The Minnesota Lynx
appeared to be heading toward a comfortable defeat after falling 29 points behind the Indiana Fever
late in the second quarter on Tuesday night. However, Cheryl Reeve's surprising decision to bench her starters for essentially the entire second half almost changed the complexion of the game, as Lynx reserves mounted an unlikely comeback. Her decision left many like WNBA analyst Rachel DeMita confused.
She was particularly puzzled by coach Reeve's decision, especially because it still looked like the No. 1 seed was on the line at that point. She was even more surprised after the Lynx's bench players actually outperformed their starters and sparked a furious second-half run.
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"The bench, who was in for the entire second half, actually made a run… and got within seven points of the Fever
," DeMita said in her Courtside Club podcast video
. "We're talking about players who average like two points a game. I was watching this game so confused. I was like, what is actually happening right now? Is the Fever going to blow this?"
"When Coach Cheryl Reeve is in this game, and she's benching her starters, she does not yet know that they have secured the number one seed. She's probably still thinking that they need the next game against the Fever in order to secure the number one seed… Neither did the players on the court. So it was kind of like a crazy thing to do in that mix," she added.
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Of course, the Minnesota Lynx have now secured the No. 1 seed after the Golden State Valkyries lost
to the Portland Fire
that same night. However, had the Valkyries won the game, they would have had the chance to compete for the No. 1 seed, as both teams would have had the same winning percentage.
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In short, there was something significant at stake, yet coach Reeve chose to make that decision. Interestingly, the rationale behind her decision was that she had already resigned herself to the fact that the Fever had won the game. When she spoke about it after the game, her response was on the belief that they were not going to win, so resting the key players was the better option.
"It was apparent that maybe rest was a better option, with playoffs starting on Sunday. We thought that first group would be better served [by] saving legs and not chasing a win that wasn't going to happen," Reeve said.
However, the reaction of the bench team that came in during the second half did not in any way reflect coach Reeve's resignation to the result. They fought back, opened the third quarter with a blistering 18-0 run and eventually cut the lead to seven. Lynx forward Chloe Bibby
, who had seen limited floor time and was averaging 2.3 points for the Lynx before that game, came in and hit five of nine from beyond the arc to score 15 points.
Second-year forward Liatu King, who entered Tuesday night's game averaging 2.8 points per game during the 2026 season, also delivered a career-high 12 points and three steals, alongside four rebounds and two assists. In fact, Aari McDonald
, who had only played five minutes for the team all season, also came in and registered 10 points, two rebounds, five assists, and a steal.
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Of course, the Indiana
Fever were quite brilliant in the first half, pulling off a dominant performance against the league-leading Lynx. However, allowing that third-quarter collapse, especially against a team that had already emptied its bench, is definitely not a good sign. The Fever will have to avoid such lapses if they hope to make a deep run in the playoffs.
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