Napheesa Collier had a mic-drop moment after winning Game 1 of the WNBA Finals for the Minnesota Lynx.
The Lynx All-Star forward Collier turned in a monster performance against the New York Liberty to lead her team to victory in the opening game of the Finals on Thursday. In the hard-fought overtime contest, Collier dropped a full line of 21 points, eight rebounds, two assists, three steals, and six blocks. Collier also had the game-winner for Minnesota, making an insanely tough contested turnaround with 8.8 seconds remaining in OT. The shot gave the Lynx a 95-93 lead, which ended up being the final margin of victory.
Napheesa Collier. That's the tweet. pic.twitter.com/wzv9cPA1XB
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) October 11, 2024
Collier was interviewed by ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the final buzzer and got asked about the challenge of gutting out an overtime win after playing an extended series in the previous round.
“You can’t think about it. This is the Finals. No one cares if you’re tired,” said Collier.
"This is the Finals, no one cares if you're tired."
—Napheesa Collier on winning Game 1 in OT after playing a Game 5 on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/lF0izffRD9
— ESPN (@espn) October 11, 2024
The Liberty had the rest advantage heading into Game 1 as they handled business in their best-of-five conference finals series in four games. The Lynx, meanwhile, needed all five games to win their own conference finals series, taking all the way until Tuesday to punch their ticket to the Finals.
But for Collier, the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year this season as well as a starter on the United States Olympic team that won gold in Paris this past summer, that did not matter. Her brand of no-nonsense is definitely reminiscent of that of another local Minnesota basketball star.
