It’s not always about your best players playing great when it matters most. Anyone can make a difference.
Neal: Napheesa Collier didn’t score much in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals. Trouble for the Lynx? No. Trouble for the Liberty.
New York Liberty players should be worried about how well other Minnesota Lynx players covered for their superstar teammate.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 19, 2024 at 6:41PM
And the Lynx have that tool in their toolbox heading into a winner-takes-the-title Game 5 of the WNBA Finals against New York. It was there for all to see on Friday in Game 4.
Facing elimination, the Lynx pulled off an 82-80 victory over the Liberty to force the series back to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. That means All-Star Napheesa Collier must have had a huge game for the Lynx, right?
Kayla McBride led the Lynx with 19 points. Collier was next, right? Nope. Courtney Williams was next with 15.
With the season at stake, the Lynx won an intense game with Collier scoring 14 points. She made her presence felt in other ways, but teammates contributed buckets as Collier struggled to get her offense going.
She scored nine points in Game 2 of the semifinals against Connecticut, also a victory. But given what was at stake Friday, the Lynx performance was even more impressive.
Alanna Smith played 30 minutes despite a sore back suffered in Game 3. McBride was knocked to the floor twice, got up each time, limped for a few seconds before shaking it off. Coach Cheryl Reeve got big minutes from reserves Cecilia Zandalasini and Dorka Juhász.
Collier was on the floor the entire time but couldn’t buy a bucket in the second half. That was one of a few reasons why the stress level inside Target Center grew throughout the game.
The Lynx prevailed despite periods of uninspiring ball coupled with dominant stretches by the Liberty. They head for the final game of the WNBA season with an edge, one the Liberty should be worried about. Because the Lynx won a game in which Collier scored only two points the entire second half.
If the Lynx can win a game like that, they certainly can win Sunday in Brooklyn and bring home their fifth title. They won Game 1 there, won twice there during the regular season and also beat the Liberty in New York for the Commissioner’s Cup title.
“Last 40 minutes of the season,” McBride said. “It could be anywhere. Really, it doesn’t matter. It’s like we’re going to be out there together and going to war. I’m pumped.”
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The Lynx traditionally celebrate wins with a group electric slide on one end of the Target Center floor. On Friday, that slide looked more like a shuffle after it took everything they had to hold off New York.
They led 46-45 at halftime but couldn’t build a lead in the third quarter. Breanna Stewart and the Liberty were all over Collier, doubling her when she got the ball in the post, fighting through pick-and-rolls, denying her the ball. That textbook fadeaway jumper of hers did not exist for most of the night as she went 4-for-10 from the field. She even missed half of her free throws, going 2-for-4.
Others filled the gap. Enter Smith and her balky back with the Lynx down 61-55. She cut to the basket for a layup, stole the ball and grabbed a rebound during one sequence. After Collier made a free throw, Smith buried a three-pointer to tie the score.
When the fourth quarter began, my one thought was, “It’s time for Phee.”
Phee was shut out in the fourth quarter. She grabbed three of her nine rebounds then, and she had four assists and four steals in the game as she impressed in other ways. McBride and Bridget Carleton scored five apiece in the fourth, with Carleton swishing the winning free throws.
Collier is heady enough to find teammates when teams pay too much attention to her.
That should be on the Liberty players’ minds as Game 5 approaches. They held the Lynx’s best player to 14 points in an elimination game. And lost.
