Lynx 84, Liberty 67: A 3-Point Barrage Moves Minnesota to 3-1

The Minnesota Lynx returned home to Target Center on Saturday for a matinee matchup with the 2023 WNBA runners-up New York Liberty, who are 4-1 thus far this season and led by 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart, 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones and 2022 All-Star Sabrina Ionescu.

They took the floor without sophomore wing Diamond Miller, who left the Lynx’s 83-82 overtime loss to the Connecticut Sun with a right knee injury. Head Coach Cheryl Reeve confirmed that Miller underwent left knee surgery during the offseason, so this injury is to the other knee. Miller had surgery on her right knee in 2022 while she played at the University of Maryland.

Bridget Carleton started in place of Miller, who is currently without a timetable to return. Expect Carleton to continue to start for the former No. 2 overall pick for the foreseeable future.

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The Lynx offense began the game moving very well without the ball, as Courtney Williams hit a rolling Alanna Smith for an open layup that rimmed out, before finding a cutting Carleton for an open layup on the back side of the floor.

New York generating a plethora of open looks from the perimeter as a result of Minnesota over-helping on drives, but missed a pair that allowed the Lynx to build a a small lead early in the game behind a trio of 3-pointers from Kayla McBride, Carleton and Smith, who continues to shoot it at a career-high clip from beyond the arc.

But the Liberty kept playing downhill into the lane, where they got out to an 8-2 lead in points in the paint, collected three offensive rebounds for five second chance points, and got Smith — who fouled out of the previous game — into early foul trouble. That called into action sophomore center Dorka Juhász, who made her season debut after her overseas season in Italy finished earlier this week.

The Lynx offense continued to keep the pedal down offensively, spreading out a bigger Liberty team and bombing away from 3. Six different Lynx made a 3-pointer in the first quarter, more than the four 3s Minnesota made over the entire game in Thursday’s loss to Connecticut.

Natisha Hiedeman and Ceci Zandalasini each made a triple in their first couple minutes of action, which is crucial considering that Carleton is now in the starting lineup and unable to provide that punch off the bench. They scored a combined 11 points in the opening frame, outscoring the Liberty bench 11-0.

While their offense erupted, Minnesota held New York scoreless for the final 3:15 of the quarter, fueling an 11-0 run that gave them a 31-17 lead after the first quarter. Six of the eight rotation players in the first quarter scored.

The one player who didn’t, Juhász, opened the second quarter scoring of a beautiful feed from Zandalasini, who was quickly putting together her best outing of the young season.

While Juhász wasn’t doing most of her damage as a scorer, she was incredibly active on the offensive glass. Her two offensive rebounds resulted in three points for the Lynx, but she also made defensive rebounds extremely difficult and forced two misses off Liberty players to create extra possessions.

Minnesota on the other end successfully kept New York out of the paint, forcing Liberty players to take tough mid-range and 3-point jumpers that they continued missing. The Lynx also fought nicely around screens and closed-out to shooters well, both of which forced Liberty turnovers. New York shot 0/8 and gave it away four times over a span of nearly nine minutes, during which Minnesota went on a 20-0 run that built a 21-point lead.

But the Liberty weren’t going to go down easily, as Stewart strung together three straight scores and Courtney Vandersloot returned an interception for a touchdown the other way, capping off an 8-2 run to cut the Lynx lead down to 15. Smith also set an illegal screen midway through the frame, her third foul, sending the Lynx’s best interior defender back to the bench while the Liberty started to get comfortable.

New York kept it rolling from there. Leonie Fiebich got it going from deep with a pair of 3-pointers, while Stewart continued to make tough shots and help get Vandersloot into the paint. The Liberty run reached 22-4, as the Lynx couldn’t stop turning the ball over and looked completely out of sync offensively. After zero first quarter turnovers, Minnesota gave it away nine times in the second, which New York turned into 14 points the other way.

The Lynx did lead at half, though, 44-40. They shot 8/16 from beyond the arc, assisted on 13 of their 17 makes, and converted eight Liberty turnovers into 11 points of their own. Collier led the way with eight points on 3/10 shooting, while Smith and Zandalasini each provided six points off a pair of 3s. Stewart led New York with 13 points, as Vandersloot wasn’t far behind with 12 points, six assists and three steals.

Collier struggled with her shot for the majority of the first half, but it was nice to see her involved with away to start the third, attacking from the corner for an easy score. The two-time All-Star then immediately connected on a left slot 3 to get the lead back to seven.

