Breanna Stewart and her New York Liberty teammates believe they can bounce back after losing Game 1 to Minnesota in the WNBA Finals.
Stewart mentioned that she has watched the free throw she missed at the end of regulation, which could have won the game for New York, several times to check her technique. She concluded that her form was fine and sometimes shots just don’t go in.
“I’m on to the next, you know, what happened happened, moving forward because this is a series and my team needs me,” she said.
The two-time MVP and her teammates need to perform at their best on Sunday for Game 2 of the best-of-five series against the Lynx.
“We have to have short-term memory get it out of our system really quick and get ready for another battle,” Stewart said during practice on Saturday. “We came in yesterday addressing things, today addressing things and just really, fine tuning and getting ready to go again. We’re all kind of yearning for another opportunity.”
Stewart received messages from several people after the tough 95-93 overtime loss on Thursday, including former teammate Sue Bird, who all had the same advice.
“Bounce back,” she said.
Guard Sabrina Ionescu, who had a tough game against Minnesota, noted that the team isn’t panicking after letting a 15-point lead slip away in the final five minutes.
“It’s a crappy way to lose, but I think understanding, like a lot of that stuff’s in our control to come out and be able to change it and, you know, not panicking,” she said. “I mean, it’s one game and understanding we got an opportunity tomorrow to come out and be better.”
Even though they won, the Lynx recognize they need to improve before Game 3, which will be held in Minnesota on Wednesday.
“It’s one game, it’s a long series. We’re definitely not coming into this thinking we have this thing won,” said Minnesota forward Napheesa Collier. “We understand what happened in Game 1. We were able to steal that game, but it means nothing.
It means they’re going to come out even hungrier in Game 2 and it’s going to be a battle just like it was the first night. And we definitely want to start out better and play better as a team throughout the game so that we’re not in that position.”
