When the weather begins to chill down and the leaves start to vary color in Minneapolis for much of the past decade, it normally means two things: Fall has arrived, and with it the WNBA Finals.

“It’s the final season,” Minnesota Lynx assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson said. “You know, the more energizing the air gets. We at all times have this sense this time of 12 months.

From 2011 to 2017, the Lynx participated in six WNBA Finals, hosting games at the Target Center. They won 4 championships during this era, and Brunson was an element of all 4.

On Wednesday, Minneapolis returned as host to the final WNBA series for the first time in seven years, and the Lynx were in the process of defining a brand new era for the franchise. For fans accustomed to seeing championship rings, this 12 months’s team begins with the Ground Zero Championship. Only Lynx forward Myisha Hines-Allen has won a championship, doing so with the Washington Mystics in 2019.

Minnesota’s coaching staff, nonetheless, is a very different story. The championship pedigree of the Lynx coaching staff is unlike any other in the WNBA. Between them, they participated in as many as 16 WNBA championships.

Brunson won five championships as a player, the first with the Sacramento Monarchs in 2005 and the rest with the Lynx. Associate head coach Katie Smith won two games as a player for the Detroit Shock. Her Shock teammate Elaine Powell, also an assistant with Minnesota, won three championships as a player in Detroit. Head coach Cheryl Reeve has been involved in six championships – 4 as head coach of the Lynx and two as an assistant with Detroit.

“It’s very important because they know exactly what to say. They were here.” Lynx guard Kayla McBride said before Game 2 of the Finals in New York. “You can be distracted by a lot of different things, a lot of different narratives, but they keep the same narrative because that’s what they know.”

As the Lynx attempt to bounce back from a 2-1 loss to Liberty, they’ll lean on the lessons learned from an experienced staff as they struggle to make them their first league title since 2017.

“They know what it takes to win,” McBride said.

As someone who has played on quite a few championship teams, Brunson knows when a gaggle has that factor and might go the distance. She said the Lynx coaching staff immediately saw that think about this 12 months’s team.

Brunson is grateful for constructing a Minnesota team whose synergy each on and off the field has contributed to what she believes is winning team chemistry.

“We knew at the beginning of this season that we had an amazing culture and didn’t have many gaps in the squad… We had all the necessary skills,” Brunson said. “But the factor is the way they took care of each other. It was visible after they weren’t on the field. You could see it in the amount of time they spent together outside of basketball, how they interacted and the way they played for every other. In my experience, this is exactly what you would like.

“At first you could possibly tell that they had something special about them. If they adopted our strategy and played in addition to they might, they might play until the end of the season because of the chemistry between them.

With a lot experience winning titles on the Minnesota bench, Lynx players were quick to ask for guidance and knowledge on what it takes to win. For McBride, it’s Smith – who, along with her two WNBA titles, also won two American Basketball League championships.

“I always talk to Katie before games,” McBride said. “We watch our pregame film and she always says the right things, it keeps me focused on what’s important and the most important thing is the most important thing.”

Although Natisha Hiedeman competed in her first finals in Minnesota, she is no stranger to competing for a championship. Hiedeman was a member of the 2019 and 2022 Connecticut Sun teams together with current teammate Courtney Williams, who also appeared in the Finals. Hiedeman has played in 46 playoff games in his profession, rating fourth all-time amongst players who’ve yet to win a WNBA Finals.

Brunson called Hiedeman “the questioner” in the Lynx lineup during these Finals.

“She’s one of the players I think I’m most excited about,” Brunson said. “When she played at Connecticut, she was in the playoffs. And I believe it is very interesting because they didn’t win, right? So she desires to know what that extra thing is that might help her recover from the hump.

“She asked how it felt, what it was like and, you know, what the arena was like. What did we tell each other? What things did we say to help each other be our best selves? She is one of the more interesting players and has already been in the finals.”

Brunson knows that stories and advice from the coaching staff can only take a team thus far. Ultimately, nothing beats the experience of actually competing for a WNBA championship.

