Lynx Still in 3rd Place as Gritty Part of Schedule Concludes

With a 40-game regular season schedule and a compressed schedule during an Olympic year, all WNBA teams have been impacted with limited rest and short turnaround times between games. Such is the life of a professional basketball player in an expanding league, now in its 28th year.

Minnesota Lynx (15-6) head coach Cheryl Reeve remarked that this is the first team in the four year history of the Commissioner’s Cup that she felt could compete for a championship. They focused on their Western Conference opponents, going 4-1 in the two week stretch of qualifying games, and then defeated the Eastern Conference champion New York Liberty in the Commissioner’s Cup championship game 94-89 at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y. on June 25.

They were back in action just 36 hours after the Commissioner’s Cup championship for the first of three road games before hosting two in a row, then going back on the road again. In fact, the team uses the word “gritty” to describe this part of the schedule, in which they went 3-3 against some pretty tough opponents. The team still remains in third place even after losing three games including two to tough Eastern Conference opponents.

Minnesota Lynx at Dallas Wings 

The Lynx traveled to Arlington, Texas on June 27 for a Noon ET game against the Dallas Wings, who were riding an 11-game losing streak and former Lynx guard Odyssey Sims made her debut after getting signed by the Wings to a hardship contract.

Minnesota forward Bridget Carleton and center Alanna Smith combined for 5-for-7 shooting from three-point range in the first quarter to help the Lynx build up a 13-point first quarter lead.

The Wings were behind 45-30 with 3:22 left in the second quarter when they went on a 15-0 run to tie the game 45-45 early in the third quarter.

Smith broke the tie with a three-pointer and Lynx guard Courtney Williams hit one from behind the arc to give the visiting team a six-point lead, which they held throughout most of the quarter. Sims made a three-pointer with 51 seconds left in the third quarter to put the Wings up 71-70 and give her new team some momentum going into the fourth quarter.

Sims scored half of her 18 points in the fourth quarter helping the home team obtain a six-point lead, but Minnesota pulled to within three points on a pull up jump shot by forward Bridget Carleton with 1:02 remaining. However, Wings guard Jacy Sheldon hit a three-pointer with 49.1 seconds left to make it a two possession game. Minnesota had three shots on the final possession, including two three-pointers, but could not get any of them to drop. Dallas broke their 11-game losing streak with a 94-88 win over the visiting Lynx.

“We just won the Commissioner’s Cup. They saw the pictures. They saw the video. Oh, and by the way, they’re on an 11-game losing streak and they’re in their gym. How do you think they’re feeling?” Reeve said. “I would say that they felt pretty motivated to change that, right? We knew we were playing a team that’s desperate to win a game. We were 0-6 and we knew what it felt like. To have 11 straight losses? You have to understand what that would feel like.”

Reeve pointed out that it was her team not doing things defensively that made the difference in the game.

“We scored 88 points. That should be enough to win, right? We were not defensively who we needed to be today and that was our greatest disappointment,” she added.

Forward Napheesa Collier was frustrated after the game.

“Honestly, I feel that this is a job. We need to come prepared. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. I don’t even want to talk about that because it’s kind of an excuse and we shouldn’t be excused for what happened today,’’ said Collier. “It was a purpose to play in the Commissioner’s Cup. We wanted to be there. We won. And now we have a regular season game that we need to get back to. We’ll use this as a learning experience and get better for our game on Sunday.”

Minnesota Lynx at Chicago Sky

Next up for Minnesota was the Chicago Sky at Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Sunday June 30 in front of a 9,025 person sellout crowd. The Dallas game was still fresh in their minds when the players took the court.

The Lynx came out to a fast start with a 7-0 run in the first two minutes of the game, but the Sky came charging back with a 23-6 run to take a 23-13 lead before the run ended. Chicago led 24-16 at the end of the first quarter.

