You might say better late than never. But Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve would disagree. Star forward Napheesa Collier, too.
Instead: better stop showing up late.
“For whatever reason, we’re waiting around to play to our identity,” Reeve said on a Zoom call Sunday. “We talked about how we’d like to break that habit.”
Please note: This comes after the Lynx shook off three quarters of painful offense and two quarters of too-passive defense to beat the Mystics 78-71 in Washington, D.C. The Lynx (26-9), second in the WNBA standings, have won 10 of 11 overall and are 9-1 since the Olympic break. They have won the first two games of a three-game road trip — they visit Atlanta on Tuesday — and broke a two-game winning streak by Washington (11-24), which is still fighting for the WNBA’s final playoff spot.
But the Lynx did it in a manner that, to the team, is becoming annoying. Namely, with a very good second half after a very average first one.
“It was our defense,” said Collier, who had 19 points and 12 rebounds. She scored seven fourth-quarter points, including a three-point play after she was fouled while making a shot in the lane with 2:37 left that put the Lynx up three and — as it turned out — ahead for good.
“When we really lock in, we’re hard to play against,” Collier said. “We have to get back to that at the jump, not have to talk about it at halftime.”
To be fair, the Lynx did hold the Mystics to 39 first-half points. That enabled the visitors to lead by a point after the first quarter despite shooting 38.9%. It allowed them to make only five of 13 second-quarter shots but still be within 35-39 at the half.
