The Lynx practiced on Tuesday to prepare for their game against the Seattle Storm on Wednesday. It was their first time back together as a team since Odyssey Sims and Sylvia Fowles were named to the 2019 WNBA All-Star team.

Since it is Sims’ first time being named to the team and Fowles’ sixth, their reactions were a little different. Sims was outwardly excited and thrilled, as she should be. Fowles was honored and thankful but didn’t quite have the same level of excitement. She does recognize, however, that making six All-Star teams is an impressive accomplishment. 

“She’s not somebody who is not grateful, and she understands that there are only a couple more,” said head coach Cheryl Reeve. “While she may not be giddy… It’s not her first anymore, but she’s still of the mindset that she understands that this is an honor,” said Reeve.

Having someone be as excited to make the All-Star team as Sims was offered a new perspective for Reeve. It was refreshing to have someone achieve something for the first time with the Lynx—that hasn’t happened in a long time.

“Over the last five or six years we had just repeat All-Stars, so the environment around getting announced to the All-Star team was a little different than this one,” said Reeve. “I forgot, when she said she was an All-Star I was just like ‘Oh, ok,’ and then ‘Oh wait! Oh my gosh! Great job, I’m so proud of you!’ Because I forgot what it felt like for it to be somebody’s first.”

Fowles, who made her first All-Star team a decade ago, now has the experience of being a senior member of the squad. When she first made the team, Lisa Leslie was the other starting center. Now Fowles occupies a similar status next to a new generation of younger bigs.

“I just remember having a lot of the older ones around,” said Fowles. “I was very happy to have their company. I do remember us doing a whole lot, so I don’t want to do a lot I just want to relax and let all the young players play.”

Lynx fans will look forward to seeing both the first-time All-Star and the six-time All-Star play in Vegas.

No Quit In Them 

This season has come with its fair share of challenges—injuries, road woes, trouble closing games, you name it. One thing is for sure though, this team never gives up on itself. Reeve said she has been seeing it since the beginning of the season and that attitude has persisted for two main reasons.

“One, for whatever reason, I don’t know if it’s an edge, they want to prove something, but they do believe, and they have believed from the get-go. There has not been a second thought,” said Reeve. “Two, this group plays really, really hard, and we saw that before training camp started in pickup games.”

That attitude is a product of the leadership within the organization—from Reeve, from Fowles, from the injured Seimone Augustus—but there’s something else too.

“It’s a system thing,” said Fowles. “If you come in here and you don’t think that you’re the top of the best then you don’t belong here. It’s a mindset but Cheryl don’t let you settle either. You’ve got to come in with the right attitude knowing that you’re the ‘it.’ I think we do a very good job of reminding each other that we are it.”

Of course, that system doesn’t matter if the players don’t buy in. That has not been a problem this season and that is by design. The front office and coaches do not bring in players who can’t handle hard coaching and a demand for perfection. Most of all, everyone on the team can’t stand losing.

That has been evident in the last month, as Fowles has turned her play up a notch and demanded her teammates do the same.

“You’ve got to make sure you bring in competitive people that just hate to lose. Odyssey is certainly that, Danielle [Robinson] is that, look at when things turned around for Syl—it was when we weren’t so successful, and she’d had enough, and she imposed her will on the team,” said Reeve.

Change In The Paint 

Speaking of Fowles, she has had a tougher job than anyone else this season. She is getting her usual double and triple teams on a nightly basis, but the officiating has changed as well.

“If you ask anyone who has played in the games since the beginning, the paint is being officiated differently, meaning it’s a little more anything goes,” said Cheryl. “When you have a player like Syl who is counting on getting position in the paint and getting those touches, it’s been a lot harder.”

In the bluntest illustration of how paint officiating has changed this year, an extremely physical battle between Fowles and Brittney Griner on Sunday ended with neither player having attempted a single free throw. Nevertheless, Fowles is playing her best ball of the season.

“She’s finding a way to have success anyway. It shouldn’t be that way, it’s unfair when a player is being contacted and there is not a call, but she’s gotten to the point where she knows she can let it get to her and be bad for us or she can just keep playing,” said Reeve.

For Fowles, it’s more of what she has been dealing with her entire career.

“That’s just the story of my life, not getting any calls. I think it’s worse this year than any other year, but it’s to be expected. I have my moments a couple of games back, but then at the end of the day it’s like, you got to let it go because they’re not going to change anything. So adjusting your game and making sure you are playing the way you’re capable of playing.”

Quick Hits

• Damiris Dantas is close to a return. The Lynx really like what their frontline will look like with Temi Fagbenle backing up both front-court spots and Napheesa Collier returning to play predominately at the three spot. Having Fowles, Dantas, Fagbenle and Collier all in the rotation at the same time is certainly something worth being excited about.
• Collier continues to impress with how coachable she is. On Sunday she let DeWanna Bonner drop 22 points on her in the first half but responded in the second and outplayed the WNBA’s leading scorer. There’s simply no way to intimidate Collier—she keeps her head and fixes her mistakes. She should have been the first pick in the draft and she should be the favorite for Rookie of the Year.