Lynx Notes

• Sylvia Fowles recorded her third 30+ point game as a member of the Lynx (ninth career) with 30 points on a season-high 13-of-15 shooting. The 30-point performance stands as a new season high for Fowles. She also grabbed 16 boards, notching her league-best 14th double-double of the season (141st career). Today marked her fifth 30+ point, 10+ rebound performance of her career and league-leading seventh 20+ point, 10+ rebound outing of the season (59th career). Fowles finished with three blocked shots (559 career), surpassing Tangela Smith for fourth all-time in the WNBA in that category.
• Erlana Larkins marked a new career-high in assists finishing the day with eight, surpassing her previous mark of six (MR: July 5, 2014 against San Antonio). She also secured eight rebounds and added four points in her second game with Minnesota.
• Seimone Augustus recorded 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including a perfect mark from beyond the arc (3-of-3). The Lynx move to 9-4 when Augustus score 10+ points and are 8-3 when she shoots 50% or better. Augustus dished out four helpers and grabbed two rebounds.
• With tonight’s win, Rebekkah Brunson passed DeLisha Milton-Jones for the third most wins in league history (292). She totaled five rebounds for today’s outing.
• Cecilia Zandalasini led the Lynx’ bench with 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting, while also grabbing one rebound and dishing out one assist.
• Minnesota outrebounded Indiana 36-24, marking a league-best ninth time that the Lynx have outrebounded an opponent by double-digits.
• The Fever’s 65 points matched the fewest allowed by Minnesota this season (July 11 at Indiana). The Lynx lead the WNBA in scoring defense (76.8 ppg) and rank second in defensive rating (97.7).
• The 34 bench points mark a season-high after the previous-high was 32 at Connecticut on June 9. After finishing with 30 bench points at Indiana on July 11, the Lynx have totaled 64 bench points against the Fever over the last two games against.
• Today’s game marked a new franchise record for attendance in a regular season game: 17,933. The previous record stood at 17,834 against Dallas on July 19, 2017.
• Minnesota heads to Phoenix on Sunday to take on the Mercury. Tip is set for 9:00 p.m. CT. The game can be heard on BOB 106 FM and can be seen on NBA TV and WNBA League Pass.

Fever Notes

• Indiana was led by Candice Dupree’s 20 points, her second straight game with 20 points or more, and her fourth of the season. On the game’s second possession, she also became the eighth player in WNBA history to secure 2,700 career rebounds.
• Cappie Pondexter finished with 10 points for the Fever, including a pair of free throws that helped her pass Katie Smith with the fifth-most free throws (1,441) in league annals.

Minnesota Lynx Postgame Quotes:

Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve

On Lindsay Whalen having to exit the game early…

“I don’t know that, I haven’t gotten those details yet so we’re talking about Lindsay Whalen in the case, it was a head butt situation. I think Erica Wheeler caught her off guard with the movement she made, and Lindsay ran into her. I think the nose was involved, I don’t know about a break or anything like that, I just know she’s not feeling the best right now. It was a pretty tough hit and then obviously it was really loud in there, so I think her being back here was probably for the best.

On the Camp Day’s impact…

“First thing, I just told our players, what a meaningful game it is to play in. Whatever name they put on it, day game, camp day, kid’s day, it’s an incredibly powerful day for our league. Around the league everybody does this at least once and we talked before the game about, it’s so much more than basketball, what we’re doing and today is one of the greatest examples of impacting. We were talking about Maya Moore being eight years old and being impacted by a player that changed her life and that we were going to be doing that today. That there were going to be kids here, both girls and boys that were going to see something that they did, either an interaction with a teammate maybe how hard they played, the chemistry that they exhumed. Maybe even making eye contact with a kid. It’s the same thing for boys too, so for boys being here and being exposed to women playing professional sports, it’s a great opportunity for them to see women in that light and as they grow older, maybe they leave here and really want a Seimone Augustus jersey and it just changes the next generation. These are the kids that become leaders in communities and then you see change. This was a really special day for us and I just want to say a huge thank you to our business staff for setting a franchise attendance record, there were 17,933 fans in the building. So just a really, really special day in that regard and, the game itself, obviously Sylvia Fowles was exceptional and you all know when she plays like that it’s generally hard to beat us.”

