Coach Cheryl Reeve was a little coy after this morning's shootaround when asked whether recently-acquired center Sylvia Fowles would start tonight against the Los Angeles Sparks.
"Maybe,'' she said.
It is my educated guess that Fowles will start. She was working with the first unit at the shoot, getting one play after another explained to her by Reeve and her fellow teammates. After it was over, Fowles said she felt good, even after Monday's practice, her first in a long time.
"Surprisingly, I felt good, for the most part," she said.
I think she'll start. I don' t know how many minutes she'll play. But Reeve is not afraid to throw a new player into the mix. Plus, for someone whose desire to come to the Lynx forced her to sit out the first half of the season, I suspect the Lynx would like to have Fowles go through the whole ceremony of being introduced as a starter for the fans.
Fowles, meanwhile, reiterated much of what she said Tuesday. She is going to focus on defense, rebound like crazy and let the offense happen naturally. Basically, keep it simple.
"When you have players like we have around here, everybody is a threat to score. I just want to fit in," she said.
That said, there will be nerves.
Fowles said she watched the Lynx all this season, sometimes envisioning how she'd fit in here in certain sets, often frustrated that she wasn't on the court with fellow Olympians Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen. Now it's about to happen.
When asked if she'd have butterflies before the game, she said: "Most likely I will. I've been having butterflies since this trade happened.''
Meanwhile, here's a little anecdote from Lynx assistant Jim Petersen on how he found out about the trade that brought Fowles here:
Over the All Star break Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was on the Jersey shore with family and Petersen was in Wisconsin with family. But even on a mini-vacation Reeve is known to trade texts with assistants about upcoming games.
So, with L.A. on the docket for Wednesday, and the Sparks being Petersen's scout? The texts were flying, including one particular text Sunday night. Let Petersen tell it:
"She's always texting me questions," Peterson said. "Like, 'How are we going to guard this?' Or, 'What are you going to do about that?' So she texts this: 'Who's Sylvia Fowles going to guard against L.A.?' ''
That's how he found out.
That's about it for now. I'll get back to you before tonight's game.
