Washington Mystics defeat Minnesota Lynx 85-80, get first winning streak since 2010

The Washington Mystics defeated the Minnesota Lynx at home, 85-80. Guard Ivory Latta had 24 points and 5 assists for the game and led the team in great fashion in the wake of her grandfather's passing. Bottom line, she's the best player on the Mystics this season and is making Mike Thibault look like a genius which he is. In addition, forward Monique Currie had a breakout game scoring 13 points in the first quarter, and had 23 points overall along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. This gives the Mystics their first win at home for the 2013 season, and also their first winning streak since August 2010, when they had a six game winning streak which helped them reach the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference regular season.

If the team's previous wins against a rising Tulsa Shock squad or perennial Eastern power Connecticut Sun don't qualify, this win also gives the Mystics their first true signature win of the 2013 season, defeating the two time defending Western Conference Champions and the 2011 WNBA Finals champions, and the Lynx figures to be a frontrunner for the 2013 WNBA championship race once again even with the disappointing loss.

For the Lynx, Maya Moore had 22 points and six rebounds, along with four made three pointers. Rebekkah Brunson had 21 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. Seimone Augustus had 21 points but it took her 27 shots to get there so it wasn't one of her signature nights.

In the first half, the Mystics had a big field goal percentage advantage as they made 50% of their shots, while the Lynx only made 31% of theirs. Though the percentage battles evened out a little bit, mostly with the Lynx improving their shooting as the game went on, it was ultimately too much for them to overcome even though they did come back to tie the game at 68 in the 4th quarter after losing by over 10 points at some points earlier in the game after a 10-1 start to that quarter. After that run, the Mystics came back with a small run of their own and never surrendered the lead for the rest of the game.

Last year in a game like this, if a team made a run like this and if the Mystics surrendered a double digit lead, the Mystics would have lost. But with Mike Thibault as the head coach and some personnel improvements, the Mystics know how to bounce back in such situations and got a much needed win. The Mystics are now 3-1 for the regular season as well and got to three wins in their first four games of the year. Last year, they didn't get three wins until their 13th game of the season.

I know the Shock has the #ShocktheWorld hashtag, but should that be the Mystics' slogan instead? Just saying.