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The Minnesota Lynx have continued to roll coming out of the summer Olympic Break, beating the Indiana Fever Saturday night. Ten days, five games and now five wins to clinch the playoffs. Four-time Minnesota WNBA champion Maya Moore’s uniform was retired after the 90-80 victory.
Losing to Indiana could have spoiled the celebration, and it would’ve ruined the streak of back-to-back wins over the Washington Mystics and more buffed Las Vegas Aces. But really, the piece to the puzzle was Olympian Napheesa Collier being healthy. Collier was injured the last time these teams met in mid-July and in Minnesota. The Fever snatched it and came back in the fourth.
But Collier tied her season-high with 31 points Saturday. Fever guard Caitlin Clark took notice.
“She is the staple of their team,” Clark said. “There was a few times she made a few shots and I caught myself like, ‘Dang, can’t guard that.’ And I don’t really do that often… there was still some things where we could’ve done a better job on other people –– when we did take her away in the half court.”
“That kind of killed us,” Clark added.
Clark herself became the fastest WNBA player ever to 500-plus points and 200-plus assists.
Lynx hustle and shoot to pull away in the 4th
Only 90 seconds into the fourth quarter at Target Center Saturday, the Lynx gave forewarning to the Fever of what was to come for the rest of the way. Collier pulled up midrange, and rarely, the shot sprang off of the rim. Teammate Bridget Carleton dashed into the paint, and got the board.
Fever head coach Christie Sides put her arms over her head.
The ball passed around to Myisha Hines-Allen. Minnesota’s recent trade deadline acquisition got rejected by the Fever’s Aliyah Boston at the block, who Clark credited defensively. But the Lynx did it again. Natisha Hiedeman got that rebound, kicked the ball out, And Boston and two Fever teammates were drawn into the driving lane. That left Hines-Allen wide open at the rim.
Sides pulled her right arm up to her forehead, and walked down the sideline.
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“There’s some things that we’ve been really working on that we weren’t our best at tonight,” Sides said. “Which was transition defense… gotta do better with that. That also starts with taking care of the basketball. Think we had 16 turnovers for 16 points. The two games at home this last weekend, I think we had 10 or 11 turnovers… we’re trying to get to who (Minnesota is).”
Fever experiment with new rotations in clunky loss
Forward Temi Fagbenle, who’s been sidelined for much of the season, returned Saturday. She scored 35 seconds after subbing in, though Sides did mention times where she wanted her to run towards the basket instead of setting screens. So It’ll likely take time to get reacquainted.
The addition does make the Fever frontcourt all the more busier. Starters Katie Lou Sameulson and NaLyssa Smith were replaced for bench players: Lexie Hull, Erica Wheeler, and Damiris Dantas in the second quarter. That’s when they thrived the most, outscoring Minnesota 28-16.
It’s not like those times for the bench are super unordinary. Dantas played 20 minutes in the most recent win over the Seattle Storm. Hull played 21 minutes and posted her career-high in points. But Samuelson and Smith haven’t sat anywhere near that long in the recent showings.
“It was just kind of going well for us when Dantas went in (in the second quarter),” Sides said. “When things are going well you just kind of want it to keep it the same. [Boston and Dantas] play well together… those two make smart basketball reads… can also stretch the defense.”
Indiana didn’t shoot great beyond the arc, and with the newer rotation times, it gave an overall clunky vibe to the defeat: not the fluid hoops the Fever played in their last two games, and wins. Minnesota’s swarm defense stole the ball eight times. Late in the fourth, Hines-Allen picked Boston in the halfcourt. Kayla McBride made her fourth 3-pointer on the ensuing possession.
That was the dagger.
The Fever next play at the 9th-place Atlanta Dream Monday. Minnesota was looking to get into the playoffs. One game out, the Dream will be hunting for it.
