WNBA FINALS: MINNESOTA VS. NEW YORK

October 10, 2024

Cheryl Reeve

Napheesa Collier

Courtney Williams

Minnesota Lynx

Game 1: Postgame

Minnesota Lynx 95, New York Liberty 93 (OT)

Q. Coach, you've seen a lot in seven trips to the Finals. Where does what these two did in the last eight minutes of the game rank?

CHERYL REEVE: We are the first team in WNBA playoff history to be down 15 and come back and win the game. So that ranks really high.

I think it defines our team in terms of being able to get through difficult times. That's what we say, we've been talking about, all these interviews we've been given, that's what we are talking about: You have to be mentally tough and resilient. You have to look inward and not blame other people, and give each other confidence.

And we were that team. You know, thrilled that we could hang in there.

Q. Courtney, your father told us that the Lynx were going to come back and that you were going to go off. What does he know about you and this team that he was able to be so confident?

COURTNEY WILLIAMS: I mean, he believes in us like we believe in ourselves. I think we have such a tight-knit circle with our families involved as well, and we all know what we can do in that. We never give up.

He embodies all of our families. They all believe that we can come back and we can win and we can stay composed and hopefully win. The basketball gods were on our side tonight.

Q. There have been names swirling around about your mid-range game. "Mistress of the Mid-range." I feel like more appropriate would maybe be "Monster," "Maniac." If you had to pick one, what would you go with?

COURTNEY WILLIAMS: Honestly, whatever the folks want to call me, I'm with whatever. As long as they're showing love. If you show me love, you can call me whatever.

Q. The other day you were talking about when you signed with Minnesota that you knew you were going to have to be more of a distributor and you were happy to play that role; that you've learned a lot. But I wondered if at some point in a huddle today, one of you said, like, well, I can still score, so that's what I'm going to go do right now? Because you hit two huge threes.

COURTNEY WILLIAMS: That's just a testament to how we believe in each other. We have so many great three-point shooters, and the fact that these girls are out here trying to get me the ball, I mean, I could cry. This is amazing. I love it.

I say that all the time, and I don't say that for fun. These people I'm around, we believe in each other so much. It's crazy, man. I'm happy to be here.

CHERYL REEVE: From a basketball standpoint, Courtney recognized that she had to get more aggressive. Not pick up her dribble. Her team needed her to be aggressive to go score the basketball. We needed some help. Phee got going as well. But Courtney has been around for a while. She has been in Finals games, and she knows her team needed her to get aggressive.

Q. With the emotional ups and downs of this game and going down by 18, the way that regulation ended, even just the way that overtime ended, how did you all stay composed and stay resilient? Was there something you said to the team as a leader? Separately, how would you describe the defensive impact you made tonight?

NAPHEESA COLLIER: I think just taking it one possession at a time. We've been in situations where we've been down before, and that's when we really lean on our defense. That's something we were talking about, getting three stops in a row, chipping at it a little bit at a time. Not thinking about the point difference, but thinking about the possession that we need to get a stop and a score. That's just what we were talking about at halftime.

Just every game, I try to go out and impact defensively. Especially when they are going on a run like that, they have amazing offensive players, and so trying to be as disruptive as I can.

Q. How do you put yourself in your mind for moments like when you are defending Breanna Stewart, when you have to be aggressive, when you know that they are going to be physical on you? Where does your mind go and how do you put yourself in a mindset to not only retaliate as far as being physical but maintaining your composure and poise in those late-game situations?

NAPHEESA COLLIER: It just goes in preparation. Our coaches do a great job of preparing us and playing tendencies and just playing defense.

Again, they are great offensive players. They are going to make plays. I just have to make it as hard as I can.

Q. Where does that shot rank for you, that four-point play, in your whole life, when you made that shot and also making the free throw? And now that you look back on it, both and you Napheesa and Cheryl, where does that shot rank for and you witnessing that moment and her making the four-point play?

COURTNEY WILLIAMS: I don't know where it ranks. It's 1 right now because we are here. I like to be where my feet are planted. So it's 1 right now.

CHERYL REEVE: I'm just happy she made a clutch free throw, if you go and look --

COURTNEY WILLIAMS: (Laughing).

CHERYL REEVE: That helped her a little bit, clutch free throws, that was good.

The five assists, does the one you threw to Sab, does that count?

COURTNEY WILLIAMS: I messed that up (laughing).

