Defense deserts Lynx in head-scratching loss to Mercury

Cheryl Reeve knows what happened. She just can't figure out why.

Minnesota entered Wednesday with the WNBA's best defense but buckled against the league's top offense, as Phoenix erased an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter and held on for a 112-105 victory.

The loss left the Lynx coach disappointed and wondering how it all slipped away.

"We were doing things defensively that were very out of character throughout the entire first half," Reeve said. "Thirty-nine points in the fourth quarter, that's hard to swallow for the No. 1 defensive team. The offense won out in this game."

The Lynx (7-4) dropped into a three-way tie for second in the Western Conference and head into a crucial two-game stretch against Eastern Conference-leading Indiana (10-3) on Friday and Seattle (7-4) on Saturday looking to avoid any long-term damage. In 2009, the Lynx started 7-4 but went 7-16 to close out the season.

Reeve said the quick turnaround shouldn't affect the Lynx, who have lost three of their past five.

"When you take a kind of whopping like we did, that's all we need," Reeve said. "The next game, the things we didn't do so well, I'm confident we'll bounce back and resume our role as one of the best defensive teams in the league."

Diana Taurasi had a game-high 27 points, including three free throws with 23.8 seconds left that gave the Mercury a four-point lead. Phoenix hit 10 of 11 free throws in the final 45 seconds and went 6-for-8 on three-pointers in the fourth.

DeWanna Bonner scored a season-high 24 points off the bench. Penny Taylor had 14 points in the final period.

"We are trying to run off of our defense, and our defense is supposed to be our staple and we did not have any of that," said the Lynx's Rebekkah Brunson, who had 16 points and 16 rebounds, her eighth double-double of the season. "All aspects of defense we have to work on."

Seimone Augustus had a team-high 22 points, and Lindsay Whalen chipped in 19. Rookie Maya Moore, fresh off a career-high 26 on Saturday, had 16 points but was 0-for-9 on three-pointers.

For a while, the Lynx had the Mercury on the ropes. They came back from a 13-point deficit and took a 91-80 lead with 6:31 left after opening the fourth quarter on a 15-7 run.