“It’s not just about strategy. We know that and we will give it to them. But when you get to the finals, it really depends on how it feels,” Brunson said. “No one can tell you what it will feel like. You have to really be in it and feel it in those moments.”

However, there are lessons that Brunson draws from her own experiences in previous finals that she hopes to pass on to the current Lynx team, hoping they do not repeat her past mistakes.

In 2012, a 12 months after winning the first WNBA title in franchise history, the Lynx met Tamika Catchings’ Indiana Fever in the finals with a probability to repeat. Indiana stripped Minnesota of back-to-back titles, defeating the Lynx in 4 games. It’s a series that has stuck with Brunson and whose lessons she uses in her coaching today.

“I always come back to that series and the physicality of it,” Brunson said. I take advantage of this since it is one thing you’ll be able to control as a player. You cannot control taking all the shots. You cannot control every bounce, but you’ll be able to at all times control the energy with which you play. Dealing with the physicality of the final series. I at all times say this is the series where we actually got beat up physically. I take advantage of it as a reminder after I leave the show and feel like I’ve beaten you, like they’ve taken it away from you, right? So make sure that you do not feel like that at the end.

While being in the Target Center brings back many exciting Finals memories for Brunson – some of which now hang as banners in the arena rafters – what she was most enthusiastic about straight away was that her Lynx players had created their very own Finals moment in Minnesota. Play in front of a sold-out crowd (Game 3 hosted the largest crowd in Target Center history with 19,521 fans) and bask in the admiration of fans who longed to return to fall basketball.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been here,” Brunson said. They have never experienced anything like this of their profession and I know the way special it feels.

Many Lynx players will enter their fourth game on Friday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), having only made three previous profession Finals appearances. But Brunson said that is the beauty of the show – the ability to learn over time. Brunson and the Minnesota coaching staff did what they might to ease the learning curve, doing what they might to assist the Lynx create their very own championship memories.

The Lynx will attempt to stave off Friday’s elimination and force a fifth game, which can happen on Sunday in Brooklyn. The last time a team went down 2-1 and won the championship was in 2017. The team that did it? Lynx. This can be Brunson’s fifth and final WNBA title.

“We try to tell them everything we have. The advantage of having coaches who have been there before is that they might listen to you a little more,” Brunson joked. “Just a little more.”

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – For the San Francisco 49ers, the numbers tell a painful story.

In 4 profession starts against the 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is 4-0, including 2-0 in the Super Bowl. Moreover, the Chiefs overcame double-digit deficits in each of their Super Bowl victories over the 49ers this decade.

It’s true that the 49ers and their fans aren’t the only ones tormented by Mahomes (the Buffalo Bills and their staunch supporters can attest to that). But considering Mahomes played a significant role in denying the 49ers two more Vince Lombardi trophies so as to add to their collection of 5, well, who could blame them in the event that they were concerned about the prospect of facing the Chiefs?

On Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, the 49ers can have a fifth opportunity to beat the Chiefs with Mahomes at quarterback. In one in all the most anticipated matchups of the regular season, the teams that faced one another in Super Bowl LIV and LVIII will meet again on the 49ers’ home field.

Mahomes has had this date circled on his calendar for a while.

“That means it’s as big a game as a regular-season game you could play in,” Mahomes told reporters in Kansas City, Missouri. “They’re a great football team. I all the time wish to compete with the best and that is exactly what we’ll be up against this week. … We understand that to win we can have to provide our all, so we just should be as focused as possible.

In the teams’ last meeting, the Chiefs cemented their place amongst the best teams in NFL history, repeating as Super Bowl champions and winning their third title this decade with a 25-22 additional time victory at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

On the first possession of additional time, San Francisco kicker Jake Moody hit a 27-yard field goal to provide the 49ers a 22-19 lead with 7:22 left. Mahomes, who was named Super Bowl MVP for the third time after gaining 399 all-purpose yards (333 passing, 66 rushing), two touchdowns and an interception, then drove the Chiefs 75 yards, capping the contest with a 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mecole Hardman and scored the winning rating.

