They defeated the New York Liberty 66-51 in the third and deciding game of the Eastern Conference finals at Madison Square Garden. Her final three-pointer came with 1:46 to go giving the Fever a 66-49 lead and essentially bringing the Liberty season to a close.
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The former Boiler has led the Indiana Fever to the WNBA Finals in her first season as head coach.
Now the Lynx stand in the way again of the Fever, who, as Catchings put it, weren’t even expected to make it out of the first round of the playoffs. “I think we brought the atmosphere back like back in the day when I was watching ‘Spoon and Becky Hammon and Sue Wicks and Kym Hampton, Tari Phillips, all of them”, Charles said.
The Fever forced a Game 2 matchup after losing in Game 1 and they were able to win over a number one seeded Liberty team to advance to the finals. “This is somebody who’s never sat in the first chair and now here we are going to the finals and we’re not done yet”. “We’re not done yet”.
“This is awesome”, said the 36-year-old Catchings, who plans to retire after next season. Indiana won three quarters and were outscored in the third by only two points.
New York looked poised to send Indiana home when they took an 18-point lead in Game 2, but the Fever came back to win by six. “If you had asked me before the season if I’d be sitting right here, we’re going to try, I don’t know”. “To be sitting here means a lot for the organization, for my team”. “We have experienced players that have been a part of a championship team before and understand what it takes”.
Tamika Catchings played almost 35 minutes, drew several charges, and helped the team maintain composure late as the Liberty kept pushing.
“It’s Tamika willpower and leadership”, White said of her team, which is 4-0 this postseason in elimination games. She had fewer touches than she liked and scored just 13 points on 6-of-16 shooting. Catchings, at 6ft tall, is among the best rebounders in league history, to complement her ability to score, pass, block shots and most of all, deflect opposing passes.
She’ll have her hands full with the Lynx and Moore. “Bottom line is we should’ve handled business game two”, said Tina Charles, who finished with a double-double in game 3. But tonight they didn’t come, so it was up to me to get to the basket, create that open shot. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do all year, lead my team in deflections”.
Fever head coach Stephanie White is the first rookie coach to lead a team to the WNBA Finals. “We have to make a result in our next game against Bayern at home”.
“They know how to close”, Liberty coach Bill Laimbeer said.
Indiana will now face the Minnesota Lynx for the second time in the WNBA Finals.
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FOWLES FACTOR: Minnesota struggled to incorporate Sylvia Fowles into their system after acquiring the All-Star center at the end of July.
