Napheesa Collier Will Never Get Over 'Injust' WNBA Finals Ending
Women's basketball fans will be well aware by now that the New York Liberty won the 2024 WNBA Finals, cementing the franchise's first-ever WNBA championship.
Fans will also be well aware that this massive win didn't come without controversy. A foul call that Breanna Stewart received with seconds left in regulation allowed the Liberty (who were on the brink of defeat) to send the game to overtime — where they then defeated the Minnesota Lynx.
Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve made her feelings known about this call during her team's postgame press conference on Sunday, saying, "This s*** was stolen from us."
While Reeve was speaking, Lynx star player Napheesa Collier was sitting beside her, remaining almost completely silent throughout the press conference.
Napheesa Collier clearly emotional after the tough loss pic.twitter.com/MQR1M9ROjC
— Robin Lundberg (@robinlundberg) October 21, 2024
It seems that Collier needed a couple of days to collect her thoughts in the game's aftermath, as she delivered her verdict during the Lynx's end-of-season exit interviews on Tuesday.
"It’s easy to be appreciative of this team, and see how special this season was," Collier said when asked whether she can get over the disappointment of his Minnesota's season ended, per Vanshay Murdock.
"I think that loss is something I’ll never get over," she continued. "To have it end that way, where it feels super injust, I don't think that's something that I'll be able to get over. It's different if you feel like you lose a game."
Collier presumably meant 'unjust' rather than 'injust'.
She continued by saying, "But it’s really easy to love this team. We got back yesterday... and went to one last dinner together because we’ll never be the same group again. So this team is just really close and I’m so proud of everything we did this year, and we were really close to getting our goal. So it's a really tough ending."
Reporter: is it possible to get over the disappointment of what happened on Sunday, look at the whole season and appreciate what the Lynx were able to accomplish ?
— Vanshay Murdock 🎥🎥 (@VanshayM) October 22, 2024
Phee: It’s easy to be appreciative of this team… that loss is something I’ll never get over. To have it end that… pic.twitter.com/TIYRsdfvkp
The pain of this loss may never go away for the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.