MINNEAPOLIS — As Lindsay Whalen’s face appeared on the JumboTron in Goal Heart on Tuesday night time to a raucous reception, the Minnesota Lynx PA announcer took some liberties along with her introduction. “She’s an avid golfer,” he quipped about arguably probably the most well-known homegrown basketball participant in Minnesota … earlier than stating the apparent. “And her No. 13 jersey is retired within the rafters.”
From a courtside seat, Whalen watched because the Lynx punched their ticket to the WNBA Finals with an 88-77 semifinals win over the Connecticut Solar, marking the franchise’s first journey to the finals since 2017, when Whalen helped lead Minnesota to its fourth championship in seven seasons.
After that 2017 run, the band remained collectively for an additional season, however by 2019, Whalen, Maya Moore and Rebekkah Brunson had retired. That very same 12 months, Cheryl Reeve used her No. 6 WNBA Draft choose to take Napheesa Collier out of UConn. Collier’s numbers, on the time, reminded Reeve of Moore and fellow UConn alum Breanna Stewart, who had simply received her first WNBA MVP title in 2018.
Six years later, it’s Collier who’s the face of Minnesota basketball. So it got here as no shock that on the last buzzer, Collier almost sprinted straight throughout the court docket to hug Whalen, who’s enshrined in Lynx lore for what she did for this franchise within the 2010s.
Lindsay Whalen is in the home for Recreation 5 tonight!! @Lindsay_13 #lynxrecognize #wnba pic.twitter.com/GiTJUTtJvk
— Wendell Epps (@epps_wendell) October 9, 2024
Collier stated it’s significant to have “somebody who’s such a Corridor of Famer and has gone by way of this and finished what I need to obtain. … I needed to present her a hug simply to say thanks for exhibiting up for us, for exhibiting up for me and the workforce. Thanks for passing this legacy on to us as a result of it means quite a bit, and (I) undoubtedly need to do her proud and proceed. The job just isn’t finished.”
The following a part of the job? A monumental job. In New York, the Lynx face a workforce that was assembled to win titles. The Liberty introduced in a number of former MVPs (Stewart and Jonquel Jones) they usually added Courtney Vandersloot, who might play effectively with Sabrina Ionescu, their very own drafted guard. New York acquired German star Leonie Fiebich (drafted in 2020 however acquired by New York in 2023) to come back over to the States to play within the WNBA.
New York is a workforce dripping in All-Stars, accolades and expectations.
Frankly, it doesn’t look all that totally different from Reeve’s final workforce that made it to the finals. She had 5 starters on her 2017 squad who at the moment are in numerous (and a number of) Halls of Fame. She had 4 gamers who received gold medals with the U.S. Olympic workforce. She had a beginning core whose jerseys all dangle within the rafters alongside Whalen’s No. 13.
This 12 months’s Minnesota workforce? Within the preseason, it was picked to complete ninth. There’s Collier, a bona fide star and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Her jersey isn’t within the rafters but, however along with her present trajectory, it looks like solely a matter of time. However she is perhaps the one one whose jersey hangs alongside the opposite greats’ on the finish of the day.
“Becky Hammon in Vegas described us pretty much as good gamers (who make) a fantastic workforce,” Reeve stated. “That’s what’s so particular about this workforce — we didn’t scare anyone. I’m undecided anyone at any level within the season was like, ‘Yeah, they’ve an actual shot at profitable a championship,’ apart from the individuals which can be in our nook.”
No coach has received extra postseason video games than Reeve (47 — the identical quantity the Phoenix Mercury and Los Angeles Sparks have as whole franchises). She is aware of that to win within the postseason, you must have expertise and a lead guard you belief and who elevates each participant round her. It’s worthwhile to have a participant like Collier, whose steadiness permeates the whole workforce. (It helps when that chief performs at an MVP stage, too.)
Reeve is aware of, particularly, that groups that make it to the finals must be selfless.
After the Lynx win, Courtney Williams recalled a second following a regular-season sport towards the Dallas Wings. Reeve had pulled Williams apart within the locker room to inform her that beneath the difficult components of the sport, she thought Williams bent.
“From that second, I invited laborious,” Williams stated. “Clearly, these conversations don’t need to occur with Phee — not that I do know of — or any of the opposite gamers. I simply didn’t need to be that individual to let the teaching employees down or my teammates down, simply giving in to laborious. We embody that. None of us give in to laborious.”
With a WNBA Finals matchup towards the Liberty and coming off 5 relentless video games towards Connecticut, it doesn’t get a lot more durable. Minnesota might need gone 3-1 towards New York throughout the common season, however just like the Lynx, the Liberty have elevated their sport within the postseason.
“The truth that we have now labored so laborious and we genuinely like one another a lot makes it sweeter. It makes you need to win for them, too. It’s not simply you need to get the accolade of profitable a championship; you need to do it in your teammates as effectively,” Collier stated. “We need to preserve enjoying as a result of we need to keep collectively. We all know yearly appears to be like totally different. This workforce won’t ever be the very same once more. Not solely can we need to win a championship, however we don’t need to go away one another but. And that’s a fantastic feeling.”
Mentioned Reeve: “We’re joyful that we’re going to the finals. However we’re not going to be simply joyful to be there.”
(Photograph of Courtney Williams and Napheesa Collier: David Sherman / NBAE through Getty Photographs)
