The Lynx are ready to turn things around on Thursday against the Mercury after their first loss of the season on Tuesday.

A big part in that is the leadership of Sylvia Fowles. Fowles is still getting used to her role as a vocal leader for this team. On the road trip, with Seimone Augustus back in Minnesota, Fowles was the veteran voice for the Lynx.

With that, she admits that a good portion of responsibility for the team’s performance—good or bad—falls on her shoulders. She has to help get the team ready to come back strong after a disappointing performance.

“I talked to Cheryl about me just taking the blame for being a leader and not stepping up, so that was big for me, and making sure the girls don’t get down on themselves,” she said. “Look, we did it collectively, it wasn’t just one person, how do we bounce back?”

While it hurts to lose a game like Tuesday’s, Fowles is encouraged by how narrow the margin was compared to how the Lynx performed. Their ceiling is clearly very high, and losses can help sharpen a team’s focus and make it clear what they need to do going forward.

“We take into consideration the things we didn’t do so well. Seattle won by seven and we played like trash. That’s not to take anything away from Seattle, but that just shows us where we stand and the things that we can do better,” said Fowles. “Though it was a loss, and we needed that to see that we can’t relax, and our defense is heavily relied on, so we know what we have to do.”

The defense was certainly to blame for the loss in Seattle—an uncharacteristic performance for a Lynx team that had been far and away the best defensive team in the league in the first few games. Against the Mercury, Fowles will have to lock down Brittney Griner to give the Lynx their best shot at winning. It’s a challenge she welcomes.

Fowles always loves going against other star bigs in the WNBA. Historically, Fowles has always played Griner well on both ends of the floor, but it’s not easy. Griner is strong and gets great position on defense. She’s one of the best shot-blockers in the league, if not the best.

“She’s very mobile, very long, so my thing is to be smart, keep myself moving. That’s always been a problem for her. Making sure I’m not being too ignorant about letting her block shots—just being smart about my shot selection,” said Fowles.

Making Griner move around the court and not letting her pick her spots on defense will be important. Fowles has to go where she wants to go, not where Griner wants her to go.

“I think we have more success when we’re just busy,” said Fowles. “She hates busy bodies. When we’re more stagnant that’s when she’s more successful. If you keep moving on her, make her think a little bit, she kind of struggles with that.”

A Surprise Milestone 

Though Fowles collected just five rebounds against the Storm, that was enough to move her into fourth all-time for career rebounds in the WNBA, passing Tina Thompson. However, Fowles did not realize she had achieved the milestone and was surprised when she saw a message from Thompson after what she did not consider to be a great performance.

“Actually, I didn’t think about it. I got on the bus and finally turned through my phone and I had a nice message from Tina, and I was like, ‘What is she talking about?’ I was so dumbfounded, what is she talking about? Then I went to social media and I was like, ‘Ohhhh,’ so I had to send her a message back saying thank you, appreciate the love and all that stuff,” Fowles said.

Don’t ever say Fowles isn’t totally committed to winning over her individual stats.

Quick Hits

• The Lynx are currently the only team in the WNBA with all starters averaging double digits. Washington is the only other team with five players averaging double figures, excluding Indiana’s Paris Kea who is averaging 10 points but has only played one game.
• Advanced stats dump! Minnesota has the best rebounding percentage in the league at 55.0. They also have the second-best defensive rating with 91.0 and the third best net rating with 7.4. They are also the fourth-best three-point shooting team by percentage! Times change!
• Napheesa Collier leads all rookies with 14.5 points per game. She is the No. 13 scorer in the league so far (!). Dallas’ Arike Ogwumike is second with 11.5 points per game. Collier is also second in rookie field goal percentage. Han Xu of the Liberty has yet to miss a shot in the WNBA… but she’s taken only three. Collier has attempted 33 shots and made 18 on her young career.