Resiliency has been a theme all season for the Minnesota Lynx.
It might be an understatement to say that was needed Sunday.
After setting a dubious league record in the first half, the Lynx defense did a dynamic U-turn in the second half to beat Phoenix 82-69 in Game 1 of the best-of-five WNBA semifinals.
“We’ll go look at some things, and (Tuesday’s) Game 2 will be just as hard,” said coach Cheryl Reeve.
Before then a long look will be given to the first half, one in which the Mercury scored 42 of their 47 points in the paint. And, yes, that is a WNBA playoff record for points in the paint in a half.
Reeve had no special message for her team at the break, nor was one needed.
“We’ve been through a lot of adverse situations in the last two years together, so we always know it’s a team effort. In those moments we need to brainstorm or whatever. We’re not on islands; we’re doing it together. There was just another example of that in our halftime conversation,” said guard Kayla McBride.
Added Reeve: “You didn’t go back to the locker room with people blaming, they went right into listening and like what can we do together, who needs to do what. It’s a mature group, emotionally mature. I didn’t do anything to bring that along. That’s just who they’ve always been.”
Phoenix, which scored 24 first-quarter points and 23 in the second, scored just 22 in the second half, of which 12 were in the paint. The Mercury made just nine of 36 shots in the final two quarters, including 2 of 15 from outside the arc.
Kahleah Copper led Phoenix with 23 points, and Alyssa Thomas had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Many of Thomas’ 16 first-half points came when the Mercury used a small player to set a ball screen leading to easy looks on drives inside for the forward.
“Once we solved that they went to other areas in their offense, and we were mostly prepared for some of that,” Reeve said. “We knew it might take a little bit. It’s the first time we’ve seen this group as a Phoenix team whole.”
Minnesota won three of four regular-season meetings, all before the all-star break, when both teams were missing players.
Courtney Williams led Minnesota with 23 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and a career-high five steals.
McBride had 21 points and six rebounds, and Napheesa Collier, who finished second in the league MVP voting that was announced Sunday, added 18 points and nine rebounds in front of 10,121 boisterous “Claws Out” towel-waving fans in Target Center.
Yet, Minnesota’s potential player of the game saw just under eight minutes on the court, all but 26 seconds of that in the fourth quarter.
“She really gave us a jolt towards the end,” McBride said of Maria Kliundikova, whose stat line includes four points, four rebounds and two steals.
With the game tied at 59, Kliundikova opened the quarter with a steal and grabbed an offensive rebound 65 seconds later that led to a McBride triple.
With just under four minutes to go, and after sitting out for about 2 1/2 minutes, another offensive rebound by the 6-foot-4 forward resulted in another McBride 3-pointer for a 73-67 lead. A Kliundikova steal began a play where she scored on a layup from Williams with 90 seconds left to make it 80-67.
“Maash rose to the occasion for us,” Reeve said. “Her minutes were the best eight minutes of the game. Credit to Maash for being ready and being big. She did what she needed to do, getting a jump ball when we needed it, boards, the loose defensive rebounds.”
“She was definitely a game-changer for us,” Williams said. “When you’re sitting most of the game and have to come in and make that instant impact, you just got to be mentally strong, and that’s exactly what she did. Eight minutes (she was a) plus-14.”
The Lynx played without DiJonai Carrington, named to the league’s 2024 All-Defensive first team, who will miss the rest of the season with a left foot injury.
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