Q. After the first quarter didn't feel like it was going to be one of your quintessential defensive performances --

CHERYL REEVE: I didn't feel that way. Those are your words.

Q. Didn't feel like a game where you were going to hold them to under 40 percent shooting. What was the initial rebound effect to sort of steady the thing and chip away?

CHERYL REEVE: We know it's a long series. Nothing is won in the first quarter. It was not the first quarter that we were hoping for. What our narrative was in the timeouts was just we had to find our footing. Find our footing defensively, and we did the second quarter. We held them to 12 after giving up 32. We went into halftime in good shape.

No question about it, the second-chance points are really, really disappointing. That could have really cost us, and we were very, very fortunate that we overcame that. But defensively, we knew what we had to get done. Once our offense improved a little bit and we stopped turning the ball over.

But they played terrific. I thought New York played terrific. Their pace was terrific. They run so many great things. They are unique in what they do. They found JJ repeatedly. She had a tremendous game. We had to overcome a lot.

And then you look up at the end, and you know, we held them below 40 percent, which is monumental. A lot of that was obviously late. We got big stops when we needed them. Repeatedly, whether ball is going out of bounds or 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.

Q. Alanna Smith, she doesn't blow you away on statistics compared to Courtney and Napheesa, but it just seems like she does the small things really, really well: screening, rebounding. Can you just talk about the intangibles that she brings?

CHERYL REEVE: Well said. Alanna is one of our highest WARP players, if you're into analytics. She's one of our highest. You know, like you said, she's not going to wow you. She's not going to fly around, scoring the ball, making post moves. It's not her. But what she does for our team, both offensively and defensively, it's not underappreciated, I can tell you that. It's a little bit understated. People have to really watch to recognize what she does for us. Fighting through. Every night, she's playing against the opposing team's big, and she's not big. And so if you look at the success that she has in doing that, it's the reason why we're sitting here today in the Finals. She's Second Team All-Defense, along with (Collier as) Defensive Player of the Year. Those two are the heart and soul of our defense.

Q. You mentioned the rebounding a little bit, and the stats say you were outrebounded by a fairly wide margin for most of the game. Is it not necessarily the margin or the number of rebounds compared to when you get those rebounds?

CHERYL REEVE: No, it is the margin. It is the margin. But I hear what you're saying, in that when it mattered, we got some hustle plays. And we always say, you never know which one is going to be the difference between winning and losing.

That last possession, I think we learned from an earlier playoff game when we were down how we wanted to play that last possession. And so being aggressive and getting the three ball and do what we had to do, if one didn't go in, you know, get as many chances as we could get.

Q. You had a four-minute stretch in the fourth quarter where you play Phee at the five and downsized with Natisha next to Courtney in the backcourt. Given the rebounding disparity and how well Jonquel had been playing, what gave you the confidence?

CHERYL REEVE: If the bigs weren't rebounding, might as well go small. Couldn't get any worse, right? What we wanted was a couple ball handlers, get downhill, try to get some easier stuff and pace, etc. That was actually, I don't know if it was Katie (Smith) or Rebekkah (Brunson), but it was something that they asked for and it was a really good call.

Q. Phee, when you were called for that foul, eight tenths of a second in regulation, felt like that overtime loss here earlier this season. When she missed that second one, was that kind of a galvanizing force for you guys into overtime like, look, we have another chance, let's get it done?

NAPHEESA COLLIER: Yeah, it felt like we got a second chance. Obviously you don't want to be put in that position. Wish I wouldn't have fouled. Wish it wouldn't have been called, whatever it was.

But yeah, you're not thinking about that in the second. You're just thinking making sure they didn't get the rebound, making sure we're boxing out and going to our next play. So yeah, that's what I was thinking about.

Q. I saw that Lindsay Whalen traveled to New York with the team to watch the game today and I was sitting in front of her. Did she impart any words to you all?

NAPHEESA COLLIER: I didn't know she was here.

CHERYL REEVE: She was texting to the bench. A lot of the good stuff we did, she was sending (laughter).

Q. Cheryl, you have spoken about concern about the way your team is finishing games throughout those playoffs. I imagine that's not an issue tonight. Wondering what you saw differently out of your team tonight and the way they finished just specifically?

CHERYL REEVE: The games that we were talking about, we were up. We were managing leads. We weren't finishing well. The fundamental difference is we were down. So obviously we finish games better when we're down, based on the playoffs.

But that was what I was referring to, was managing leads better, playing all the way through to the end of the game.