Minnesota Scrimmages for First Time
PAUL CRARYLynx Writer
After four days of training camp, the Minnesota Lynx finally got to play in a game-like situation during a full-court scrimmage on Thursday, at the Life Time Fitness Training Center. The first four days of training camp included a lot of implementation of offensive and defensive sets, conditioning drills, and fundamental work. Both the Lynx players and coaching staff were eager to play in a full-court game setting. The Lynx played a men's practice squad team that was brought in by the Lynx staff. After days of playing against each other, the Lynx were relieved and excited to finally play against a new opponent.
"I was happy to play against someone other than ourselves. You get to see the rotation with different line-ups and things like that. It's always fun to play against them," Lynx guard Seimone Augustus said.
Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve paced the sidelines and gave instruction to her players throughout the scrimmage. While Reeve and the Lynx have worked hard throughout training camp, the scrimmage showed that there is still work to be done before the season opener against the Los Angeles Sparks on June 3.
"We still have some things to iron-out, both offensively and defensively, but for the most part I felt like we gave a lot of effort tonight," Augustus said. "We hustled, we did the intangibles things. As long as we keep that up once we do get into the groove of things, and the chemistry starts to come together, we will be okay."
Minnesota's No. 1 draft-pick, Maya Moore from the University of Connecticut, made her presence felt during the scrimmage. Moore, wearing her custom Jordan sneakers, showed her versatility as she knocked down a couple of three pointers as well as scoring off a post-up position a couple of times in the lane. Moore made her teammates excited after completing a smooth "euro-step" move in traffic before finishing the lay-up. Her teammates have definitely taken note of Moore's game and are already comparing her to the WNBA's elite players.
"She reminds me a lot of Tamika Catchings," Augustus said . "She's a little more polished on the offensive end; she can shoot a little bit better than Catchings can. But as far as the energy and effort, she is going to attack on both ends of the court. That's something you can appreciate. At practice, of course it's competitive, and I have someone to go against everyday that I'm excited to go against."
The scrimmage served as a gauge for where the Lynx stand as a team as the season approaches. Next up for the Lynx is media day on Friday at the Life Time Fitness Training Center.
WNBA and Lynx fans will have the opportunity to see Catchings, of the Indiana Fever, take on Moore and the Lynx in an exhibition game on Tuesday, May 24 at the Gangelhoff Center on the campus of Concordia- St. Paul at 12:00 PM CDT. Tickets can be purchased HERE.
