The Minnesota Lynx became the first team in WNBA history to begin a season 11-0 after Tuesday’s 87-63 victory over the Atlanta Fever.
The Lynx had five players finished in double-digits led by Maya Moore, who scored 16 points to go with eight rebounds and three assists. Jia Perkins, in what was perhaps her best game of the season, tallied 11 points (4-of-8 FG, 3-of-4 3PM-A), four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sylvia Fowles added 11 points(4-of-7 FG) and eight rebounds.
“We’ve been workin’ really hard since training camp, even before training camp, to try to make the most of every day that we have,” Moore said after the game. “To come out and not just win, but to execute our game plan, especially tonight, feels really good.”
“To be rewarded that the work that you’re doing is a great incentive to continue.”
Though she scored just four points, Lindsay Whalen ensured that the offense stayed in sync while keeping Briann January incheck throughout 19 minutes of playing time. January, who scored 15 points in Indiana’s two point loss to Seattle just a few days earlier, shot 1-of-7 from the field and was held to just three points. Whalen, who finished with six assists, does not think the Lynx are at all content with success they’ve had thus far. ““We’re only 11 games in, so there’s a lot that we can work on and get better at,” she asserted.
“The second you relax, the second you think you’re really good, that’s when you get beat. We’re a team that’s been playing in this league long enough. There’s a lot of great teams in this league that if you have nights where you think like that, you’re going to get beat. For us, it’s focusing on what we have to each game, each day.”
The Lynx are a team on a mission to capture back-to-back championships for the first time in franchise history. Many of its players, including Moore, Whalen, Seimone Augustus, Jenelle McCarvell, as well as its head coach, Cheryl Reeve, were members of the Lynx team that began the 2012 season 10-0. So, for them, being the group that holds the WNBA’s best start to a regular season means very little — if anything at all.
For them, the focus is on the overall goal.
“I told them it’s kind of the end result,” Reeve told the media after the game.
“You know it’s more of the externally that people talk about those sorts of records and streaks. If you go in the locker room and ask any of them about [the record] they will say something like ‘ok cool’. They are really excited about our shell help was really good. That’s what makes this group so special, is that they aren’t caught up in those types of moments.”
