Lynx's yearlong pursuit of WNBA title ends early in semifinals - ESPN

PHOENIX — Kayla McBride covered her face with her shirt, trying to soak up the tears. A season she and her Minnesota Lynx teammates envisioned would bring a trophy and champagne instead ended Sunday with sadness and frustration.

This wasn't in the script the Lynx had been authoring so diligently for the past 4½ months. They were the WNBA's best team. They won a franchise-record 34 games and had the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. And then Minnesota's season transformed from a feel-good musical to a shocking horror movie.

In the Lynx's must-win Game 4, Cheryl Reeve, the WNBA's longest-tenured head coach, wasn't on the sidelines, serving a one-game suspension for a Game 3 ejection and criticism of the officiating. Napheesa Collier, an MVP favorite for most of the season and by far Minnesota's most important player, had to watch from the bench after an ankle injury late in Friday's game.

The Lynx blew multiple double-digit leads and lost 86-81 to the Phoenix Mercury, ending this playoff campaign and the promise of a season that held championship aspirations. At a somber postgame news conference, veteran guard McBride tried to sum up the heartbreak.

«To be close two years in a row,» said McBride, who scored 31 points in Game 4.

«S--- f---ing hurts.»

Last season, minutes after a 67-62 overtime loss to the New York Liberty in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Oct. 20, the Lynx came to their news conferences with angry comments about the officiating and how they felt it had cost them the championship.

The Lynx vowed then to run it back in 2025, but this time claim the franchise's fifth title. And for nearly five months, it seemed as if they did everything right: They returned their entire starting five, made some key additions, had the