As all the time, when Mahomes faced the 49ers, the Chiefs finished higher.

“The most important thing is that the guys just stepped up and played,” Mahomes, a two-time NFL MVP, told the Associated Press. “It wasn’t one guy, it was everyone. The guys just kept playing and doing what that they had to do. That’s what special teams do in football.

In 2020, the Chiefs outscored the 49ers 21-0 in the fourth quarter in a 31-20 victory at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami to win their first Super Bowl in 50 years. Mahomes threw 286 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions en path to winning his first Super Bowl MVP award.

With five Super Bowl wins, the 49ers are ahead of the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers, who each have six. Mahomes played a leading role in stopping the 49ers from catching as much as the leaders.

He first faced the 49ers in Week 3 of the 2018-19 season. In the Chiefs’ 38-27 home victory, Mahomes accomplished 314 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also had a masterful performance in Week 7 of the 2022–2023 season for the visiting Chiefs, rushing for 423 yards with three touchdowns and an interception in a 44–23 victory.

Recently, in an try to move forward, the 49ers have looked back.

“Everyone understands that we lost two Super Bowls to them. It might give you a little bit of post-traumatic stress when you start the tape,” San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters the other day.

“It’s human nature. You have to be careful not to get caught up in this. This game has nothing to do with previous games.”

Of course, from a psychological perspective, all of it adds up, the 49ers admitted.

“It’s definitely a little emotional,” 49ers linebacker Nick Bosa said. “We just have a look at the tape and attempt to learn something from it.

“Quite a lot of similarities from last 12 months, some recent guys, but really good defense and attack. They obviously have (Mahomes) there, so (they) are all the time dangerous.

Despite a variety of major losses on offense (top wide receivers Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice are out for the season, and first-line point guard Isiah Pacheco is on injured reserve), the Chiefs (5-0), who’ve a bye this week, are one in all just two undefeated teams in the league (the Minnesota Vikings are also 5-0). The 49ers (3-3) are also missing several key players, including All-Pro guard Christian McCaffrey, who’s sidelined with an Achilles tendon injury.

In an effort to vary the narrative, the 49ers will once more face the Chiefs and Mahomes. They hope that this time the numbers will finally tell the story they like.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – When film director Spike Lee autographed Jayson Tatum’s green jersey to a young Boston Celtics fan, the famous New York Knicks superfan asked him, “Why didn’t he (Tatum) play in the Olympics?” Why did he sit down?”

Without hesitation, the young man asked Lee, “Why weren’t any Knicks playing in the Olympics?”

As NBA fans at the Basketball Hall of Fame store looked on and laughed, Lee smiled and said, “Hey, how old are you?”

A young Celtics fan said, “I’m 12.”

Lee, who wore a Knicks hat and an orange vest over a Knicks sweatshirt, said: “I hope you are there for the premiere, because regardless that you are raising the (NBA championship) banner, you are losing (to the Knicks).

Lee, actor and LA Clippers fan Billy Crystal, Philadelphia 76ers fan Alan Horwitz and actor and Los Angeles Lakers fan Jack Nicholson (who was not in attendance) were officially added to the James F. Goldstein SuperFan Hall on Sunday afternoon at the Hall of Fame. Knicks jersey with “Lee” and “No. 40” on the back and the Knicks player contract signed by Lee in 1990 were displayed in a large glass case in the SuperFan Gallery. A couple of hours later, the 2024 Basketball Hall of Fame class took place at the nearby Symphony Hall, headlined by Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups.

The SuperFan Gallery honors fans for his or her passion and love for basketball and recognizes their unique and well-known fandom. Lee won an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards. He won awards for his basketball film titled

“I didn’t even know such a thing existed,” Lee told Andscape. “So it was a big surprise. This year, everything is going according to plan… I also got two (special) Oscars, so that’s good.”

