The WNBA offseason has been wild and crazy. There’s been more player movement and more talented players moved than in any other offseason. But the Minnesota Lynx haven’t changed a thing, and why should they? The 2024 WNBA Championship was “stolen” from them, right?
I love Lynx head coach and president of ball ops Cheryl Reeve for saying exactly what she thinks whether it’s the first or last game of the season. What are the Lynx gonna do, fire her? She’s the coach of Team USA – and not the one that loses. She also won WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year for a second time last season.
Related: Team USA Has to Fire Cheryl Reeve, Right?
But is she making excuses for a team that was one-dimensional and lacked the size and strength to rebound and score in the paint? We’ll likely get our answer when free agent Emma Meesseman signs a contract. Michael Voepel of ESPN identified Minnesota and Connecticut as her most likely destinations.
Meesseman has not played in the WNBA the past two years. Her most recent season was 2022 with Chicago. The 6-foot-4 forward is a longtime member of the Belgian national team and has played extensively overseas. That has taken her away from the WNBA, but she is expected to play this year. She turns 32 three days before the WNBA season starts and is a dependable, versatile veteran who can fit any system.
-Michael Voepel, ESPN
Minnesota makes perfect sense unless you believe the 2024 championship was indeed stolen and not lost by the Lynx due to an undersized lineup that struggled to rebound, score and defend in the paint, and get to the free throw line.
Lynx didn’t have the muscle to stop the steal of 2024
Cheryl’s not wrong about being robbed, though. That officiating crew lost control of the game well before the buzzer sounded at the end of the first quarter. They called two fouls in the opening quarter. Two. That’s not how you set the tone for the style of play you expect from the participants.
Related: Revealed: “Derogatory” Comments That Got Chris Finch Ejected from Wolves vs Suns
Given the travel schedule and extremely physical series, that first quarter can’t be officiated loosely. Tired legs minus whistles equals no space for offensive players, poor shooting, and bad basketball all around.
It was an unwatchable game played under conditions that suited bigger players (Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart) shooting shorter shots and getting 17 more free throws than Minnesota. The game was stolen from all of us watching, but the Lynx had opportunities to win that rock fight. They just didn’t have the muscle.
That time Emma Meesseman blacked out the Sun
Now that we’ve got that garbage out of the way, let’s talk about one of the most entertaining games in WNBA history. I vividly remember Game 5 of the 2019 WNBA Finals. I was rooting for Connecticut to win the series until Emma Meesseman made it impossible to root for anyone but her.
With 6:22 left in the third quarter, Connecticut led 53-46. Then Meesseman entered the game. She scored 11 points, including an 18-footer that tied it at 62 with 11 seconds left in the quarter. She went 4-of-5 from the field and 3-of-4 from the foul line.
At a time when the game was getting away from the Mystics, Emma Meesseman absolutely filled it up. She also drew three fouls, blocked a shot, and grabbed a rebound. In the fourth quarter she had four points, two boards, two steals, blocked a three-point attempt, and assisted on a game-tying three by Natasha Cloud.
Related: Has Minnesota Lynx Star Napheesa Collier Solved the WNBA’s Overseas Issues?
You know what she didn’t do in the third and fourth quarter of that WNBA Finals Game 5? She didn’t turn the ball over and she didn’t attempt a three. You know what the Minnesota Lynx need to win games against bigger, more physical opponents? Someone big enough to defend them and get some points in and around the paint.
Emma Meesseman brings Minnesota Lynx muscle, man
I give Cheryl Reeve a lot of credit for constructing this Lynx team. But even she acknowledged there was something missing by trading for Myisha Hines-Allen last season. She’s now in Dallas.
Minnesota is not a physical team. The Lynx spread the floor and shoot the three better than anyone. They defend the three better than anyone. But they struggle with length on both ends of the floor. Even Hines-Allen is only six-foot-one. So is Napheesa Collier.
Emma Meesseman is six-foot-four. She can defend the bigs with whom the Lynx struggle (i.e A’Ja Wilson and Jonquel Jones) and find open shots against those defenders. The Lynx were last in paint points last season with 28.1 per game, and Emma would lift Minnesota out of the basement there.
The Minnesota Lynx attempted and made the second-fewest free throws in the WNBA last season, too. That’s because they increased three-point attempts by 20 percent and lowered two-point attempts by almost 10 percent.
This is why I’m not a fan of the high-volume, three-point approach to the game. When things get nasty in the playoffs, those long shots are less open than they were in the regular season. Then what? Then you attack the rack with your Meesseman.
They didn’t stop shooting threes. Finished 12 of 40. They go 10 of 30 and shoot 10 more twos instead, it’s a tie ballgame with a stronger likelihood one of those 2PAs becomes a three-pointer at the foul line for the win. Insanity. Literal insanity. https://t.co/5cZVv4HOif
— Anthony Varriano (@GoGonzoJournal) February 2, 2025
She hits shots inside the arc at an incredibly high rate (60 percent shooting on two-pointers in 2022). She shoots a three per game to establish the threat and make the rim protector defend even farther from the basket (37 percent three-point shooter for career). She’ll also get you buckets by finding the open player (averaging 4 assists per game over last two WNBA seasons).
On the other end she defends the bigs (1 steal and 1 block per game) without fouling (2.3 fouls per game) and keeps them off the boards (5.3 rebounds per game). She’s practically perfect for this team that suffered severely for being one-dimensional last season. But it’s not like that team couldn’t win it all…they just couldn’t win a rock fight.
