Winners and losers of WNBA Finals Game 4: Lynx and Liberty set for winner-take-all showdown

MINNEAPOLIS — Let’s be honest, this was the outcome we all wanted.

A series — heck, a whole season — this tremendous deserves to go the distance, and that’s exactly what it’s going to do after the Minnesota Lynx staved off elimination with an 82-80 win over the New York Liberty on Friday night.

It was a fitting performance by the Lynx. While Napheesa Collier is their best player, they got the No. 2 seed and a spot in the Finals by being a team. Everyone contributes. Everyone gives it everything they’ve got.

And no one ever, ever gives up.

“This team, from the beginning of the season all the way through to Game 4, has the unique ability to believe in themselves and believe in each other,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said.

Collier was outstanding Friday, coming up two rebounds shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine boards. But the Lynx also got monster games from Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams, who was most definitely in her bag. A Birkin, she’ll have you know, not one from Target.

Alanna Smith and Bridget Carleton had 12 apiece, meaning all of Minnesota’s starters finished in double figures.

“The ups and downs and all of that, this group is just equipped to handle it,” Reeve said. “It’s just special.”

And it’ll come to a fitting end, the first WNBA Finals to go a full five games since 2019.

Here are the winners and losers from Game 4:

WINNERS

Alanna Smith

What a gutsy performance.

Forty-eight hours after taking a very hard fall in Game 3, Smith played through a lot of lower back pain Friday and finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, a block and a pair of steals and assists. Her defensive contribution won’t show up in the stat sheet, but she was again tough in the paint, especially when she had to body up Jonquel Jones.

“All season long, Alanna’s been in those positions for us,” Reeve said. “I appreciate her ability to turn around, buck up and do what her team needed her to do. It’s important for her to be on the floor with us.”

Though Smith was clearly laboring when she ran, she was able to play 30 minutes. Reeve said they didn’t put any minutes restrictions on her, approaching the game as if Smith was fine with the understanding “they’d adjust if Alanna was too long on the bench, sitting too long,” Reeve said. “Other than that, we weren’t concerned.”

Bridget Carleton

It felt fitting that one of the most unsung heroes of the Lynx got to hit the game-winning shots. Carleton is, Reeve likes to say, a “hustle play player.”

That was never more evident than with just a few seconds left, when Carleton went flying into the paint to try to rebound Williams’ miss with four seconds to go and the game tied 80-80. Carleton got a hand on the ball and tipped it up, drawing a foul on Sabrina Ionescu and sending Carleton to the line with a chance to take the lead — which she provided by draining both free throws, which Collier called “the hardest shot in basketball.” Carleton finished with 12 points and numerous hustle plays, a performance Reeve called “an epitome of the year she’s had.”

Spike Lee

New York’s No. 1 basketball fan will get a chance to see his newly adopted team, the New York Liberty, go for a championship on its home floor, likely with Lee sitting courtside. What more could he ask for?

A Bar of Their Own

Reeve has a specific game day outfit when the Lynx play at home, sporting jeans, a blazer and some sort of graphic tee.

During Game 4 Reeve wore a shirt from “A Bar of Their Own,” the Minneapolis bar that shows exclusively women’s sports — great publicity for a young, local business.

“I don’t know about these guys,” Reeve said, gesturing to Collier and McBride, “but when I’m out, everyone is talking about (us). Everyone is talking to me about it, ‘I got to this bar, and this is a bar that wouldn’t have had a women’s game on five years ago. All the TVs have the game on and the volume on, and the place is going crazy.'

“Obviously I appreciate the opportunity that A Bar of Their Own has given women in making that front and center. … Obviously the (Timberwolves) energized the city in their playoff run, and I’m thrilled to see the same energy for this team because they deserve it.”

LOSERS

Players in foul trouble

It’s never fun when superstars are stuck on the bench in foul trouble, and Friday night, that was Breanna Stewart.

The Liberty’s best player looked off all night — she said Minnesota was doing a good job rushing her offensively — and finished with 11 points on just 5-of-21 shooting. She was plagued by foul trouble much of the night, too, whistled for four personals.

Sandy Brondello's wallet

The New York Liberty coach was hot about the officiating, dropping an F-bomb and using the word “bloody” twice. Given how even-tempered Brondello normally is, this was her version of a punch-the-wall, break-the-door rampage.

“We got no calls today. Do I need to talk up in a press conference?” Brondello said, referring to Reeve’s complaints after Game 3 that officials had favored Stewart.

“They were getting ticky-tacks and we went down there and got hit and got nothing,” Brondello said. “All we want is fair. If we’re getting hit, that’s a foul. I’m one of the nicest bloody coaches in the league but this pisses me off. Just be fair. If they’re getting hit, it’s a bloody foul.”

For what it’s worth, Minnesota was called for nine fouls while the Liberty were whistled for 14, four on Stewart.

Oh, the officials also apparently missed a timeout in the final minute, too.

Brondello said she wanted a timeout on the Liberty's penultimate possession — that’s where the F-bomb came in — but didn’t get it because officials couldn’t hear her. Stewart wound up getting whistled for a shot-clock violation, the Lynx got possession and Carleton was fouled under the basket. She made both to seal the win.

“They didn’t hear me. So that’s on me,” Brondello said of the timeout. “Maybe I need to sprint out onto the court next time.”

Drama seekers

For a hot minute, it was looking as if there was some major UConn drama brewing, with Geno Auriemma being the cause of it.

After the game, Collier was asked about a text Stewart supposedly got from their old coach, telling her to drop 50 on the Minnesota Lynx in Game 4. Which would be problematic because Collier, the Lynx’s star player, also played for UConn.

With Stewart no less. On a team that won a national title.

“Looks like he wants them to win. He’s not texting me,” Collier said. “Looks like I’m going to have to text him about some things now.”

Indeed, given she had 14 points, nine rebounds, four steals and four assists in the Lynx’s 82-80 win that forced a Game 5.

“Wow, Husky drama," said Lynx teammate McBride, who played at Notre Dame. "Go Irish!"

Sadly, it wasn’t true. There was no text to Stewart, no picking sides.

Guess the annual reunion can go ahead as planned.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WNBA Finals winners and losers: Unsung heroes help Lynx force Game 5