Lynx coach Sherrill Reeve's team needs to be nimble. They delivered.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — There was a moment in the frantic and spectacular final minute of regulation in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals when Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve looked like she was going to jump off the sideline. On the court to play defense.

Had he done it, as odd as it would have been, it certainly wouldn't have been the most surprising thing to happen in a game that his Link had no business winning, but anyway, 95-93, in overtime.

When it came down to it, a stunning four-point play by Courtney Williams and a crucial missed second free throw by Breanna Stewart that almost certainly would have won the game and going the usual distance in a heavyweight battle and then some, Reeve was happy to know that the WNBA postseason It was the first time in history that a team trailed by 15 points in the final five minutes of regulation and came back to win.

If he hadn't mentioned it, the silence and shock of the New York Liberty crowd would have told the story perfectly. What looked like a certain victory on their home court evaporated with a furious rally by a team that played a Game 5 halfway across the country just two days earlier in its previous series.

Sometimes a roll team has a roll, and that was Minnesota Thursday night. They weren't rested after Tuesday's win over Connecticut in Minneapolis, they were the ones in the throes of quick turnarounds, the ones who had to fly one day and play the next — and they managed to do it all to their advantage.

“I think it defines our team in terms of being able to get through tough times,” Reeve said as he jumped for joy and walked from the court to the locker room in triumph. “You have to be mentally tough, resilient. You have to look inward and not blame other people and trust each other and we were that team.”

They were sure, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said after watching it from her front-row seat on the opposition bench.

“They turned up the energy, they hustled us, we missed a lot of shots,” he said of how the Lynx took over as the game wound down. “They executed better than us, they found ways to win. They make plays at the other end. They were blowing us up, they were very physical. They have gone to another level.”

Much of that seemed impossible two hours ago, when the Lynx trailed 32-19 after the first quarter. But Reeve, who led the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in Paris two months ago, wasn't worried.

“We know it's a long series,” he said. “Nothing was won in the first quarter. It wasn't the first quarter we were hoping for. Our narrative going into the time out was we just had to find our feet, find our defensive positions and we did that in the second quarter. We gave up 32 and held them to 12. We went into halftime in good shape (eight down).

As the Lynx dragged themselves into the game, Reeve and the bench players became more animated, sensing that something big was brewing.

“Defensively we knew what we had to do,” Reeve said. “We had to overcome a lot. … We got big stops when we needed them. Time and time again, whether the ball is going out of bounds, 50-50 ball, referee, whatever happens, jump balls, fouls, all those things, we just had to be nimble at the end, we had to get stops to win and that's what I do. I'm proud.”

When Reeve and the Lynx arrived in New York on Wednesday, he was asked how the transition was from Game 5 the previous evening in Minnesota.

“Quick,” she said.

“It is what it is, we all know: TV. We just have to make the best of it.”

That they most certainly did.