trail extension is going to be a huge boon to the area.

“It’s been frustrating that it has taken so long to actually get it here,” she said. “I’m just hoping it’s here by the time I have grandkids at this point, so I can enjoy it with them. When we bought the land, that was actually one of the huge benefits to us, that the Gateway Trail was coming to town. We’ll be able to hop on our bikes, go to William O’Brien. Eventually, we’ll be able to bike all the way to St. Paul. That’s pretty darn cool.”

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Rodsjo said she expects the Gateway Trail to do for Scandia what the Root River Trail did for Lanesboro and the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area did for Crosby.

“Have you been to Crosby?” she said. “We have gone through Crosby for years. They made something out of their mines for mountain biking, and they really did a phenomenal job. Next thing you know, ‘We’re, like, let’s go to Crosby for the day.’ There’s good restaurants, there’s fun shops. They have the most amazing grocery store. All of a sudden, it’s the hot spot. … There’s so much you can do for your economy with things like biking.”

Mayor Kronmiller said he is certain things will work out and the trail will be constructed as planned.

“It’s like a puzzle with a bunch of pieces that all have to be put together in the right way at the right time, and it’s all starting to come together now,” he said.