But the Minnesota offense remained out of sync. The spacing wasn’t great, players held the ball for too long, and those who should be handling the ball weren’t. Even when the Lynx generated good looks, they mostly struggled to knock them down. The Lynx started 4/13 from the floor, but three of them were 3-pointers. Makes from McBride and Carleton were able to keep New York at bay in the interim.

The good news was that the Lynx defense did a good job of containing handlers off the dribble and kept the Liberty out of the paint for the most part. Minnesota doubled Jones on the catch and relied on their off-ball defenders to rotate behind the play. Six of New York’s first nine shots in the third came from beyond the arc as a result, and they connected on just two of them — a fortunate number considering how late/non-existent some rotations and close-outs were. The scrambling also put rebounders out of position, leading to a pair of Liberty offensive rebounds that created a score from Ionescu on the drive.

Much like it did against Connecticut, the Lynx defense maintained a standard that bought their offense time to catch up. The interior defense was excellent and rebounders did a good job of finding guards immediately. Minnesota ran well off of stops, directly leading to a three straight scores in transition from Williams, followed by a pair of deep 3s from McBride — making up for a technical foul she picked up earlier in the quarter. That 8-0 run drove the Lynx lead back up to eight, 63-55, late in the third.

Minnesota led 66-58 after 30 minutes, despite only having two scorers in double figures. Balanced scoring and a 14/25 (56%) mark from downtown fueled a very up-and-down, but overall net positive offensive performance.

The Lynx defense forced a pair of turnovers from an odd Liberty lineup (Vandersloot, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, Fiebich, Nyara Sabally, Jones), while adding two scores inside from Carleton and Smith to get the lead out to 10 just 1:15 into the game.

But even after Stewart checked back into the game, the Liberty offense really struggled to score. New York proceeded to shoot 0/5 and turn it over four times over the next 3:40. The Lynx shot just 2/6 over that span, so the Minnesota only lead grew to 12. While Smith was in there for the first 90 seconds of the quarter as the 4, Reeve rolled with Juhász at center for that run to provide more size inside on Jones and the Liberty’s drivers. It worked well, as New York started the quarter just 1/5 in the paint and 1/9 overall, and Minnesota rebounded six of the eight misses.

Juhász handed the baton to Smith at the 4:46 mark and the Aussie ran with it. She immediately got a nice deflection on an entry pass to Jones after fronting the 2021 MVP, then drew a foul, made both free throws, and scored a nice layup on the next trip down. It was nice to see Smith get back in the game and find success after getting hit in the face inadvertently and checking out four minutes earlier.

Carleton’s offense was important throughout the final frame, equalling Smith’s six points to lead the team in fourth quarter scoring. That helped buoy the Lynx offense before Collier got on the board with just under three minutes to play by way of a pick-six that ballooned the lead to 18 and essentially ended the game. After Ionescu tied the game at 55 with a mid-range jumper with the 3:18 left in the third, the Lynx went on a 27-9 run to take control.

Minnesota went on to win 84-67, moving to 3-1 on the season.

Collier led the way with 15 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals, while Smith added 15 of her own on 5/9 shooting, including 3/3 from beyond the arc, moving her to 8/11 thus far as a Lynx. Carleton and McBride each gave Minnesota 14 points in well-rounded, two way performances; the pair combined for eight assists, seven rebounds, two blocks and three steals.

Stewart led all scorers with 20 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal. Vandersloot provided 12 points, six assists and three steals, while Ionescu added 13 points on 5/14 shooting.

This story will be updated throughout the day after coach and player media availabilities.

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Key Takeaways

Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images

A Historic 3-Point Shooting Effort Lifts Lynx Offense

The Lynx made 14 of their 28 3-point attempts on Saturday afternoon, a huge improvement from the 4/21 clip they shot the 3 at on Thursday in an overtime loss to the Sun. Better yet, seven different Lynx players made a shot from beyond the arc, tying a franchise record for most players with a made 3 in a game. Four made multiple long-range looks — something the Lynx did accomplish one time last season. Three players made multiple three times, but they never got to four.

It is hard to overstate how much the added spacing has helped improve not only the team’s quality of 3-point shots, but the sheer number of them.

Minnesota shot 20.8 3s per game last season at a 32.5% clip — ranking seventh and 11th, respectively, in the WNBA. This season, the Lynx are getting up 25.8 3-point looks — third-most — and are connecting on 36.9% of them (third-best). If they can sustain that shooting for the entire season, it’s hard to not love their chances to host a playoff series come this fall.

Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images

A Very Balanced Scoring Effort

The 2024 Lynx are much deeper offensively compared to last year’s squad, and have very quickly bought into a clear offensive identity predicated on making quick decisions, seeking the paint, moving the ball, and maintaining great spacing for their pick-and-roll and hand-off actions in the middle of the floor. It is noticeable how well the pieces on the roster fit together and that they know what is asked of them.

