Lynx guard Aerial Powers looking for strong end to her injury-shortened season

This week was the first time Aerial Powers let the frustration get to her.

That it took so long is kind of amazing, considering injuries have knocked her out of all but 12 games the past two seasons.

In Washington last year, in the WNBA bubble in Florida, with a huge opportunity to play, she scored 20 or more points in three of the first six games before a hamstring injury ended her season.

A high-profile free-agent signing by the Lynx, Powers played in the first three games this year before another hamstring injury. Six games later she returned, only to promptly tear the ulnar collateral ligament in her right thumb.

Fast forward to last week. After surgery, after nine-plus weeks of rehab, after returning to action without practice for two games, after a workout where that taped-up thumb just didn't feel right, Powers lost it.

"I'm not going to lie, the other day was my first mental kind of breakdown since I've been back,'' Powers said. "I was frustrated with the thumb. I felt I was losing the ball. I couldn't move the ball the way I wanted to.''

Talking after practice last week, Powers showed off the taped-up right hand. After consulting head athletic trainer Chuck Barta, they figured out a different way to tape the hand.

Crisis averted.

"I'm back up,'' she said. "I'm ready for this stretch. This stretch is big for me.''

For Powers, especially.

After a week off between games, the Lynx play host to New York on Tuesday at Target Center. It is the beginning of the final quarter — eight games — of the WNBA season. The Lynx (15-9) are in fourth place — the final spot that gets a first-round playoff bye — and only a half-game ahead of surging Phoenix. They are three games behind second-place Las Vegas; the top two teams receive a bye into the league semifinals.

Earlier this season, after an 0-4 start, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve used a couple lengthy stretches between games focusing on finding an identity for the starters. That meant prioritizing who got shots and where, focusing on center Sylvia Fowles and playing through the post.

It worked. Over the past 13 games — during which the Lynx are 10-3 — Minnesota starters are second in the league in scoring (66.9) and average minutes per game (30.7). During that same stretch, the bench is ninth in scoring (16.1) and 11th in minutes (9.7).

When Powers returned from injury to play two games ago, she did it without having gone through a practice. There were times when she wasn't sure of the play. "I was trying to remember the plays, trying to remember my teammates, how they play," she said. "It was like, 'Where am I supposed to be?' "

This week, Reeve and her staff went deeper trying to change that. The coach gave her high-minutes players the better part of three days off, choosing to focus on the second unit much the same way she worked with the starters earlier this season.

"It took so much time to get to our identity," Reeve said of the starters. "That was a massive layer. Other things didn't get the attention because there was such an urgency around that first group. Now it's our second group, getting more targeted in what we're running for them, so they can be more efficient and get more time on the floor."

Powers is the focal point of that group, which also includes Crystal Dangerfield, Bridget Carleton and Natalie Achonwa. It won't look the same as the starters. But Reeve believes a resurgent, healthy Powers can make a huge difference.

That's what every team is looking for — where can you go to find some help?" Reeve said. "Because your starters are so scouted, other teams are taking things away. And AP is at the forefront of the second group."

Powers is looking for an upbeat ending to a difficult year. "This season, for me, was about weathering a storm, mentally," she said. "Because I had my hamstring injury, then my thumb."

Powers said the thumb isn't 100% yet. But she said she would play as if it were. Yes, there was one thumb-related meltdown. But she got over that.

"The second unit will become more effective," she said. "And I think when we do we're a championship team, easily. I know a lot of people haven't been talking like we are. But we are. We have all the pieces."