The Lynx have played nine postseason games this season. In their six victories, McBride has averaged 16.7 points while making 45% of her shots. In their three losses, she has averaged 8.3 points while making 38% of her shots.
McBride isn’t known as a pure playmaker, but she has contributed heavily to the ball movement that made the Lynx an offensive power this season. Sunday, she had one assist. In her first eight postseason games this season, she averaged more than four assists per game.
Whether McBride’s performance was an indicator that the Lynx need more from her to win, or just a byproduct of a poor team performance in the face of a New York onslaught, the Lynx need more from her if they’re going to win their first title since 2017.
McBride arrived as part of the Lynx’s first aggressive push into free agency. Reeve signed McBride, Aerial Powers and Natalie Achonwa to keep the Lynx competing for titles even after the loss of five Hall of Fame-caliber players.
Powers wound up on the bench, proving as embarrassing to the franchise as it was to her. Achonwa contributed little. McBride was the keeper because of her shooting skill, physical and mental toughness and willingness to take hard coaching and to play well alongside Collier, the franchise player.
Speaking of her team in general, Reeve said: “Our pace was slow, taking too long to get into things. And, you know, I don’t think we were terribly hard to play against.”
