Todd Barin
Web Editorial Associate
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The Minnesota Lynx got in a quick practice on Monday morning before taking off for San Antonio to battle the Stars on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.
The defending WNBA Champions are flying down south with plenty of momentum in their favor as they won their last game on Saturday evening against the Dallas Wings by 37 points.
“I think we’ve been able to build in the last few days and we want to continue on that path with those habits that we’re continuing to focus on and just executing,” Lynx forward Maya Moore said. “We want to have the highest amount of focus and understanding of what it takes to close out a possession. I think we’re in a good place going into San Antonio.”
After suffering a disappointing loss in overtime to the Connecticut Sun, Minnesota was able to regain focus and used their anger/frustration in a positive manner against the Wings.
“We were pretty focused, pretty determined, I think the Connecticut game was awfully disappointing to us and I thought we were on a mission,” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “We played with great flow and I think we had to get that out of our system and I think we did it in a fashion that was really productive to the big picture. I think it was important to happen and I think it was a fun game for them to play in, in terms of kind of releasing that negative energy that we had from Connecticut.”
One big part for Minnesota’s success in Saturday’s game was the play of Lindsay Whalen. The veteran guard had one of her best games of the year, scoring a season-high 22 points on 11-for-13 shooting, grabbing seven boards and dishing out five assists in only 26 minutes of action.
“I told her yesterday that I was a fan, not her teammate,” Moore said of Whalen’s performance. “That first quarter it was really fun to see how she led us and her energy, her flow and the fun that we had. When she’s feeling it like that and teams are kind of at her mercy when she gets in that mode, so it’s just really fun to see that from her and we know that at any point she can do that for us and that’s what makes it easier for us to get shots.”
Although Minnesota did suffer a bad loss to the 5-14 Sun, they were able to show their resilience by putting on a clinic in their next game- a true sign of a veteran squad and a trait that will come in handy when the playoffs roll around.
“I think we have great leadership, pretty quick identification of what we didn’t do, and what needs to happen,” Reeve said. “We’ve got great communicators and I think more than anything we have people who are willing to listen, that are willing to be coached and also have the courage to speak up if they think there is something better that I can do or their teammates can do. We all want the same thing, which is to win games, and when you fall short in those scenarios, it’s a collective fault.”
The Lynx and Stars will tip-off nice and early on Tuesday, so be sure to check out the action during your lunch break on either WNBA’s League Pass or 106.1 BOB FM radio.