Lynx Forward Sylvia Fowles

On playing in the afternoon…

“No, normally I struggle on days like this and then Reeve came up with a plan. Make sure I can sleep in as late as possible because normally on game days I get enough but on days like this I can’t. So, I make sure I wake up in just enough time to eat and get on the floor.”

On bouncing back…

“That’s the beauty of our team. It’s a good thing that we’ve got a lot of veterans where you can go back and watch film and have conversations with each other and just think about how we can help in different aspects. We know that our last game wasn’t our best but we’re pushing forward. I’m happy that we’ve got games that come quick, so we can get it over with.”

Lynx Forward Maya Moore

On Erlana Larkins joining the team…

“It was really fun having her be here every day that she’s here things become more comfortable. She’s a vet, she’s just confident and does things deliberately and she’s a great screen setter and is a willing passer. I really enjoy that aspect of doing what is probably one of my favorite things to do other than catch and shoot, is to cut. So, it was fun having those connections with her today.”

On the All-Star game…

“Like I said its always amazing to get to see the love and support we get to see around this time of year from fans and people voting for us. It’s really special. It’s also special just to be a part of everything that’s great about our game, just celebrating the talent. I’m just happy to be a part of it and just want to enjoy the weekend.”

Indiana Fever Postgame Quotes:

Fever Head Coach Pokey Chatman

On her thoughts on the game today…

“When a team shoots almost 53 percent from the field, the first thing you think about is that they weren’t very uncomfortable offensively. I think Sylvia was 13-for-15. She is the best in the world in that position, but this is our third time playing her in 15 days. There should have been discomfort and it doesn’t matter if they are passing the ball from the top, needs to see bodies, feel bodies. I’ll start there because then what happens when your All-Star, Olympic Gold Medal-winning post player is comfortable, you dig yourself a little bit of a hole. I felt like despite the struggle the first half, we had an opportunity to get it to about 12. We came here with momentum and then we didn’t respond to that and that’s difficult to do with anyone, let alone a team that has an identity and they’re is trying to figure some things out with their season as well. It’s grow up, be more disciplined, be a little bit tougher, a lot more tougher in those situations.”

On the goals of the team for the rest of the season…

“I want to win. That’s why they are in the best league in the world. People talk about moral victories, for me it’s about being disciplined and what you’re capable of doing. I don’t want to help people beat us, I want to battle. At the end of the day, if five Olympians and having many All-Stars gets the best of you, I’ll sleep at night. There is a fine line, please don’t misunderstand me, there are 11 games left. You look at the difficulty. New York has seven, maybe Chicago has seven. We’re not dealing with the reloading of things, we just have to continue to fight through the adversity and make sure we stay connected to the message and trust the process. We need to have some grit and some plucky about us, and get some stuff done.”

Fever Forward Candice Dupree

On playing against tough defense and getting 20 points…

“Was it tough defense? I don’t know. I am just trying to be aggressive. In doing that I realize that teams are starting to start send double and triple teams at me. I just got to do a better job at spacing the floor and looking for the open man. I still have to have an attack mentality.”

On playing with Cappie Pondexter…

“I mean she’s a veteran guard in this league. She’s somebody that we needed, somebody that our younger guards can look up to and go to for help. She’s being aggressive for us coming off of ball screens, were trying to get as much two-man game as possible with her and I. We are looking to attack other teams.”

Fever Center Natalie Achonwa

On how difficult it is playing against Sylvia Fowles…

“I mean she’s the best five-player in the world, it’s going to be hard to guard her and Minnesota does a great job of giving her the opportunities to be successful. All I have to do it is try my best and hope my teammates will come and help me, which we lacked tonight.”

On defense…

“I think we played differently. I don’t think our energy was there. In spurts you could see our ball pressure, and I don’t think the Lynx could handle it. But, it’s not going to help if you only do it in spurts, you have to do that for the entire game like we did last time, that’s why we won the last time. We need to keep that same energy for the whole game and that same defensive pressure.”