The Toronto Tempo come out of the all-star break set to face an overwhelming gauntlet of the WNBA’s best teams, starting with a home-and-home against the league-leading Minnesota Lynx.
They’re 22-6, previously handed the Tempo their largest loss of the season, and only just got back-to-back MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier back one game before the break.
Not to mention sensational rookie guard Olivia Miles, four-time all-star Kayla McBride matching a career-high in points per game, off-season acquisition Natasha Howard returning to star form and still having yet another all-star in Courtney Williams in the backcourt. The Lynx are a force.
If the Tempo were going to have any hope of punching up, it was going to start with Marina Mabrey. She’s taken her own star turn this season and packs the kind of firepower that can change games.
Kiki Rice also made her return after missing 16 games with an ankle sprain, but she, Mabrey and the rest of the Tempo came up just short in a valiant effort, hanging around until the final minutes but falling 100-93 to a fearsome Lynx squad for their fourth straight loss.
Mabrey did start note-perfect, weaponizing the gravity her otherworldly shot-making creates to generate quality looks for her teammates. She maneuvered into the teeth of the defence and dished to Julie Allemand for an open 3 one pass away. She read the defence, threaded tight-window passes inside and had four assists in short order. Add a couple straight line drives off the dribble, a quick-trigger no-dip 3, and Chef Mabrey had a stew going.
But there are always levels. And Olivia Miles was upstaging Mabrey’s stew with the kind of lemon-infused reduction-sauce-covered dishes that are seen at Michelin-star restaurants. Shifty in-and-out dribbles, lulling defenders to sleep and bursting past with ease, clinically seeing the floor like the game’s moving in slow motion. Miles grabbed a steal and snapped a between-the-legs drop pass for an open McBride 3 for good measure. The 23-year-old rookie even beat Mabrey at her own game in the first half, going 3-of-4 from long range on a pair of smooth step-backs and a long-range make.
Still, the Tempo took a lead into the second quarter. They’ve struggled to rebound this season, and it appeared to be an emphasis out of the gate as they blocked out emphatically, gang rebounded and grabbed 15 to the Lynx’s nine. Toronto was up six to two on the offensive glass.
Yet they seemingly took their foot off the gas in the second, as Howard ripped down an offensive board over Fagbenle for a putback. Then on the next possession, Howard grabbed another second-chance opportunity, and Collier eventually got the ball out to Williams for a 3. Tempo timeout.
The other area of emphasis for the Tempo has been defence.
“Defensively, we’re poor, and that’s an area that you know we’ve got to be better there individually, collectively,” head coach Sandy Brondello said at practice on Sunday.
Brondello added: “We may play well for 15 seconds, but then we overhelp, and then we get in rotation, so we’re not very good, and that’s our biggest area (of focus), like the one-on-one defence on closeouts and then finishing plays and having failed discipline. So we did a lot of defence today, and (will) tomorrow because we feel that’s the area where we need the most work on.
“Defence is sometimes just got to compete harder and weather the storm … we can’t make excuses. We just got to work harder and stay more connected.”
That defensive work was on display for a stretch in the second quarter.
Rookie Teonni Key effectively fronted the post, then later stonewalled Howard on a drive. Maria Conde made a tight closeout and caused Dorka Juhasz to travel. Then the veteran big, Temi Fagbenle, had a pair of great defensive possessions. She stepped up to stop Miles’ drive after she got a step around a double drag, then recovered to foul Collier crashing from the corner. She made one of two. After, she stuck with the quick-footed Miles and blocked her reverse layup attempt. Only one point for the Lynx when they easily could’ve had four.
The Tempo were stuck 10 at halftime, 53-43, but were near even with the Lynx in boards, paint points and second-chance points; areas they usually lag in. They were putting up a fight.
But it was apparent the direction the game was taking to start the second half. Miles made another step-back 3 on the first possession. Then Allemand jumped a passing lane in the backcourt and passed to Conde, who smoked the wide-open layup.
The only thing that kept the Tempo within arms reach was Allemand dicing up the defence and finding cutters, and three quick triples from Conde. But Toronto’s defence sank back into old habits that the Lynx’s deadly offence was quick to punish. Every Conde 3 was met by a layup at the other end.
In Rice’s return, she started out hesitant and quickly appeared frustrated when the usual rhythm of her game eluded her. She took three quick fouls, including one where she was over aggressive chasing an offensive rebound off her own missed floater, and ultimately finished with five.
But as the game wore on, she began to look more comfortable. She looked more measured on drives, slowly spinning away from her defender and making a skip pass for one of Conde’s 3s. After she made a nice change of pace on a drive, used a hesitation dribble near the basket, and got a tough and-1 to go off glass. She followed with another tough take right after.
Rice was beginning to find a rhythm with her driving before getting injured, and it quickly showed up again in her return. The Tempo having another guard who can get downhill would be a major boon to their offence.
The Tempo were down 14 as the midway point of the final frame neared, as Miles and Collier just kept getting their game off. But right when it seemed the Lynx’s lead was insurmountable, Toronto made a final push and nearly rallied. Mabrey drove for a layup, then Laura Juskaite. Then Mabrey swung to Juskaite for 3. Rice got into the paint again, played off two feet, and hit Kia Nurse with a kickout that she cashed. It was a quick 12-0 Tempo run and suddenly they were down two.
But Antonia Delaere, who had scored only three points and averages only three points per game, caught fire. She made three triples in the final few minutes. Mabrey answered with a signature deep step-back, but Miles squashed any hope of a comeback with her own trademark weaving drive and the Tempo came up just short.
It was an admirable effort against the W’s No. 1 team, and Toronto (now 10-17) will get another crack at them on Thursday on a big stage — Scotiabank Arena instead of their usual home, Coca-Cola Coliseum.
If it gets any easier after that, it isn’t by much, as the Tempo embark on a road trip that goes: Valkyries (19-8), Valkyries, Fire (11-16), Dream (16-10), Wings (18-9), before returning home to host Caitlin Clark and the Fever (17-10), also at the big bank arena.
Tough sledding ahead for the Tempo.
