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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.

In their first game back from the all star break, the Toronto Tempo put on a valiant effort on the road against the Minnesota Lynx. Unfortunately they fell short losing 100 – 93. 

We break down the Good, Bad, and Outlook from this game.

The Good

Raptors’ legendary commentator, Jack Armstrong, regularly says, “They say there is no such thing as a moral victory, but…”. Jack’s saying very much applies to the Tempo in this game. 

Despite being shorthanded and seemingly out of the game to start the 4th quarter, the Tempo clawed their way back and challenged the best team in the WNBA until the final minute. 

The most memorable part is that they did it as a team. Throughout the game, multiple players had shining moments. María Conde, for example, got her first career double-double with 20 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Laura Juškaitė added 18 points and made key baskets and plays when the team was in need. 

While the numbers don’t jump off the page, Temi Fágbénlé also played what we think was her best game in a Tempo uniform. She exposed her size advantage over Natasha Howard multiple times, made great cuts, and played great help defense on Napheesa Collier. 

Even though Marina Mabrey did not have her most productive and efficient game, she still scored 24 points and spearheaded the Tempo’s 4th quarter run to cut the deficit down to three with 80 seconds left. 

We also have to give a shout out to the return of Kiki Rice. No, her shots didn’t fall like she wanted them to. However, this just feels like someone having a case of the “Mondays” after some time away from work. The first email you send is always going to suck. The shots will fall. We were more so impressed by her work ethic and persistence to help the team. 

As a team, the Tempo played more connected defense for parts of the game (with the first quarter being the best example) and made a more concerted effort to crash the boards on both ends. We were also very impressed by the Tempo’s “no quit” attitude. With a frenetic pace to start the 4th quarter the Tempo players had their hands on their knees and it looked like the wheels were going to fall off and they weren’t going to be able to keep up with the Lynx’s offensive firepower. They immediately responded after a timeout by going on a 9 – 0 run to cut the Lynx lead down to two points, forcing the Lynx starters to work and close this game out. 

The Bad

It’s hard not to think that the Tempo was simply “out-talented” by their opponent. The Lynx were amongst the best teams in the W coming into this season. Drafting Olivia Miles who has already made the all-star team in her first season and is considered the runaway rookie of the year hasn’t hurt. Tonight proved once again why she is looking like generational talent. Her creative and ingenious passing is reminiscent of Chelsea Gray; her drives are reminiscent of Kelsey Plum; and she can shoot the 3-ball at a high clip. She will be a nightmare for teams for years to come. Tonight, she scored 24 points and looked simply unstoppable.

Beyond Miles, the Lynx has one of the best shooters in the game in Kayla McBride who shot 60% from the field and contributed 18 points. The Tempo actually did an admirable job in guarding former MVP, Napheesa Collier, as well as Natasha Howard. However, as a collective, the Lynx simply had too much fire power and their ability to make the next pass to find the player with the most open shot was a marvel to watch. 

We knew upsetting the Lynx was going to be a tough task, but the loss is especially deflating when the Tempo become victims of their own mistakes. The Tempo turned the ball over 17 times, leading to 16 points for the Lynx. While the discrepancy in points off turnovers was not glaring, the Lynx defenders did an excellent job of applying pressure when the Tempo brought the ball up the court and we counted at least a handful of times where the Tempo tried to make the first pass and it resulting in a run out turnover for the Lynx. Those mistakes were crucial in giving the Lynx the lead in the second quarter and have to be addressed in order for the Tempo to have a chance against these top teams in the league. 

The Outlook

The second game in this home-and-home matchup between these two teams takes place on Thursday, July 31. This marks an opportunity for the Tempo to take lessons they learned and immediately apply to see if we can improve from this game. 

Can the Tempo find a way to limit Miles’ drives to the basket and make things a bit harder for her? Can the team devise better schemes to ensure that our ballhandler is able to escape from the initial defensive pressure and limit our turnovers? Can Chef Mabrey play the way she did late in the 4th for the entire game? Can we get either Sabally or Izzy back to give us even more of a size advantage? Can we repeat the impressive help defense played on Phee and Howard to limit their production again? Can we find a better balance between doubling players in the post and limiting their 3’s so that they don’t shoot 56% from the 3-point line? 

If we are able to answer some of these tough questions with a yes, the Tempo might just have a chance to upset the Lynx in front of Tempo fans at Scotiabank Arena.