Shocking Outcome
May 23, 2010

In an alarming display of wretched basketball by the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday night at the Target center, the home team was outplayed by the lowly Tulsa Shock and fell by the score of 94-82. The game was not as close as the final score indicated as the Lynx stumbled from the beginning giving up 48 easy Tulsa points in the paint including 30 fast break points.

This type of inept display is usually reserved for lower class games played in the Minnesota State High School Girls Basketball Tournament. The Lynx experienced 23 turnovers which directly resulted in 27 points for the Shock.

At the start of the season, new coach Cheryl Reeve promised her team would emphasize defense more than any other team in the Lynx past. Apparently the 2010 version of the team has translated playing defense into fouling the opponent. Twenty-three Minnesota fouls resulted in 18 points for the Shock. “We can’t defend without fouling,” Reeve admitted after the game’s conclusion.

Charde Houston’s 23 points provided the only bright spot for the Lynx. Hampered throughout the game by fouls and turnovers, the team never led, and, at one point during the third quarter Tulsa was up by 21. Many members of the sparse crowd (liberally estimated at 6,822) were heard to issue highly audible groans. The pace of the game was dictated early when Tulsa raced to a 9-0 lead. Minnesota’s assists-to-turnovers ratio for the game was an abysmal 12-to-23.

“We couldn’t stop the bleeding, Reeve said. “Our level of execution was non-existent. Tulsa came in here and whooped our rear-ends.”

Despite 16 points from newcomer Lindsay Whalen, the rest of the Lynx played as abysmally as Minnesota WNBA teams of the recent past. It’s obvious that the presence of Whalen alone is not enough to right the Lynx ship. Perhaps the upcoming returns of Candice Wiggins and Seimone Augustus along with the introduction of Rebekkah Brunson will transform what currently is a bottom-rung WNBA team into a contender.

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