Cheryl Reeve stands behind ROTY Olivia Miles after the Lynx’s playoff exit and points to the hard lessons she learned in defeat.
Olivia Miles spent most of her rookie season making the WNBA look easier than it was supposed to be. However, the playoffs gave the Minnesota Lynx guard something she hadn’t experienced much of all year: a problem she couldn’t solve in time.
The New York Liberty made sure of it. Miles struggled throughout Minnesota’s stunning first-round exit, but Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve wasn’t about to let two difficult games overshadow everything her Rookie of the Year had done before them.
Lynx HC Cheryl Reeve Backs ROTY Olivia Miles After Difficult Lessons From ‘Painful’ Playoff Exit
Miles entered her first postseason after one of the best rookie seasons the league has seen. The No. 2 pick of this year’s draft averaged 19.8 points, 6.0 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 49.2% and 38.8% from 3-point range. She broke Caitlin Clark’s WNBA rookie scoring record with 790 points and also set a rookie record with 22 20-point games.
New York had already shown it could make her uncomfortable. In the teams’ final regular-season meeting on September 18, the Liberty pressured Miles for essentially the length of the floor and rotated defenders onto her. She finished 5-for-18 with 5 turnovers in a 93-81 loss and afterward spoke about being “hounded everywhere” and pushed off her spots.
The same matchup became even tougher in the playoffs. Miles managed 11 points on 3-for-12 shooting with 1 assist in Minnesota’s 91-75 Game 1 loss. Reeve acknowledged afterward that New York had been a difficult matchup for the rookie throughout the season.
Game 2 was worse. The 23-year-old star scored 5 points on 1-for-8 shooting in 17 minutes, with the Liberty’s length and rim protection taking away much of what had worked for her during the regular season.
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The All-Star guard was assessed a Flagrant 1 for contact with Breanna Stewart’s face with 6:26 left in the third quarter. She ultimately played just 17 minutes and sat for the final 16 as New York pulled away for an 87-71 win to complete the sweep.
Reeve still saw a bigger picture than Miles’ rough postseason numbers.
“We had conversations, it was obvious, you know, kind of going into it,” Reeve said. “It’s hard, those lessons are the hardest ones, very very painful.”
The five-time WNBA Coach of the Year also pointed to how much responsibility Miles carried during the season and how personally the rookie took Minnesota’s early exit.
“She cares deeply about her vets, and she knows her time is more plentiful in playing basketball than theirs,” Reeve added. “And so she took a lot on and ultimately I need to find a way to get her and (Natasha Howard) in better spaces, because those two were terrific.”
Against New York, though, Reeve said the Liberty’s size around the rim effectively neutralized both of them.
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The rookie’s numbers tell just how dramatic the change was. After averaging nearly 20 points on 49.2% shooting during the regular season, she averaged 8.0 points in two playoff games and made only 4 of 20 shots.
Minnesota went from a league-best 33-11 record to becoming the first No. 1 seed eliminated by a No. 8 seed under the WNBA’s current playoff format.
New York found a way to make a historic rookie look like one. Miles couldn’t find an answer before Minnesota ran out of games, but after everything she accomplished in Year 1, Reeve isn’t treating two difficult playoff nights as the final word on her season.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
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