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Cheryl Reeve was not happy with her Minnesota Lynx team on Thursday night.
The Lynx's 10-game winning streak came to a screeching halt with a surprising home loss to the Los Angeles Sparks.
The 89-82 defeat prompted a tense, fiery press conference from Reeve, who ripped her players' defensive intensity and profanely swatted aside any questions about the Lynx's offensive execution.
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"Every player, at every position, was terrible," Reeve said. "Every player that played in the game, at every position."
Cheryl Reeve on the Lynx’s defensive effort tonight
“Every player, at every position, was terrible. Every player that played in the game, at every position” pic.twitter.com/tGgUBx7dnP
The seven-point loss is the second-largest defeat of the Lynx's dominant 2026 season. The Sparks shot 50 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from 3-point range and hummed along to a 118.1 offensive rating against the Lynx's second-ranked defense by efficiency.
The Lynx still have the WNBA's best record at 25-7. The loss didn't change that.
For the second year running, Minnesota is on course to finish as the No.1 overall seed. It has Rookie of the Year favorite Olivia Miles, and All-Star Napheesa Collier returned from an ankle injury last month. The Lynx's overall talent level -- buoyed by a four-time WNBA champion head coach -- is nearly unparalleled in The W.
But all that meant little in 2025, when the Lynx stormed to the top seed and lost to the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA semifinals. Miles alone doesn't guarantee that an upset won't occur again.
Reeve is keen to avoid a repeat of that scenario, which followed a five-game loss in the 2024 WNBA Finals. Lighting a fire under her players now -- in an otherwise insignificant game in early August -- might just avoid heartache later.
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