The question was always going to be asked when Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve spoke to the Twin Cities media for the first time since her team blew a massive lead but held on to get a win in Indiana on Tuesday—is the main emphasis that lost lead or the tough play down the stretch?

For Reeve, it’s certainly the latter.

“It’s a hell of a win on the road. Indiana is a handful,” she said. “They’re much-improved, they’ve got the third best offense, what we did in the first half defensively was something that we were really pleased with.”

Even though things took a turn in the second half, the Lynx managed to both give themselves a cushion with their first-half play and buckled down in the last five minutes to secure what could go down as being an important victory.

“It doesn’t matter what has happened. Win the game,” said Reeve. “When we walked out of there with a W, we felt really good about it.”

Reeve was quick to point out that there isn’t a team in the league, including some of the best ever, that doesn’t go through adversity. Figuring out how to win even when things start to go south is what great teams do.

“I haven’t coached a team yet that hasn’t gone on a four-game losing streak, and that includes our championship years,” said Reeve. “You hope that you handle them the same way. What you try to teach them is that you have to have short-term memory. You have to come back to work the next day and try to be better and that’s what you try to focus on. We’re not hitting them over the head with things we’re not getting done.”

“When things are falling apart I always tell them, you show who you are in those moments when it’s not going well,” she continued. “Do you fall apart and just go, ‘Well we played a great first half and just blew a lead and the game is over we lost,’ or do you go, ‘We played too well to let this thing go.’ Do you focus together on getting stops and executing your offense? I thought that group rose up.”

Injury Update

The Lynx have been a little banged up this year, obviously headlined by injuries to Seimone Augustus and the loss of Jessica Shepard for the year. Reeve has spent more time than she would like talking with her trainer. Damiris Dantas was held out of practice today with a calf issue, though she should still be good to go this weekend.

“We have a lot of situations right now physically that we’re trying to work through. Damiris at the end of that last game had a bit of a calf issue, so we’ve had a lot of conversation recently,” she said.

Reeve said that her expectation that Augustus would be back within five weeks of her surgery was premature, but that things are still on track for the guard to return before the All-Star break.

“Seimone is progressing forward,” Reeve said. “It won’t be five weeks that you see her back on the court, she will be continuing to progress and get on the court with a trainer, but we’re looking probably beyond the six-week mark to get her back out there.”

Quick Hits:

• Dantas has herself a new nickname—“Dagger Damiris.” Given her big shots in the fourth quarter of the last few games it’s fitting. I wrote about her yesterday if you missed it.
• Cecilia Zandalasini and Temi Fagbenle both won their EuroBasket games. Depending on how their teams do they could be back with the team next week or the following week. Stay tuned on that.
• Reeve somewhat jokingly refused to give a quote on Dantas’ strong play, saying that the media cursed Lexie Brown (who has been in a bit of a slump) by writing too many positive things about her. I don’t buy the curse theory, but Dantas has been excellent lately.