Without Olivia Miles, the Minnesota Lynx stumbled out of the gate against the Indiana Fever and fall to 1-4 in their last five games.
There is an old adage in sports that you never want to play a team coming off an embarrassing blowout loss. Unfortunately for the Lynx, that aged wisdom proved true tonight.
Right out of the gate, it was clear that Fever wanted to make a statement following their blowout loss on Sunday to the Washington Mystics. The Fever showcased crisp defensive rotations, intentional offensive ball movement, and a game plan that involved pushing the ball in transition every opportunity they got. All of this left the Lynx on their heels, staring at a scoreboard that would balloon to a season-worst 29 point deficit with 1:44 left in the second quarter.
While the Fever set the tone in the opening quarter, the Lynx flat-footedness was marked by their five turnovers and eight personal fouls; the fouls leading to an eye popping 12-0 advantage at the stripe for the Indiana squad as the first quarter came to a close. Factor in a middling start to the second quarter and Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve called a timeout with 5:33 left that would mark the end of the majority of the starters’ evening, minus some second half Maya Caldwell (Miles’ replacement) minutes.
On the other end of the court, the Fever’s notable defensive intensity fueled their offense which was led by their usual suspects: Caitlin Clark went for 27 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists on nine of 18 shooting, Kelsey Mitchell battled a bit of foul trouble and put up 20 points, three rebounds, and four assists, and Aliyah Boston was a force in the middle with 17 points, seven rebounds, and three assists.
While the story of the first half was about the Indiana Fever blitzing the Lynx, the story of the second half was about Cheryl Reeve channeling her inner Greg Popovic by benching the majority of the starting group and letting the bench respond.
Led by the scoring of Chloe Bibby and a recommitment to defensive hustle, the bench unit found a way to close the deficit to single digits and at least make the fourth quarter interesting.
The backup group deserves a ton of credit for their effort, particularly how they stifled one of the best offenses in the league during that third quarter. Presumably to help the players conserve energy on a shortened rotation, Coach Reeve had her bench group run a zone that was effective in cooling the Fever off. That allowed the bench to generate looks in transition and finally put the home team and their fans on their heels for the first time all night.
While the bench run made the game competitive, the lead never got any closer than it did at the end of the third. A mixture of tired legs and the Fever figuring out the Lynx defensive zone would put the game out of reach midway through the final stanza.
The tone for the evening was set about an hour before tipoff as news broke that the Lynx would be without their superstar rookie. All the word surrounding the late day scratch comes with the qualifier of “precautionary”, but with the number one seed potentially on the line Thursday, it may just have to be a one game rest for the MVP candidate.
As pointed out by Canis Hoopus’ Leo Sun, perhaps this is some 4-D chess being played to make a final push for an Olivia Miles MVP vote. Her offensive creation and shooting were sorely missed en route during what was the Lynx’s worst first half of basketball of the season.
1. Dorka Juhász ended the game as the Lynx’s leading minutes getter (32), rebounder (12) and lead the game in assists (6). While the rebounding and passing showcase was a big part of the bench boon, the two of 9 shooting effort kept her game from being shouted out in the same way as Bibby.
2. Over the past month (four games), Kayla McBride has shot 26.7% from deep, a significant drop off from the 42.6% she had been shooting the previous 38 games. Add in tonight’s zero for four, and she is now eight of 33 from deep, a paltry 24.2%. In order for the Lynx to make a deep playoff run, McBride needs to find her form.
3. While the Lynx were on their heels the whole game, one of the early turning points was Courtney Williams’ early second foul, which sent her to the bench after she had scored or assisted on the Lynx first seven points. Napheesa Collier would score the next nine on some efficient four of six shooting, but there ends the lone bright spot for the Lynx starting group
On Thursday, the Minnesota Lynx starting group will get to put to test the adage stated at the top. After being blown out, benched and embarrassed, how will they respond? It won’t just be personal pride on the line when the Lynx play Thursday at home in a rematch against this Indiana Fever team; presuming a Golden State Valkyries win tonight, the magic number for the Lynx to claim the number one seed will remain at one, meaning home court advantage will very likely be on the line when the game tips off at 7:00pm CT.
Since the start of the season, this Lynx team has taken the reigns as the best team in the league and Thursday will be their chance to put this loss behind them and remind the rest of the WNBA why they are the team to beat in the playoffs.
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