Brooklyn, NY – Two minutes before the end of the fourth quarter of Game 1, the WNBA emailed its list of players to speak at the post-game press conference. Postgame media has operated this way since the league closed locker rooms to reporters a few years ago. You can request other players to speak outside as needed, but the obvious stars usually remain in front of the mic. The Minnesota Lynx, then down nine points, would send Nafisa Collier and Kayla McBride to talk. McBride had his best shooting night of the playoffs, silencing the New York crowd as he drained Liberty’s flurry of transition in the first quarter. Collier played a textbook defensive game. But about 60 literal minutes and 400 births later, Minnesota’s leading scorer arrived in the interview room. “Whaddup, whaddup, whaddup!” She started crowing as she walked towards the table. Courtney Williams had changed plans.
Williams was smiling on the other side of perhaps the best WNBA Finals game ever, which the Lynx won 95-93 in overtime after trailing the Liberty for all but the final five seconds of regulation. If “best” sounds hyperbolic, maybe I’m pointing at Williams, who was asked where his four-point game ranked in his career, and he replied, “Right now it’s this one, because We are here. I like to be where my feet lie.” The Lynx were down 15 points with five minutes left in the game, a deficit from which neither team was ever able to recover. But a mix of tactical changes and clutch plays erased Liberty’s lead and my memories of it. .
Collier, a basketball player, has never been accused of flash, and this often belies the scope of his talent. Collier wins Defensive Player of the Year award over Las Vegas Aces coach A’ja Wilson Becky Hammon said He did not think voters should be sent down “a rabbit hole of analysis” to choose an award. But the matter that came to light on Thursday night hardly required any expert eye. Collier extended and contracted as needed, switched to Sabrina Ionescu and killed the Liberty pick-and-roll herself. (Ionescu’s ugly final line: 8-of-26 shooting.) More often than not, she guarded Breanna Stewart, who is three inches taller and shot 1-for-11 with Collier as her primary defender. For his last move, Collier Defeated the even taller Jonquel Jones And blocked a shot on the possession he had started facing on the other side. She would finish the night with 21 points along with three steals and six blocks. Crucially, Collier managed to make a late-game stoppage at five, helping the small-ball Lynx lineup get back into it.
Williams created a chaotic final minute of regulation of the game, which was more or less rectified by the referees. The guard hit a game-tying three and drew a shooting foul, giving the Lynx a one-point lead with five seconds remaining in regulation. On Liberty’s next inbounds play, Collier was able to throw the ball away, and it appeared to go out of bounds off Stewart’s shoe, but the referees went with a “jump ball” call. Crew chief Isaac Barnett later told a pool reporter that no game official had “definite knowledge” of who was the last player to touch the ball. Such plays are worthy of review only when challenged; Because neither team had time left to challenge the call, the jump ball stood. When Williams was called for a jump-ball violation to give New York possession, the Liberty looked like they might escape. Stewart was fouled on his shot attempt with 0.8 seconds left in the game. He made his first free throw but missed the second and the game went into overtime.
The extra five minutes presented the full range of Courtney Williams. When the Lynx were up by four, he tried a pass which Ionescu swiped away to make it a 93–91 game with 32 seconds remaining. (Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve confronted Williams about it after the game: “Five assists, is that all you threw – does that count?”) Another steal later, this time from Jones, And the game was tied again with eight seconds left. But it had to end, and it ended at the hands of the woman who was always going to be in the post-game press, no matter what. Collier bypassed the Liberty frontcourt’s web of weapons and hit the game-winning fadeaway over Jones.
For Liberty, the Lynx may have seemed strangely secure in its losses. When Collier has struggled in these playoffs, it has been troubled by length, and this big Liberty team creates the same matchup problems as the Connecticut Sun. New York defeated Minnesota 20–5 on offense. Jones, who was ready to make money inside, led all scorers with 24 points. But like McBride, his night became a collection of hundreds of sports stories written and discarded. Minnesota went with a smaller lineup to close out the game—“If the bigs weren’t rebounding, the smalls might as well. It can’t get any worse than this, right?” Reeve explained—and George Costanza’s opposite strategy worked. The Lynx showed up on the glass when it mattered: Alanna Smith, whose game Reeve “underestimated.” Told overturned Williams’ miss and gave him another chance at the game-tying shot.
Sometimes I have trouble coping with Liberty’s fans, as depicted – the stylish elephant; Positive, happy vibes! – With Liberty Basketball, the original and often disturbing product. It can feel a bit like going to a birthday party at the dentist’s office. It’s a silly thing to say about a player brimming with talent that has only recently beaten its last finals opponent and has four more chances at the championship this year, but the ratio of watching tension to relief in victory is higher than any team. Doesn’t have it so bad.
This time they could not win. Liberty prepared the results for execution, and they are not wrong. Stewart called the smoked layup at the end of overtime “one of my cleanest looks”, although he had an even cleaner chance to end the game in regulation at the free throw line. This game may feel stolen from its winner in some ways, but it can’t be called anything other than a crushing defeat for New York. Minnesota’s concessions on the offensive glass, and live-ball turnovers in the first quarter, meant Liberty took 90 shots to Minnesota’s 71. New York led by 18 points, even with Ionescu and Stewart playing poorly. Ionescu, the star of the Liberty’s series win over Vegas, had a particularly bad night; With her finish, she finally turned Williams’ attempt to tie the game into something more.
I’m not sure either team has seen a fully realized version of the other yet, which should terrify both of them but thrill us all. Courtney Vandersloot, a senior politician of both parties magical title race and one Unimaginable Playoff Choke JobSaid after Thursday’s game that it was the craziest game she had been a part of. For the first time in a long time, WNBA fans had the only thing losing your mind about It was basketball. Every existential matter was addressed by commissioner Cathy Engelbert in her pre-game state-of-the-league comments, except one: beginning next year, the Finals will be played as a best-of-seven series. After that you could just ask for more.