To keep its “Drive for Five” alive, the Minnesota Lynx will need to rebound once again — and then again.
And probably without their best player.
Following Friday’s 84-76 loss in Phoenix, top-seeded Minnesota trails 2-1 in the best-of-five WNBA semifinal series. Game 4 is Sunday in Arizona.
Coach Cheryl Reeve did not see the end of the game in person.
The Lynx boss was assessed her second technical foul of the game with 21.8 seconds left — and had to be restrained by other coaches — after Alyssa Thomas stole a ball from Napheesa Collier and drove in for an uncontested layup to, basically, ice the game.
On the knee-to-knee collision between each team’s superstar, Collier badly rolled her left ankle and was lying on the floor and slapping the court with her hand as Thomas made her drive. She needed assistance going to the locker room.
Reeve’s first technical was being upset with the officials for the physicality being used on Collier in the second quarter.
Reeve did not hold back postgame.
“We’ve talked about how dangerous it can be. You’re hearing it from the other series, you’re hearing other coaches. You’re hearing (Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon) talk about when you let the physicality happen, people get hurt,” Reeve said. “There’s fights, and this is the look that our league wants for some reason. We were trying to play through it. We tried to make excuses.
“One of the best players in the league shot zero free throws and she had five fouls. Zero free throws. Got her shoulder pulled out and finished the game with her leg being taken out and probably has a fracture. And so, if this is what our league wants, OK, but I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating. It’s bad for the game.
“The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinals playoff worthy is (expletive) malpractice.
“I can take an L with the best of them. I don’t think we should have to play through more than what they did. We got players, Masha’s on the glass and gets (expletive) cracked and there’s no call and all them said, ‘It wasn’t mine. It wasn’t my call, I don’t know, I didn’t see it that way.’ They’re (expletive) awful.”
Natisha Hiedeman scored 19 points off the bench and reserve Maria Kliundikova added eight, including a trio of big shots in the fourth. But it wasn’t enough because the Lynx shot just 3 for 16 in the final frame and were outscored 21-9.
Before the game, Reeve spoke about getting more from Lynx reserves, who had just three points in Game 2.
“They were big part of our identity,” she said. “Not getting production from them is something that’s on our minds and we need to get them going. We’ve talked about, collectively, how we can help them and make sure our play-calling represents the ability to get them some opportunities. We need them, for sure.”
Collier led the Lynx starters with 17 points, Courtney Williams added 14 and Kayla McBride had 12.
“We not out of it,” Williams said. “We still here; we still a great team. Make our adjustments. When it comes to playoffs or any game, you can’t get too high, you can’t get too low. That’s the message. We still got a game we got to win.”
This was the second straight game that Minnesota did not finish strong. Neither Collier nor Hiedeman scored in the final quarter.
The Lynx, who blew a 20-point third-quarter lead in Tuesday’s 89-83 overtime Game 2 loss, had a defensive meltdown early in the fourth as the Mercury scored the first seven points, including four at the rim, for a 70-67 lead.
Phoenix outscored Minnesota 42-28 in the paint.
A 3-pointer by McBride gave Minnesota a 74-72 lead, but Sabou Sabally drained a pair of 3-pointers around a Kliundikova basket to make it 78-76 Phoenix.
Originally Published:
0 Comments