If it were a regular season game, with not nearly as much on the line, Alanna Smith might have sat this one out. But it was Game 4 of the WNBA Finals — as she said, where every team wants to be — so Smith played against New York at Target Center.
With season on the line, Lynx center Alanna Smith answers the bell
Alanna Smith has been playing despite a balky back and was in the lineup for Game 4 of the WNBA Finals on Friday.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 18, 2024 at 5:24PM
“It’s a big game, a big moment,” Smith said after morning shootaround. The Liberty held a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series entering the game. “Right now, I have the present to think about.”
Smith injured her back picking up a foul — watch it again and you might have an issue about whether it was a good call — trying to guard Liberty center Jonquel Jones in the first half of Wednesday’s three-point loss.
She tried to return but ultimately sat, more because of the back than the foul trouble that plagued her in the game. Since then, she’s been getting regular treatment — alternating ice and heat — and was not listed on the team’s injury report.
Smith has battled through pain all season.
“That’s what I said after [Wednesday’s] game,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “I really appreciate her trying to be on the court for us. Knowing how she is feeling. She has done it all year. I mean, how many times have you seen her, with an ankle? She rolls an ankle, limps back down the court, keeps playing. The physical toughness is always there. But it’s the mental toughness that helps her push through. She wants to be there for the team. There’s a lot to be said for that.”
Smith said warming up right is of prime importance, getting her lower back warm and working the muscles around the area, which will have to work extra hard.
When forced to sit, Smith relied on the training staff to keep her from getting stiff.
Smith joked that the answer might be playing all 40 minutes.
Reeve said she’d be fine with that. “If ‘Lan’ is open to playing 40 minutes, I’m open to it. That means she has to not foul. That’s the only thing standing in our way.”
Another option
Reserve center Dorka Juhasz saw a decrease in minutes after the Lynx acquired forward Myisha Hines-Allen from the Washington Mystics on August 20. Both players provide the Lynx with needed size, with Hines-Allen helping address the Lynx’s rebounding weakness.
Juhasz went from averaging 18.5 minutes per game — often first off the bench to replace Smith — to only averaging 2.1 minutes his postseason and not seeing the court in five games.
After Smith visibly flinched a couple of times in the first half Friday after contact, Juhasz got the call to replace her for three minutes.
Hines-Allen had a -19 plus/minus in Game 3, and Reeve said pregame, “I don’t have higher expectations than [Hines-Allen] has for herself. She expects to, when she gets an opportunity, to contribute any way she can.”
Stars come out
Friday’s Game 4 dignitaries included Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jimmy Jam Harris and Timberwolves starting point guard Mike Conley.
Harris is a Grammy Award-winning musician and producer/songwriter who’s a longtime Minnesota sports fan, even after he and partner Terry Lewis moved to Los Angeles more than 20 years ago.
Former Gophers and Lynx star Lindsay Whalen — another Hall of Famer, in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame — was in attendance as well, as she has been during the playoffs.
Etc.
- Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman left in the first half because of an injured thumb but returned in the second half.
- Lynx forward Napheesa Collier entered Game 4 with 249 points in the playoffs, a WNBA record.
- Collier had more than three steals for the fourth time in the Finals, setting another record. She was one away from the Finals record of 16 steals entering the second half.
Staff writers Jerry Zgoda and Cassidy Hettesheimer contributed to this notebook.
Don’t be surprised if you spot the WNBA standout jamming at Twin Cities concerts.
