Olivia Miles made a costly turnover in the last moments of the Minnesota Lynx's Sunday, June 21 game against the Washington Mystics. After the Lynx lost the game, the star rookie shouldered the blame.

Miles has been outstanding in her rookie season. She has made her case for both the Rookie of the Year and the MVP awards. But last night, her inexperience took over in crunch time of a tight game. Miles addressed the turnover in the postgame press conference.

"Yeah, the play was for Nia [Coffey]," Miles told reporters in the postgame press conference. "If Nia wasn’t there, I was supposed to get it to [Kayla McBride]. But a miscommunication there, that’s on me. I’ll be better, obviously not blaming anyone but myself. That’s why I’m a bit frustrated, but just a miscommunication and I’ll learn from it."

With 19.3 seconds remaining in regulation, and the Mystics leading by 77-76, Miles stood on the side to throw the inbound pass. With the defense blocking any space for a clear pass, she passed the ball to McBride, who was nearest to her.

McBride was making her run without looking at Miles and didn't anticipate the pass. The ball went out of bounds.

The costly turnover gave the Mystics possession of the ball. Miles committed two back-to-back fouls in a fight for possession.

The Lynx could have run a final play with 19.3 seconds remaining that might have given them the lead, either by one point or two if a three-pointer went in. But a turnover ended the possession early. Washington took advantage and made 8 of its 10 free throws to finish the game.

Minnesota lost the game 84-79, losing their three-game winning streak.

While Miles took accountability, the Lynx head coach broke the silence on the situation.

Cheryl Reeve refuses to blame Olivia Miles for turnover

Despite Miles' expensive turnover, Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve refused to blame her rookie sensation. Instead, Reeve said that she could have done a better job at communicating with Miles.

“It’s pretty deflating, as you could tell,” Reeve said. “I have to do a better job, maybe telling her options and order—like a quarterback making your reads and your checks. That was not one of the options where she was throwing it. I guess I didn’t really get it across to her what we were looking for."

According to Reeve, "this is all part of that growing process," and players have to go through such tough situations to become elite at what they do.

While Miles made a costly mistake, she was the Lynx's best player. She recorded 22 points, five rebounds, six assists and two blocks in the loss. She has been the Lynx's best player in the absence of Napheesa Collier, leading her team in points (18.3)and assists (5.6).

With a 13-4 record, the Lynx also have the best record in the league this season.

Do you think that Miles can be the missing piece to lead the Lynx to a championship this season? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Nandjee Ranjan

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar