The Toronto Tempo head to Minnesota on Thursday with momentum, a winning record and a case for being taken seriously. After upsetting the Phoenix Mercury and Los Angeles Sparks in back-to-back games, Toronto has moved over.500 this season and has also gone 4-1 against the spread.
That makes the road number against the Minnesota Lynx less comfortable than it might have looked a few weeks ago. Toronto is an underdog in a game that asks whether its recent form is real or just the kind of run that disappears once the schedule tightens.
Much of Toronto’s surge has come from Brittney Sykes, who has scored 27 points, 38 points and 31 points in her last three games. She is averaging 25.6 points per game while shooting 39.6 percent from the field, taking 18.2 field goal attempts and 10.4 free throws per game. When a team is getting that kind of volume from one player, every possession starts to matter.
Minnesota, meanwhile, is trying to hold together a season that has not yet had Napheesa Collier, its MVP candidate and the kind of player who changes the ceiling of the whole roster. The Lynx are 2-2 so far and have leaned heavily on Courtney Williams, Kayla McBride and rookie Olivia Miles to keep the offense moving. They also sit ninth in the WNBA in defensive rating, which leaves room for Toronto to keep finding openings if it can force the pace it wants.
The matchup also comes with roster strain on Toronto’s side. Temi Fagbenle has been ruled out, and Nyara Sabally is doubtful, which trims the frontcourt depth just as the Tempo are asking more of the group. That matters against a Minnesota team that, even short-handed, can make opponents work for every point and every rebound.
This is the part of the calendar when a game can say more than the standings do. Minnesota is still the more established contender when Collier is healthy, but Toronto has already shown it can beat teams that expect to be in the playoff picture. If the Tempo carry that same edge into Thursday, the question shifts from whether they belong in the conversation to how far their early-season form can take them.
For Minnesota, the challenge is simpler and more immediate: stop the slide without its best player and avoid letting a hot Toronto team turn another upset into proof that the gap is smaller than it looks.
