After missing three games with a sprained foot, Seimone Augustus returned to the Lynx starting lineup against Indiana but was mostly ineffective.
Augustus made only three of 11 shots and was zero for five on three-pointers. She had eight points, nine below her average coming into the game. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said it looked like Augustus had taken the past 10 days off. Which she had.
She was injured Sept. 7 in the Lynx's two-overtime win over Atlanta. Augustus missed the next three games. She had scored in double figures her first 25 games of the season before Monday.
"She didn't have her legs underneath of her," Reeve said. "That's why we wanted to play her. I played her four minutes over what I was supposed to. The last three were not my fault. I had a sub at the table for a long time, so I told the trainer it wasn't my fault that she played over those minutes. I am afraid he is going to dock me for the next game. He is going to give me less.
"It is important that she is back out there playing before we get to the playoffs. She was mad. She was mad we didn't play her more, but that is the way it goes. It was good to see her back out there."
Augustus played 24 minutes, 17 seconds. She is now averaging 16.9 points, just ahead of Maya Moore's 16.5 clip.
Augustus is shooting better than Moore, 50.1 percent to 46.8 from the field and 43 percent to 40.4 percent on threes. But Moore leads Augustus in most other statisical categories: rebounds are 6.2 to 3.9 in Moore's favor, assists 3.7 to 2.5 and steals 1.5 to 0.90.
Augustus has led the Lynx in scoring 12 times, Moore 15. Six other players have been scoring leaders 11 times. That adds up to 38, but in five games the scoring lead was shared.
