Jewell Loyd Showcased Her Mamba Mentality As She Helped The Storm Defeat Minnesota (88-74)

The Minnesota Lynx were coming off a great victory against the Seattle Storm the other night. The Lynx wanted to repeat that same outcome tonight as the Storm made their way to Minnesota now. The Storm came out motivated and energetic this game as they showed they wanted it more.

Jewell Loyd came to Minnesota to win the game and she played like that the whole night. It seemed as if every time the Lynx made a shot or made a great play that Loyd came back on the other end with a tough fadeaway or a tough contested jumper. The way that Jewell was able to create space with her step back was on full display as it didn’t matter who was on her tonight. Jewell finished with 31 points on the night with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. When Jewell plays like she did tonight it is tough to beat the storm. The Storm showed a lot of energy and fight in this game from the beginning and it really showed in the 2nd chance points as they had 20 tonight. It comes down to just wanting it more and those hustle plays and loose balls matter especially in a game that was close for most of that 1st half. The bigs on the Storm Ezi and Mercedes created more opportunities for the Storm in the paint but the Lynx couldn’t match their energy tonight.

The Minnesota Lynx came out flat in this game as the intensity and energy wasn’t there on both ends tonight for a consistent period of time. The Lynx needed to be balanced and tonight it was tough for them to get going overall. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any positives because Kayla McBride was able to shine bright tonight with 18 points. What Kayla does for this team every night is amazing because she’s defending the best player (Jewell Loyd) but she’s still able to get her offense going as well for her team. Kayla’s one of the best players in the league and she let it be known that she loves the challenge of guarding a player like Loyd every night.

The Lynx offense tonight was flat but it’s just minor and it can be fixed the one thing that coach stressed was energy. So if they can come out clicking on all cylinders on Tuesday it should go their way. Diamond and Napheesa didn’t have their best games tonight but look for them to bounce back in the game on Tuesday against the Dallas Wings.