MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Lynx had just beaten the New York Liberty to win the WNBA Commissioner's Cup earlier this season, and their next game was a noon start in Dallas.
Courtney Williams just wasn't into it.
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New York Liberty's Nyara Sabally, left, and Leonie Fiebich, right, react after defeating the Minnesota Lynx in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Liberty's Courtney Vandersloot (22) and Breanna Stewart (30) react after Steward scored a 3-point basket during the second half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series against the Minnesota Lynx, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Minnesota Lynx's Courtney Williams (10) shoots against New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu (20) during the second half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Minnesota Lynx's Courtney Williams dribbles during the second half in Game 1 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series against the New York Liberty, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Minnesota Lynx's Courtney Williams, left, reacts after scoring during the second half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series against the New York Liberty, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
The ninth-year veteran went through the motions in that loss to a Wings team that wound up with the league's second-worst record, and Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve let her point guard have it.
“We don’t pay you just to play at 7 p.m. If we have a game at noon, we pay you to play then, too,” Reeve said, recalling her message that day.
Williams shot 1 for 6 and had four turnovers. Reeve told her she felt she gave in to the fatigue.
“I told her I would never do that again. You will never have to worry about that again,” Williams said. “I think from that moment, I invited hard.”
Williams went so far as to declare that stern conversation changed her life, an assessment she reiterated again this week when she and Reeve spoke upon the team's return from New York. The Lynx split the first two games of the WNBA Finals with the Liberty. Game 3 is in Minnesota on Wednesday night.
“Some players aren’t held accountable like that," Reeve said. "She’s an exceptional listener, and the coachabilty is off the charts.”
That's one reason Reeve targeted Williams in free agency. Another was her experience. Then there's the play-making skill the Lynx needed to relieve the defensive intensity around star Napheesa Collier and set up outside shooters Kayla McBride and Bridget Carleton.
Including the four-point play that completed Minnesota's comeback from an 18-point deficit in Game 1, Williams had 23 points to open the best-of-five series. Liberty coach Sandy Brondello put it succinctly: “Courtney Williams was a thorn in our side. She was the head of the snake.”
Drafted by the Phoenix Mercury eighth overall in 2016 out of South Florida, Williams made the Lynx her fifth team — and fourth in four years — when she signed with them before this season. The native of Georgia had barely begun her rookie year when she was traded, ironically by Brondello, to the Connecticut Sun to start a winding journey around the league.
She had some stellar performances in the playoffs for the Sun over the years, but she never got to experience the thrill of a championship there. This season, playing for a coach in Reeve who guided the Lynx to four titles between 2011 and 2017, Williams has come tantalizingly close to finally getting a ring.
In nine games in these playoffs, she's averaging 14.9 points and shooting 57.9% from 3-point range.
“Everything you’ve got in your bag, it’s time to pull it out,” Williams said Tuesday after the Lynx practiced at Target Center. “I guess I’m built different. I love the moment. I don’t shy away from the moment at all. All my life, since rec league, I always want the ball in my hand when it’s time to go make a play.”
Despite holding a lead for a total of roughly five minutes over the first two games, the Lynx flipped the home-court advantage. They will also host Game 4 on Friday night and, even though their team chemistry has been exceptional, they have no interest in hopping on another flight to New York for Game 5.
“We always believed it from the beginning. We have a great group,” Williams said. “Yeah, it’s hard. We understand that it’s hard. But we invite hard. We love hard.”
The Liberty deftly recovered from their collapse in Game 1 to take immediate control of Game 2 and follow through with a strong finish.
“The same things that Sandy felt after Game 1, we felt after Game 2,” Reeve said.
The Lynx were focused intently on preparing to play much better in the game's opening five minutes.
“Don’t wait and let someone else strike first,” Reeve said.
Playing behind a loud crowd should help.
“It’s not going to get any easier from here. This is the Finals,” said Liberty star Breanna Stewart. “It’s only going to get harder, but we’re excited for the atmosphere where nobody’s cheering for us and everybody’s cheering against us.”
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
New York Liberty's Nyara Sabally, left, and Leonie Fiebich, right, react after defeating the Minnesota Lynx in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Liberty's Courtney Vandersloot (22) and Breanna Stewart (30) react after Steward scored a 3-point basket during the second half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series against the Minnesota Lynx, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Minnesota Lynx's Courtney Williams (10) shoots against New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu (20) during the second half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Minnesota Lynx's Courtney Williams dribbles during the second half in Game 1 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series against the New York Liberty, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Minnesota Lynx's Courtney Williams, left, reacts after scoring during the second half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series against the New York Liberty, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
QANA, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli airstrikes pounded areas across Lebanon, killing at least 21 people, officials said Wednesday, including more than a dozen in a southern town where Israeli bombardments in previous conflicts are seared into local memory.
