MINNEAPOLIS — Through two games, defense has been the theme of the WNBA Finals 2015 presented by Boost Mobile. Both teams have been locked in on that end of the floor, but on Tuesday night it was Minnesota’s defense that was the difference as the Lynx got the best of the Indiana Fever in front of their home crowd.

The Lynx as a team ramped up its defensive intensity in the second half, but it was the hounding defense of reserve guards Anna Cruz and Renee Montgomery that really seemed to make the difference. Both players kept their hands active and got a number of deflections that helped create turnovers.

“They’re huge for us,” Lynx forward Devereaux Peters said of Montgomery and Cruz, “because they’re able to come in off the bench and give [Whalen] a blow and really pressure and cause a lot of havoc for the other team. When they’re in the game it’s very difficult for teams to run their plays, because they’re in their face, they have to worry about them and protecting the ball, so they’re really big for us, brings our intensity levels up.”

Turnovers have been a huge story in both games, but on Tuesday night it was Minnesota that was the beneficiary, forcing the Fever into 16 turnovers – including 13 in the second half.

“[Defense] is always our focus,” Montgomery said. “We’ve been a good defensive team all year. But when we’re letting teams do what they want to do, that’s not being a good defensive team. I think everybody just wanted to lock in and play better defense.”

Cruz and Montgomery’s stifling on-ball pressure seemed to throw the Indiana offense out of sync, often causing them to initiate their offense late into the shot clock, which lessened Indiana’s ability to get the looks it wanted.

“My focus is just to come in and be a spark off the bench,” Montgomery said. “Bring positive energy, whether it’s defensively, if they’re leaving people open, hitting the shots. I kind of just try to come in the game and feel out what we need at that time, and I think it was defense.”

Cruz and Montgomery weren’t the only bench players to contribute. Head coach Cheryl Reeve went to Peters in the first half, and she scored six quick points in the final minute and a half of the first quarter.

“They didn’t guard me,” Peters said. “I guess that was their plan. They were going to take their chances with me shooting the ball. And I’m not a bad shooter, so if they want to keep taking those chances that’s fine with us.”