Uncontested Shot With Kyle Ratke






Here are a few random thoughts I've had throughout the last week or so. Just kind of emptying the notebook in today's column. Hope you enjoy.

Will the losses benefit the team down the road?

You are well aware that the Minnesota Lynx snapped their three-game losing streak last night against the New York Liberty. But I wrote this paragraph before the win, so just pretend you're reading this on Saturday morning.

Now, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was asked after Friday's loss to Tulsa whether or not that losing streak would affect the team in a positive way down the stretch.

Reeve answered like you'd expect her to.

"We don't really know yet."

That was the right response. If the Lynx were to get to the WNBA Finals, we could look back at this moment and say, "that was the turning point!" But if they were to exit the postseason earlier, there would be no turning point, right?

Reeve has always said no loss is a good loss. You can learn lessons, while winning, can't you? It's more fun that way.

Sometimes losing refocuses a team, but winning just proves that you are already focused. We all like to say great teams overcome some adversity at some point. Maybe this three-game skid was the adversity. Maybe it wasn't. We sometimes try to make these things storylines, but the truth of the matter is, the Lynx won 10 games before that. We kind of knew they were a pretty good bunch already, right?

Post Players Will Need To Stay Healthy

It's worth noting that during the three-game losing streak, the Lynx were without center Janel McCarville for two games and power forward Rebekkah Brunson for one.

Dev Peters, in her second season, and Amber Harris, in her third, are good role players, but neither are at the level McCarville nor Brunson are at. Losing just one big body proved to be problematic for Minnesota.

The Lynx were without Monica Wright during last night's win. Wright has a good chance of winning the Sixth Woman of the Year award and is a huge key to this team, but, Minnesota, as Reeve noted after Sunday's game, has played better when they are without guards than without their starting frontline.

Luckily, both posts are back and it doesn't look like Wright's injury (quad contusion) is too serious. It looks like the Lynx will be at full strength sooner rather than later.

MVP Talk

The Lynx might be at a disadvantage to have a player win the league's MVP simply because of how much talent is on the squad.

At the beginning of the season, it looked like Maya Moore would be the team's frontrunner. Then Lindsay Whalen went on a streak. Now it looks like Moore has stepped up once again.

Since August 6, Moore is averaging 22.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.2 blocks. For the season, she's averaging 17.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and three assists.

I'm not sure how things will play out the rest of the season, but if she can keep up how she's doing, especially with the team fighting to be the best team in the West league, she'll be tough to ignore.

Well, folks. That's all I've got for this week. As always, thanks for reading. Enjoy your week.


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