Minnesota defeated Chicago 74-64 on Thursday at Target Center in a game much close than the final score would indicate. But the Lynx still trail in the Western Conference standings by 1.5 games because Phoenix also won Thursday. Minnesota's heads to the desert for a showdown with the Mercury on Saturday.
Here is some additional postgame perspective from Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve.
"What I told them was most important was that when the game was kind of in the balance, we made plays at key times."
"Not our best game but a win nonetheless."
On the Lynx 11-0 run to close the game: "We suddenly got a sense of urgency about what we were doing."
Any scoreboard watching? "Maybe that's what was wrong with our shots. Maybe they were looking at other scoreboards."
On looking aggravated at times: "That's a good description. I was really aggravated with our defensive execution – really simple things that we weren't locked into. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was our end of quarter execution of our defense. We like to trap and we left a player wide open for a layup. We just weren't locked in or playing hard enough."
On the late-season grind: "Our starters right now – it's interesting. I don't know if they are just kind of waiting for the playoffs; if they're kind of bored. I have no idea. But it's been disappointing and they know that. I thought we lumbered around quite a bit today. What do have a week left and four games left? So we're playing almost every other day. Suck it up."
