Following the Minnesota Lynx’s 102-95 Game 1 win over the Phoenix Mercury, Napheesa Collier answered a question regarding her fellow UConn alum Diana Taurasi’s potential retirement.
“I feel lucky to have played with her on Team USA and against her,” Collier said, pausing to smirk, “and hopefully, we can end her career on Wednesday.”
The Lynx will take the win and plan to beat Taurasi in a potential career-ending playoff game on Wednesday. However, they narrowly escaped a Game 1 upset thanks to some late-game heroics.
Minnesota led 93-92 with 1:15 remaining in the fourth quarter when Collier stepped to the free throw line. Collier made both free throws, putting the Lynx up 95-92 and registering her 37th and 38th points. Natasha Cloud knifed to the basket on the following Mercury possession, looking to score on an easy layup. As Cloud rose up, Alanna Smith came from behind for a block.
The Lynx pushed the ball in transition before slowing down and winding the shot clock down. Alanna Smith would pass the ball into the hands of Bridget Carleton. She dribbled to the left corner and heaved an off-balanced three that splashed through the net, giving the Lynx a 98-92 lead with 39 seconds remaining. A battle of free throws ensued before the final horn sounded, giving the Lynx a 102-95 victory.
The game ended with the Lynx outscoring the Mercury 11-3 in the final 75 seconds, similar to how the game started. Collier scored 11 of the Lynx’s first 15 points and finished the first quarter with 13 points in total, as the Lynx built a 32-19 point lead. With 5:36 remaining in the second, the Lynx had built an impressive 23-point lead, scoring 50-27. In response, the Mercury started mixing things up on defense, turning to a 3-2 zone and fluctuating between the zone and man’s defenses to contain Collier.
Phoenix’s defensive changes and great play from Taurasi and Cloud cut Minnesota’s lead to 14 going into the half. Taurasi and Cloud combined for 17 of the Mercury’s 23 points in the second quarter. Collier went into the half with 23 points, five rebounds, and two assists after playing every second of the first quarter.
Cloud and Taurasis kept the Mercury in the game, in large part due to their ability to take advantage of the Lynx’s shifts on defense. “I take that shift s— personally, and I got to be able to knock down shots.” Cloud explained postgame, “I got to be able to be aggressive and just set the tone for us as point guards.”
Cloud is talking about the Lynx’s focus on attacking the pick player by switching the defenders. In practice, this would mean that Courtney Williams or whoever is guarding Cloud would run hard into the screen to slow it down, and then Smith would shift or switch laterally to stay in front of Cloud until Williams is able to recover. The defense is focused on slowing down the center on the roll and preventing layups.
This is where Cloud and Taurasi thrived. They possess the quickness to dart around the switch or the recovering guard for easy slashing layups. Then, when the Lynx focused on taking the drive away, Cloud and Taurasi both displayed killer instincts in rising up from mid-range or three due to the defense dropping too low to protect the basket.
This is something the Lynx should know all too well, as their own guard Courtney Williams led the WNBA in mid-range field goal percentage at 46.2%, taking 6.9 attempts per game, most of which came off a similar action to what the Mercury were running.
The third quarter featured more Cloud and Taurasi, as they combined for 15 more points. These points came primarily from pick-and-roll drives, pick-and-roll pull-up threes, and mid-range shots. Throughout the game, Lynx prioritized doubling Brittney Griner on the roll by having the picked guard help prevent the pass. That strategy slowed Griner down; she was 2 for 8 through three quarters. However, Claud and Taurasi’s guard play helped the Mercury end the third down just eight points, 77-69.
The fourth quarter opened with Cloud making another layup off the pick-and-roll. Collier answered almost immediately with a fadeaway two-point shot, during which she got fouled and made the free throw. With the game now 80-71, Kahleah Copper scored five straight points to close the gap to 80-76. After trading baskets, Copper would hit another three with just 5:21 remaining to make it a one-point Lynx lead, 85-84. 37 seconds later, Griner hit two free throws to give Mercury their first lead since the first quarter when Mercury led 4-2.
The game slipped away from the Mercury shortly after the free throws. Collier finished the game with a WNBA-first 38-plus points, 5-plus rebounds, 4-plus assists, and 1-plus blocks. She also joined Maya Moore as the only Lynx player with multiple 30-point playoff games.
Despite Collier’s greatness, the Mercury came close to having a 23-point comeback to steal game one, mainly due to the excellence of their guard play. Cloud and Taurasi scored 54 combined. Cheryl Reeve was asked about this postgame.
“We didn’t execute the game plan,” Reeve said. “We tried to recover from it, but the fire was lit.”
The Lynx have a chance to close out the Mercury on Wednesday night. To do so, they must find a way to contain both Cloud and Taurasi while keeping Griner in check. A task that is much easier said than done, but if the Lynx hope to send Taurasi into retirement on Wednesday, they likely will need the same fourth-quarter heroics and record-setting play from Collier and Co.
