Kayla McBride praises Lynx’s teammates after the WNBA playoffs departure
Minnesota Lynx Kayla McBride explains how close your team has become in the locker room. The Mercury beat Lynx and addresses the WNBA finals.
Phoenix – The Minnesota Lynx season has ended devastatingly.
The Lynx entered the postseason with the general ranking number 1 a year eliminated to lose the WNBA 2024 ends against New York freedom in a decisive 5 game that was on extra time. Chief coach Cheryl Reeve criticized “officiating disappointing” after the championship series and said the title was “stolen.”
That loss fed Minnesota, who returned six players from the list of late last year, who had all creations to write a story book ending. A higher franchise of 33 victories. The best classified offensive and the best defense of the League. The MVP finalist, Naphesa Collier, the co-defensive player of the year Alanna Smith and the finalist of the sixth player of the year, Natisha Ilicanman. The general advantage of seeds and courts of origin number 1.
Minnesota only needed a WNBA title to complete this chapter. But once again, Lynx fell short in the midst of more controversy.
“It’s never about nothing more than each other,” said Kayla McBride through tears on Sunday after Lynx was eliminated by Phoenix Mercury in the semifinal series of the best of five. “Be about two years in a row and reach adverse situations every time for the people you love, your sisters, your family, S — f — hurts.”
Game 4: Phoenix Mercury eliminates Minnesota Lynx, advances to the WNBA finals
Winners and losers: Mercury rebuilt, officiating between the winners and the losers of the WNBA
The Lynx went to the war against mercury in game 4 on Sunday without his general, chief coach Cheryl Reve, or Captain Napheesa Collier, who were caught after the chaotic defeat of the Lynx game 3. Collier was discarded with an injury to the left ankle suffered at the last minute of game 3, while Reeve was fulfilling a suspension of a game for his behavior and comments after the injury explodes “horrible” officiating after his ejection.
It was winning or going home for short -hand Lynx. Despite letting a leadership of the fourth quarter of 13 points slide from its reach, interim chief coach Eric Thibult said that Lynx showed resistance and perseverance in the midst of adversity.
“That is the one who these guys have been now for a long time,” he said.
McBride and his teammates will spend another low season thinking about what it could have been.
“It’s difficult, especially when it presents everything there,” said McBride, who ended 31 points in the game, shooting 10 of 23 including 6 of 11 from the 3 -point line. “You want it for people who grind with you every day; good days, bad days, bus walks, costumes.
“That’s why it’s painful because you just want me to continue and are made.”
Injuries, adversity accumulates for Minnesota Lynx
The Lynx opened the postseason sweeping the number 8 of Golden State Valkyries in two games, although Minnesota had to resort to a 17 -point deficit in game 2. The Lynx were the only team that advanced to the semifinals in a sweep when the other three series went to game 3. Reve said that the victory back showed a lot about his team and characters.
“We have the experience of the hard games. We have been judged and tested. Especially last year we spend (the finals) and we have our central return team,” said Collier. “We are trying to achieve a collective objective.”
However, some things are out of anyone’s control.
Minnesota did not escape to the first round series against the viles. Lynx’s guard, Dijonai Carrington (left foot) was discarded for the postseason with a sprained mid -foot meaning suffered in the victory of Lynx’s 2 game 2 against the Golden State Valkyries on September 17, giving a blow to the depth of the Lynx.
The injury problems did not stop there.
Collier fell with an injury to the left ankle with 21.8 seconds in the defeat of the game 3 of Minnesota. The incident occurred when Mercury’s striker Alyssa Thomas slid and made Collier’s knee contact for a tray. Collier went down grabbing the ankle, which turned during the fall. Reeve said after the game that Collier “probably has a fracture.”
A furious Reeve accused the officials for arguing for a foul call on Thomas and was expelled. In his comments after the game, Reeves doubled and called the game 3 “horrible” in a complaint loaded with expletives. The WNBA quickly gave Reeve a suspension for game 4, paralyzing a Lynx squad already short at a critical moment.
Both Collier and Carrington arrived at game 4 in scooters with street clothes. Surely a walking boot was not the fashion accessory he had in mind for his walks in the semifinal tunnel, but Collier kept his high spirit and took his team in a song while they took the court in the PHX Arena for game 4 of do-or-die.
“The Lynx! The Lynx! Let It Ride,” the team sang when Collier slipped to the rhythm of his scooter while his teammates danced behind her, highlighting his chemistry and his mentality of the team first that led them to the general seed number 1.
“We all operate from the power of friendship,” said Smith, who ended with eight points, eight rebounds, two blocks and a robbery on Sunday. “I really believe that a group of people who resemble each other, enjoy being close to each other, translates into the court and we can take responsibility for each other.”
Kayla McBride: “I wouldn’t change that costumes for anything”
The Lynx were their own biggest critics after giving up an advantage of 20 points to mercury in game 2 in Minneapolis. “We win,” said Collier. But, Minnesota could never recover and lost the next two games against mercury to lose the semifinal series, including another two -digit advantage sounds on Sunday.
“We have a goal in our back. That is what we wanted,” said Williams, who ended with 20 points, six assists and two robberies in the loss of game 4 86-81 of Lynx. “We enter the gym and stack our days and hit each other with that error of injury. And this is difficult, but what it is for us, I will never surprise ourselves. So he shouts at the girls who come here playing hard … we shout for not giving up.”
The postseason exit of this year is disturbingly similar to that of last year, where Lynx felt that the circumstances outside its control interfered with its final objective. Although Lynx ended out the title again, they still enjoyed the trip.
“I have been here five years and be so close and you only want it for the people around you,” McBride said. “It’s difficult, but I wouldn’t change that costumes for anything. I would feel that this one hundred times runs out with the people I have been with.”
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