The Minnesota Lynx are the WNBA's top-seeded team going into the playoffs, but their defense seems to be faltering at the worst time.
The Lynx lost to the Indiana Fever, 96-77, on Tuesday, Sept 22. Rookie of the Year front-runner and floor general Olivia Miles missed the game with a left calf injury. Some dropoff without Miles was to be expected. A meltdown was not.
Around the five-minute mark of the first quarter, the Fever led 15-12. The game was well within reach for Minnesota ― until it wasn't. Indiana went on a 16-4 run to end the period. By the midway point of the second quarter, Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve benched her starters. Four of them remained there for the rest of the game. The Fever's lead ballooned to 29 points before the second unit
cut it down to seven in the third quarter.
Then, Caitlin Clark hit a step-back 3-pointer in the opening minutes of the fourth. Minnesota's bench never recovered and the Fever cruised to victory. Minnesota forward Napheesa Collier said the quiet part out loud postgame."We know that what we did was unacceptable. I emphasized how proud I was of the group that came in and got us back to the game," Collier said about the bench players getting the deficit down to single digits.
“I'm very proud of what they did, but we let them down tonight. So we apologize for that, and we just talked about (how) these things cannot happen. We had just met about the things we want to get done in the postseason, and we didn't do any of those things.”
Reeve echoed Collier's points and explained the reasoning for benching her starters.
"It was apparent that maybe rest was a better option with playoffs starting on Sunday. We thought that that first group would be better served," Reeve said. "Save (their) legs, and let's not chase a win that wasn't gonna happen."
Reeve said the group of players who played the most minutes Tuesday gave Minnesota something else to think about when the playoffs begin, regarding what they can bring and how they can be used. Reeve said she liked "the way they represented our team" and "didn't follow the lead of the first five" when describing her second unit's production. The Lynx coach said she knew what she saw from her first unit wasn't working.
"At this point, (it's) not frustrating. I can be disappointed. There's nothing I can do about it. So that's a question probably for the players ... to maybe share with you all what they were feeling," Reeve said. "Indiana was really good in those (first) 15 minutes. Just took it from us and without much resistance. So I don't know from a player perspective ― I didn't play. So I don't know in the timeouts what they were saying to each other. I don't know what they're saying on the floor, but it just wasn't effective."
The Fever's blowout victory didn't appear to be an "off" night for Minnesota. On the contrary, it magnified a concern that's been quietly lurking in the shadows as the Lynx have lost four their last five games. Minnesota's inconsistent defense is rearing its head (again) days before playoffs and could stymie its postseason run.
The Lynx have been the best team in the WNBA all season. They have a daunting starting lineup that includes Miles, Collier, three-time All-Star Courtney Williams and five-time All-StarKayla McBride. Three-time WNBA champion Natasha Howard rounds out the unit.
The Lynx are top five or better in multiple categories, including field goal percentage (47.8%), points per game (91.0), blocks per game (4.5) and steals per game (8.8). The team also has a 112.3 offensive rating and a 104 defensive rating for the season. Those ratings rank third and fourth, respectively. However, when looking under the hood, the story is a little more nuanced. Minnesota's offense has been there, usually with no shortage of points, assists, rebounds or ball movement. Its defense is another story.
In May, the Lynx had the best defense in the league (96.8 rating) and remained at the top in June (97.9 rating). Reeve even won June's Coach of the Month for the team's 9-2 record, which included five wins over now-playoff teams. In July, the bottom fell out. Minnesota plummeted to a 109.9 defensive rating, which ranked 10th in the league. Despite nine straight wins that led to another 9-2 monthly record, the Lynx gave 90 or more points in six games. It also gave up 100 points twice to sub .500 teams.
August looked like another solid month, even with a loss to another below .500 team mixed in. Minnesota worked its way up to a 31-7 season record. Then, it suffered consecutive losses — on Aug. 24 (Golden State) and Aug. 30 (Atlanta) — indicating the cracks it had hidden were slowly starting to show. For the second straight month, Minnesota's defense ranked 10th (109.9 rating). The Lynx's ill-timed decline continued into a third straight loss following the FIBA World Cup break before rebounding with a Sept. 20 101-89 win over Connecticut.
The defensive lapses have now started to affect the other side of the ball. Over Minnesota's last five matchups, its offense is now lagging, ranking 11th in the league (99.5 rating). The Lynx are also 11th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.32) and defensive rating (110.1).
“I don’t care about the (seedings) outcomes. I’m more so concerned about our 'F-U' towards other teams and just going and taking and ripping people’s hearts out and taking momentum back," McBride said ahead of Tuesday's game.
“Finishing games, the details and putting hammers down. That's what I want to see from us these next two games.”
Unfortunately, the Lynx didn't hold up to that standard against Indiana. They were beaten, badly, and backed their way into the top playoff seed with a Valkyries' loss. While the outcome is ideal, perhaps, how it was achieved is not. It leaves more questions than answers about who Minnesota. That should never happen. The Lynx are too good for that. Time is slowly running out to pull it together.
On Thursday, it will play the Fever again (8 p.m. ET, USA Network) and get one more chance to take some positive momentum into the postseason. Could the Lynx still win it first championship since 2017? Absolutely. The franchise has enough talent and the right coach to do it.
Minnesota would probably like to avenge its 2024 WNBA Finals loss and a disappointing semifinals exit last season — after going in as the No. 1 seed. If the Lynx have anything left in the tank, now is the time to use it as fuel. The postseason awaits, and as Minnesota knows all too well, it spares no team and does not care about seeding.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Lynx are the WNBA's top seed. So why do they suddenly look vulnerable? | Opinion
