Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was in the middle of her postgame comments Friday at Target Center when a huge cheer came out of the nearby Connecticut Sun locker room.
The Sun were celebrating more than a 94-84 victory. They were reveling in Alyssa Thomas' 15-point, 12-assist, 10-rebound triple-double.
"Isn't that fun, they come to Minnesota and celebrate winning," Reeve said. "The first triple-double in franchise history? They take a timeout on us and celebrate? Isn't that fun. Not a good night for the Lynx, was it?"
No, it wasn't.
Don't let the final score deceive you. For the majority of this game the Sun did anything they wanted to do on the offensive end while building a 13-point lead by halftime and a 19-point lead entering the final quarter, when both teams basically went to the bench.
The 96 points allowed was one of the season highs by a Lynx opponent in a non-overtime game this season. The 55.2% shooting by the Sun was the best by a Minnesota foe, and it was even worse — 64.4% — through three quarters.
On a night when the Lynx scored 84 points and shot 54.8%, they were never really in the game. And that's because the Sun was effective inside (38 points in the paint), outside (10-for-21 on threes) and pretty much everywhere else, too.
"The disappointing part is to see a lack of will," Reeve said. "Lack of movement, lack of playing the scheme, hard to see if we're playing the right scheme. They did anything they wanted.