“Yeah, I think it was huge today, especially. Phee still had a great game, but things were hard for her in the paint. ... We have multiple other people being aggressive and being ready to knock down shots — Kayla was huge today,” Carleton told Canis Hoopus postgame.

Collier scored 15 points on 6/16 shooting in this game, but her teammates were there to step in and provide crucial offense; the Lynx had four players score at least 14 points, with eight players scoring at least five points. Carleton provided 14 points (on 5/8 shooting — 2/5 from 3), as did McBride, who connected on four of her six 3-point looks.

Minnesota went 1-5 when Collier scored 15 or fewer points last season, but is already 1-0 as a result of those around her scoring 69 — outscoring the Liberty on their own. The bench provided 19 of those points, led by a combined 11 in the first quarter from Hiedeman and Zandalasini.

“I think our bench was huge. Ceci came in and hit two big 3s in the first quarter. T came in and was aggressive in transition. I think everyone knows their roles,” Carleton added.

“When you’re in that space and you have that trust with each other, you know where the defense is going to be, that’s really helpful, especially for Phee because [the defense can’t] send double teams over consistently because we’re going to make the right play and just play basketball.”

Reeve spoke postgame about what will continue to enable the team to produce in such a balanced manner.

“The selfless nature of every player. I think them understanding that’s our path. We’re leading the league in assist percentage. Today, 26 (assists) on 32 field goals. ... That’s who we have to be,” Reeve told Canis postgame.

“When we think about teams that have big threes, our path is having really good players. Maybe we don’t have other than Phee, an MVP, other teams might possess 2-3 other players to go along with an MVP candidate. But for us it’s going to be by a committee of really good players that are on this roster and just kind of doing it as a collective.”

Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images

Welcome Back, Dorka Juhász

Juhász reported to the Lynx on Friday afternoon and the team activated her ahead of Saturday’s game, requiring them to waive Taylor Soule in a corresponding move.

The Pécs, Hungary native started 27 of 38 games for the Lynx last season, but will slot in behind Smith in the rotation. Juhász played 17 minutes, scoring four points on 2/3 shooting on top of grabbing four rebounds, and recording an assist, a steal and a block. She was tremendous defensively as the anchor during important fourth quarter minutes that helped the Lynx build and maintain a double-digit lead.

Some of those minutes came with Smith at the 4, while the rest of them came with Collier at the 4. Reeve really likes what that trio will give the group defensively.

“We like to have a trio of their combinations. When somebody asked me (before the season) if we’d play Lan and Dorka together, I said, ‘Hell yeah!’ Lan can guard 4s and Dorka can guard 4s, so you can do different things,” Reeve told Canis postgame.

“We needed some size on [Jonquel Jones], so we went with Dorka. Lan [guarded Stewart]. They’re both interested in doing whatever is needed and playing off of each other. So that trio of bigs is a nice thing to have versatility wise.”

The Lynx are in a great position defensively being able to bring Juhász on the floor when Smith gets into foul trouble and vice versa. Pushing Collier to the 5 was the team’s only bankable rim protection when Juhász got in foul trouble last season, so now having three options that can defend 4s and 5s will be pivotal as the defense adapts to different kinds of matchups throughout the season.

Minnesota holds the league’s top defensive rating (88.2) by a mile. The difference between the Lynx and the second-best team (New York at 95.5 — 7.3-point difference) is about the same as the difference between the Liberty and the 10th-ranked Phoenix Mercury (102.7 — 7.2-point difference). The Lynx’s bigs are key reason why, and they will continue to enable guards to play more aggressively on the perimeter knowing that there is consistently good rim protection behind them.

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Rotation

Some notes on today’s lineups...

• Juhász played whenever Smith was off the floor until Reeve emptied the bench with 1:49 remaining. The former UCONN star was a +10 in the 17 minutes she played in her season debut.
• McBride was on the floor for all of Juhász’s minutes, which makes sense as the Lynx will look to surround her with as much shooting and spacing for Collier as possible. K-Mac was a +23 in 34 minutes.
• Alissa Pili was out of the rotation today, playing just the final 1:49. Juhász took her place in the rotation
• Collier played 35 minutes, so it was nice to see the Lynx find some success without her for five total minutes. Minnesota was +18 with Phee on the floor and -1 with her off.

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Up Next

The Lynx will hop on a plane this afternoon to head to A for a matchup with the Atlanta Dream tomorrow at 5 PM CT. Fans can watch the game on Bally Sports North.

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Highlights