Minnesota came charging back with a 10-2 run to begin the second quarter, tying the score at 26-26 with 7:46 left in the half. There were three ties and two lead changes in the quarter, which found the Sky up 39-34 at halftime. Sky guard Lindsay Allen led all scorers at the half with 13 points on 5-for-5 field goal shooting with three of the shots from three-point range.

The Sky began the third quarter with a five point advantage, increased their lead to nine, but then dropped back to a five point margin when the quarter ended. Both teams scored 18 points in the frame, making the score 57-52 in favor of the Sky when the third quarter ended.

Missed shots, turnovers, fouls and Minnesota’s tough defense closed the door on the Chicago Sky in the final quarter. The Lynx outscored the Sky 18-5 in the fourth quarter en route to a 70-62 win. Napheesa Collier scored five points and grabbed three rebounds in the quarter. Kayla McBride went to the foul line eight times and scored a perfect 8-for-8 stat line during that frame. Chicago shot 8.7 percent in the fourth quarter.

Kayla McBride led Minnesota with 16 points. Napheesa Collier added 13 points but also led the team with 11 rebounds and six assists. Alanna Smith pitched in for 11 points and seven rebounds. Chicago rookie Angel Reese scored 10 points and 16 rebounds for her tenth consecutive double-double, a WNBA rookie record.

“They’re gritty. I really appreciated our defensive effort because that’s what’s going to get us to the finish line,” said Reeve. “I think we led in the game for five minutes and we got beat for 35. Luckily we reached our goal of ‘in a row stops’ because if you don’t do that, you’re not going to win. We did it at key times. We’re thrilled that we came out with a win. It was an ugly duckling but we’ll take it.”

“We’ve been battle tested in a lot of situations – the Commissioner’s Cup, on the road, shooting well or shooting bad. I think we all hold ourselves, individually and collectively, to a certain standard. That shows,” said McBride. It’s top to bottom. Every night its somebody different. There’s never a moment when we feel that we’re out of the game. We always know what we have to do to get back into the game.”

Minnesota Lynx at New York Liberty

Next up was a rematch with the top ranked New York Liberty on Tuesday July 2. This time it was at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, their home court, unlike the previous week when they matched up at UBS Center in Elmont, N.Y.

As you might guess from two teams at the top of the standings meeting each other for the third time, it was going to be a fight from the start. The first quarter featured five ties and three lead changes and had the Lynx leading 22-20 when the quarter ended.

The second quarter had two ties but Minnesota led for most of the quarter. They pushed their largest lead at the 5:19 mark when Alanna Smith hit a three-pointer to make the score 35-28. However, the seven point lead evaporated when the Liberty center Jonquel Jones made a three-pointer with 2:01 left in the half to give the home team a one-point lead. The score was tied 42-42 at halftime.

Again, the Lynx ran out to a seven point lead, but could not sustain the New York response. At one point, there were seven consecutive three-point shots made between two teams during a two minute period. Only one, by Lynx forward Bridget Carleton, was made. Collier made a layup with 5:54 left on the clock to give Minnesota the 51-44 lead.

The Liberty continued to play the perimeter game and shot another five three-point attempts in a row. They made two of them, one by forward Leonie Fiebich and the other by Jones, to get back into contention. Minnesota led 59-58 after three quarters.

Minnesota jumped back out to a four point lead, 65-61 with exactly eight minutes to go in the game. Then they went cold. The Liberty clamped down on defense and Minnesota did not have a proper response. As a consequence, New York was able to go on an extended 15-0 run over the next 7.5 minutes that ended when forward Dorka Juhasz made a layup with 30 seconds remaining in the game. It was the final score of the game and the Liberty bested the Lynx 76-67.

