With the regular season quickly approaching, the Lynx are feeling the heat a little bit to get buttoned up and ready to go.

Head coach Cheryl Reeve wasn’t thrilled with some elements of her team’s practice on Thursday. Whether it’s a bit of fatigue stemming from not having live competition, only practice, or if it’s the multiple weeks of training camp catching up to them, things weren’t as sharp as they had been at other times during camp.

The biggest thing Reeve talked about was how the team responds to making mistakes and gets back on the horse when things aren’t going well. Though they’ve shown a lot of energy and passion in games, that intensity has to stay up in practice as well.

“Response to mistakes. Response to getting beat on a rebound. We’ve got to be a great rebounding team every day. It can’t just be every other day. We can’t get beat on the glass, so I get on them about their response to that,” Reeve said. “Getting beat in transition—we score a basket and give up a layup. Things like that. You can’t do that if you want to win a game.”

For someone as detail-oriented as Reeve, it’s important that the Lynx execute consistently. Though it’s not fun to have days where practice is tougher, it’s important to maintain focus and accountability. A big part of that job falls to the captains.

Reeve and Seimone Augustus talked for a long time after practice, sitting at the scorers table as the rest of the team went through shooting drills. Reeve didn’t disguise the fact that she needs a strong leadership effort from Augustus.

“On a day like today you need your captains. You need the ones who have been there to step out and say, ‘Come on now.’ We were probably a little bit better in the last couple weeks in recognizing that it wasn’t right, get the group together, then go out and fix it. We’re missing that right now for whatever reason,” said Reeve. “Someone like Seimone is able to help and I just told her I need her in every way. Whether she’s on the floor or not I need her, I need her leadership.”

At this point in camp it’s important that the group comes together as a unit and isn’t distracted by their own highs or lows. If one player isn’t playing well individually they can’t let that dictate how they play within the setting of the group.

“We still have a lot to do and being connected as a group is at the top of that. We have some people who are thinking about themselves, feeling sorry for how they’re playing, or they missed a shot, things like that you can’t do. Beat yourself types of things,” Reeve said.

The Lynx are fighting to quickly gel a new group together and that’s no easy task. They expect the best of themselves and in order to reach that goal they need to play together at all times. They’ve looked great in preseason but now it’s time to hammer out the little details. Tomorrow is another day and the Lynx are nothing if not resilient. They will put it together in time for their season opener.

Talbot Joins The Team

Stephanie Talbot practiced with the Lynx for the first time on Thursday. She has just two days to figure out the Lynx’s system—no easy task.

“It’s overload on the brain. I was in Phoenix and with coach Sandy for a long time so I know that system very well. It’s just adjusting to the new system,” she said.

Nevertheless, the Lynx think she can be a valuable shooter and rebounder off the bench. Reeve said she’s not too worried about Talbot’s fitting in.

“She plays hard, and we saw that today. Made some shots, ran some plays for her, I think she’s comfortable, she’s confident, so that’s less of a worry for me,” she said.

Talbot rightly sees an opportunity for herself with the Lynx.

“I think this team, Minnesota, is looking for some players to step up this season so I’m hoping once I fit in I can be that player,” she said.

Quick Hits

• The team spent the end of practice scrimmaging against themselves rather than practicing against their practice squad. Not too much to read into but it was interesting to see teammates matched up with each other. Jess Shepard got a few tough rebounds and Napheesa Collier’s midrange game is something to look out for.
• Damiris Dantas has been working hard on expanding her range out beyond the three-point line. Her and Shepard were spending a lot of time with assistant coach Walt Hopkins after practice. The Lynx want their forwards to be floor spacers.
• Talbot was playing shooting guard for the bench unit in practice while Shao Ting was the three. Probably not of much note, but if Talbot can play that spot the path to minutes might be easier for both her and Ting.