Because the second you make a play call, the defense is calling it out, too. Your opponent knows exactly what’s coming.
Welcome to the playoffs.
“Everybody knows everybody’s plays,” Lynx forward Natalie Achonwa said. “So (it’s about) fine-tuning details and how we can challenge ourselves to just play basketball. When you get to that level and get to this time of year, it’s how can you steal possessions, how can you break a play to make a play?”
For some teams that’s a real challenge. Take away Option or Plan A and they don’t have a B. The Lynx seemed to run into that in some way in last year’s WNBA semifinals against Seattle. The Storm gameplanned Crystal Dangerfield largely out of the equation, and Minnesota, largely as a byproduct of its roster at the time, didn’t have many other answers.
The 2021 Lynx have no such issues. Minnesota opens its WNBA playoffs with a one-and-done quarterfinal game against Chicago on Sunday at Target Center. It does so with a full arsenal of offensive weapons: Sylvia Fowles, Napheesa Collier, Layshia Clarendon, Kayla McBride and Aerial Powers are top of mind on that list. The latter is perhaps the most important.
Because Powers is a true game breaker. Brought in last offseason via free agency, Powers is the type of player who can turn a game, or even a series, on its head with an offensive spurt. She’s also not a player who can be relegated to bystander by virtue of a defensive scheme.
“Aerial can score in many different ways,” Achonwa said. “She’s gritty, she’s feisty, she can get to the rim, she can shoot the pull-up. So her really feeling comfortable and getting in a flow really helps us.”
That impact was felt down the stretch run of the regular season. Much of Powers’ 2021 campaign was hampered by injuries. She barely played in the first half of the season, and even when she did, she was playing catchup without the benefit of ample practice reps.
“There was no quality work, quality time. It was more just kind of surviving. It was not the place you want to be in … but that’s where we were,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “Just never got any rhythm with that.”
But the saving grace for Minnesota was time. By the time Powers was healed up from her latest ailment, a thumb injury, there were still 10 games remaining in the Lynx’s regular season — a byproduct of the Olympic break that wiped out a month of action. That allowed not only for Powers to return in time for the stretch run, but for Minnesota to have time to ease her in at the appropriate pace.
Powers didn’t crack the 20-minute mark until five games into her return. That night, she scored 20 points in a win over Washington. She was off to the races from there. Powers scored 17-plus points in five of Minnesota’s final six contests. With every game she felt herself progressing in so many areas, from her thumb comfort to her conditioning to her chemistry with teammates.
Powers now feels good when it matters most.
“I feel like I’m progressing at the right time,” Powers said. “I think our whole team is.”
The 27-year-old scoring guard may be the key to unlocking the Lynx’s championship puzzle. Minnesota is so solid across the board, but solid might not be enough to take down the League’s titans one after another. But special is.
Powers is special with the ball in her hands. Take one thing away, and she’ll divert the plan to something else that you left open. In the regular season finale against Washington, in which Powers scored 27 points, Reeve noted the Mystics applied pressure on the perimeter. Powers beat the pressure and drew fouls.
There is no easy solution to slowing a player with that skill set. It’s what makes Powers such a threat come playoff time.
“Teams want this. Teams want a player that can score in a variety of ways,” Reeve said. “Just really gifted. She plays with instinct and whatever is there.”
Powers thinks that ability to react on the fly and deviate from the game plan when necessary is the “Detroit ballplayer” in her.
“When they do take away something,” Powers said. “I’m able to create for me and my teammates.”
The Lynx, Reeve noted, have to trust that ability.
“Because she is going to do things that you didn’t know were going to be available, because she’s that dynamic,” Reeve said. “Every team wants that, and we’re thankful that we have that, because this team absolutely needs a player like that.”
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