Turnover-prone Lynx lose 84-76 at Atlanta, drop to 2-8 on season

For all the comebacks the Lynx mounted Wednesday, and for all the rebounds Sylvia Fowles grabbed, here is the number Lynx fans should pay the most attention to:

Twenty-six.

In a physical, back-and-forth 84-76 loss to an Atlanta Dream team that at 6-3 is one of the WNBA's surprises this season, the Lynx could not take care of the ball.

They turned the ball over a season-high 26 times. In a game decided by eight points, the Dream had a 23-13 edge on points off turnovers.

"The crazy thing is, if you look at the team's stats, the Dream is down there with us in forcing turnovers," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "It's not like it's their mission defensively. It's a team that doesn't force turnovers. That was certainly the game."

It was a difficult loss, and a painful one that had Reeve shaking her head at the officiating. For example: Kristy Wallace punched Jessica Shepard in the nose, breaking it, on a third-quarter drive and was awarded two free throws. It was Minnesota's second broken nose in as many games after Aerial Powers had hers broken Sunday.

Later, Kayla McBride was floored and suffered a quad contusion on a clearly illegal screen on Kia Vaughn that went uncalled.

But the Lynx (2-8) showed they could take a punch. Down 15 in the second quarter, they rallied to grab two one-point leads in the third quarter. But a 10-3 run to end the third quarter and a shaky start to the fourth had the Lynx down 10 before the fourth quarter was two minutes old.

And, given the state of the Lynx's injury-riddled backcourt and the resulting turnovers, that was too much to overcome on a night when Rhyne Howard, the WNBA's rookie of the year in waiting, scored 22 points for Atlanta. Wallace had 18 and Aari McDonald 13 points and seven steals.

"I mean, that's been the tale of the Lynx right now," said McBride, who scored 20 points with five rebounds. "We're still trying to find our flow and rhythm on offense. That might be a part of it. But there are no excuses for that many turnovers. We know that. We want to fix it."

The fact the Lynx backcourt has been a revolving door won't make that easy. Kamiah Smalls, one of the team's latest hardship signings — Elissa Cunane was the other — met the team in Atlanta and had one walk-through before playing 15 minutes after Rachel Banham got in early foul trouble. Smalls is filling in for Moriah Jefferson, who could be out two weeks with a quad injury.

But there is no question the turnovers made it more difficult than usual to get the ball to Fowles, who shot the ball just nine times. She made seven and scored 16 points to go with a WNBA season-high 20 rebounds.

And the turnovers made it difficult to mount a final comeback.

Reeve bemoaned the 10-0 Atlanta run that broke up a tie game late in the third quarter.

The Dream scored most of its offense with midrange shots and three-pointers (12-for-28).

The key play might have come with under four minutes left. The Lynx were within four when McDonald missed a three. The Lynx looked poised to get the rebound, but the ball bounced to the Dream. The result was a three by Erica Wheeler that might have sealed the game.

But the main story was turnovers. "When you turn it over that much, when you force shots that aren't good shots, and are constantly in transition defense, that makes it tough," Reeve said.

The Star Tribune did not travel for this event. This article was written using the television broadcast and video interviews before and/or after the event.