The Lynx were back in the gym on Tuesday after getting a much-needed day off due to an extremely close game against the Dallas Wings on Sunday afternoon.
Minnesota was up by 15 points near the end of the third quarter, but Dallas decided to flap their wings ferociously in the final period and forced overtime.
Fortunately for the Lynx, however, they are a Championship-tested team who knows how to deal with adversity. Seimone Augustus put in the winning bucket for Minnesota with 15 seconds left and the team came together defensively on the final possession to prevent Dallas from scoring.
“It was kind of calm amongst us as opposed to the other time that we faced an overtime situation,” Augustus said. “Coach brought us in and talked about how we needed to close it out, so everybody locked in on what she was drawing up on the board and from there we just wanted to execute.”
The Lynx tallied an extremely impressive 58 points in the paint and 51 rebounds in the contest, both being major factors in Minnesota’s victory.
“We’re big on understanding a team’s identity on both sides of the ball, so we like to give our players that information,” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “What shots are going to be available, what offenses are going to bring out the strengths in us. The game against Dallas, that was very much the focus, we wanted to pursue layup opportunities and in doing that, we got decent chances at the rim.”
Normally, considering momentum and emotions in the moment, you would think that a team who gives up a double-digit lead in the final 10 minutes of the game will most likely lose. Well, the Lynx aren’t your ‘normal’ team in any sense of the word. With 4 Olympians on their roster and a 18-4 record at the time, Minnesota kept their cool, recollected themselves for overtime, and found a away to grind out the win.
“I told the team, for us to keep our focus, keep our head and fight through it no matter what was thrown at us and never feeling bad for ourselves- it was a great win, not a good win, a great win given all of that,” Reeve said.
Minnesota will take on a very talented Atlanta Dream team tomorrow afternoon, just three days after they handed the 20-2 Los Angeles Sparks their second loss of the season. Be sure to tune-in to the action at noon on WNBA’s League Pass or 106.1 BOB FM radio.