Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve made a declaration in her first pregame press conference after she was named the WNBA’s Coach of the Year.
She made it clear that star forward Napheesa Collier was not going to have a repeat of her Game 1 performance. A game where the New York Liberty stunned the Lynx on home court 91-75.
“I’m fully confident we’re going to see a very assertive Napheesa Collier [tonight]. I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but she is going to be assertive,” Reeve said. “At some point you got to put some stuff out of your mind and you just got to go play and that’s the space I think we’re going to find Phee tonight.”
Collier’s play on the court Tuesday night in Barclay’s was anything but aggressive. Other adjectives you could use include “tentative,” “tired,” and “lacking confidence.”
That stat line was a near-mirrored image from Sunday's dud.
Game 1: 12 points (6-for-14 FG, 0-for-3 3FG), five rebounds, three assists, three turnovers
Game 2: 14 points (6-for-14 FG, 0 3-point attempts), seven rebounds, one assist, two turnovers.
The result of the game, meanwhile, was exactly the same – a 16-point loss and the Liberty completing the first series win for a No. 8 seed over the top seed.
The very first possession of the game set the tone for how the night would play out for the back-to-back MVP runner-up. Collier got the ball on the right elbow, facing up against seven-time All-Defensive selection Breanna Stewart. The ball was passed out without as much as a shoulder shimmy, much less multiple dribbles or a post move.
Eventually, late in the shot clock, the ball found its way back to Collier in the right corner. She blew by Stewart, elevated for a jumper and saw the ball bounce out.
From there, it became a challenge to get Collier involved in the offense. Not only did the Liberty do a stellar job of denying the post entry, when Minnesota’s guards found a way to get it inside to their superstar, Collier would pass it back out.
She had nine first-half points on nine shot attempts.
Credit to Reeve for doing all she could to get Collier involved. From setting up pick-and-rolls with veterans Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams, Collier got her easy points. But aside from that, she never dared to challenge the Liberty’s defense in a one-on-one scenario, whether it was Stewart or Jonquel Jones guarding her.
Granted, a lot of Collier’s defensive attention was put on Stewart. The two-time MVP posted 34 points in Game 1, a stark contrast to Collier’s performance. Game 2 saw Collier guard Stewart as the primary matchup. All things considered, she was kept in check with a 21-point night on a 6-for-16 shooting performance. Most of Stewart’s damage came at the free-throw line.
There’s no denying that Collier's double ankle surgery this past offseason, which caused her to miss over half of the season, played a role in her postseason efforts. And while there were flashes of her old MVP-level of play through her 16 regular-season games, the consistency was not there.
It was nowhere to be seen in the playoffs.
A lack of assertiveness isn’t the only factor that has the Lynx as the first team eliminated from the playoffs. From losing key players in Alaana Smith, Jessica Shepard and Bridget Carleton in the offseason, to Rookie of the Year Olivia Miles being a nonfactor in the two games; the weight of the team was put on Collier.
And for the third straight season – each year with a top-two seed entering the playoffs – Minnesota will not be raising the trophy this year.
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