Editor’s Note: Lea B. Olsen is a women’s basketball icon in the state of Minnesota. She’ll be sharing her knowledge with her weekly blog on our website along with broadcasting Lynx games for Fox Sports North this season.
ANNA FINALLY CRUZ-ING INTO TARGET CENTER:
I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Anna Cruz to the Minnesota Lynx for some time. The players and coaches genuinely seem so excited about her abilities to help the Lynx reach their goal of another championship. Understanding that it will take her a minute to acclimate herself to the team, I’m very confident that with the addition of her talents the Lynx will have the deepest squad in the WNBA . Cruz is a 5’9” player that can play both the one and two guard. Her reputation surrounds her defensive intensity more than her offensive ability. I like that for the Lynx because she will fit right in. Hopefully her basketball I.Q. will allow her to adjust quickly to Coach Reeve’s system and give some needed rest to the backcourt veterans in particular Lindsay Whalen. In practice Whalen mentioned what she thought Cruz would bring to the team. “She is a fierce competitor, played at a really high level for a long time in the WNBA over in Europe and on the Spanish National team so she gives us a great perimeter defender.” She is a guard who can come in disperse the ball and score about seven or eight points to help keep the defense honest. However, her defensive ability will hopefully afford her more minutes on the floor. In her first season in the WNBA with the New York Liberty her stat line was solid: 7.7 points, 3.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals in 27.1 minutes. I believe Lindsay when she says Cruz is someone they can trust and are excited to have here as a Minnesota Lynx. Welcome Anna and we hope that you are that last piece of the puzzle to get this team to the big game!
WHALEN THE BEST IN THE WEST:
It is the seventh time in Lindsay Whalen’s illustrious career that she has received the honor as Western Conference Player of the week. Whalen was instrumental in the Lynx beating Seattle and coming back from an 18 point deficit. She showed a Phoenix team that had its star player (Griner) back on the court for the first time this season that the Minnesota Lynx were not going to be intimidated by her. Whalen’s play was stellar as she added 21 points in the Phoenix win which may prove to be a pivotal victory for the Lynx this season. Lindsay lamented, “it’s nice when your hard work pays off together, because that’s what’s it’s all about getting it done together.” My favorite attribute of Whalen’s may actually be her chill Minnesota way of being. Calm, cool and collected. She is the consummate professional, she is in great shape and most importantly the savvy veteran does not take her basketball career for granite. Taking a peak back at others who were drafted the same year as Whalen in 2004 we should be very thankful about our native Minnesotan. Many of those players are not even in the league anymore. However, the 10th overall pick that year is 4th in the league in rebounding and she is one of our favorites as well, Rebekkah Brunson!
BACK COURT – FRONT COURT CONNECTION:
The player with the ball in her hands for most of the game is Lindsay Whalen. When she distributes the ball to her teammates she trusts that they can finish and she will get the assist. She is currently 7th in the league in assist at 4.1 per game. In talking to Whalen about the post players there was a definite respect for her taller front court team mates and an acknowledgement that she needs to get them the ball where they want it, more than she is currently doing. That relationship between guard and post player is something that takes time and is worked out in practice and in games. Understanding the importance of this relationship Whalen stated that “We still need to do better as guards, we still need to get them more involved. We have been working on that a lot this week, making sure that we are finding them and loosening things up.” Whalen has a clear appreciation for Brunson working so hard to hold down Griner and Peters blocking shots and being able to work the offense through Jones and Dantas at the elbow. For all of us post players out there you know how great it is to play with a point guard who knows how to get you the ball where you like it!
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