Alexander Shun

Web Editor Associate | Twitter 

Defense wins championships.

It’s an age-old saying and one that many sports fans have most likely heard before. Many teams and fans have argued the validity of such a statement and yet every year the statement rings true throughout the sport’s world.

The Minnesota Lynx are shifting their focus and following such a motto.

“We primarily worked on our defense today and we got some really good work in and we’ll be better for it in the long run,” said Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve.

After giving up 86 points to the Tulsa Shock on Sunday night, 46 of said points were in the paint, Reeve wants to quiet the talk about their offense and talk more about their defense.

“I think our players are thinking too much about their offense, you guys are talking too much about our offense and we have to understand where our bread is buttered and that’s when we play great defense.”

So far this season, the Lynx have actually been fairly solid defensively, only allowing opponents to score an average of 70 points through seven games, good for third best in the league.

Despite that, Reeve still wants to see better defense and blames herself for not preaching better defense earlier in the season.

“I have not been a very good defensive coach for this team to this point and, as I told the team, I vow to change that. I take full responsibility for what we didn’t get done.”

It is not just the coaches that want better defense though, the players recognize that they’re most successful when they play great defense; something Lynx forward Maya Moore wants to get back to doing.

“We have to be able to raise our expectations and consistency from the defensive end if we want to be able to have a shot at reaching our goals at the end of the year so Cheryl knows that and she’s going to push us if we’re not doing it ourselves.”

Moore recognizes how tough it is to be great defensively night in and night out, and that’s something that she says the Lynx players will just need to embrace.

“It’s not a surprise [playing bad defense] if we’re not doing what we need to do. it’s just another reminder of hard it is to be a great defensive team consistently and you have to just embrace that hardness,” said Moore. “Now is a better time to learn those lessons than in the end of the season.”

With the commitment that this team has to their defense and the effort they’ve been putting forth to improve, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if the Lynx become nearly impossible to score against.

Such a result is something Moore is striving towards.

“We have to make sure that we are understanding our principles, our concepts and how hard we are going to have to play and more so just being connected; I think that’s the part that we can improve on the most; making sure that no one is out on an island by themselves, if someone needs help, we help the helper and know who’s helping. Again, so that’s the kind of team we want to be and teams are going to have to work really really hard if they want to score against us.”