With 38.1 seconds left in the third quarter, Lynx guard Kayla McBride stepped to the line and hit two free throws.
A 12-point Las Vegas lead was down to one. In a physical game the Lynx had answered a shove with a push.
But then it all got away.
In an 80-66 loss to the Aces at Target Center on Wednesday, the Lynx got to the cusp of a comeback only to be outscored 23-10 over the final 10-plus minutes. Minnesota (4-2) tried to match the Aces’ physicality, but ultimately succumbed to it, setting season lows in points, field goals made and assists, while losing at home for the first time in three games this season.
“I’m happy we saw this,” Napheesa Collier said. She led the Lynx with 18 points and 13 rebounds, and had a block and two steals. But she made just six of 16 shots. “It’s so much better to see this in the sixth game than in the playoffs, getting punched in the mouth and having to deal with it.”
That, almost literally, was what the Aces (4-1) did.
Las Vegas pressured the ball up top and made getting in and out of screens hard. Underneath, A’ja Wilson (29 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks) basically made everything difficult.
“They had some success impeding us,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “Trying to get us to places. And they were successful doing that legally, which is hard to do in this league. We didn’t get the movement, the screening. Everything was slower. We started to get impatient.”