PHOENIX — The Minnesota Lynx’s season has ended in devastating fashion, again.
The Lynx entered the postseason with the No. 1 overall ranking one year removed from losing the 2024 WNBA Finals to the New York Liberty in a decisive Game 5 that went to overtime. Head coach Cheryl Reeve blasted “disappointing officiating” following the championship series and said the title was “stolen.”
That loss fueled Minnesota, who returned six players from last year’s Finals roster, which had all the makings to write a storybook ending. A franchise-high 33 wins. The top ranked offense and the league’s best defense. The MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier, Co-Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith and Sixth Player of the Year finalist Natisha Hiedeman. The No. 1 overall seed and home-court advantage.
Minnesota only needed a WNBA title to complete this chapter. But yet again, the Lynx fell just short in midst of more controversy.
“It’s never about anything else but each other,” Kayla McBride said through tears on Sunday after the Lynx were eliminated by the Phoenix Mercury in the best-of-five semifinal series. “To be close two years in a row and hit adverse situations each and every time for the people that you love, your sisters, your family, s— f—ing hurts.”
The Lynx went to war against the Mercury in Game 4 on Sunday without their general, head coach Cheryl Reeve, or captain Napheesa Collier, who were both caught in the aftermath of the Lynx’s chaotic Game 3 loss. Collier was ruled out with a left ankle injury suffered in the final minute of Game 3, while Reeve was serving a one-game suspension for her conduct and comments after the injury blasting ‘awful’ officiating following her ejection.
It was win or go home for the short-handed Lynx. Despite letting a 13-point fourth-quarter lead slip from their grasp, acting head coach Eric Thibault said the Lynx showed resilience and perseverance in midst of adversity.
‘That’s who these guys have been now for a long time,’ he said.
McBride and her teammates will spend another offseason thinking about what could have been.
‘It’s hard, especially when you lay everything out there,’ said McBride, who finished with a game-high 31 points, shooting 10-of-23 including 6-of-11 from the 3-point line. ‘You want it for the people that grind with you every single day; the good days, bad days, bus rides, locker room.
‘That’s why it’s painful because you just want it to keep going and it’s done.’
Injuries, adversity piles up for Minnesota Lynx
The Lynx opened the postseason by sweeping the No. 8 seed Golden State Valkyries in two games, although Minnesota had to claw its way back from a 17-point deficit in Game 2. The Lynx were the only team to advance to the semifinals in a sweep as the other three series went to Game 3. Reeve said the comeback win showed her a lot about her team’s resilience and character.
‘We have the experience of hard games. We’ve been tried and tested. Especially last year we went through (the Finals) and have our core team back,’ Collier said. ‘We’re trying to reach a collective goal.’
However, some things are beyond anyone’s control.
Minnesota didn’t escape the first-round series against the Valkyries unscathed. Lynx guard Dijonai Carrington (left foot) was ruled out for the postseason with a significant mid-foot sprain suffered in the Lynx’s Game 2 win against the Golden State Valkyries on Sept. 17, dealing a blow to the Lynx’s depth.
The injury issues didn’t stop there.
An irate Reeve charged the officials for arguing for a foul call on Thomas and was ejected. In her postgame remarks, Reeves doubled down and called Game 3’s officiating ‘awful’ in an expletive-laden rant. The WNBA promptly handed Reeve a suspension for Game 4, crippling an already short-handed Lynx squad at a critical moment.
Both Collier and Carrington arrived to Game 4 on scooters wearing street clothes. A walking boot was surely not the fashion accessory either had in mind for their semifinal tunnel walks, but Collier kept her spirits high and led her team in a chant as they took the court at PHX Arena for the do-or-die Game 4.
‘Los Lynx! Los Lynx! Let it ride,’ the team chanted as Collier glided to the beat on her scooter as her teammates danced behind her, highlighting their chemistry and team-first mentality that led them to the No. 1 overall seed.
“We all operate off the power of friendship,’ said Smith, who finished with eight points, eight rebounds, two blocks and one steal on Sunday. ‘I truly believe a group of people that just like each other, enjoys being around each other translates to on court and we’re able to hold each other accountable.”
Kayla McBride: ‘I wouldn’t trade that locker room for anything’
The Lynx were their own biggest critics after relinquishing a 20-point lead to the Mercury in Game 2 in Minneapolis. ‘We beat ourselves,’ Collier said. But, Minnesota was never able to rebound and lost the next two games to the Mercury to lose the semifinal series, including another blown double-digit lead Sunday.
‘We got a target on our back. That’s what we wanted,’ said Williams, who finished with 20 points, six assists and two steals in the Lynx’s 86-81 Game 4 loss. ‘We got in the gym and we stacked our days and got hit with that injury bug. And this is hard, but what’s for us, ain’t never going to miss us. So shout out to them girls coming out here playing hard … shout out to us for not giving up.’
This year’s postseason exit is eerily similar to last year, where the Lynx felt as if circumstances outside of their control interfered with their end goal. Although the Lynx finished short of the title again, they still enjoyed the journey.
‘I’ve been here five years and to be so close and you just want it for the people around you,’ McBride said. ‘It’s tough, but I wouldn’t trade that locker room for anything. I would feel like this a hundred times over to be with the people that I’ve been with.’
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