Elsewhere in the south, a city’s mayor was among the dead in a strike that Lebanese officials said targeted a meeting coordinating relief efforts.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes late Tuesday on the southern town of Qana, where 15 people were killed. Associated Press photos and video of the scene showed several flattened buildings and others with their top floors collapsed. Rescue workers carried away the remains of dead people and used a bulldozer to remove rubble, as they searched for more victims.
In 1996, Israeli artillery shelling on a United Nations compound housing hundreds of displaced people in Qana killed at least 100 civilians and wounded scores more people, including four U.N. peacekeepers. During the 2006 war, an Israeli strike on a residential building killed nearly three dozen people, a third of them children. Israel said at the time that it struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher behind the building.
“Qana always gets its share,” Mayor Mohammed Krasht told the AP, referring to the town’s grim history.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, meanwhile accused Israel of “intentionally targeting” a municipal council meeting to discuss relief efforts in Nabatiyeh, where six people were killed.
“What solution can be hoped for in light of this reality?” he asked in a statement.
The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah command centers and weapons facilities that had been embedded in civilian areas of Nabatiyeh in Wednesday’s strikes, without providing evidence.
Israel also resumed its barrage on Beirut’s southern suburbs after a six-day pause, hitting what it said was an arms warehouse under an apartment building, without providing evidence. The military warned residents to evacuate before the strike, and there were no reports of casualties.
The strikes on southern Beirut came after Mikati said the United States had given him assurances that Israel would curb its strikes on the capital.
Hezbollah has a strong presence in southern Beirut, known as the Dahiyeh, which is also a residential and commercial area home to large numbers of civilians and people unaffiliated with the militant group.
The Israeli military posted an evacuation warning on the social media platform X ahead of the strike in Beirut. An Associated Press photographer saw three airstrikes in the area, the first coming less than an hour after the notice.
In Nabatiyeh, more than half a dozen strikes hit the city and surrounding areas, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry, which said at least six people were killed and 43 wounded, with rescue efforts still underway. The city's mayor, Ahmad Kahil, was among those killed, provincial governor Huwaida Turk told The Associated Press.
In his statement about Nabatiyeh, Mikati, the caretaker prime minister, said the international community has been “deliberately silent” about Israeli strikes that have killed civilians.
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert called reports of Kahlil's death “alarming.”
“This attack follows other incidents in which civilians and civilian infrastructure have been targeted across Lebanon,” she said.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, following the surprise Hamas attack on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
A year of low-level fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border escalated into all-out war last month, and Israel invaded Lebanon at the start of October. Israeli airstrikes have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his senior commanders, and Israel has vowed to continue its offensive until its citizens can safely return to communities near the border.
Some 2,300 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since last October, more than three-quarters of them in the past month, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced some 1.2 million people in Lebanon.
Hezbollah's rocket attacks, which have extended their range and grown more intense over the past month, have driven around 60,000 Israelis from their homes in the north. The attacks have killed nearly 60 people in Israel, around half of them soldiers.
Hezbollah has said it will keep up its attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but that appears increasingly remote after months of negotiations brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar sputtered to a halt.
Israel is still at war in Gaza more than a year after Hamas' attack, in which some 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and another 250 were abducted. Around 100 captives are still being held, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel has been carrying out a major operation for more than a week in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in the territory's north dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to Jabaliya and other areas after saying that Hamas militants had regrouped.
Hospitals have received around 350 bodies since the offensive began on Oct. 6, according to Dr. Mounir al-Boursh, the director-general of Gaza's Health Ministry.
He told the AP that more than half the dead were women and children, and that many bodies remain in the streets and under the rubble, with rescue teams unable to reach them because of Israeli strikes. “Entire families have disappeared,” he said.
Israel's offensive has killed over 42,000 people, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters but says more than half were women and children. The offensive has left large areas in ruins and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people, forcing hundreds of thousands into crowded tent camps or schools-turned-shelters.
Chehayeb reported from Beirut and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press reporter Ahmad Mantash in Sidon, Lebanon contributed.
Find more of AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Rescue workers carry remains of people at at site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Smoke from Israeli bombardment rises from the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
Smoke from Israeli bombardment rises from the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
Rescue workers carry remains of killed people at the site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Smoke rise from destroyed buildings that were hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Rescue workers search for victims at the site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Rescue workers carry remains of dead people at the site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Rescue workers use a bulldozer to remove rubble of destroyed buildings, as they search for victims at the site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Rescue workers use a bulldozer to remove rubble of destroyed buildings, as they search for victims at the site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Rescue workers use a bulldozer to remove rubble of destroyed buildings at the site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
An excavator is used by a rescue worker to remove the rubble of destroyed buildings at the site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Destroyed buildings that were hit by Israeli airstrikes are seen in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Rescue workers carry remains of killed people at the site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Rescue workers remove rubble, as they search for victims at the site that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Qana village, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
