BROOKLYN, N.Y. — There was a moment in the frenetic and fantastic final minute of regulation in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals when the extremely energetic head coach of the Minnesota Lynx, Cheryl Reeve, looked like she was about to stop prowling the sidelines and jump onto the court to play defense.
When it was over, after a stunning four-point play by Courtney Williams and a crucial missed second free throw by Breanna Stewart that almost certainly would have won the game and the general back and forth of a heavyweight fight going the distance and then some, Reeve was happy to note it was the first time in WNBA postseason history that a team had been down by 15 points in the final five minutes of regulation and come back to win.
If she hadn’t mentioned it, the silence and shock of the New York Liberty crowd would have aptly told the story. What had looked like a certain victory on their home court evaporated with a furious rally by a team that had just played a Game 5 in its previous series two days earlier halfway across the country.
Sometimes the team on a roll stays on a roll, and that was Minnesota Thursday night. They were the ones who had no rest after their victory over Connecticut in Minneapolis Tuesday, they were the ones saddled with the quick turnaround, they were the ones who had to fly in one day and play the next — and they made it all work to their advantage.
“I think it defines our team in terms of being able to get through difficult times,” Reeve said after she had jumped for joy and dashed off the court into the locker room in triumph. “You have to be mentally tough, resilient. You have to look inward and not blame other people and give each other confidence and we were that team.”
They sure were, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said after having to witness it all from her front-row seat on the opposing bench.
“They lifted up the energy, they out-hustled us, we missed a lot of shots,” she said of how the Lynx took over as the game wound down. “They executed better than us, they found a way to win. They made plays down at the other end. They were blowing us up, they were being very physical. They went to another level.”
Much of this would have seemed impossible two hours earlier, when the Lynx were trailing, 32-19, after the first quarter. But Reeve, who coached the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in Paris two months ago, was not concerned.
“We know it’s a long series,” she said. “Nothing is won in the first quarter. It was not the first quarter that we were hoping for. What our narrative was in the time outs was we have to just find our footing, find our footing defensively, and we did in the second quarter. We held them to 12 after giving up 32. We went into halftime in good shape (down by eight).”
As the Lynx pulled themselves back into the game, Reeve and the players on the bench became more animated, sensing something big was brewing.
“Defensively we knew what we had to get done,” Reeve said. “We had to overcome a lot. … We got big stops when we needed ‘em. Repeatedly, whether balls going out of bounds, 50-50 balls, referees, whatever happens, jump balls, fouls, all that stuff, we just had to be gritty at the end, we had to get stops to win and that’s what I’m proud of.”
When Reeve and the Lynx arrived in New York Wednesday, she was asked what the turnaround had been like from Game 5 the previous evening in Minnesota.
“Quick,” she said.
“It is what it is, as we all know: TV. We just gotta make the best of it.”
That they most certainly did.