After taking a few days off to start this week, the Lynx are back practicing in full swing to prepare for a matchup with the New York Liberty on Saturday.
The main issue for the Lynx in their last few games has been late-game execution. They’ve put themselves in good positions to succeed against some very good teams but have fallen apart down the stretch repeatedly—it’s hard to win games when that’s the case.
Perhaps counterintuitively, a big part of staying productive in the last few minutes of games is to not stress it too much. That’s something the Lynx’s younger players have to learn—it takes a different kind of mental and physical energy to make plays down the stretch when the stakes are higher.
“Five minutes is a long time. With these new ones, they feel like they have to rush everything,” said Sylvia Fowles. “Just getting them slowed down a little bit and I think Cheryl is getting us good repetition throughout practice to let them see that that’s a very long time for us to have multiple possessions so we don’t have to feel like we have to rush to get anything.”
Danielle Robinson agreed. She said she thinks—and the numbers bear it out—that the Lynx are very close to winning more games, it’s just about handling their business down the stretch.
“One thing we’ve talked about as well is we’re great through three quarters, it’s literally the last five minutes that we’re not playing our best basketball,” she said. “Focusing on that, we’re confident in what we do defensively, we know that when we get stops we can push it in transition, but it’s just those last few possessions that we’ve got to make the most of.”
It’s easier to focus on making progress when there are elements of the game that can be isolated and improved upon. The Lynx have identified their late-game performance as an area of need and have spent a lot of time in practice specifically targeting improvement in that area.
The nice thing is, their offense has taken massive steps since the beginning of the season, so they have way more to work with than they did three weeks ago. It’s easier to translate something that’s already working into a new situation than to find answers out of nothing.
That being said, the team would love to see the wins start coming.
“I think obviously we haven’t been in this situation together as a team, well, we have now for about four games,” said Robinson. “I think that’s enough experience and learning. All that we need for the rest of the season.”
Lexie Constantly Progressing
Lexie Brown’s teammates and coaches have been very complimentary of both her approach and what she’s done on the court so far this season.
“Lexie really wants to be coachable, good teammate, all that. There’s no question that she’s grown,” said Reeve. “She’s got a big role on this team, I think she’s embracing that, anything that we’re telling her she’s absorbing and applying.”
While she is now having to adjust to teams targeting her on defense, she’s figuring out how to remain effective and she’s been a big part of the Lynx.
“She knows exactly what she’s doing, she’s spent a lot of time with Shelley [Patterson] in terms of improving because now she’s a target for defenses,” said Reeve. “There’s that next layer—when a team gets physical with you and won’t let you make a certain cut, how do you use that against them. That’s just a maturation process, physically understanding she’s not going to necessarily bully anybody with her build, but she can outsmart them, out-angle them.”
Quick Hits:
- Jess Shepard had successful surgery on her ACL on Thursday and has begun the rehab process. Best wishes to her.
- The Lynx stressed controlling the three-point line against New York on Saturday. They didn’t do that last time they played and it hurt them.
- Shao Ting has been getting good run in practice and has been impressive especially on the defensive end. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see her used at some point in certain situations for this team.