Despite the huge fan turnout of 18,145 at Scotiabank Arena, the Toronto Tempo weren’t able to pull off an upset against the Minnesota Lynx. They lost their second matchup in three days against the Lynx 104-72.
The Good
The Tempo came out strong in Q1 with a 12-3 run, playing quickly, passing dimes, and controlling the tempo. Juškaitė’s court vision was next level with several clutch assists; she also finished the quarter with 9 points.
Mabrey wasn’t able to find success at range, so she took it to the paint; finding ways to score, even when being double-teamed. Later, after being chopped in the neck, Mabrey channeled her range into a fierce 3-pointer. Not sure how Marina’s “energy coach” feels about this, but you can definitely see Marina channel her rage like a super sayan and I’m here for it.
Even though they are both on limited minutes and not back to 100%, it was exciting to see Sabally and Rice back on the floor together. Fingers crossed that we may have both Sykes and Harrison back before the end of the regular season.
The Bad
Before I get into the game, I want to talk about the broadcast. I’m not sure if this is the fault of the venue or the broadcast team, but the stream was a comedic disaster to start. Neither member of the broadcast team could be heard for introductions, audio was all over the place and there was no overlay for nearly the first 5 minutes of the game!?
The defensive pressure being put on our players feels quite intense; sometimes we are straight getting beat up! Marina was hit in the face, chopped in the neck, and was being guarded like glue. Meanwhile Sabally took a wild pass to the face from Miles, and later could be seen holding her rib (injured during the July 17th game against the Atlanta Dream) after a body foul from Courtney Williams. Sandy said “Nyara has an issue, she probably shouldn’t have played today” but noted “she wanted to be out there”.
The biggest problem was taking care of the ball. Toronto committed a brutal 24 turnovers, which Minnesota converted into 31 points. The Lynx also dominated the effort categories, finishing with 18 second-chance points to Toronto’s four and outrebounding the Tempo by 10.
Minnesota is a championship favourite, riding a nine-game winning streak, so an upset was always going to be difficult. Still, Toronto is capable of keeping the game far closer than 32 points as evidenced by the last matchup on Tuesday. There seems to be a real issue with drive and hustle. Sandy did not mince words during the presser saying “That’s embarrassing. This is our home court.” and that the team “didn’t compete, it was too easy”.
The Outlook
Both Nyara Sabally and Kiki Rice saw meaningful minutes, although neither appeared fully healthy or back in rhythm. Having Kiki back is hopefully going to reignite our offense, but that will take time. “It’s going to take her a few games to get her rhythm, to get the rust out.” Sandy said at the post-game presser. But overall, the message has been fairly clear from coach; the team needs to turn up the physicality, energy, and hustle.
In their previous meeting with Golden State, Toronto led for most of the game but suffered a familiar fourth-quarter collapse, allowing the Valkyries to go on a 12–0 run. The Tempo need to keep a level head, take Sandy’s words to heart, and contain Gabby Williams in order to pull off a win on Sunday.
As we wrote about yesterday, the Tempo made a trade before the Sunday deadline, securing Aneesah Morrow. The timing of the trade feels especially relevant after Minnesota dominated Toronto on the glass. Morrow arrives averaging 8.9 rebounds per game, addressing one of the Tempo’s clearest weaknesses. She may not be available Sunday, but her rebounding, physicality, and consistent effort could provide exactly what this roster has been missing.