Kendra AndrewsJun 2, 2025, 12:16 AM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- Despite their undefeated start to the season, the Minnesota Lynx are unsatisfied with what they've shown so far.
"That's the thing with expectations -- we have to do more because our goals are high," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said following Minnesota's 86-75 win over the Valkyries on Sunday. "We don't want to be pedestrian at anything we do. There are times in the game we go through stretches where we're just not intentional. We don't recognize how hard it is to win possession in this league and what it takes. Being more consistent in that mindset is what we're looking for."
The Lynx took commanding control of Sunday's game in the third quarter, where they held Golden State to just eight points. Minnesota outscored the Valkyries 22-4 from midway of the third quarter to the middle of the fourth to push a one-point lead up to a 22 points.
But up until that point, the two teams traded buckets throughout the first half.
The Lynx point to their defense as the reason for the second-half turnaround -- getting in the Valkyries' space more, taking control of the pace and playing with better execution. But that attention to detail started in the locker room at halftime -- when the Lynx were trailing by one -- with an impassioned speech from Reeve.
"She was expressing her frustration with us," Napheesa Collier said. "And honestly, it's really valid. The fact that we know what to do and we're not going out to do it, it's extremely frustrating... we need to go out there and take responsibility."
Even before the game, Reeve reminded her team -- which was coming off of a narrow buzzer-beater win over the Phoenix Mercury -- that they needed to play with a high level of passion and effort.
"It's a matter of us locking in," Courtney Williams said. "We need to bring it every night. I think sometimes we take that for granted. We've got to stop doing that. If we want to accomplish the goals we have for ourselves, we can't be a second-half team."
Collier finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds but didn't seem to fully find an offensive rhythm until the latter portion of the third quarter. Williams added 20 points in 26 minutes.
Collier points to the third quarter against the Valkyries, as well as other spurts throughout the early season, as proof that Minnesota has what it takes to be a title contender -- their ultimate goal. Collier told ESPN that she feels their win over the Seattle Storm was the only one she'd categorize as a "good game" for the Lynx.
Despite a 7-0 record -- their best start since 2017 -- the mere flashes of excellence aren't enough for them to be comfortable,
"The aggressiveness and assertiveness that we come out with in certain games, we need to do that in every game," Collier said. "We know we can. We have bigger goals this season than individual games. And yeah, it takes individual games to get there or we're not going to reach those bigger goals."
She continued: "It's really up to us. We are the only ones standing in our way, which is the good news. And hopefully, this is the last time we'll be talking about this."
