Lynx rely on their defense to pull out 78-71 triumph over Mystics and stay rolling

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.

But the defense really took over after that. The Lynx made six of 21 shots and scored only 16 points in the third quarter, but still won the quarter 16-13. Then it all kicked in in the fourth, with the Lynx scoring 27 points on 9-for-14 shooting while holding the Mystics to 19 points.

“Defense gets you through your most difficult times,” Reeve said. “We had a number of open shots that were in close proximity to the basket and couldn’t find the bottom. We tried to stay with it. At halftime, once again, we reminded them of our identity.”

BOXSCORE: Lynx 78, Washington 71

WNBA standings

Five Lynx players were in double figures: Collier, Courtney Williams (12), Natisha Hiedeman, Bridget Carleton and Kayla McBride (10). In her first game against her former team, and with backup center Dorka Juhász (illness) unavailable in the second half, Myisha Hines-Allen — acquired by the Lynx in a trade-deadline move — had nine points, five rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes. She had seven points while playing the entire fourth quarter.

And that’s when the Lynx finally took control.

Down four early in the quarter, Hines-Allen got a steal, went down, scored and was fouled. She made the free throw. Then Hiedeman stole the ball, scored, was fouled, and converted on the three-point play. Moments later, Hines-Allen fed Collier for a hoop and the Lynx were up four with just under a minutes left.

Washington didn’t go away. Stefanie Dolson’s three put the Mystics back on top briefly. The score was still tied when Collier got Minnesota’s third three-point play of the quarter with 2:37 left to put the Lynx up for good.

A strong finish, again. But Collier is looking for a better start. “You can’t take any games off, the competition is too stiff,” she said. “We have to come with our A-game from the start.”