Minnesota Lynx punch back in Game 5, earning their way to the WNBA Finals

This outfit, the 2024 Lynx, the second year of a ‘new era’ of Minnesota Lynx basketball, didn’t know it was going to be as special of a group as it turned out to be. They didn’t just stroll into their practice facility at Mayo Clinic Square and instantly know they had a Finals team on their hands on day one of training camp, but the winningest coach in WNBA playoff history might have known it by day two. 

“Second day of training camp,” Reeve said when asked when she knew this group was capable of something special during the postgame press conference after defeating the Connecticut Sun in Game 5 of the semifinals. “Second day of training camp, the way we played for each other on the court. I didn’t know necessarily the personalities, you have to go through the journey, and road trips, and all of that stuff, wins, losses, etc. But on the second day of training camp we had a way about us that we played for each other. That was really obvious. It was really exciting. I didn’t necessarily know what it was going to translate into, but for me it was the second day.”

Hints of a team playing for each other and that a special kind of chemistry and camaraderie meant more than just the standard sports cliches presented themselves throughout the season. Some happened in public moments, like Napheesa Collier receiving MVP honors of the Commissioner’s Cup final only to declare Bridget Carleton as deserving of the award. 

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Just a week before defeating the same team they’ll meet in the Finals, the New York Liberty, in the Commissioner’s Cup final, first-year Lynx Natisha Hiedeman addressed the media after Minnesota’s 90-78 win against the Dallas Wings at Target Center on June 17. The Lynx had just improved to 11-3. 

“Our team is amazing, from the top down,” Hiedeman said. “I really can’t explain the chemistry we have. It’s honestly crazy. Everybody’s really rooting for each other. Everybody cares. There’s no selfish players on our team. On any given night it can be anybody’s night. (If) one player goes down, like today we didn’t have BC, so everybody has to step it up a notch and I think that’s just having each other’s backs. Like, we really care about each other. The trajectory is going like this, so it’s nice.” 

As Hiedeman smiled and pointed up, she was asked if the chemistry resembled any other groups she’d been part of in her five-year WNBA career. 

“I’ve been on a lot of great teams, but this is something different,” she said. “Like, I’ve never been a part of anything like this, my whole life.” 

Including Commissioner’s Cup and the playoffs, the Lynx have won 25 more basketball games since Hiedeman’s statement on the chemistry and trajectory. Winning three more will not be easy, but after going toe-to-toe in a ‘knock-down, drag-out’ five-game fight with Connecticut in the semis, it’s impossible to count the Lynx out in any battle. 

“It’s so hard because there’s so many things that have to align to even be in this position,” Courtney Williams said after Game 5. “But, exactly what Cheryl said, we always believed it from the beginning. We have a great group. We have such a great group and I think we all believed in what it is that we could do and I think now everybody else is seeing it.”

Prior to the beginning of 2024 training camp, there was the beginning to this so-called ‘new era,’ which effectively started when franchise legend Sylvia Fowles played her final game as a Lynx in 2022. The Lynx missed the playoffs that season for the first time since 2010, but in the months that followed that disappointment, Reeve (who was at the end of a contract) and the organization made a commitment to each other to get the team back to its winning ways. 

“The expectations are high for the Minnesota Lynx,” Reeve said at the November, 2022 press conference announcing her return as head coach and also newly appointed President of Basketball Operations. “We’ve been the gold standard (in) this league and we’re on a mission to get back to that.” 

The first step of that mission called for building the team around Collier, who missed nearly all of the 2022 season while pregnant with her daughter, Mila. From the start, Collier made it clear that while the names on the back of the jerseys may have changed, the standard the comes with the name on the front is the same. 

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“There is pressure, but it’s a good pressure,” Collier told The Next in January of 2023. “No one from that championship team is here anymore, so you don’t have someone (on the court) who’s been through it. It’s almost like a new era. This is a whole new generation of people who are trying to achieve what they did.”

Collier and the Lynx returned to the playoffs in 2023. After an 0-6 start, the Lynx endured, improved, and learned from every lesson of the season through their first-round elimination at the hands of the Connecticut Sun. The anguish of coming up short in 2023, turned into opportunity in 2024.

“It feels amazing. The best part about it is how much fun we’re having as a team,” Collier said after Game 5 when asked about the nucleus the Lynx have been trying to build over the last 18 months. “Achieving your goals obviously always feels good, but (if) you’re not clicking as a team, you don’t like each other, it takes away from it a little bit. So the fact that we have worked so hard and we genuinely just like each other so much, it just makes it all the sweeter. It makes you want to win for them too. 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. I think that makes the ride so much sweeter.”

Tying the achievements of Lynx present to the glory of Lynx past, has been the way players of the dynasty era have stayed connected to the franchise. The team completed the retired numbers circuit by raising Maya Moore‘s No. 23 into the rafters this season. Rebekkah Brunson is of course a constant for the Lynx as an assistant coach and mentor to Collier. And of course, the pride of Hutchinson, MN, all-world point guard Lindsay Whalen sat courtside for Game 5 on Tuesday. One of the first things Collier did after the final buzzer was seek out the Hall-of-Famer.

“(Whalen)’s continued to text me all season, all last season, just showing her support and it means so much,” Collier said. “Having someone who is such a Hall of Famer, who has gone through this and has done what I want to achieve, hearing from her and seeing her support in showing up, I just wanted to give her a hug to say thank you and thanks for showing up for us. Thanks for showing up for me and the team, and thank you for passing this legacy onto us. It means a lot and I definitely want to do her proud and continue. The job’s not done.”

As Williams said, any team needs a lot of things to align for a chance to make a Finals run. For the Lynx, that list included putting more play making and shooting around Collier, getting better defensively across the board, and Collier’s ascension to continue from all-star to MVP caliber player and Defensive Player of the Year. 

“What makes Phee special is the consistency and the way that she shows up every single day,” Reeve said. “Phee is always the same, her work ethic, her demeanor, her passion for improving. She’s improved every season. She’s just been incredible. Every game it’s more than scoring how she helps our team… When Phee is the MVP, you know plays like the MVP, we’re a hard team to beat.” 

Collier has been an undeniable force for all of 2024. But the stars aligning around Minnesota’s whole orbit have been just as crucial to their Finals run. 

The additions of Williams and Hiedeman addressed the need for more playmaking. The addition of Alanna Smith added rim protection and gave the Lynx another WNBA all-defense caliber player. Bridget Carleton had the best season of her career and finished third in Most Improved Player voting. Kayla McBride returned to all-star form and hit more threes in a season than any other player in Lynx history. Most importantly, the chemistry of all those moving parts fit perfectly on day one. 

Correction: day two. 

“I can’t tell you how badly our staff wanted this for them,” Reeve said. “This group, it’s just been a really special group and I can’t tell you the number of people that have reached out to me to tell me how much they enjoy watching them play, they do things the right way, and that they’re rooting for them. I just overwhelmingly felt proud. Proud of how we played. We played Lynx basketball tonight and it was nice to get back to that.”

By playing Lynx basketball in Game 5, the Lynx get to keep playing basketball until the end of the WNBA calendar. Another motivation for this team and their star player not to be lost as the basketball world zeroes in on the 2024 WNBA Finals. 

“We want to keep playing because we want to stay together,” Collier said. “You know every year that it looks different. This team will never be the exact same again. Not only do we want to win a championship, but we don’t want to leave each other yet and that’s a great feeling. It is really gratifying to be here, but we have a lot of work to do yet, and it feels good. I think we’re enjoying the ride.”

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