The Minnesota Lynx went into the halftime locker room Sunday evening facing a seven-point deficit to the Phoenix Mercury (47-40). Led by their point forward, Alyssa Thomas, the Mercury had bullied Minnesota.
The Lynx spent so much time talking over the disastrous first half that when they finally emerged from the halftime tunnel, all they had time to do was run to the bench for a last-second pep talk. What preceded was 20 minutes of near-perfect basketball, in which the Lynx outscored the Mercury 42-22, en route to an 82-69 Game 1 victory.
So, what happened at halftime as Cornel Freeney performed his German Wheel routine and the 10,121 fans in attendance refilled their beverages for the second half?
“We spent all of halftime trying to figure out how we could defend better, how to defend the paint, and address what [the Lynx players’] concerns were,” said Cheryl Reeve. “Obviously, the video really helps, so it was a collaborative effort. I asked what they wanted to do in some of those schemes, so it was collaborative, they were all engaged.”
Reeve highlighted the play that the Mercury run that had decimated the Lynx, a “flat action” run by Alyssa Thomas. It is essentially an inverted pick-and-fade, in which Thomas is the primary ball handler above the 3-point line. A guard, typically the point guard, comes up to set the screen. The guard then slips and fades in front of Thomas, drifting out to the 3-point line, and Thomas drives hard to the rim.
A few things make this difficult to defend. The first is that Thomas is one of the strongest players in the WNBA, and she’s a power forward, which usually means that opposing teams’ centers or bigs are guarding her.
Because Thomas starts the play above the 3-point line, it inherently puts the opposing bigs in a spot outside of their comfort zone. Then, a smaller guard setting the screen can be difficult for the opposing big to fight through. Often, the big can bowl over the smaller screen setter as they turn to slide in front of Thomas, which results in a defense off-ball foul.
Other bigs will try to go under the screen and cut Thomas off on her way to the basket. Still, due to Thomas’s size and athleticism, she has already gotten a full head of steam moving to the rim. As a result, she blows by the big under, cutting the screen or putting the big in a bad position, which can lead to a foul.
Switching on the screen isn’t an option. Thomas is significantly larger than the guards and so skilled at taking advantage of the smaller players that a switch directly plays into the Mercury’s hands.
Doubling the screen allows the guard to slip through and fade behind the 3-point line for an open 3-point shot.
The other common solution is to send help from one of the players lined up guarding the corners, which then puts the big guarding Thomas originally to sprint to pick up the corner shooter. That’s a difficult task, especially when Thomas runs this play repeatedly throughout a game. Moreover, if the big runs to the corner, the player in the corner can cut to the basket, slip behind the help defense, and get a relatively easy layup attempt.
The play has been so effective that Reeve jokingly referred to it as the tush push pregame.
“It’s not easy to play against,” she said. “The WNBA’s version of the tush push is here in their flat screen that they run. We’ll see how it goes for us. But if it doesn’t go well, we’re going to petition to get that s*** out of the league.”
She laughed as she said the last part.
Phoenix scored 42 points in the paint in the first half. The only points that didn’t come in the paint were two free throws and a single 3-point shot. Most of the points the Sun scored in the paint came directly from these Thomas “flat actions.”
Minnesota tried sending help to Thomas. However, they repeatedly left shooters open on cuts as Napheesa Collier desperately attempted to fly to the corners to pick up the cutters.
When the Lynx didn’t send help, Thomas bullied Collier into the restricted area with a full head of steam before putting up a hook shot, or an attempt at the rim. Despite Collier’s best efforts, the flat action continued to be a positive play for the Mercury.
Things had to change heading into halftime. Minutes into the third quarter, it was obvious the Lynx decided to attack Thomas with everything they had in this action. Courtney Williams rose to the occasion, getting three steals in the third quarter.
She would begin attacking Thomas on every screen, angling her body to first get between Thomas and the guard, fading to the 3-point line, then poking at the ball. It resulted in Thomas scoring only two points in the third quarter on two shot attempts. Thomas also turned the ball over twice due to the increase in pressure.
It also stunted the Mercury’s points in the paint. After allowing 42 in the first half, the Lynx only allowed 10 in the third quarter. The defense fed off the energy from Williams. The change in scheme allowed the Lynx to tie the game going into the fourth quarter.
They then doubled down on the aggressive strategy, and the pressure worked. Thomas didn’t score in the fourth quarter and took only one shot. After 14 shots for 16 points in the first half, she finished with only three shots for two points in the second half. After finishing the first half plus-6, she was minus-20 in the second.
The Lynx had successfully slowed Thomas down completely in the fourth. With that, the Mercury’s offense stalled, scoring just ten points and two points in the paint in the final quarter. After the game, Reeve gave credit to her point guard specifically for the adjustment.
“She was in the conversation at halftime time, and she was like, ‘Can we try this? Can we do this?’” said Reeve, “So she kind of put her money where her mouth is. … She was our deflections winner, career-high five steals, tied a franchise record in steals. Court was terrific.”
I asked Courtney Williams about Reeve trusting her enough to make those changes at halftime.
“You know that’s my dog, so I feel we have a very genuine, very real relationship,” said Williams. “Sometimes, we butt heads, but it’s like your family, right? You always figure it out, and that’s what we do. So that’s my dog.”
If Williams and Reeve have figured out how to stop the WNBA’s equivalent of the tush push, it’s hard to see how the Mercury can stop the Lynx’s revenge tour.
