Lynx vs. Storm: Kayla McBride and Olivia Miles Combine for 65 as Minnesota Wins 6th Straight, 105-102

Seattle got exactly what it wanted on the last possession. Flau'jae Johnson, who had already made five threes, caught the ball quickly with four seconds left and had nobody anywhere near her. The shot hit the front of the rim and the horn went off, and that was how close this got to being a very different story.

The story that did get written belongs to Kayla McBride's 33 points and rookie Olivia Miles' 32, because together they carried the Minnesota Lynx past the Seattle Storm 105-102 on Monday night at Climate Pledge Arena. It was Minnesota's sixth straight win, and it took every one of those 65 points.

Fourteen Lead Changes, Almost No Stops

Minnesota looked ready to run away early, going up 23-13 before an 8-0 Seattle burst closed the gap, and the Lynx led 27-23 after one. The Storm dropped 31 in the second to take a 54-53 lead into halftime. A 26-23 third put Minnesota back in front at 79-77, and there were 14 lead changes by the time everybody had finished trading baskets.

Seattle's best stretch came midway through the fourth. A 9-0 run turned an 82-77 deficit into an 86-82 lead at 5:47, and Dominique Malonga's floater at 4:41 made it 90-86, as big a lead as the Storm had all night.

McBride responded by making the whole thing personal. She got fouled on a three and made all of them at 4:34, then buried a 23-footer off a Miles feed at 4:00 for a 92-90 lead. Six points in 34 seconds.

The next three minutes were pure nonsense. Zia Cooke tied it. Miles and Courtney Williams hit back-to-back jumpers. Johnson answered with a 25-foot three, Miles scored with the foul, Cooke hit a 25-footer of her own, and Miles came right back with a 17-foot fadeaway at 1:44. Free throws from Johnson and Natisha Hiedeman left it 101-100 with 1:04 to play, and then, after all of that, nobody scored for 50 seconds.

Sixty-Five Points and a Perfect Line

McBride went 9 of 16 from the field, 6 of 10 from three and 9 of 9 at the line. Her shooting line looks like somebody typed it in a video game's custom mode, and she needed only 32 minutes to do it. Miles was a different kind of problem, going 13 of 24 with only one three, which means nearly all of her damage came inside the arc. She added eight rebounds and eight assists with just one turnover, and according to the AP she finished one point shy of the career high she set against Phoenix on July 13.

Williams made it a three-player show with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. The AP notes that the three guards combined for 30 of Minnesota's 37 field goals and went a combined 18 of 18 at the line, which works out to 86 of the team's 105 points. Natasha Howard scored only six, but she pulled down 12 rebounds, seven of them offensive, and had three steals. Seattle's bench outscored Minnesota's 37-10, and the Lynx won regardless, because three guards were carrying the whole operation.

Johnson was brilliant for Seattle, scoring 26 on 7-of-11 shooting with those five threes and seven free throws. Cooke gave the Storm 18 off the bench, and Hiedeman had 12 points and 10 assists without a turnover. Malonga had 14 points and nine rebounds, and Awa Fam grabbed 11 boards to go with eight points. Jordan Horston gave them nine more on 4-of-5 shooting off the bench, and Katie Lou Samuelson hit two threes in 15 minutes.

The Poke

It was still 101-100 in the closing seconds when Howard made the play of the night, reaching in to knock away Seattle's inbound pass. McBride went to the line with 13.8 seconds left and made both for a 103-100 lead. Fam's basket with 4.9 left cut it to one, Williams answered with two more free throws at the other end, and Johnson's wide-open look was the last gasp.

That single deflection also sums up how Minnesota won a game in which Seattle was the better shooting team. The Storm shot 50 percent to Minnesota's 49, and they made three more threes. But the Lynx took six more shots, thanks to a 15-9 edge in turnovers and an 11-10 edge in offensive rebounds, and those extra trips added up. Seattle kept winning the shot-making contest and losing the possession math.

The Numbers Behind the Noise

• Points off turnovers: Minnesota 21, Seattle 13.
• Fast-break points: Minnesota 20, Seattle 7.
• Three-pointers: Seattle 13 of 28, Minnesota 10 of 24.
• Free throws: Minnesota 21 of 22, Seattle 19 of 22.
• Steals: Minnesota 10, Seattle 4.

Same Teams, Same Building, Wednesday

Minnesota improves to 21-6 and 11-2 on the road. The winning streak is at six, and the Lynx are 2-0 against Seattle this season after an 88-68 win on June 6. These teams get right back at it on Wednesday in Seattle.

The Storm fall to 6-22 and 4-9 at home with five straight losses. The last four of those have come by five points or fewer, which is either encouraging or cruel depending on how you feel about moral victories at this stage of a season. Johnson and Cooke combined for 44 here, and Seattle put up 102 against a team with 21 wins. It just did not get the one bounce it needed off the front of the rim.

A Buddy-Cop Movie, Basically

Every buddy-cop movie runs on the same formula: a rookie with no fear and a partner who will not miss when it counts. Minnesota's version scored 65 on Monday night, went 14 of 14 at the free-throw line and ruined a very good Seattle effort. The Storm had the last shot and the wide-open look. The Lynx had the sequel already green-lit, with a Wednesday release date.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press.