WNBA FINALS: MINNESOTA VS. NEW YORK

October 16, 2024

Cheryl Reeve

Napheesa Collier

Kayla McBride

Minnesota Lynx

Game 1: Postgame

New York Liberty 80, Minnesota Lynx 77

Q. You guys talked for a couple days about getting the good start and you got the good start and the offense got hard. What did you see?

CHERYL REEVE: You know, I thought as you said, we had the appropriate effort and focus on what we were doing. As the game wore on, the offense got harder and harder for us.

I just think that one of the things, and you know, like I was saying after Game 1, you feel like the ball isn't moving enough, and I think we got easy stuff when we were able to do that. We were taking hard shots. We had good shots. Didn't make shots, right, and that's what it comes down to.

Stewie was making shots. JJ's big three when we were up four, that was a big three. Then obviously Ionescu's shot at the end. It's a battle. We talked about that, players making plays. Unfortunately, we didn't make enough of them to put the ball in the hole.

Q. Talk about the ends of quarters, they were a problem tonight, 7-2, first two quarters, 11-2 to end the third quarter. What were you seeing happening there?

CHERYL REEVE: I mean, I'll let these guys talk about that. Go ahead, you guys. Jump in there.

NAPHEESA COLLIER: I feel like they were making plays at the end of shot clocks and like Coach said, we were getting really good looks. We just weren't executing on the offensive end.

It's just hard when you get that and then obviously they are a great offensive team and like Coach said in the locker room, it just puts a lot of pressure on our defense. I think we just need to make more shots, honestly.

Q. Any update on Alanna? Seemed like her back was bothering her?

CHERYL REEVE: I don't have an update, game finished what, 15 minutes ago? I haven't talked to the trainer.

Q. Kayla, what did you see on the last play?

KAYLA McBRIDE: Great player made a good shot. I guarded her for 40 minutes.

Q. Smith was battling through a lot of pain in addition to the foul trouble. What does that say about her toughness to hang in there despite dealing with a tremendous amount of pain?

CHERYL REEVE: Yeah, obviously give credit to Lan. She did what should he could do. We were plus 20 when she was on the floor. So it obviously hurt.

Our starting five is a really good starting five, and you know, not having Lan, foul trouble, and then just not feeling like she could go put us in a bit of a bind.

You know, tried different things. You know, just a little bit of a small lineup. See if we could spread the floor and get some easier shots but that didn't produce itself either. We need our starters, just like they need their starters.

Q. What was the difference in the second half compared to the first?

CHERYL REEVE: I don't necessarily know that it was -- obviously got fouled. She was, you know, asserting herself in that way. The game is called differently for Phee than it is for Stewie for sure. You look at the same level of activity, and around-the-rim contact. For whatever reason, we have a hard time getting to the foul line in this series.

I think they were getting some switches that they were picking on. You know, as Lan was switching on her. She made some great plays. She attacked, she made threes, she got it going.

Q. You said you need to make more shots, and you missed shots you normally make. Is it just that or is there anything for this game that you wanted to get out to a better start, do you think? The next game, do you keep doing the same things and hopefully make some shot?

CHERYL REEVE: Our defense gave us a chance to win the game. Our defense gave us a chance to win the game, period, and our offense is going to help our defense.

If you told me that we would have got the amount of stops that we did and we were playing off that, and we wouldn't have scored 80, that would be surprising to me. This team scored 80, it’s 77-all with the remaining seconds left.

I'll have to look at the film. I know when I was watching it live, I liked some of the shots that we were getting. I've seen our players make those shots.

You know, it's not to sit here and say, you know, that New York doesn't get credit for, you know, their defense. Just they are a good defensive team. I'll have to watch it but I felt like we got some good opportunities.

Q. You held JJ largely off the boards, she ended up with something like five, held Laney-Hamilton to just two points. You accomplished what you wanted to accomplish at the defensive end. Does that make it tougher to lose a game like this where so many of those objectives were met?

CHERYL REEVE: For sure, yeah. We just need to score the ball a couple times. Just a couple times. We were up four. Like I said, that JJ three sort of changed things for them, right. If we get that stop and we just score one or two more times, that's our game.

It's a hard-fought game, right. Really great game. That's one that, you know, we convert just a couple and it's our game.

So, our defense, and like the things that you mentioned, we did those things. We played well enough at that end. Obviously, it seems crazy to say when Stewie has 30 but you know, she had 38, 39 on us and they only scored 78, 79 points. We were right there.

Q. You've been through a lot of these types of series before. Is this just sort of -- I mean, it really does feel like a heavyweight battle. As tough as this game is, is it how you expected the series to feel?

CHERYL REEVE: For sure. For sure. That's what we just talked about. This is Phee's first Finals. So she's feeling these things for the first time. K-Mac has been there.

The hardest thing to do, I imagine you guys feel it when you are watching, there's so many ups and downs and swings and all around, and it takes special mental toughness and physical toughness to sort of weather those swings, and here we are. We're disappointed. We're home. We played well and just couldn't come up with the win.

It's important that you don't get too high when you win and too low when you lose, and it's really hard. It's really, really hard but we've got to dust ourselves off and get another crack at it here at home with our tremendous fans. And you know, we'll see what we can do on Friday.

Q. Your first WNBA finals. What have you learned so far in the first three games?

NAPHEESA COLLIER: Yeah, it feels great. I mean, that's something that -- obviously it's the ultimate goal is to be here and to get a win.

Doesn't feel great right now, obviously, with a loss. But I am excited to look at film and see what we can do better.

I do think this is our best defense in these two games against New York. So, I'm proud of us for that. But I think just executing more on the offensive end.

But it feels amazing. The crowd was awesome. To play at home in the Finals is such a rush. So definitely looking forward to the next game.

Q. Bridget Carleton has had a tough Finals so far. Seemed to get her shot falling. How much of an impact is she when she has that shot falling?

CHERYL REEVE: Her contributions today, she was back to being BC for us. So we were glad to see that, and we'll continue that into game four.