The Liberty were led by 21 points and 12 rebounds from Jonquel Jones, while forward Breanna Stewart added 17 points and 17 rebounds. Guard Sabrina Ionescu cleaned up with 17 points and five assists for the Liberty. Minnesota was led by 17 points from Kayla McBride. Napheesa Collier added 15 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

“I thought that we were in good shape. I don’t think we were frustrated. We were ready to answer runs and that sort of thing. I thought we were in good shape there mentally,” said Reeve. “I just think when they turned things up, they started deflecting. It was disruptive to us. We just couldn’t find our way to the easy stuff…good players taking shots and just struggling with making the shot that ordinarily you’d want them to take. It just didn’t happen.”

Napheesa Collier said, “Our defense was good. It was just those loose ball things that we couldn’t execute to finish the play. Our defense was really good. Getting the rebound at the end, those 50-50 balls, that’s where we need to tighten up.”

Neither team scored above 40 percent. Minnesota shot 38.8 percent from the field but held New York to 37.3 percent. The Lynx now hold a 159-8 record, dating back to 2011, when holding their opponents below 40 percent.

Connecticut Sun versus Minnesota Lynx

For the first time in the 26 year history of the franchise, the Minnesota Lynx played a game on the Independence Day holiday. This year they hosted the Connecticut Sun on July 4. Previously, the Lynx lost at Connecticut by one point in their third game of the season back on May 23. This was the long awaited rematch between the two rivals, who faced each other in the playoffs last year.

There is a cliché that is used heavily in the league that “basketball is a game of runs.” Though it is often overused as a colloquialism, this game fit the very definition of the phrase. It was a game of runs for both teams during the whole game.

Connecticut commenced their runs with an early 10-2 run in the beginning of the game, but Minnesota answered with a 7-3 run of their own. The Sun took off on a 7-0 run, and then the Lynx went on an 8-0 run to finish the quarter. Connecticut led 20-17 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was the same as the first. Connecticut jumped out to an 11-2 run and then Minnesota responded with an 11-2 run of their own to end the quarter. Minnesota took over the lead on a three-pointer by center Alanna Smith with 24.7 seconds remaining in the half, and then added two more points on a midrange jump shot by guard Courtney Williams at the buzzer. It was 40-36 in favor of the Lynx at halftime.

Connecticut forward DeWanna Bonner led all scorers with 15 points in the first half. Smith was the leader for Minnesota with nine points in the half.

The 11-2 Minnesota run was extended to a 19-4 run in the third quarter and the Lynx led 48-38 with 8:10 on the clock. The Sun began their next run, a 10-0 run featuring back-to-back three-pointers by guard DiJonai Carrington. The game was tied 48-48 with 5:57 left when Carrington scored her second three-pointer.

Minnesota forward Napheesa Collier hit a three-pointer and then a putback layup for a 5-0 run. However, with 2:38 remaining in the quarter, she was limping on her left foot as Carrington scored a layup to break the 53-53 tie. After Collier’s injury, the Sun closed out the quarter on an 11-5 run. They led 64-58 at the end of the third quarter. Collier did not return to the game.

Minnesota tried to respond in the fourth quarter starting with a 6-0 run to begin the quarter. Connecticut responded with a 10-0 run and the sun held a 74-64 lead with just 2:51 left to go. A 6-0 Lynx run brought them to within four points on a layup by guard Kayla McBride. Two free throws by Carrington extended the Connecticut lead to six, but a three-pointer by McBride brought it back to a three point Lynx deficit with just 8.2 seconds left. Connecticut won 78-73.

Connecticut forward DeWanna Bonner led all scorers with 24 points and forward Alyssa Thomas scored 13 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished 14 assists for the triple-double. Alanna Smith paced the Lynx with 14 points, McBride notched 13, and Bridget Carleton and Courtney Williams each scored 12 points. McBride grabbed a team high six rebounds and dished eight assists.

“When you play Connecticut, it’s physically and mentally tough,” said Reeve. “We’re certainly disappointed to not win this game. It’s not that we’re playing bad, just not good enough to win the game. There’s not a lot of practice time. There’s no magic thing that you can do. You just gotta be a little tougher.”

