Tuesday night, in the Lynx locker room after an uncharacteristic performance in a loss to last-place Indiana, one player appeared to take the loss the hardest:
Center Sylvia Fowles.
The reigning regular-season and WNBA finals MVP answered questions with her voice cracking and a tear in her eye. This isn't surprising. Anyone who knows Fowles knows how much she cares, especially when it comes to delivering for her teammates in difficult situations.
And so it was hard for Fowles. Very hard.
"I have a hard time coming down after a game anyway,'' Fowles said after shootaround this morning.
So it was a difficult night for Fowles. But, after watching film of the game on Wednesday, and after a long discussion with assistant coach James Wade ("He's kind of my go-to guy,'' Fowles explained), Fowles felt better. The tape showed some bad things, to be sure. But it was, frankly, encouraging to Fowles, because she saw things she could adjust. And that just makes her more eager to face arch-rival Los Angeles in tonight's game at Target Center.
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it was,'' said Fowles, who scored just eight points – her first game this season not in double figures – on 4-for-12 shooting with three turnovers vs. Indiana. "But when you're out there, and things aren't going your way, of course it feels bad. So, we have some things to correct. And they are correctable.''
Maya Moore also had an off-night, scoring nine points on 3-for-15 shooting. It was the only time since Fowles joined the team mid-way through the 2015 season that both failed to score in double figures in the same game.