Lynx give it all in Game 4: ‘I would be crawling before I had to get off the court’

The major question facing the Lynx in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals on Friday night at Target Center was: How effective will Alanna Smith be?

Turns out, the Lynx center was effective enough. The Lynx beat the New York Liberty 82-80 to force a deciding Game 5 on Sunday in Brooklyn as Bridget Carleton hit two free throws with two seconds left.

As an undersized post player, Smith has taken plenty of hits from players with a few inches and few pounds on her this season.

In the first half of Game 3, of the WNBA Finals on Wednesday, 6-6 Liberty forward Jonquel Jones backed into the 6-3 Smith under the basket. Smith landed hard on her back and was called for a foul, to add insult to injury.

Smith eventually sat out the end of Game 3, and the Lynx missed her game-best +20 plus/minus. But Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve and Smith insisted she would play in Game 4.

“I would be crawling before I had to get off the court,” Smith said. “This was a massive moment.”

Held to just two points in the first half Friday in Game 4, Smith scored 10 in the second and made two three-pointers in the third quarter to keep Liberty from pulling away. She helped hold Breanna Stewart to 11 points during her 30-minute shift.

“Once the adrenaline started running, you forget about the pain, especially in a game that’s so competitive and so tight,” Smith said. “I’m happy that my coaches and my teammates had confidence in me that I could push through it.”

Reeve elected to use Dorka Juhasz to back up Smith instead of Myisha Hines-Allen, who did not play on Friday. Juhasz gave the Lynx an effective nine minutes.

Hines-Allen was a -19 in Wednesday’s three-point loss.

New York’s leading scorers, Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, shot a combined 10-for-36 Friday and still the Liberty only lost by two points, on the road.

Their battles with the Lynx defense left Liberty coach Sandy Brondello working the officials with some spicy words afterward.

“I’m one of the nicest bloody coaches in this league, but this [angers] me,” Brondello said. “Cheryl talked about it last time. We got no calls today, so do I need to talk up in a press conference because they were getting [fouls] and we went down there and got hit and got nothing?

“All we want is fair, OK? So if we’re getting hit, that’s a bloody foul.”

The Liberty were called for seven first-half fouls and the Lynx five. At game’s end, it was Liberty 14, Lynx 9.

“In the end, close game, things we could have done a little bit better,” Brondello said. “They all could have done better, including me.

“We just have to go back to New York and win.”