Lynx vs. Tempo: Maya Caldwell Scores 16 Off the Bench as Minnesota Hands Toronto Its Worst Loss, 100-72

For two weeks, the Toronto Tempo had been the WNBA's most entertaining plot twist: an expansion team with a winning record, two straight road wins and a pair of scorers who had just dropped 31 and 30 on Phoenix. Thursday night in Minneapolis was the part of the movie where somebody finally slides the bill across the table.

Maya Caldwell came off the bench to score 16, nine other players got on the board, and the Minnesota Lynx buried Toronto 100-72 in a game that was functionally over by the second quarter. It was the worst loss yet for Toronto, whose first two defeats had come by a combined seven points. This one took about seven minutes to feel out of reach.

A Stress-Free Night, at Last

Nobody in the league needed a comfortable win more than Minnesota's nervous system. The Lynx's first four games had been decided by a total of 16 points, and three of those margins were four points or fewer. On Thursday, they got to skip the cardio.

It was 10-6 Minnesota with 5:08 left in the first when the game broke open. A 9-0 run in less than two minutes made it 19-6, and the Lynx led 27-14 after one. The second quarter offered no relief for the visitors. Minnesota won it 26-18 and went to the locker room up 53-32, having already scored more than Toronto would manage through three quarters.

The third was more of the same, and the end of it was especially ugly. Up 68-48 with 3:51 left in the period, the Lynx closed on eight straight, and it was 76-48 going to the fourth. That 28-point margin was the biggest of the night, and they matched it at the final horn. The fourth finished 24-24, which is what happens when both benches are mostly playing for pride and minutes. Toronto never held a lead. Not for a second.

Ten Scorers and One Very Bad Night for Two Stars

Caldwell was the top scorer in a game that hardly needed one, going 6 of 12 overall and 4 of 7 from 3 in 22 minutes. Courtney Williams had 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Rookie Olivia Miles was the most impressive of the bunch, posting 14 points, five assists and four rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting without committing a foul, and her plus-22 led everyone. Natasha Howard shot 5 of 7 for 13 and Kayla McBride went 5 of 8 for 13. Nia Brodie went 4 of 4. When five players reach double figures and nobody tops 16, the scouting report for stopping them gets very long.

On the other side, Kia Nurse deserves a medal for showing up. She scored 23 off the bench, and all six of her field goals were 3s, in 11 attempts from out there. Rookie Kiki Rice added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists without a single turnover. Nikolina Milic had eight on 4-of-6 shooting. Those three were the only Tempo players who looked remotely comfortable.

The story was the two names who usually carry this team. Brittney Sykes and Marina Mabrey had been averaging more than 45 points a night between them. They finished with nine. Total. Sykes had six on 2-of-7 shooting in 20 minutes. Mabrey had three on 1-of-9 shooting, went 0 for 8 from deep and turned it over four times in 19 minutes. Two days earlier, they had combined for 61 in a 98-90 win at Phoenix.

The Foul Trouble and the Glass

The turning point came early, and it had two parts. Sykes and Mabrey each picked up two fouls in the opening period, the same period in which Minnesota made its 9-0 move. Neither ever found a rhythm, and by halftime it hardly mattered.

The second part was size and effort on the boards. Minnesota out-rebounded Toronto 46-25, and that number somehow undersells the problem. The Lynx had 15 offensive rebounds, while the Tempo had 16 defensive rebounds. Think about that ratio for a moment. On nearly every missed Minnesota shot, it was a coin flip as to who got the ball. Couple that with a 42-24 scoring edge in the paint, and the Lynx were getting the easy looks the Tempo could only dream about from 25 feet away.

Toronto's game plan lives and dies at the arc, and it took 41 of its 71 shots from out there. Hitting 12 of them sounds decent until you see the 29%.

Stats That Matter

• 46-25: The rebounding margin, which is what a beating looks like in one number.
• 42-24: Minnesota's edge in the paint.
• 55% vs. 34%: Field-goal shooting. The Lynx made 38 of 69. The Tempo made 24 of 71.
• 10 of 24 vs. 12 of 41: Threes. Toronto made two more and took 17 more, and that was a very bad trade.
• 9: Combined points for Sykes and Mabrey.

Where Everybody Stands

Minnesota moves to 3-2 and finally got its first home win, leaving the Lynx 1-2 at home to go with wins at Phoenix and Dallas. They bounced back from an 86-79 home loss to Chicago on May 17 and get a shot at the Sky in Chicago on Saturday. The 100 points also blew past their previous best of 90 this season.

Toronto is 3-3 and 2-2 on the road, with a two-game win streak over. The Tempo get to go home and regroup, and the opponent on Saturday is fellow expansion team Portland, which is about as friendly a way to shake this off as the schedule could offer.

Every Underdog Show Has This Episode

Every feel-good underdog series has the episode where the scrappy newcomers go on the road and get absolutely smoked by grown-ups. The lovable coach gives a speech, somebody stares at a locker and everybody learns that the league is the league. That episode is never the series finale. Toronto is still 3-3, still interesting and still a first-year team sitting at .500 in May. But for one night in Minneapolis, the Lynx were the adults in the room, and they made sure the kids knew it.

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