The New York Liberty‘s mindset has been one of a group determined to overcome a crushing home loss in Game 4 of the 2023 WNBA Finals that ended the season. Against the Atlanta Dream and the Las Vegas Aces, Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello has discussed the team’s focus on maintaining the home-court advantage they worked so hard to earn during the season.
The Minnesota Lynx overcame an 18-point deficit in the first half and were down 15 with just over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Lynx came back to send the game into overtime and were able to prevail 95-93 in Game 1 on Thursday, Oct. 10.
Napheesa Collier became the first player in WNBA Postseason history to record at least 21 points, grab 8 rebounds, block 6 shots and get 3 steals in a game.
Collier discussed the team’s mindset of just taking it one possession at a time when they trailed by double figures.
“We’ve been in situations where we’ve been down before, and that’s when we really got to lean on our defense, so that was 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 then a score,” she said.
Collier, who won the 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, was asked about her impact on that end of the floor.
“Every game I try to go impact defensively, especially when they’re going on a run like that,” she said. “They have amazing offensive players and so trying to be as disruptive as I can in situations, It just goes in preparation. Our coaches do a great job of preparing us and playing tendencies and just playing defense.”
The Lynx became the first team in WNBA Postseason history to win a game after trailing by 15 or more points in the final five minutes of regulation. Teams were previously 0-183 in that scenario.
Jonquel Jones led the Liberty with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
“I feel like they are really solid in their foundation,” Jones said of her opponent. “Even when you go back, when you watch that game when we were up by however much we were up by, nothing about their game changed. Nothing about their approach to it changed. They have complete confidence in their schemes and their plays and what they can do, and that if they play the way that they are supposed to play, they can get back into the game. I think that is something we can learn from them in terms of sometimes we start to get a little bit desperate and do things that are uncharacteristic of us. I think that was one of the main things we talked about, too, is just sticking to Liberty basketball, regardless of what’s going on.”
Game 2 of the WNBA Finals is slated for Oct. 13 at 3 p.m.
