After the Minnesota Lynx shocked the New York Liberty by coming back from down 18 points in the second quarter to win in overtime, 95-93, Scott Van Pelt welcomed Courtney Williams to his postgame SportsCenter show.
“I’m gonna be honest, Courtney, we came downstairs with a whole other game plan,” Van Pelt admitted. “We thought we thought we were gonna be talking Liberty. They hadn’t trailed the whole night.”
“Y’all taking to us now,” Williams replied with a smile.
Williams was the perfect player for SVP to get postgame after she made perhaps the biggest play of the game.
With only 18 seconds left, the Lynx found themselves down three points and took a timeout to draw up a final play. The ball swung around before being kicked out to Williams, who launched a three that hit the front and back of the rim before falling into the hands of Alanna Smith.
Smith then rifled the ball back out to Williams, who rose up a second time, for three this time, while Sabrina Ionescu fouled her. The ball sailed through the net with five seconds remaining. Williams sank the free throw to put the Lynx up one and their first lead of the night.
After the Liberty called timeout, Collier fouled Breanna Stewart on a last-second shot and made one of two free throws, which sent the game into overtime.
In overtime, Williams scored five of the Lynx’s 11 points on the way to a two-point victory in New York. The final two points came off a game-winning fadeaway from Napheesa Collier that would make her childhood idle Kobe Bryant smile.
The first game of the finals truly had it all for the Lynx, the first-quarter defensive collapse that allowed the Liberty to build a commanding 32-19 point lead.
They built the lead on offensive rebounds. New York had six in the first, which allowed the Liberty to outshoot the Lynx 24-14 in field goal attempts. Despite this, the Minnesota appeared comfortable in the game – they didn’t panic or blame one another. The Lynx withstood New York’s offensive outburst and were only down 13.
In the second quarter, the Liberty reeled in four more offensive rebounds to give them a 10-1 advantage. However, they would only outshoot the Lynx by two shots. Minnesota’s defense snapped back into shape and forced the Liberty to shoot just 27.8% for the quarter, and the Lynx would narrow the gap and be down just eight going into halftime.
That trend continued into the third quarter. The Lynx gave up five offensive boards. However, the defense locked in, forcing the Liberty to shoot 38.9% from the field. After a nine-point outburst from Kayla McBride, the Liberty went into the final frame down only seven points.
Williams exploded in the fourth, scoring 10 of the Lynx’s 23 points in the final frame. The Lynx locked down on the offensive glass and only allowed three, and the Liberty only outrebounded them by one total rebound, 10-9. The Lynx forced three turnovers and didn’t turn the ball over. Still, they were down 15 points with 5:20 remaining in the game, 81-66, and won, marking the largest fourth-quarter comeback in WNBA Finals history.
The Lynx will have some needed days off after getting just a 48-hour turnaround from Game 5 of the semifinals to Game 1 of the finals. Game 2 won’t be until Sunday at 3:00 PM. Expect Minnesota to game plan and analyze the game. Record-setting comebacks aside, the Lynx have some areas they need to improve.
They allowed 20 offensive rebounds, translating to the Liberty attempting nineteen more shots than the Lynx. Overall, New York outrebounded Minnesota, 44-32. Throughout the game, these rebounds often were crushing. The Lynx played incredible defense that forced a tough shot or a long three, which the Liberty would corral, allowing them to reset.
Minnesota’s rebounding problem improved as the game went on. However, this appeared to be more a testament to the Lynx’s conditioning rather than a change in the game plan. However, the Lynx had some success playing small with Collier at center.
“If the bigs don’t rebound,” said Reever, “might as well go small.”
The rebounding disparity, especially offensively, could result in the Lynx losing the series if they don’t correct it. The Lynx played incredible defense, had big games from Williams, Collier, and McBride, and consistently forced the Liberty’s All-Stars into bad decisions and shots. Still, it required a historic comeback and two game-winning shots at the end of regulation and overtime to squeak out the win.
As the national media focuses on the Lynx the next three days before Game 3, expect many people to be talking to and about them. However, Lynx fans should expect Reeve to be scheming up new ways to rebound to ensure they can win Game 2 and potentially add another banner to their collection as early as Tuesday next week in Minneapolis.
