Lynx pride in Paris: Coach Reeve reflects on Olympic basketball win as WNBA season resumes
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Minnesota Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve is back at Target Center after leading the USA women’s basketball team to a historic victory in the Paris Olympics.
The women’s team won its record eighth consecutive gold medal in the final event of the games Sunday — its 61st win in a row at the Summer Games. The gold medal matchup with France was nothing short of a nail-biter.
“It was a heck of a basketball game in terms of the level of competition and intensity and the environment… we just tried to play with poise, and we were able to execute a really key play with about a minute and a half to go to give us a three-point lead,” Reeve told Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer Thursday. “Not everything went perfectly, I can tell you that, but we have great players that have been in difficult moments, and they came through in the end.”
France’s Gabrielle Williams scored a two-pointer in the last seconds of the game, her toe just inside the 3-point line. The final score was 67-66.
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Paris was Reeve’s third Olympics and first as head coach; she was an assistant coach for Team USA in the two previous Olympic games.
Getting a team of players from a variety of teams and backgrounds to gel is her greatest challenge as a coach, Reeve reflected, due to a lack of time together.
“We just basically asked them to take leaps of faith and trust, and there’s no time for skepticism… buying into what we were trying to enforce in terms of our identity, that's the greatest challenge,” Reeve said.
Lynx Forward Napheesa Collier became a two-time Olympian as part of Team USA. Reeve was thrilled to have her along in Paris and said she led by example in meshing player identities. Collier’s Minnesota teammates Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith were also in Paris, playing for Team Canada and Team Australia, respectively.
Paris stood out, Reeve said, both because the final game was against the host country and it was a boisterous, fan-filled environment juxtaposed with Tokyo when COVID-19 meant empty seats and a quiet court. France’s “athleticism,” “depth” and “physicality” were daunting.
“There’s nothing like FIBA basketball,” or International Basketball Federation games, Reeve said. “I know many people watched, and they thought there was a lot of fouling, but FIBA basketball is different… Many people think the WNBA is physical and by comparison, it’s not even close.”
The WNBA season resumes for the Lynx Thursday at Target Center in a matchup with the Washington Mystics after a four-week pause for the Summer Games. Reeve said some time off was welcome for players not abroad, paired with about 10 days of honing skills. Now, the Lynx are ready to get back on the court.
“Before the break, we were dealing with a couple of injuries, a major one to Napheesa Collier,” who sat out several games in July due to a plantar fasciitis flare-up, Reeve said, adding many injured players are healthy and back in the rotation across the league.
“We had a terrific practice yesterday. I was reminded of how special we are in terms of how we approach practice, how we treat each other,” Reeve said. “And I think that’s going to make us a special team go down the stretch.”
