Takeaways: Mystics come out swinging but Lynx prevail in Game 2

Fowles delivers on an emotional night

Lynx center Sylvia Fowles received her WNBA MVP award before Thursday’s game. Fowles gave an emotional and sentimental speech as she recalled all of the people and groups that helped her to that moment. Coming down from that emotion and playing in a highly competitive environment would be a challenge for anyone. We’ve seen this many times in other sports. Even her coach admitted after the game that she was worried about her star center.

However, Fowles delivered a 25-point, nine-rebound, and four assist performance on 12-for-16 performance. What’s most impressive about that is that she saw double and even triple teams. The Mystics threw anyone they could to try to slow her down, including Delle Donne. She still managed to hit 75 percent of her shots.

“She was so good,” said Reeve of Fowles’ game. “The game was so physical. Kristal Thomas is incredibly physical. The double, triple teams, the rebounds in traffic. She had a couple shots that went in and out.”

“I was worried about a couple things. One, the emotion. Two, the jinx of receiving MVP trophy but Sylvia put all that to rest.”