The Minnesota Lynx has been flying under the radar during the 2024 WNBA season. They don’t have any of the big names from the 2024 WNBA Draft class on their roster. Attention has been given to so-called superteams such as the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces.
But, on Tuesday night, the Minnesota Lynx showed they deserve some respect in defeating one of those superteams. In the Commissioner’s Cup finals, the Lynx defeated the Liberty 94-89. Last season, it was the Liberty who defeated the Aces before facing off in the WNBA Finals, where Las Vegas was victorious.
Following the win, head coach Cheryl Reeve made as big of a statement with her words as her team did on the court. Reeve believes it is time for Minnesota to get some respect as one of the contenders in the WNBA this season.
“You got to talk about us now, you’ve got no choice. We don’t really care what you think, except for right now, when we get to say to you, ‘You’ve got to talk about us.’
“We just beat a superteam. You know how hard that is to do? Because you guys love your superteams. That’s all you want to talk about. But we just beat a superteam. Let’s talk about it.”
It has been a little while since the Minnesota Lynx was the talk of the WNBA. From 2011-2017, they were the team to beat. During that span, they won four titles and played in two more.
They have only missed the playoffs once since that run, but are looking to get back into the title picture. They are now 13-3 on the season, which is tied for the second-best record with the Connecticut Sun, only one game behind the Liberty.
Double-doubles from Breanna Steward and Sabrina Ionescu, on top of the return of Courtney Vandersloot and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton were not enough for the Liberty to overcome the Minnesota Lynx.
Leading the way for Minnesota was Napeesha Collier, who scored 21 points with six rebounds and was named MVP. Big efforts from Bridget Carleton and Cecilia Zandalasini also helped greatly.
Carleton scored 23 points with four rebounds and five assists. Off the bench, Zandalasini scored 15. Combined, the two shot an incredible 13-of-16 from the field.
The Commissioner’s Cup is an in-season competition that was started in 2021. The winning team receives a prize pool of $500,000. It is likely where the NBA got its idea for an in-season tournament.
Also like in the NBA, the championship game doesn’t count toward season standings. But, this is a victory for the Minnesota Lynx that means a lot, as the rest of the WNBA has been put on notice.
“We have a lot of offensive threats, but on defense, we’re so solid,” Collier said. “That’s why it’s so hard to play against us. Our aggressiveness, our willingness to sell out on anything [because] we have each other’s backs.
“This is the most talented, most fun team I’ve been on since I’ve been here. We want to build on this, we don’t want to peak here. We want to achieve bigger things than this at the end of the season.”
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