MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Lynx huddled in their locker room at halftime of their first semifinal game against the Phoenix Mercury. After giving up 47 points in the first half, they had an all-hands-on-deck conversation about how to get Sunday's game back under their control.
There was no finger-pointing. There was no placing blame or one player telling another they had to do better. There were just questions of, "what can we do together?"
On Sunday, the answer was to up their defensive intensity, which propelled them to an 82-69 victory for a 1-0 lead in the series.
"It was a collaborative effort as to what they wanted to do in terms of schemes," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "They were all engaged."
These kinds of conversations have become commonplace for the Lynx throughout the regular season, often acting as momentum-shifters that help them win the game.
"We've been through a lot of adverse situations in the last two years together. We always know it's a team effort," Kayla McBride said. "We know in those moments when we need to brainstorm. We're never on islands. We're doing it together. We are trying to problem-solve and do whatever it takes to win. It was another example of that today in the halftime conversation."
After allowing the Mercury to score 42 points in the paint in the first half, the Lynx limited them to just 12 in the second, and Minnesota outscored Phoenix by 20 points through the final 20 minutes of the game.
The key was cleaning up their defense on what Reeve called the "most difficult play for any team in the league to guard," where Phoenix inverts the ball screen and puts their opponent's smallest player on Alyssa Thomas.
In the first half, Thomas scored 16 points -- her second-most points in a playoff half in her career -- and either scored or assisted on 23 of the Mercury's 47 first-half points.
Thomas scored just two points in the second half.
The Lynx doubled-teamed Thomas on seven touches in the second half, and she was 0-1 with a turnover. The Mercury didn't score on those touches where Thomas was double-teamed, according to ESPN Research.
Minnesota made Phoenix rely on other parts of its offense, mostly forcing the Mercury into 3-point shots, but they finished just 3-of-23 from beyond the arc.
"They made adjustments, and I still think we had a lot of open shots," Thomas said. "I felt like it was similar to the last series, where we just didn't hit open ones."
Minnesota forced Phoenix into 5-of-23 shooting on contested shots in the second half -- after 14-25 in the first half. After the Mercury had a lot of success scoring off of drives early, the Lynx cut that efficiency nearly in half.
Courtney Williams finished with 23 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals, making her just the fifth player with a 20-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist and 5-steal postseason game in league history -- joining Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas, Tamika Catchings and Sheryl Swoopes.
McBride added 21 points and 6 rebounds, and Napheesa Collier had 18 points and 9 rebounds.
The game was tied at 59 at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Lynx outscored the Mercury 14-2 over the last five minutes of the game to secure the 13-point victory.
"We never feel like we are down," Williams said. "We are a resilient group, so we never look up at the scoreboard. We just try to go get kills."