Nicky Anosike walked off the court, through the underground of Target Center, trying to blend in with the gray cement walls around her. LaToya Thomas tried touching her teammate's shoulder. Anosike shook her head.
Lindsey Harding trekked through, chucked her gum in a garbage can and didn't blink the rest of the way.
Seimone Augustus walked with Navonda Moore, saying over and over, "We just gotta make plays."
Leading by as many as 15, the Lynx looked poised to hand the Atlanta Dream their 18th loss in 19 games. Instead, the Lynx fell below .500 for the first time this season, suffering a miserable 73-67 defeat in front of an announced crowd of 5,863.
The Lynx (9-10) made only eight of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter. On their final two possessions, Nicole Ohlde had a shot blocked and Augustus threw a bad pass that resulted in a turnover.
Asked if there's a way to establish better mental focus to avoid missing free throws down the stretch, Lynx coach Don Zierden said: "If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't be coaching. I'd bottle it up and sell it to everybody."
The expansion Dream (2-17) had the opposite issue. Atlanta scored six points on 3-for-18 shooting in the first quarter. But it ended the game on a 13-1 run, shooting 71 percent in the fourth quarter and taking the lead for the first time in the game with 1 minute, 30 seconds left. Betty Lennox led all scorers with 24 points.
The Lynx led 38-26 at halftime and had eight players score. Augustus played with flair for the first three quarters, during which she scored all of her 17 points. She even laid one in after doing a quick, 360-degree turn that left her defender dizzy. But she didn't net a basket in the final quarter.
