Here’s an interesting stat for you. The starting lineup of Lindsey Harding, Seimone Augustus, Svetlana Abrosimova, Kristen Mann and Nicole Ohlde now have a record of three wins and two losses.
The three wins have come against the Phoenix Mercury, Connecticut Sun and now, the Los Angeles Sparks. Those three teams are all solid and are considered some of the best in the league, despite Connecticut stumbling out of the gates this season.
Speaking with Kristen Mann prior to the matchup with Los Angeles, she spoke on the team’s confidence despite their record…
“I don’t think we’re playing like a 2-9 team. I don’t think we pay any attention to it, especially lately,” said Mann. “I think a lot of teams might take us for granted, thinking that ‘Oh, it’s the Lynx and they’re 2-9.’ Even though we only have two wins, I think anyone who comes to our games and compare us from last year to this year, you can tell there is a big difference.”
Once the game began, Minnesota was called for three fouls in the first one minute and 24 seconds, one each from Nicole Ohlde, Seimone Augustus and Lindsey Harding…all of which were questionable. After the foul called on Harding, she hit the ball and it rolled into the tunnel, forcing the ref to call a delay of game.
Although the rookie’s response may not be exactly what you might want in that situation, she showed her leadership by letting the Sparks now at that moment that the Lynx were ready to go to battle…and, this visiting team with the best record in the Western Conference was not going to walk all over this young Lynx team. Three minutes later, when Svetlana Abrosimova hit Nicole Ohlde with a beautiful pass for a layup which gave Minnesota the lead at 10-8, the Sparks would never hold another lead in the game.
This was easily the most complete game from the Lynx this season, led by Kristen Mann’s 16 points. On nights such as this where all five starters score in double-figures, along with 15 points from the bench, Minnesota’s attack is scary. When they are able to set each other up with their beautiful ball movement with 22 assists on their 29 made baskets, they are able to alleviate some of the burden from Seimone Augustus’ shoulders, especially when Augustus has a rare rough shooting night like this.
“We played them last week, so we were at the point where we were so close last week, we’re coming off a great win (against Connecticut) on Wednesday, so we just fed off that,” said rookie Kathrin Ress after the game. “We just stayed together, like we have been doing all season, and just fed off it and kept going. It’s fun to play when everybody is playing, everybody is together and everybody is hard to stop, so it was huge.”
“Ditto,” said fellow rookie Shay Murphy, with a smile on her face.
Watching this team in training camp as well as during the early stages of the season, there were times when I nearly began to wonder how long the Lynx should be allowed to use the “We are a young team with a lot to learn” mantra. There were times when they just flat out played like a bad team, not a young team. Yet, after games such as this against one of the best teams in the league--with or without Chamique Holdsclaw and Lisa Leslie--that it is tempting to drink from the cup of optimism.
“You know, we felt like we should have won that game at their place,” said Svetlana Abrosimova. “We knew that would help us right now. We didn’t want to wait for them to set the tone and we’ve been working on that, especially at the beginning of the games and the beginning of the third quarters, we really try to take pride in attacking. It works and we’ve won two in a row. I mean, I know we’re 3-9 and we’ve got to dig out of that hole and we’re not too happy that we won, but it’s a great thing. It’s pretty good.”
To complete the circle, I speak with Kristen Mann as she sits at her locker after the win...
“We just really tried to carry the momentum we had with the win against Connecticut. That was a big win for us since they’re a team that’s always in the playoffs and, obviously, that’s where we want to be,” Mann said. “We want to be in the playoffs and LA has that thing that we want. They have that championship and, hopefully, we can keep going that way.”
Coach Zierden and his staff continue the evaluations of the players on this team, along with what may be missing on a consistent basis and it is tough to not feel as if they are steering this team in the right direction. Speaking of a championship may be chugging from that cup of optimism mentioned earlier, but there may be reasons to take a sip or two, looking towards the future.
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