Game 3 of the 2024 WNBA Finals is Wednesday night in Minneapolis. No matter what happens, this Minnesota Lynx season will go into the record books as one of the historic ones in league and franchise history.
“They’re looking to become the second team in league history to sweep both the Commissioner’s Cup and the WNBA Finals trophy” in the same season, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said last Thursday before Minnesota’s two-point overtime victory over New York Liberty.
It’s worth repeating just how much the Lynx’s come-from-behind victory was an instant classic, one for the ages: First team in WNBA postseason history to win after trailing by 15+ points in the final five minutes of regulation, which broke a 0-183 streak by teams in such scenarios.
Minnesota tied the largest comeback in W Finals history after trailing by 18 points in the second quarter
2024 MVP runner-up Naphessa Collier set several historic marks, including the second player ever to record at least 17 points, seven rebounds and five blocks in a Finals game; and third player ever to record multiple playoff games of at least 17 points, seven rebounds and six blocks
Collier joins Black WNBA legends Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker with her heroics.
“The Finals mark the culmination of what I think is the most transformational year in the WNBA’s history,” noted Engelbert of the best-of-5 championship series, which will be the last time in this format.
Starting next season, the Finals will be best-of-7.
“The Finals will take on a 2-2-1-1-1 structure, in which the team with the higher seed will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7, and its opponent will host Games 3, 4, and 6,” explained the Commish on the setup that most pro sports outside of football use to decide their league champions. “This will give our fans a championship series format that they are accustomed to seeing in other sports.
“We will also be changing our first round to a 1-1-1 setup for the best-of-three series,” she pointed out. “We have contemplated both these changes since the pandemic. We would have done it in the current year, but with the Olympic break this year it wasn’t possible.”
New York took Game 2 on Sunday 80-66 to even the series at one game apiece. After Game 3, Game 4 is scheduled for Friday night also in downtown Minneapolis.
More diversity with expansion?
Last week the expansion Golden State franchise, which is scheduled to begin play next season, hired its first head coach, Natalie Nakase, the league’s first Asian HC. With still two openings to fill (Chicago and Los Angeles), and unless things don’t stay status quo, there will be only one Black head coach in the W (Seattle’s Noelle Quinn) next season.
At last week’s Finals press conference, the MSR asked Engelbert about the dwindling list of Black head coaches—two were fired in a two-week span during the playoffs—and if and when a Black-led ownership group will get serious consideration for the next expansion team, which is expected to come on board in 2028.
“Obviously, we talk with our owners all the time about diversity in the coaching ranks, in their front office, back office, et cetera,” responded Engelbert. “We have a lot of assistant coaches that have been previous WNBA players and represent a very diverse group as well.
“We’re looking at it from all these angles, partnerships, ranks of our employee base, and certainly the coaching diversity and coaching as well,” concluded the commissioner. “It’s something that you can never rest on, so I appreciate the question. We’ll certainly be looking for our owners to have a diverse pool of candidates, and ultimately they’ll make the decision on their head coaches.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.