The top two teams in the WNBA will square off on Saturday afternoon.
The Minnesota Lynx (25-7) aim to increase their 2 1/2-game lead over the second-place Las Vegas Aces (22-9) when the teams meet in Minneapolis.
Both squads have shined this season, but they will enter the game in different moods. Las Vegas is coming off a buzzer-beating win over the Indiana Fever, while Minnesota is coming off a rare fourth-quarter meltdown in a loss against the Los Angeles Sparks.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve used her team’s 89-82 loss on Thursday night as an opportunity to forcefully remind her players about the importance of defense. Minnesota had won its previous 10 games in a row but showed bad habits in the loss.
“Every player at every position was terrible,” Reeve said. “Every player that played in the game, at every position.”
Meanwhile, the Aces will go for three straight wins on Saturday. They outlasted the Fever for an 86-84 overtime win on Thursday that ended with a winning shot by Chelsea Gray.
Aces coach Becky Hammon said her team’s stout defense created a chance for the winning shot on offense. The Fever shot just 35.7% from the floor in the second half after making 56.2% of their first-half shots.
“I am super proud of our defense,” Hammon said. “I haven’t been able to say that a lot, but I’m proud of our defense on a night where we struggled to shoot.
“That’s why your defense is important because it is going to give you a chance to win the game at the end, and it really did.”
Four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson leads Las Vegas with 26.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Jackie Young averages 18.0 points per game, and Gray rounds out the top three scorers with 12.7 points to go along with a team-high 7.2 assists per contest.
Rookie sensation Olivia Miles is the Lynx’s leading scorer with 19.8 points and adds a team-high 5.8 assists per game. Napheesa Collier, who is just getting her season underway is next with 18.8 points per game through five outings, and Kayla McBride ranks third with an average of 17.7 points.
Miles did not take offense to her coach’s comments about every player being terrible on defense in their most recent game, admitting she and her teammates could do more.
“Teams are adjusting and getting better,” Miles said. “We just have to put consistent effort forward, regardless of whether adjustments are made. … (Coach Reeve) can’t coach effort at the end of the day.”
-Field Level Media
