Keisha Brown Set The Tone

By now, you know the story. The Lynx lost their home opener to the Sacramento Monarchs tonight after, what can only be considered as, an up-and-down performance. As we have come to expect, Seimone Augustus did her thing, gutting through her injury and peddling away on a stationary bike when she was not on the court. Augustus’ 28 points, unsurprisingly, paced the Lynx while her closest teammate in that department, Kristen Mann, had nine.

Minnesota was outrebounded by 19 boards and only shot 31.1% from the field. Although the defense of this young team was solid, holding last year’s Western Conference Champions to 38.3% shooting, they were unable to stop the Monarchs from hitting 7 of 13 shots from downtown. All this while hitting a single three point shot themselves.

…but, stats are boring. They don’t always tell the whole story.

Possibly the least-known member of this year’s squad, Keisha Brown’s line on the stat sheet were not anything special, but her presence on the court was the difference in the Lynx attack. Without the effort of this incredibly valuable bench player, the Lynx loss would have been by a much greater margin.

With number one pick, Lindsey Harding, having a “rookie night,” struggling in all aspects of the game, Coach Don Zierden subbed Keisha Brown into the game. From the moment Brown stepped onto the court, she had command of the team and played an important role in Minnesota continuing to fight until the final horn.

“You know, we got Lindsey out early because we thought she was trying to press too much, so we went ahead and went with Keisha,” said Coach Zierden after the game. “She ran the ball club and she got up defensively. By Keisha doing some good things in that first quarter, it gave me a chance to sit Lindsey longer and say ‘Listen, young lady, you’ve got to calm down and don’t base it on your shot. Base it on running the ball club’ …and, I thought Lindsey played a little hungrier in the second half.”

Speaking with Brown after the game, she stated “That was kind of a goal of mine today just to come out and to give the energy we need off the bench. Lindsey was struggling earlier on, so I just wanted to come in and move the ball and get everybody some touches.”

She continued with “I’ve had the opportunity to learn from Dawn Staley and Theresa Edwards and from a lot of other players that I played behind or with, so being able to bring that kind of poise to the court it was good. Everybody became confident and we started running the ball and doing what we should be doing.”

Many fans around the league were surprised when the Lynx final cut of Chandi Jones, not knowing what rookie Navonda Moore and Brown were capable of on the basketball court. Although the game eventually was another loss for the Lynx, Brown gave the hometown fans a glimpse of what they can expect from her. As I mentioned before the season, her intensity is contagious and her teammates took their cue from her on this night. I believe that if this young Lynx team continues to learn and follow the lead of Brown--who is the oldest player on the team--they will improve quickly.