{"id":177770,"date":"2025-09-29T13:39:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T13:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/177770\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T13:39:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T13:39:20","slug":"how-the-minnesota-lynxs-redemption-season-ended-in-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/177770\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Minnesota Lynx’s redemption season ended in controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX \u2014 The Minnesota Lynx’s<\/a> season has ended in devastating fashion, again.<\/p>\n

The Lynx entered the postseason with the No. 1 overall ranking one year removed from losing the 2024 WNBA Finals<\/a> to the New York Liberty<\/a> in a decisive Game 5 that went to overtime. Head coach Cheryl Reeve blasted \u201cdisappointing officiating\u201d following the championship series and said the title was \u201cstolen.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That loss fueled Minnesota, who returned six players from last year\u2019s Finals roster, which had all the makings to write a storybook ending. A franchise-high 33 wins. The top ranked offense and the league\u2019s best defense. The MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier, Co-Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith<\/a> and Sixth Player of the Year finalist Natisha Hiedeman. The No. 1 overall seed and home-court advantage.<\/p>\n

Minnesota only needed a WNBA title to complete this chapter. But yet again, the Lynx fell just short in midst of more controversy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s never about anything else but each other,\u201d Kayla McBride said through tears on Sunday after the Lynx were eliminated by the Phoenix Mercury in the best-of-five semifinal series. \u201cTo be close two years in a row and hit adverse situations each and every time for the people that you love, your sisters, your family, s— f—ing hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

1 \/ 5<\/p>\n

WNBA playoffs 2025: See the basketball stars in action in the second round<\/p>\n

Sept. 21: The Minnesota Lynx’s Courtney Williams (10) dribbles the ball past the Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas (25) during Game 1 at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

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1 \/ 5<\/p>\n

WNBA playoffs 2025: See the basketball stars in action in the second round<\/p>\n

Sept. 21: The Minnesota Lynx’s Courtney Williams (10) dribbles the ball past the Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas (25) during Game 1 at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

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2 \/ 5<\/p>\n

WNBA playoffs 2025: See the basketball stars in action in the second round<\/p>\n

Sept. 21: The Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas (25) shoots the ball over the Minnesota Lynx’s Napheesa Collier (24) during Game 1 at Target Center.<\/p>\n

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3 \/ 5<\/p>\n

WNBA playoffs 2025: See the basketball stars in action in the second round<\/p>\n

Sept. 21: The Indiana Fever’s Odyssey Sims (1) celebrates with teammates during the Fever’s 89-73 Game 1 win over the Las Vegas Aces at Michelob Ultra Arena.<\/p>\n

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4 \/ 5<\/p>\n

WNBA playoffs 2025: See the basketball stars in action in the second round<\/p>\n

Sept. 21: The Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell (0) attempts to score a layup while defended by the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson (22) and Jewell Loyd (24) during the second quarter of Game 1 at Michelob Ultra Arena.<\/p>\n

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5 \/ 5<\/p>\n

WNBA playoffs 2025: See the basketball stars in action in the second round<\/p>\n

Sept. 21: The Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell (0) attempts to score a layup against the Las Vegas Aces during Game 1 at Michelob Ultra Arena.<\/p>\n

GAME 4: Phoenix Mercury eliminate Minnesota Lynx, advance to WNBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n

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WINNERS AND LOSERS: Rebuilt Mercury, officiating among WNBA winners and losers<\/a><\/p>\n

The Lynx went to war against the Mercury in Game 4 on Sunday without their general, head coach Cheryl Reeve, or captain Napheesa Collier, who were both caught in the aftermath of the Lynx’s chaotic Game 3 loss. Collier was ruled out with a left ankle injury suffered in the final minute of Game 3, while Reeve was serving a one-game suspension<\/a> for her conduct and comments after the injury blasting “awful” officiating<\/a> following her ejection.<\/p>\n

It was win or go home for the short-handed Lynx. Despite letting a 13-point fourth-quarter lead slip from their grasp, acting head coach Eric Thibault said the Lynx showed resilience and perseverance in midst of adversity.<\/p>\n

“That’s who these guys have been now for a long time,” he said.<\/p>\n

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McBride and her teammates will spend another offseason thinking about what could have been.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard, especially when you lay everything out there,” said McBride, who finished with a game-high 31 points, shooting 10-of-23 including 6-of-11 from the 3-point line.\u00a0“You want it for the people that grind with you every single day; the good days, bad days, bus rides, locker room.<\/p>\n

“That’s why it’s painful because you just want it to keep going and it’s done.”<\/p>\n

