The fall was a hard one.
Two days after winning the Commissioner's Cup as champion of the WNBA's in-season tournament, the Lynx lost to the Dallas Wings, who had lost 11 games in a row.
The 94-88 defeat in Arlington, Texas, snapped a six-game regular-season win streak for the Lynx.
The main reason for the loss? Defense. Or, uncharacteristically, the lack of it.
The Lynx entered the game ranked second in the league in defensive rating (92.2) and point allowed (73.8). They were first in opponents' overall shooting (39.2%) and on three-point defense (27.1%).
And then a Wings team being led by Arike Ogunbowale and pushed by former Lynx guard Odyssey Sims — in her first game after signing a hardship contract because Dallas had three key players injured — and shot 48.7% overall, 60% on threes, and scored 94 points while hitting 37 field goals.
Every one of those numbers represent the worst the Lynx have allowed this season.
"We weren't playing our defense," said Lynx center Alanna Smith, who scored 15 points, hitting a career-high five three-pointers.
"We weren't ready to defend today," added Napheesa Collier, who had a 29-point, 11-rebound double-double.
True on both counts.
Two days after basking in the national spotlight by beating the New York Liberty, the Lynx (13-4) were beaten by the Wings (4-13), the WNBA's last-place team.
Down 45-30 when Smith hit a three-pointer with 3:22 left in the second quarter, the Wings outscored the Lynx 64-43 over the final 23:02 of the game.
Despite the difficulty and down only six with 7:01 left in the game, the Lynx scored seven consecutive points to go up 83-82 on Dorka Juhász's basket with 4:44 left.
But Ogunbowale (23 points, nine assists) and Sims (18 points, four assists, three steals) combined for nine points in the Wings' 12-5 finish to the game.
As coach Cheryl Reeve noted afterwards, the Lynx scored 88 points, shot 47.1%, made 11 threes and had assists on 27 of 33 made shots. That should be enough to win.
But: "We were not defensively who we needed to be," Reeve said. "That was our greatest disappointment. We weren't difficult to play against."
It started early, when the Lynx struggled to contain Dallas center Teaira McCowan, who scored 15 of her 17 points in the first half. Reeve said McCowan's effectiveness affected the Lynx's pick-and-roll defense.
"It got to the point where we were afraid to defend in the pick and roll," Reeve said.
And that led to unfettered penetration by the Wings guards. "We never gave 'em our chest, we were along side of 'em on damn near every drive," Reeve said. "That gives them a window to get it on the glass. And we'd either foul, or they'd make it. Sometimes both."
With Smith and Bridget Carleton (17 points) combining for six threes, the Lynx were up 15 before the Wings scored the final 13 points of the first half and the first two of the second to tie the score at 45-45.
The Lynx pushed back to a six-point lead, but it was gone by the start of the fourth. Down six, the Lynx launched one more rally. But they couldn't slow Ogunbowale, Sims, or Monique Billings (14 points).
Reeve said she talked with her team about the risks of the game. Two days after a huge win. Playing a desperate team playing at home. But Collier refused to make any excuses.
Neither did her coach. "We had some players who weren't ready to play today," Reeve said. "It makes the Commissioner's Cup [win] a little less sweet, for sure."
Miller returns
Diamond Miller made her first game appearance since May 23.
Miller, coming back from knee surgery that knocked her out of action after three games this season, came off the bench to play 3 minutes.
Reeve said Miller will be brought along slowly.
"She's been working her tail off to be back to us," Reeve said. "You'll see more and more of Diamond. She'll be an important part of what this team can accomplish, giving us, hopefully, a punch off the bench."
The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.
