Lynx vs. Fever: Olivia Miles Drops 28 as Minnesota Wins 10th Straight Despite Kelsey Mitchell's 37

By the time the first quarter ended at Target Center, the Minnesota Lynx and Indiana Fever had combined for 69 points, tying the WNBA record for the most in a first quarter, and both defenses looked like they had gotten the game plan by email and left it unread.

The Lynx beat the Fever 108-100 on Sunday for their 10th straight win, a streak length they hadn't reached since 2016. Olivia Miles scored 28 and Courtney Williams added 27, and they needed all of it, because Kelsey Mitchell scored 37 and Indiana came back from 14 down to make Minnesota sweat in the final three minutes.

A Track Meet That Turned Into a Chase

It was 36-33 Minnesota after one, and Mitchell already had 17, a total the team says ties for third on the Fever's all-time list for any single quarter. Things stayed level until 41-41, when the Lynx ran off eight straight. Miles took over the second period with 14 points, and Minnesota went to the locker room up 64-53.

The third quarter was a 23-23 standoff, even with Indiana cutting a 75-61 deficit to 75-69 on an 8-0 run. Minnesota led 87-76 after three and pushed it to 98-84 with a little over five minutes to play. That looked like the end. It was actually where the fun started.

Indiana scored 12 straight in 2:18. Makayla Timpson caught an alley-oop from Aliyah Boston, Boston hit a three off a Caitlin Clark feed, and Mitchell scored twice, including a 24-footer at 2:59 that made it 98-96. Clark assisted all three of those last baskets. Minnesota had led for 88 percent of the game, and suddenly it was a one-possession fight. The crowd of 16,505 carried plenty of Fever fans, and the noise in the building got genuinely confusing.

"It was weird hearing fans cheer when the other team scored," Miles said. "Both ways, there was cheering for baskets and it was just loud in there."

Two Scorers, 55 Points, Zero Panic

Miles finished 11 of 14 from the field, 3 of 6 from three and 3 of 3 at the line, with six assists and four rebounds. That's a rookie carving up a very good team as if it were a scrimmage. Williams was almost as good from a different angle, going 12 of 20 with five assists, no turnovers and a game-best plus-18.

Napheesa Collier didn't need to be the headliner on this one and still put up 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists without a turnover. Natasha Howard scored 13, and Maya Caldwell grabbed seven rebounds off the bench, four of them offensive, in 17 minutes.

Mitchell, though. She shot 14 of 21 and 6 of 8 from deep, and her 14th straight 20-point game is the second-longest such streak in WNBA history, behind only A'ja Wilson. It was also her fifth 30-point game of the season, which the Fever say is a franchise single-season record. She has now made at least three threes in 14 straight games too, extending a record the team says is the WNBA's longest.

Clark added 19 points and 10 assists for her 27th career double-double, though she was 2 of 9 from three with four turnovers. Boston's 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists included the bucket that moved her past Briann January into fourth on the franchise's career scoring list, per the team.

Eleven Seconds of Answers

The whole game hung on what happened after Mitchell's three made it 98-96. Eleven seconds later, Williams hit a 14-footer off a Collier feed. Mitchell got two of three free throws back to make it 100-98, and then the Fever ran out of answers. Howard scored at 1:52, Miles finished a three-point play at 58.7 seconds for 105-98, and Williams' floater at 32.7 ended the argument.

"We were just a little bit of a step slow," Clark said of the defense. Minnesota's stars made sure that a step was all it took.

Reeve had seen the cooldown coming. "Certainly knew it probably wasn't going to be sustained, and it wasn't," she said. "We were hoping at some point our defense could be a separator." It was, barely. After 53 points in the first half, Indiana managed 47 in the second, and the Fever finished with zero fast-break points. Scoring 100 without a single transition basket is a strange way to lose, but it tells you Minnesota made them earn every bit of it in the half court.

The Mirror Match

• 57 percent, 11 threes, 11 of 15: Field goal percentage, threes made and free throws for both teams. This box score is the Spider-Man pointing meme.
• 11-5 and 9-0: Minnesota's edges in offensive rebounds and fast-break points, which is where the mirror finally cracks.
• 12 vs. 6: Player turnovers, Indiana first.
• 55: Combined assists.
• 6: Straight Fever games with at least 100 points, which the AP calls a record. Indiana's 14th 100-point game of the year is the most ever in a single season, according to the team. They still lost.

The Standard and the Chaser

Minnesota moves to 25-6 and 12-4 at home, and the AP's headline tag of "WNBA-best" sums up where the Lynx stand. Los Angeles visits on Thursday.

Indiana falls to 19-11, 8-6 on the road, with a five-game winning streak gone and a 2-1 finish to a three-game road trip after playing in Portland on Friday night. The Fever host Las Vegas on Thursday.

Season One, Episode One

This was the first meeting of the year between these teams, and Cheryl Reeve treated it like a first date. "First time playing each other, so there's a bit of a feeling out sort of thing," she said. "And offense definitely had their way with each of the teams' defense." Then came the part that should worry everyone else in the league. "The next time we play them, each team is going to have a lot more information." If a 208-point feeling-out session was just the pilot, somebody should probably order the full season now.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes and game context as reported by the Associated Press. Team notes from the Indiana Fever.