Courtney Williams, Napheesa Collier spearhead improbable Lynx victory over Liberty: “It defines our team”

BROOKLYN — “What up y’all?”

Courtney Williams floated into the press conference room in a similar manner as she had two nights prior, in Minneapolis.

On Tuesday night, Williams was the hero in a do-or-die win against the Connecticut Sun, exploding for 24 points and starting the game a perfect 6-6 from the field.

On Thursday night — in front of a raucous crowd at Barclay’s Center for Game 1 of the WNBA Finals — the 30-year-old guard somehow one-upped herself. Her scoring output matched that of the prior games’, but the magnitude of her baskets exceeded any taken this postseason. With the Lynx trailing by 3 with 5.5 seconds to go, Williams was fouled on a made three-pointer by Sabrina Ionescu, converting a rare four-point play to give her team a one-point lead in the waning moments.

Breanna Stewart split a pair of free throws at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, where Williams scored two more baskets to help clinch the improbable victory.

Napheesa Collier, the MVP runner-up this season, put together a defensive masterpiece, racking up 6 blocks and 3 steals, punctuated by several clutch rejections in the waning moments. She also finished with 21 points on 10-16 shooting, and scored the game-winning turnaround jumper on Jonquel Jones with 8 seconds to play.

In turn, the Lynx, who were down by 18 in the first half, overcame the largest deficit in WNBA Finals history.

“I think it defines our team in terms of being able to get through difficult time,” said head coach Cheryl Reeve.

“We’ve been talking about it in all these interviews we’ve been giving — what we’re talking about is you have to be mentally tough, resilient. You have to look inward and not blame other people and give each other confidence, and we were that team.”

With 3 minutes to go, the Lynx trailed by 11, and Williams had only scored 10 points. But, she again finished the game with 24 points, exploding for 9 in the final minutes of regulation, and adding 5 in overtime.

As she has all year, Williams credited her teammates for her heroics.

“We have so many great three-point shooters. And the fact that these girls are trying to get me the ball — like I could cry. This is just amazing.”

And, as she has so many times this postseason, she expressed her gratitude for the chance to be in Minnesota after bouncing around teams for the duration of her WNBA career.

“I love being here,” Williams said. “I say that all the time, and I’ll just say that for fun — these people that I’m around, we believe in each other so much. Like, it’s crazy, man. I’m happy to be here.”

With the lights shining bright, Williams and Collier both recognized the magnitude of the moment, and elevated their game to ensure a series-altering victory. The response exemplified a year of togetherness and resilience for Minnesota.

The Liberty exploded for 32 first-quarter points — led by 10 from Jones, who finished the game with 24 points and 10 rebounds — but the Lynx were never rattled.

Instead, they tightened up their defense and held New York to just 12 second-quarter points, cutting an 18-point deficit to just 8 at the half. When the Liberty made another fourth quarter push to regain a double-digit lead, Minnesota responded yet again.

“We know it’s a long series, right? Nothing is won in the first quarter,” Reeve said. “It was not the first quarter that we were hoping for. What our narrative was — and the timeouts was — we had to find our footing, find our footing defensively. And we did.”

They needed some luck, too. Had Stewart hit the second of two free throws at the end of regulation, the game would have been over. But, she missed it, and the momentum shifted back to Minnesota.

“It felt we got a second chance,” Collier said.

At the end of overtime, Stewart missed another clean look at a layup that would have tied the game at the buzzer, but she clanked it off the backboard.

The series is not over. Stewart, Jones, and head coach Sandy Brondello all made sure to communicate that in a somewhat stunned postgame presser.

“I had a great look at the end, and I didn’t make it,” Stewart said. “But, I think that this is a series, and we wanted to really win, obviously, for home court. But the beauty is we have another game on Sunday, and we’ll be ready.”

But the Lynx, who have been overlooked all year, are one giant step closer to a WNBA championship. They’ll look to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series on Sunday.