WNBA: Why aren’t the Liberty, Lynx benches contributing in Finals?

In the context of a fatiguing 40-game WNBA season, depth is somehow touted as both a luxury and a necessity. A luxury in the sense that meaningful bench contributors don’t grow on trees. A necessity in the sense that, without them, starters will bear a load too heavy to contend.

Neither the New York Liberty nor the Minnesota Lynx have struggled with depth this season. The handiness of players like Kayla Thornton and Leonie Fiebich on the Liberty’s side and Natisha Hiedeman and Myisha Hines-Allen for the Lynx has helped tow each team to a prized Finals berth. But since the series started, reserves have become less than an afterthought.

Efficiency or uninvolvement?

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Through eight quarters and a thrilling Game 1 overtime, the Lynx and Liberty starters have put 297 points on the board. The benches? Only 37. Less than 12 percent of total points scored in the series.

A mostly-lopsided Game 2 loss saw only five points from the Lynx bench. Natisha Hiedeman notched all five in 18 minutes, while three others failed to score in their combined 19 minutes. New York’s bench didn’t prove much better, scrapping together only seven points in 29 minutes.

Infrequent output can be attributed to one of two things: efficiency or uninvolvement. For the Liberty, bench struggles have seemed predominantly tied to the latter. The front three of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu have taken 101 of the Liberty’s 151 shots this series. Realistically, head coach Sandy Brondello doesn’t want her reserves to be high-volume shooters. She made that clear when she moved Leonie Fiebich into the starting lineup in the place of Courtney Vandersloot, who hadn’t come off the bench since 2017. Fiebich was New York’s go-to bench scorer throughout the course of the season, and her place amongst the starters shows that Brondello is consolidating firepower.

Minnesota may be suffering from both. Midseason acquisition Myisha Hines-Allen made noticeable progress in the Lynx system towards the conclusion of the regular season, but her Finals minutes have echoed the sporadic confusion of her post-trade deadline debuts. Hiedeman, the only guard seeing the court amongst the Lynx reserves, was able to make her mark with 10 points in Game 1, but wasn’t afforded much of an opportunity to contribute in Sunday’s loss.

Advantage: New York

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The Liberty lost homecourt advantage after Minnesota stole Game 1 in Brooklyn, but absences from each bench work undoubtedly in their favor. The New York starting unit is mauling the Lynx. They shot out to a 10-point first quarter lead in Game 2, and Minnesota couldn’t flip the margin. Despite their late-game collapse in Game 1, they lead by 16 in the first quarter, and preserved an advantage all the way until the game’s final minutes. The Liberty are more than comfortable leaning on five players.

The Lynx starters are fighting, but a lack of bench presence has left them uninsured. Their stars need to fire on all cylinders or they’ll be left in New York’s dust. Napheesa Collier, Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride all broke the 20-point threshold in Game 1. Minnesota won. Neither of the three scored more than 16 points in Game 2. They lost by 14. Alanna Smith and Bridget Carleton are consistently decent, but haven’t shown the willingness or ability to move the needle when someone else is having an off-night. Assuming both benches are stuck in perpetual silence, off-nights will be losses for the Lynx.