Cheryl Reeve and the Minnesota Lynx knew what they were doing when they drafted Olivia Miles as the No. 2 overall pick in this year's draft. It also seems like Miles knew what she was doing; per a profile published by The Athletic this week, she spent the full 90 minutes speaking to Reeve and the team's coaching staff before the draft.
Miles hasn't missed a lot of games this season, but she missed one last night: the Lynx's crucial match against the Indiana Fever. A win would have solidified the team as the top seed; their stunning 96-77 loss in Indianapolis meant the team could only claim the top seed if the Golden State Valkyries lost to the Portland Fire. Luckily for Minnesota, they did.
The Lynx announced Miles would miss the game with a calf injury around one-and-a-half hours before it was set to begin. The Fever's head coach Stephanie White noted that playing the Lynx without Miles on the floor "changes a lot" because "she's the head of the snake." The team's win over Minnesota pretty much proved that.
It's not that Minnesota isn't good without Miles; they're fantastic no matter what. But it's clear that the team has organized a lot of its style of play and strategies around Miles. She may be the rookie this year, and she may have been drafted to an extraordinarily talented team, but make no mistake: Miles has played a crucial role in building that team into what it's been this season.
That's the reason people are saying she could be MVP this season, despite the fact that A'ja Wilson's numbers are better. That's the reason people can't shut up about her. That's the reason everyone pays attention when Olivia Miles hits the floor: she is that good. She is actually a game changer.
The loss was a tough one for Lynx fans, something compounded by the fact that Reeve justifiably played the team's bench for most of the game. Though she later explained there wasn't much sense in keeping her starters in when the playoffs loom so closely, the decision to pull the starters also doubled as a message of sorts.
With or without Miles, Minnesota has everything the team needs skill-wise to be great this postseason. But without Miles, it's not entirely clear they can do it. Maybe they can, maybe they can't — but, hopefully, no one has to find out.
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