Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve is delighted that her team found a way to win after holding off the New York Liberty's late charge on Wednesday.
The match saw the long wait for the first meeting of the season between the 2024 WNBA Finals teams come to an end, with the Lynx coming out on top this time, 100-93.
Napheesa Collier had 30 points and nine rebounds, going 11-of-16 from the field and 6-of-9 at the free-throw line, recording her fifth 30-point game of the season.
While Minnesota were in control for much of the game, they had to dig deep to hold off a fightback from the Liberty.
The Lynx led 79-66 at the start of the fourth quarter and scored 32 points to the Liberty's 31 to hold onto their victory, returning to winning ways at Target Center.
"I'm really happy," Reeve told reporters. "It was important that on a night where Courtney [Williams] struggled, others stepped up.
"I thought New York played great. Maybe the time they spent together post-Dallas game showed itself, and they were a handful, but luckily, we were able to score a little more than them.
"If the game went a little bit longer, that might not have been the case. You know, a 31-point fourth quarter is not ideal. We found a way to win, and it's a good win, because winning in this league is not easy to do. Winning any game is hard, so it's a good win for us."
The Lynx had been unbeaten at home this season, winning all 14 games until a 90-86 loss to the Atlanta Dream on Sunday.
Despite this being a Finals rematch, McBride says the main focus for Minnesota was actually on making sure they put things right after that defeat to the Dream.
"It's fun to compete at a high level against the second-best team in the league," McBride said.
"We didn't need a lot of motivation. We had just lost our last home game. The main thing was protecting our home court before anything.
"There's so many side stories that everybody keeps talking about. I feel like this team has really good heads on our shoulders. It could have been anybody walking in here; we just weren't going to lose two home games in a row.
"It was New York, and everybody has this narrative around it, and we can feel that, too. But at the end of the day, we were out there competing for 40 minutes. And it could have been anybody."
