Lynx could leave win-starved Fever quivering (Jul 02, 2018)

Published Jul. 2, 2018 11:48 p.m. ET

The Indiana Fever's nightmare season doesn't figure to get any better when they travel to take on the WNBA's hottest team.

The Fever will be at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Tuesday to take on the Minnesota Lynx, winners of seven straight games after a curiously slow start to 2018.

Rookie forward Victoria Vivians, who scored a career-high 27 points in Indiana's latest setback, told the Indianapolis Star that her team is unified despite their frustrations.

"The best thing we can do is stick together," Vivians said after the Fever's 87-83 Sunday loss to Atlanta dropped Indiana to 1-16. "We depend on each other for everything. I feel like the best thing we can do is put our heads all in together and just be together through the whole process."

Against the Dream, the Fever rallied from 17 down but fell short despite Vivians' big night. She also had seven rebounds and three assists.

"She's kind of ice water like that," Indiana coach Pokey Chatman said of Vivians' calm exterior. "You can mistake it for 'she doesn't care,' and it's just that she's stoic."

The defending champion Lynx's slow start seems to be comfortably in the rearview mirror.

Minnesota (10-6), led by Maya Moore's 26 points, held off the Dallas Wings for a 76-72 road victory on Sunday to extend its win streak.

The win in Arlington, Texas, came on the heels of an 85-74 victory over Atlanta on Friday as Moore poured in 24 points.

"I think we're just all on the same page and making sure we're helping each other," Sylvia Fowles, who had 13 points and 15 rebounds, told the (St. Paul, Minn.) Pioneer Press.

Moore, who has scored 20 or more points in each of the Lynx's seven straight wins, was named Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday. She averaged 27.3 points per game during the streak and led Minnesota in scoring in each of the past six games.

Despite the streak and a 1-16 opponent, the Lynx will be wary of a trap game: Minnesota hosts its rival, the Los Angeles Sparks, on Thursday.

" ... Right now, this team is in a good place," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve told the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune. "So that's not a big concern of mine because of the start we got off to this season. But there is no margin of error."

The Sparks handed the Lynx two of their six early season losses.