New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx look to reset for Game 2 after chaotic start to WNBA Finals

NEW YORK – It's Thursday night, the final buzzer sounds, the media engagements are over, the phones are buzzing with messages from all and sundry, and one of the most dramatic and memorable WNBA Finals games in league history is in the spotlight.

What now?

You can try to live in the emotional high (or low) for as long as possible, savoring the joy or remembering the pain for motivation. Or wash it all away and move on, knowing there are at least two games left in the series.

One thing Lynx and Liberty players had in common after the Lynx's epic overtime win in Game 1 on Thursday: Many of them turned to film. Even before the teams met on Saturday to regroup before Game 2, several players had to watch the game again.

“I didn’t sleep until about 3:30 that night,” Lynx guard Kayla McBride said. “I told everyone my soul left my body when Courtney (Williams) made the 3. I had to watch the game to calm myself down.”

We won't be satisfied with a win. pic.twitter.com/ifWDJoQSWl

– Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) October 12, 2024

Courtney Vandersloot felt similarly after the defeat in New York. Even though she wanted to look forward to the great opportunity this series still presents, she had to watch the ending again with her wife, former WNBA champion Allie Quigley.

“We went back together and watched the last five minutes and overtime, which we wouldn't normally do, but there were a few things that we analyzed and disagreed on,” Vandersloot said. “I think if we hadn't done that we wouldn't have been able to sleep. So it was like let’s put it out there and figure it out.”

Breanna Stewart wanted to see her missed free throw with 0.8 seconds left that would have given New York the win to make sure she hadn't deviated from her routine. Leonie Fiebich played the whole game three more times because it still kept playing in her head.

Lynx star Napheesa Collier, who scored the game-winning goal in overtime, didn't want to watch her beat Jonquel Jones more than a few times and stayed away from social media. But Williams didn't have the same luxury. Even though she wanted to move on to Game 2, the biggest image of the night kept repeating itself around her.

“My dad overdosed on it,” Williams said. “Even though I didn't want to see it, he overdosed.”

Aside from Quigley and Don Williams, other families and friends were instrumental in helping the players recover from the drama of the first game.

Stewart said her children don't notice whether she wins or loses, although she is less prone to profanity after losses – even if her reaction to the late misses was “WTF” – because she doesn't want the little ones to hear swear words. Her former teammates Sue Bird and Nancy Lieberman also reached out to her and essentially told her to get back on her feet. Sabrina Ionescu had 25 family members from California in attendance to help her think about something other than basketball. Although she said her husband's optimism can be annoying at times, she acknowledged that it helps to receive positive reinforcement from the people around her.

Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve's family took her to see the musical “The Lion King” while she trashed the movie for hours. Her mind wandered during the performance she had seen earlier, but she managed to push through because she and her wife wanted their son to see his first Broadway show. Many of her players ended up watching “The Notebook” – Bridget Carleton noted that the first choice, “Wicked”, was sold out – and this ended up being their first real day off work in several weeks.

Ultimately, the day off isn't as important as what the Liberty and Lynx will do in Game 2. Stewart and Ionescu both said they found it easiest to move on because they saw plenty of opportunities for New York to be better than they were in the opener. They saw opportunities to improve their tempo and increase the number of off-ball actions, both of which are consistent with the Liberty's previous style of play.

And Minnesota was already thinking about how its last series went when Connecticut stole Game 1 on the road but lost in five games. If the Lynx don't close out this series, the heroics of Game 1 will fade and the peak they reached on Thursday will be lost to history. There's only so much time to live in the moment in the playoffs. Another game is always in sight.

“We definitely don’t come in thinking we won this thing,” Collier said. “We were able to steal this game, but it means nothing. This means they will come out of Game 2 even hungrier. It’s going to be a fight.”

— The athleteBen Pickman contributed to this story.

(Photo of Kayla McBride and Sabrina Ionescu: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)