Slowing Collier is key for Liberty
WNBA's leading scorer in playoffs coming to Barclays
Don’t let the other team’s best player beat you.
Or at least try to slow her down a bit.
That’s what the New York Liberty have to be thinking about Napheesa Collier as they prepare to host the Minnesota Lynx in Games 1 and 2 of the WNBA Finals at Downtown’s Barclays Center this week.
Collier, a two-time Olympic gold medalist seeking her first professional championship in the best women’s basketball league in the world, has been the WNBA’s top scorer and ranks fourth in rebounding this postseason.
Selected sixth overall by Minnesota in the 2019 Draft, the 6-foot-1 forward has more than lived up to her status as the Lynx’s most dangerous weapon.
She is averaging 27.1 points per contest and 9.6 boards through seven postseason contests for the Lynx, who are back in the Finals for the first time in seven years after capturing four titles between 2011-2017.
Only Collier wasn’t a part of any of those dynastic squads, which also dropped a pair of Finals during that span.
“What makes Phee special is the consistency and the way she shows up every single day,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve raved.
Reeve, who also coached Liberty stars Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu to gold in Paris last summer, watched
Collier average 40 points in a first-round sweep of Phoenix before spearheading the Lynx past Connecticut in a decisive semifinal Game 5 Tuesday night.
Collier put up 27 points, pulled down 11 caroms, handed out four assists, picked up a steal and blocked four shots to send the Sun home for the winter.
“Her work ethic, demeanor. She’s improved every season,” noted Reeve, who has been at the helm for all of Minnesota’s previous championships.
The top-seeded Liberty, sitting at home and preparing for their next opponent since knocking off the former back-to-back champion Las Vegas Aces in their semifinal, got four close looks at Collier this year.
The University of Connecticut alum helped Minnesota beat New York in three of those meetings during the regular season, including a stirring 94-89 triumph in Brooklyn on June 25 in the Commissioner’s Cup Final.
Collier had 21 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block in that game, and added 18 points and 13 boards in a victory at Barclays on Sept. 15.
“It’s really good, always want to win championships,” Collier said after helping to deny New York its second consecutive Commissioner’s Cup trophy.
“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 Liberty want to make sure the Lynx’s magical run to the Finals behind Collier ends here, beginning with Game 1 on Thursday night at what should be a sold-out Barclays Center.
“Being on the other side of it last year knowing how hard it was to go on the road for the first two (games) of the finals with an opposing crowd and try to steal a win and not be able to,” Ionescu said of New York’s 0-2 Finals hole from a year ago.
“I think we all understand that we’ll have the whole city behind us, cheering us on.”
And likely jeering against Collier, who is eager to show this specific set of teammates the way to a WNBA championship.
“The fact that we have worked hard and we genuinely just love each other so much, it just makes it all the sweeter and it makes you want to win for them, too,” she told the Associated Press Tuesday.
“It’s not just like you want to get the accolade of winning a championship, you want to do it for your teammates as well, and I think that makes the ride that much sweeter.”
The Liberty have had other plans for these Finals since walking off the floor at Barclays following a heartbreaking, season-ending loss in Game 4 to the Aces on Oct. 18.
New York brought back Stewart, former league MVP Jonquel Jones and future Hall of Fame point guard Courtney Vandersloot to continue complementing Ionescu and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton.
Free-agent German League superstar Leonie Fiebich fit in as a key reserve for most of this season, but coach Sandy Brondello installed her as a starter when the playoffs began, watching as the Liberty won five of six games, including all four in Brooklyn thus far.
“We learned from our experience (in last year’s Finals). “I think that’s a part of the journey,” Brondello said. “It motivated us to be better.”
They have been.
New York earned the top seed with a franchise record-tying 32 wins and held off Minnesota for home-court advantage despite its problems with the Lynx during the campaign.
Collier, who was also the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, may be a headache for the Liberty on both ends of the floor.
“She’s improved every season. Every game it’s more than scoring how she helps our team,” Reeve said. “When Phee plays like the MVP, we’re a hard team to beat.”
New York did get past Minnesota, 76-67, here on May 25 behind 21 points and 12 rebounds from Jones, who is playing in her fourth Finals and still seeking Title I, like the rest of Brooklyn.
Collier was limited to 15 points that night, but did grab 10 boards and hand out six assists.
“That was great team defense, everyone was locked in,” Jones said afterward.
The Liberty and an expected crowd of nearly 18,000, including those on celebrity row, should be locked in on Collier Thursday night.
So will the rest of the national audience watching at home.
“It’s exciting, this is what you play for, to be on that stage,” said Lynx guard Courtney Williams. “Ready for the moment and excited to get it done.”
For the Liberty, this moment is about redemption and reward for re-committing to the mission to deliver New York’s first WNBA championship.
Coming just short nearly a calendar year ago won’t be acceptable this time around. Especially for a franchise that has lost its previous five trips to the Finals since entering the league in its inaugural 1997 season.
“Didn’t win. Didn’t win this (Finals). No satisfaction there, is it?” Brondello pondered.
“We went to the finals last year, and we didn’t do nothing,” added Stewart, who won a pair of titles and Finals MVPs in Seattle before arriving here in 2023.
As for Collier, she simply doesn’t want this historic run to end for herself or her teammates.
“This team will never be the exact same again,” she pointed out. “So not only do we want to win a championship, but we don’t want to leave each other yet.”
Tip-off for Game 1 is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised by ESPN.
Game 2 at Barclays is slated for 3 p.m. and can be viewed on ABC.
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