Said Alanna Smith, “This is kind of why we play. It’s two talented teams going head-to-head. I know last time we played them too it was a tough loss as well. We were excited for this game. We were waiting for it to come about. We’re all really competitive and we want to win. It’s pretty much what we play for.”

Washington Mystics versus Minnesota Lynx

The second game of a two game homestand at Target Center featured the Washington Mystics on Saturday July 6 for the first meeting between these two teams this season. It would prove to be a bounce-back win for the home team after sustaining back-to-back losses for the first time this season. Forward Napheesa Collier was ruled out for the game with plantar fasciitis on her left foot. Guard Olivia Epoupa was also listed as being “out” after sustaining a thigh injury in the game against Connecticut.

Other than a layup from Washington forward Myisha Hines-Allen, Minnesota jumped out to a 14-2 run to begin the game after a layup from guard Kayla McBride with 4:37 left in the opening quarter. The Lynx defense forced five turnovers and the Mystics missed five out of six shots before the Mystics could get control of themselves. The teams exchanged baskets for the remainder of the quarter which found the Lynx up 25-14 at the break.

After a jump shot by Washington center Stefanie Dolson, Lynx forward Diamond Miller went on a personal 5-0 run with a three-pointer and a jump shot to extend the Minnesota lead to 30-16 with 8:44 remaining in the half.

However, Mystics guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough took matters into her own hands to keep the game from getting out of hand. She led the Mystics on a run, scoring 11 points during the 13-2 run. Her third three-pointer cut the deficit to three as the Lynx led 32-29 with 4:36 left in the half. Lynx guards Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride each scored baskets and then the Mystics finished the quarter on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 36-36 at the half.

Washington extended the run to 14-0 in the beginning of the third quarter. The Lynx answered the run with a 14-4 run of their own. The Mystics called a timeout after Minnesota forward Cecilia Zandalasini hit a three-pointer with 3:55 left in the third quarter which gave the Lynx the 50-47 lead. Both teams battled to the end of the quarter, which found Washington ahead 57-55 at the quarter break.

Minnesota went on a 10-3 run starting with a three-pointer from forward Alissa Pili, the team’s first round draft pick. After McBride hit a three-pointer with 6:49 remaining in the game, Minnesota held a 65-60 lead, which they would not relinquish. The Lynx responded to each made Mystics basket with one of their own until the final buzzer sounded with Minnesota on top 74-67.

Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride each scored 17 points to lead the Lynx, while Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Ariel Atkins paced the Mystics with 15 points each. Myisha Hines-Allen grabbed 11 rebounds for Washington and Dorka Juhasz pulled down 11 boards for Minnesota. The Mystics were held to 38.6 percent shooting making the Lynx record 160-8 when holding opponents below 40 percent.

“What I was appreciative of was the third quarter when they took the lead…we responded, even without Phee [Napheesa Collier],” said Cheryl Reeve. “They were pretty good on the bench about what needed to happen. I thought our bench helped us in the third.”

“It was gritty. Ugly. All those things, but it’s a ‘W.’ There’s no asterisk next to it. Without winning the rebounding battle, we probably don’t win the game,” she added.

“We emphasize five minute, five minutes at a time. We just focus,” said Courtney Williams. “There was one point, I don’t know when we got the lead back because we was just so locked in. Then we looked up and said, ‘Oh, we got up.’ But I think it’s just a testament to us being locked in, making sure we take the game five minutes, by five minutes, by five minutes.”

Minnesota Lynx at Los Angeles Sparks

The Lynx went back on the road on Tuesday July 9, this time to the West Coast for a matchup against the Los Angeles Sparks at Crypto.com Arena.

Minnesota jumped out to a huge lead in the opening quarter that allowed nine of the ten players on the active roster to score. The Lynx opened on a pair of runs, 12-4 and 14-2 respectively, with the last run ending when Alissa Pili scored a three-pointer at the 1:41 mark. Minnesota led 24-10 at that point and would end the quarter leading 29-16. The opening quarter featured tough defense that grabbed eight rebounds and forced five Los Angeles turnovers.

