The Lynx earned a huge victory over the Dallas Wings on Thursday night. Napheesa Collier justifiably got a lot of attention for her excellent performance against Arike Ogunbowale, which we’ve broken down here, but there was a lot more that went well for the Lynx than just the show put on by their star rookie. Here’s what I noticed…

Rebounding Is Everything

Head coach Cheryl Reeve has said it before and she will say it again, but it remains no less true—you can tell a lot about the Lynx’s performance from their work on the boards.

The Lynx were excellent on the glass on Thursday, outrebounding the Wings 35-25 and critically only allowing three offensive rebounds. Everyone contributed—Danielle Robinson had seven rebounds, Lexie Brown had three, and all the usual suspects had their typical rebounding output on top of that.

What’s especially important about securing rebounds quickly and efficiently is that it allows the Lynx to get out and transition and punish defenses for being slow to get in position. That is a key part of Minnesota’s offense. With players like Robinson and Odyssey Sims who are so fast and so physical the Lynx are an absolute nightmare in transition. When guards rebound that impact is compounded because they can immediately push the ball up the floor.

This Team Needs Damiris Dantas

It’s easy to forget about Damiris Dantas because she plays her role very consistently and she isn’t a face of the team, primarily because English is not her first language, so she struggles with interviews. However, she is one of the most important pieces on this roster—when she is playing well, the Lynx look like a different team.

Not only can Dantas stretch the floor from the forward position, but she plays an integral role in trapping opposing guards and bringing help on the defensive end. Dantas is surprisingly quick and she has great strength. She also sees the floor extremely well on defense.

Against the Wings, Dantas played a huge role in stopping Ogunbowale from getting to the spots she wanted. Her well-timed traps quite literally won the game for the Lynx and earned her praise from Reeve after the game.

“I think any time Damiris Dantas played like she did we’re a much better team. Gave her some responsibilities early in the game trying to not let Ogunbowale get going, kind of doing some trapping here and there. She did it all for us tonight,” said Reeve.

She also got a rare postgame interview… with a little help from Sylvia Fowles.

Don’t Forget About Plenette Pierson! 

The Lynx have an incredible coaching staff from top to bottom. The newest member of the crew, Plenette Pierson, put on quite the performance on Thursday. You might not have noticed it, but that’s because her work was entirely behind the scenes.

Pierson was responsible for the scout on the Wings on Thursday and it’s safe to say her work paid off. Reeve credited her with developing the plan that helped disrupt Dallas’ game plan in a major way.

“This was Plenette’s scout, so make sure you give her some shine,” she said. “Talking with Plenette, the thing we wanted to do was disrupt the flow of what they are doing. You didn’t see it tonight, but they run a lot through their elbows, and we were able to blow up the action. That was probably 65 percent of their offense that they weren’t able to run. I thought we set the tone, and we dictated, and we were able to carry it out for most of the game.”

The Lynx are responsible for executing game plans on the court, but don’t forget about the impact of the people sitting on the bench.