NBA Trade Grades: Bridges To The Knicks, And Something Cooking In Houston
NEW YORK -- — Napheesa Collier and the Minnesota Lynx put the WNBA on notice that they are a championship caliber team.
Bridget Carleton scored 23 points and Collier added 21 to help the Lynx win their first Commissioner's Cup championship with a 94-89 victory over the New York Liberty on Tuesday night.
“Means a lot. Testament to where we are at this season,” Collier said. “This is the best group. Our personalities mesh so well. Any night anyone can have 20. Bridget had an outstanding game. It’s so fun.”
The Lynx became the fourth different team to win the Cup in the event's four-year history and continued the trend of the host team losing. New York was trying to be the first to repeat as champions after winning in Las Vegas last season.
“It’s really good, always want to win championships,” Collier said. “This is a championship we won, but there’s still work to be done. A lot of games to be played. We want to build on this. We don’t want to peak here. This is amazing at the end of the day we want to achieve bigger things than this at the end of the season."
The game was tied at 60 late in the third quarter when Carleton and Cecilia Zandalasini hit consecutive 3-pointers to start a 10-0 run that spanned the periods.
Breanna Stewart scored nine straight points to get the Liberty within 70-69, but they could never regain the lead. Courtney Williams and Carleton scored the next five points for Minnesota and New York never really threatened again.
“What I’m proud of is we answered every run on the road and that tells you everything about our basketball team,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said.
Collier, who also had six rebounds and three assists, won the game’s MVP award.
Stewart scored 24 points and Sabrina Ionescu added 23.
“I think that they executed better than us and that’s it, both ends of the floor,” Stewart said. “We weren’t able to get anything we wanted. Twenty-one turnovers is never going to win the game.”
Jonquel Jones, who has been fantastic for the Liberty all season, struggled on Tuesday night. She missed all three of her field-goal attempts and didn't score until hitting two free throws with 1:20 left.
“JJ has been playing great, they really took her out of the game, made it hard for her to catch the ball,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said.
The game was moved from the Liberty's usual home Barclays Center to UBS Arena — about 20 miles away — because the NBA draft was being held there Wednesday night and there wasn't enough time to changeover the arena after the game.
Even though it wasn't their normal home, the Liberty faithful showed up and were loud, trying to spur on their team to victory.
New York built a 47-37 lead midway through the second quarter before the Lynx scored eight straight points to get within two. The Liberty led 50-47 at the break as Ionescu had 18 points and Kayla Thornton 14.
The Liberty welcomed back Courtney Vandersloot, who hadn't played since June 4 to be with her mom who passed away two weekends ago. She checked in for the first time with 3:30 left in the opening quarter and finished with four points.
“Shows a lot about who she is and how much she cares about being a part of this team,” Ionescu said. “Wanting to sacrifice to suit up and be available to us. Credit to her, it's so tough to do what she's doing."
New York also saw the return of Betnijah-Laney Hamilton, who had been sidelined with right knee soreness for the past week. She was back in the starting lineup, finishing with 13 points.
FINANCIAL INCENTIVE
The teams for the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup will split a prize pool of $500,000. Players on Minnesota can make up to $30,000 while each player on New York makes $10,000. Every player competing will also receive $5,000 in crypto currency.
There was also a charitable component with New York raising $15,000 for Women Creating Change and Minnesota earning $13,500 for Gender Justice. The Lynx earned an additional $10,000 for their charity by winning and the Liberty received $5,000 for finishing second.
------
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Gandhi3 1075x1436 1920w 393755e7a9bd2660c19b90fb1b066784 09ef485132b3d10f42506b025431913e Aaada8183e21acdaa3b4bf8c3701b070 8cab2c99a56de61fecae4f9abb35c76e Figure Painting Figurative Art 867c46e2a78e9c50c30fe76ad72d84db Bc9b61b10d3160e4dda87442b57a001b 27817ba5e6800db9cd51ca709928ea20 DO4 IMG1 IM Buis Barry Tearz RGB 1c8decbbe596791e7e4a39cbe9b288c1 3417d25cd67c8ffd04971ade5be2595e 1ef7d9476dbbfa4ff6723793b6dafbbe 377de0d8205a8ebb59a6016fd6398e76 The Shades Of Last Evening Figurative Art Scaled 12246b0fb14aad12d2823bb2df3258b2 6f4e6ff9af4dc2ed46b571fae148191b 2d941ddb5166051060f899a25677b47c Figurative E17594834194a63006340d22c8dff9a9 7bd5c706afe1f060235eb7de6a8449e2 FigurativePainters2016Edition2 8d42116fc0e5a608b0ab787ae5deac6f 830d2e7e26e7c3937670e8fefb8586f4 11e03bdf7e1c349adf495c3379e524b9 2de8d8409cb5bf7f9aeed74aa7553608 F3622b706a8fa9c712b28a953f4682d6 Tim%2BRees%2528Timothy%2BRees%2529 Www.kaifineart.com 7 F4ba9d6ef5331127e4ddc3866dd60ff0 Fb50a36403d0040ce5666627e7962933 FIGURATIVE INSTA 150x105 ?x8895670f09e99d4b9781eaa889fba9d452c5a 1edeaf563a9c172dff49d81fa57f4591 Figurative