Injuries, adversity piles up for Minnesota Lynx<\/p>\n

The Lynx opened the postseason by sweeping the No. 8 seed Golden State Valkyries<\/a> in two games, although Minnesota had to claw its way back from a 17-point deficit in Game 2. The Lynx were the only team to advance to the semifinals in a sweep as the other three series went to Game 3. Reeve said the comeback win showed her a lot about her team’s resilience and character.<\/p>\n

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“We have the experience of hard games. We’ve been tried and tested. Especially last year we went through (the Finals) and have our core team back,” Collier said. “We\u2019re trying to reach a collective goal.”<\/p>\n

However, some things are beyond anyone’s control.<\/p>\n

Minnesota didn’t escape the first-round series against the Valkyries unscathed. Lynx guard Dijonai Carrington (left foot) was ruled out<\/a> for the postseason with a significant mid-foot sprain suffered in the Lynx’s Game 2 win against the Golden State Valkyries on Sept. 17, dealing a blow to the Lynx’s depth.<\/p>\n

\"Lynx<\/p>\n

Lynx guard Courtney Williams drives the ball past the Mercury’s Monique Akoa Makani during the first half.<\/p>\n

The injury issues didn’t stop there.<\/p>\n

Collier went down with a left ankle injury with 21.8 seconds remaining in Minnesota’s Game 3 loss. The incident happened when\u00a0Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas swiped the ball from Collier and made contact with Collier’s knee while driving for a layup. Collier went down clutching her ankle, which she turned during the fall. Reeve said postgame that Collier “probably has a fracture.”<\/a><\/p>\n

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An irate Reeve charged the officials for arguing for a foul call on Thomas and was ejected. In her postgame remarks, Reeves doubled down and called Game 3’s officiating “awful” in an expletive-laden rant. The WNBA promptly handed Reeve a suspension for Game 4, crippling an already short-handed Lynx squad at a critical moment.<\/p>\n

Both Collier and Carrington arrived to Game 4 on scooters wearing street clothes. A walking boot was surely not the fashion accessory either had in mind for their semifinal tunnel walks, but Collier kept her spirits high and led her team in a chant as they took the court at PHX Arena for the do-or-die Game 4.<\/p>\n

“Los Lynx! Los Lynx! Let it ride,” the team chanted as Collier glided to the beat on her scooter as her teammates danced behind her, highlighting their chemistry and team-first mentality that led them to the No. 1 overall seed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all operate off the power of friendship,” said<\/a> Smith, who finished with eight points, eight rebounds, two blocks and one steal on Sunday. “I truly believe a group of people that just like each other, enjoys being around each other translates to on court and we’re able to hold each other accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kayla McBride: ‘I wouldn’t trade that locker room for anything’<\/p>\n

The Lynx were their own biggest critics after relinquishing a 20-point lead to the Mercury in Game 2 in Minneapolis. “We beat ourselves,” Collier said. But, Minnesota was never able to rebound and lost the next two games to the Mercury to lose the semifinal series, including another blown double-digit lead Sunday.<\/p>\n

“We got a target on our back. That’s what we wanted,” said Williams, who finished with 20 points, six assists and two steals in the Lynx’s 86-81 Game 4 loss. “We got in the gym and we stacked our days and got hit with that injury bug. And this is hard, but what’s for us, ain’t never going to miss us. So shout out to them girls coming out here playing hard … shout out to us for not giving up.”<\/p>\n

This year’s postseason exit is eerily similar to last year, where the Lynx felt as if circumstances outside of their control interfered with their end goal. Although the Lynx finished short of the title again, they still enjoyed the journey.<\/p>\n

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“I’ve been here five years and to be so close and you just want it for the people around you,” McBride said. “It’s tough, but I wouldn’t trade that locker room for anything. I would feel like this a hundred times over to be with the people that I’ve been with.”<\/p>\n

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news \u2014 fast.\u00a0Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How the Lynx’s redemption season ended with tears and no title<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 The Minnesota Lynx’s season has ended in devastating fashion, again. The Lynx entered the postseason with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[24808,4652,49,48,10946,10947,1612,6001,90499,736,729,9320,3457,3461,82,30325,630,15457],"class_list":["post-177770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-alanna-smith","tag-alyssa-thomas","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cheryl-reeve","tag-dijonai-carrington","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-kayla-mcbride","tag-los-lynx","tag-minnesota-lynx","tag-napheesa-collier","tag-natisha-hiedeman","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-sports","tag-the-lynx","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-finals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}