Lynx pull starters vs. Fever but clinch 1-seed with Valkyries' loss - ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS — Minnesota Lynx All-Stars Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams walked off the Gainbridge Fieldhouse court Tuesday evening with their warmup shirts still on. They hadn't taken them off since halftime.

The Lynx went into the second-to-last game of the season against the Indiana Fever with a chance to wrap up the No. 1 playoff seed with a victory. The fact that coach Cheryl Reeve didn't play her normal starters a single minute of the second half was a clue as to how things went in the opening 20 minutes.

Minnesota trailed by 29 at one point and 23 at halftime when Reeve waved the white flag in what ended in a 96-77 loss to Indiana. The two teams face each other again Thursday in Minneapolis.

«It's embarrassing,» Lynx forward Napheesa Collier said. «We should be disappointed and embarrassed about the product that we put on the floor tonight. Not proud of what we did.»

The Lynx ended up clinching the top seed later Tuesday night, when the Portland Fire beat the Golden State Valkyries 90-82 in overtime.

Collier, McBride, Williams and Natasha Howard all sat on the sideline the final 20 minutes. Olivia Miles, who leads the team in points and assists, and is expected to win Rookie of the Year, was scratched about 90 minutes before tipoff. She was listed as questionable because of a left calf injury and was tested by trainers before the game, and the decision was made to keep her on the bench. Reeve said Miles probably will be another game-time decision Thursday.

After the Lynx trailed 31-16 at the end of the first quarter, Reeve said she thought rest was more important than chasing a win that clearly wasn't going to happen.

With the Lynx having lost three of the previous four games, McBride had insisted at the