New York Liberty, Minnesota Lynx look to reset for Game 2 after chaotic WNBA Finals opener
NEW YORK – It’s Thursday night, the final buzzer sounds, media obligations are over, phones are blowing up with messages from everyone and anyone, and one of the most dramatic and memorable WNBA Finals games in the league’s history is in the rearview mirror .
What now?
You can try to live in an emotional high (or low) life for as long as possible, enjoying the joy or remembering the pain for motivation. Or wash it all away and move on, knowing that there are at least two more games left in the series.
One thing the Lynx and Liberty players had in common after Thursday’s epic Game 1 overtime victory by the Lynx: Many of them turned to the movies. Even before the teams came together Saturday to regroup for Game 2, several players had to watch the game again.
“I didn’t sleep until 4:30 that night,” Lynx guard Kayla McBride said. “I told everyone my soul left my body when Courtney (Williams) made that 3. I had to watch the game to calm down.”
we are not satisfied with one victory. pic.twitter.com/ifWDJoQSWl
— Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) October 12, 2024
Courtney Vandersloot felt the same way after New York’s loss. While she intentionally wanted to look ahead to the great opportunity they still have in this series, she had to revisit the ending with her wife, former WNBA champion Allie Quigley.
“We went back to watching the last five minutes and overtime together, which we normally wouldn’t do, but there were a few things we were analyzing that we didn’t agree on,” Vandersloot said. “I think if we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have been able to sleep. So it was kind of like, let’s get it out there, let’s figure it out.
Breanna Stewart wanted to see her missed free throw with 0.8 seconds left in regulation, the one that would have given New York the win, to make sure she hadn’t strayed from her routine. Leonie Fiebich replayed the entire game three more times, because it kept replaying in her head.
Not wanting to see her fade more than a few times over Jonquel Jones, Lynx star Napheesa Collier, who hit the game-winner in overtime, stayed away from social media. But Williams didn’t have that same luxury. Despite wanting to advance to Game 2, the biggest shot of the night kept repeating itself around her.
“My dad overdosed on it,” Williams said. “Even if I didn’t want to look at it, he would have overdosed.”
Besides Quigley and Don Williams, the other families and friends played a big role in allowing the players to relax from the theater of Game 1.
Stewart said her children don’t notice whether she wins or loses, although she is less prone to profanity in the aftermath of losses — even if her reaction to the late misses was “WTF” — because she doesn’t want the little ones. hearing swear words. She also had former teammate Sue Bird and Nancy Lieberman reach out, who essentially told her to bounce back. Sabrina Ionescu had 25 relatives from California present to help her think about something other than basketball. Although she said her husband’s optimism can be annoying at times, she acknowledged that it was helpful to get positive affirmations from those around her.
Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve’s family took her to see the musical “The Lion King” in between hours of film breakdown. Her mind wandered during the production, which she had seen before, but she continued because she and her wife wanted their son to see his first Broadway show. Many of her players ended up seeing “The Notebook” — Bridget Carleton noted that the first pick, “Wicked,” was sold out — on what ended up being their first real day off in several weeks.
Ultimately, the day off doesn’t matter as much as what the Liberty and Lynx will do in Game 2. Stewart and Ionescu both said what made it easiest moving forward was that they saw numerous ways New York could be better than in the second game. opener. They saw opportunities to improve their pace and increase their off-ball plays, both of which are in line with how the Liberty have been playing thus far.
And Minnesota was already thinking about how the last series went, when Connecticut stole Game 1 on the road but lost in five. If the Lynx don’t close out this series, the heroics of Game 1 will diminish and the height they rode on Thursday will be lost to history. In the playoffs, there is only so much time to live in the moment. There is always another game on the horizon.
“We certainly don’t come in thinking we’ve won this case,” Collier said. “We were able to steal that game, but it doesn’t mean anything. It means they’ll come out even hungrier in Game 2. It will be a battle.”
— The Athletics‘s Ben Pickman contributed to this story.
(Photo of Kayla McBride and Sabrina Ionescu: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)