The Sparks regrouped during the quarter break and began the second quarter on a 6-2 run starting with two layups from guard Layshia Clarendon. Then center Dearica Hamby asserted herself more. Los Angeles took a 15 point first quarter deficit and cut it to five points after Hamby’s three-pointer with 4:14 left in the half. Minnesota led 37-32.

Minnesota jumped out on an 8-0 run a short while later and regained a double-digit lead, 47-33 when forward Bridget Carleton nail a three-pointer. The run was extended to a 12-2 run by halftime when Minnesota led 51-35.

Los Angeles became a more efficient offense in the third quarter, going 7-for-14 from the field for 50 percent shooting, but the Minnesota defense made it difficult on the home team. The Sparks gave up seven turnovers in the quarter, which led to 10 Minnesota points. When Pili picked off a Sparks pass and ran the length of the court for a fast break layup with 50.1 seconds left in the quarter, Minnesota led by 25 points, their largest of the game. Los Angeles closed out the quarter on a quick 6-0 run to make the score 70-51 at the break.

The fourth quarter led gave head coach Cheryl Reeve the chance to keep her bench in for extended minutes. Even though there was some sloppy play, including eight turnovers in the quarter, it gave the starters some much needed rest at this part of the season, while giving players who normally don’t play the chance to get some playing time.

Even forward Sika Kone, the lone bench player who didn’t get to score in the opening quarter, was able to score a single point after getting fouled and making one of two free throws. Every player for the Lynx now scored in this game.

Sparks head coach Curt Miller had pretty much conceded this game when the fourth quarter began, and played most of his bench players for extended minutes. The final score was 82-67 in favor of the Lynx.

Dearica Hamby led the Sparks with 18 points and eight rebounds. Minnesota was led by 16 points by Bridget Carleton, 15 points from Dorka Juhasz, and 11 points each from Kayla McBride and Cecilia Zandalasini.

“When we came out in the third quarter, we were ready. We didn’t walk out there as if the game was over. We knew that L.A. has played from behind before. They’re not giving up. They’re at home. We just needed to be ready, and we were,” said Reeve.

Carleton has been a perfect 8-for-8 from behind the three-point line in the two games at Los Angeles this season. Even though she dismissed the accomplishment when asked about it, he has admitted to having fun this year.

“Playing defense with this team is fun,” Carleton said. “There’s so much trust there, and if there’s a mismatch, we trust that there is going to be help on the back side. If someone does get beat, if we want to pressure the ball, to make things hard, we trust that there’s going to be help rotating for us so we just scramble. It doesn’t matter who you’re closing out to, there’s a trust there and everyone’s willing to dig in and make things difficult for the other team.”

What’s Next For The Minnesota Lynx?

Reeve admitted that she knew on the second day of training camp that this had the makings of a special team since the players were already doing the things that she wanted teams to do defensively in the previous four years.

“It’s been fun to watch. I’m super proud of it. I love coaching a great defense. I absolutely love it and I’m happy that they understand that that’s our path. Being hard to play against is our path. We can have a special season if we keep playing defense,” said Reeve.

Minnesota (16-6) stays on the road for one more West Coast game at 9 p.m. matchup on Friday for their fourth game of the season against the Seattle Storm (14-8) on Friday night at Climate Pledge Arena. Then they return to Target Center for their first matchup against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever (9-14) at 3 p.m. CT on Sunday. Their final game, on Wednesday July 17 at Noon CT game against the Atlanta Dream (7-14), their annual “Camp Day” game, will close out the first half of the season. The month-long Olympic break will begin with the gritty part of the schedule now a distant memory. Then in August, they’ll push for a successful conclusion to what is turning out to be a special season so far.