Candace Parker and Nneka Ogwumike came up with big games each to move the Los Angeles Sparks within one win of retaining the WNBA championship.
Parker had 13 points and five steals while Ogwumike had 16 points and 10 rebounds to help the Sparks beat the Lynx 75-64 in game three of the WNBA finals on Friday night.
"Good players have to make big plays," Sparks coach Brian Agler said.
"Tonight was our night."
The Sparks had double figures from four of their five starters as Odyssey Sims scored 16 points and Chelsea Gray added 14. Even the bench produced with 11 points.
The Sparks have taken a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five game series and with one more win can become the first team since 2002 to win the championship in back-to-back years.
Los Angeles won back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002.
The Minnesota Lynx face elimination on Sunday, or a win would push the series to a fifth and final game on Wednesday.
Lynx forward Maya Moore scored 16 points, all of which came in the second half, but she was fouled out of the game with 37 seconds left.
"It's hard to win a WNBA finals game without your star players," head coach Cheryl Reeve said.
"In the series we've seen the team that has the stars that outplay the other stars wins the game."
The Sparks led by as many as 13 points in the third quarter but the Lynx pulled to within one in the fourth quarter.
Los Angeles held on, outscoring Minnesota 17-7 after the Lynx got within 58-57.
The Sparks left the court before the American national anthem in silent protest over the treatment of African-Americans by law enforcement officials.
The Sparks have said they're standing for solidarity and unity and they did the same in games one and two.
The NBA board of governors met on Thursday saying they didn't expect any basketballers to 'take a knee' as a number of NFL footballers have done.
That is because the NBA protocols demand players remain standing for the national anthem.
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