Despite Game 1 victory, Lynx realize their defense has to dramatically improve

On Sunday, the Phoenix Mercury became the first Lynx opponent to shoot 50% this season. They scored 95 points and made 14 three-pointers, both highs allowed by Minnesota.

And the second-seeded Lynx still won the first game of the best-of-three WNBA playoff series at Target Center 102-95.

“We’re OK with the win,’’ Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said after practice Tuesday. “We also know we take a lot of pride in our defense, and that was not one of the top defenses in the league in the last game we played. And we’ve got to be that for the next game.”

The Mercury turned 10 Lynx turnovers into 17 points. And Phoenix guard Natasha Cloud was electric, scoring 33 points and adding 10 assists. She was 14-for-23, going 5-for-7 at the rim, 5-for-8 from midrange and 4-for-8 on threes. One of those misses at the rim came in the closing seconds, when she was blocked from behind by Lynx center Alanna Smith, which led to Bridget Carleton’s game-clinching three-pointer at the other end.

Cloud became the second player in league playoff history to have a points-assists double-double while scoring at least 30 points.

The Lynx vowed to play better defense Wednesday night in Game 2 … or there will be a Game 3 Friday in Phoenix.

“We have another level to get to,” said Lynx forward Napheesa Collier, who had a 38-point, six-rebound, four-assist, one-block game herself. “We can do a lot better in what our unity is as a team. So that’s something we’re going to try to come out and do.”

The Lynx can’t expect to have a 24-7 edge on points from the free-throw line. That was the stat of Game 1, and it made up for the fact the Mercury shot the ball better and hit more threes.

But then, the Mercury shouldn’t expect the same Lynx defense, either.

The Lynx were first in the league in field-goal defense (41%) and three-point defense (30.1%) in the regular season. They were second in defensive rating (94.8) and points allowed (75.6).

In four regular-season games vs. the Lynx — Minnesota won three of them — the Mercury averaged 72 points, shot 37.2% overall and 28.8% on threes.

That’s now how Game 1 played out.

“As coaches, as messengers of the [defensive] game plan, something didn’t land right,’’ Reeve said. “From a coaching perspective, I feel like the miscues were as a result of … we didn’t express ourselves in a way they understood. That happens sometimes.”

But rarely, with this team, in consecutive games. Reeve said she saw multiple players making similar mistakes. “We had a really good conversation about getting that cleaned up,” she said.

The Mercury will be desperate, and Reeve knows it. The Lynx were the road team in the first round last season. They were routed by 30 in the first game at Connecticut but came back four days later with a seven-point win that forced a Game 3 in Minneapolis.

“You’d better bring it in Game 2,” she said.

The good news is that, down one with slightly more than two minutes left Sunday, the Lynx did lock down, holding Phoenix to 1-for-6 shooting down the stretch, including Smith’s blocks on consecutive possessions.

Myisha Hines-Allen, a crucial trade-deadline acquisition, talked Tuesday about what she thinks makes this team special. Turns out it’s situations like Sunday, when things are going poorly.

“We don’t get rattled,” she said. “We were up by 20. They made a comeback but no one’s rattled. I think that’s what is going to get us over this hump and hopefully win a championship.”

That starts with better defense.

“We feel confident we have the best defense,” Collier said. “We know when we’re locked in, it’s really hard to play against us. We need to tighten some things up and come back ready, because it’s going to be a fight.”