Dunking On Celebrities And Puking On Cooper Kupp's Lawn: Inside Puka Nacua's Offseason
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
71OHNDuHoXL 71q CvBA03L. AC SL1500 61zO1ZE UrL 2a8849cf 647d 4b29 9954 0fe42a3cd03e Kitchen Sink 1 AS333 Kitchen 1024x1024 8 Best Kitchen Sink For 2023 1695099202 71HYhZTfDLL Basic Kitchen Sink Types 1821207 Color Rev 0b539306b9ef4236a136624ad2a89a4c Sink Repl After 61EFSlyvhzL. AC. SR180,230 Ultrasonic Smart Kitchen Sink 304 Stainless Steel Sink Purifier Embedded Fruit And Vegetable Cleaning Smart Sink Q90 .webpMarquis Kitchen Sink Msa70013 71LEaJK PPL 614zl GwrJL 61JqB0O1z6L 716WQWrd0CL. AC SL1500 7189VxF LBL. AC SL1500 Remove 71bqjZ8AKvL. AC SL1500 RVH9733BL 01 71R9cqveKVL. AC SL1500 Maxresdefault Ea4ba1f907a45420d443f7ab45d222d9 71EV5NDPCdL Kitchen Sink Replacement S6dae1b6357ed488eb95e71ec8a40032cg 1*wgwjnIb6odwY1fJ1au43PQ 705add056c58d85ce43044d2fc5482b8 Ff169ccc5b69b94ef8f3cbafdcd2fe5e