Lee, 67, attributes his love for the Knicks to his late father Bill, a renowned jazz bassist and composer.

The Lees attended Knickerbockers games together at the third Madison Square Garden before it was torn down in 1968 and the current Garden was built. Lee said he attended the decisive Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals – and missed one of his dad’s concert events – when the Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers. He wears a necklace with the ring of 1973 NBA champion, former Knicks coach Red Holzman.

“My father was a Knicks fan and he would take me to the old Garden on 8th Avenue,” Lee said. “My father was a huge sports fan. I inherited my love for sports from my deceased father. My mother was a cinephile. This is where the issue of film comes into play. Music, sports and cinema. My father hated Hollywood movies.

Lee, who often wears Knicks gear in public, is one of America’s most recognizable sports fans, each at home and away.

Lee trash-talks opponents while standing excited during matches. He exudes passion when the Knicks win and shows pain once they lose. Lee also had a rivalry and ongoing feud with then-Indiana Pacers star and Hall of Famer Reggie Miller during six playoff bouts. Since 1973, the Knicks have only reached the NBA Finals twice, losing to the Houston Rockets in 1994 and the San Antonio Spurs in 1999.

When asked if it’s hard to be a devoted Knicks fan, Lee replied: “I don’t think it’s hard. Thanks to him, I am here in the Hall of Fame.”

While playing for the Toronto Raptors, Carter recalled playing against the Knicks in the playoffs and Lee sitting on the court talking trash.

“When you got into an argument with Spike Lee, you got it,” Carter said. “I played well in the regular season (against New York). At the starting of the first quarter at the Garden, I remember Spike saying, “Nah, man, this is New York!” This New York, kid. We won’t do this here. Is he talking to me? I argued with him a bit, especially the second time.

“We were fooled the first time. I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s talk about it next time. I just remember Spike Lee could get up and talk shit and you tell him to sit down and you do something. I got it right the second time. It’s cool to see him go (into the Hall of Fame).”

Toronto Raptors fan Nav Bhatia told Andscape that Lee once told him to maneuver from his seat at Madison Square Garden. Bhatia can be a member of SuperFan Gallery.

“I’m letting him into the SuperFan gallery,” Bhatia told Andscape. “He is obsessed with basketball. I remember in 2001, once we were in the playoffs in New York, he was there talking trash to my VC man (Carter). I used to be sitting behind them and he told them to maneuver my seat to the other side because I used to be talking nonsense too. And he didn’t prefer it. But we won that match.

– But he’s a good friend of mine now. Everything is high quality. I’m really enthusiastic about it.”

On Saturday evening, Lee attended the 2024 Enshrinement Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony and Reception about an hour away at the Mohegan Sun Casino. Among those honored was a television program hosted and produced by sports commentator Ahmad Rashad. After honoring the show, Lee was given the microphone and asked Rashad for his Knicks prediction for the upcoming season in front of Hall of Famers such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Julius “Dr. J” Erving.

“The last time we won was in the 1972-73 season. Will we win? It’s been over 50 years. This year we have the team. Leon Rose is doing his thing, we have KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns), one of the best point guards in the league (Jalen Brunson), we have the defense. What will happen this year?” Lee asked.

Rashad said: “I think they will win the whole thing. I think this is the year.”

So why does Lee consider the Knicks will finally win the title this coming season, 52 years after the last one?

“I believe in it. (Knicks president) Leon Rose and (Knicks executive vice president) World Wide Wes (William Wesley) are doing their thing,” Lee said, pointing to his necklace. “This is Red Holzman’s world champion ring. That’s the last time we won. It’s been over 50 years. This is the 12 months.

Lee is thought to attend key Knicks road games. He attended the WNBA New York Liberty playoff games in Brooklyn, New York. But will Lee be there when the Knicks open the season on the road against the 2023 NBA champion Celtics?

“NO. I’m not going to Boston,” Lee said. “If it’s the playoffs, I’ll go. Regular season? Uh, uh.