After a 3-6 start to the WNBA season, the Minnesota Lynx had run off four straight wins and were looking more like the defending champions of the league.
The high-flying Seattle Storm looked like a challenge, but behind one of the better combined performances ever from the Lynx’s MVPs in Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, Minnesota rolled to a comfortable 91-79 win at Target Center on Tuesday night.
The Lynx used an early 11-0 run to take control of the game and really never looked back, with Seattle never getting closer than five after that run. The danger for the Storm was clear even before that run with the first four buckets for the Lynx: two layups for Fowles, two jumpers for Moore.
In the second quarter, both teams stagnated on offense but the Lynx got a spark from Cecilia Zandalasini before the starters came back in. Seattle actually won the second quarter 20-18 behind the awakening of Breanna Stewart, but they got very little from anyone other than Stewart on offense.
While Stewart continued to score and punish the Lynx, it was one star performance against two magnificent performances. Moore and Fowles each had 20 points before the halfway point in the third quarter, with Fowles adding a typical ten rebounds even at that early stage.
The combination play between the two was mesmerizing, with the inside-outside punishment at its most deadly. Fowles was unstoppable at the rim, and the space created for Moore’s willing shot was more than she needed.
As Moore and Fowles’ individual numbers grew, so did the Lynx’s lead. The team defense stepped up as the offense clicked, and before that halfway point in the third, the Minnesota lead was at 20. A half-court, buzzer-beating three from Jordin Canada cut the lead at the end of the third to 15, but the damage was done.
That three was enough to provoke Cheryl Reeve into putting her starters back in to begin the fourth quarter, and Moore and Fowles continued to feast until the game was put away, even if a late Seattle run made the final score respectable.
Moore finished with 32 points and seven rebounds, her first outing with 30-plus in almost two years — since July 7, 2016. Fowles finished with a season-high 28 points and added 17 rebounds, which tied her second-highest total of the season for the second straight game.
Stewart finished with an outstanding night for Seattle with 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting (3 of 3 from three), but had no help from the rest of the Storm starters, who finished at 13-37 from the field. The Lynx outside of Moore and Fowles weren’t much better, but they didn’t need to be.
“That’s one of our obviously finer wins of the season and it’s always about how we did it,” Reeve said after the game. “We just embraced the difficulty in guarding a Seattle team that does everything. They shoot the three, they score in the paint, they get to the free throw line.”
“It was a big-time challenge and I just really appreciate how our players stepped up and defensively played most of the schemes pretty well. Obviously, Stewie scored. Believe it or not, she was a focal point of the game plan, so I guess that part didn’t go well, but as far as the rest of it, we did a pretty decent job.”
Moore talked about the change in the team mindset after the game. “I think we’re not doing anything out there that is above and beyond ourselves. The coaching staff and our point guards are putting us in positions to do what we do,” she said.
The Lynx moved to 8-6 on the season, and while Reeve emphasized only looking at the next game, against Atlanta on Friday in Minnesota, eyes must begin to turn to the upcoming showdown against the Los Angeles Sparks on July 5.
Seattle was the closest team to Los Angeles’ record entering Tuesday’s game, and while Atlanta and Dallas are both quality opponents not to be overlooked, the Lynx have now beaten the second-best and third-best records in the league in this winning streak between Seattle and Phoenix.
“I think it’s clear that when I say we’re back, we weren’t here to start the year for nine games,” Reeve said. “Like I told the team, shame on us. We created some of the narrative, and we can’t change it now, but we can change everything going forward. All we can do is take it one game at a time.”
“The biggest game on our schedule is next up versus Atlanta. It’s a huge game for us because it’s the next one. That’s going to be our mindset, and as long as we stay in that territory, as long as we continue to prioritize the Minnesota Lynx, then we’ll be okay.”
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