Eric Thibault takes over with Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve sidelined

PHOENIX — A different coach took questions in the Lynx’s pregame news conference ahead of Sunday night’s must-win Game 4 of the WNBA semifinals. But the message was a familiar one: “You find out what you’re made of in situations like these.”

Those words came from associate head coach Eric Thibault, not head coach Cheryl Reeve.

On Saturday, the WNBA handed down a one-game suspension to Reeve for “her conduct and comments” disputing a no-call against Lynx star Napheesa Collier at the end of Game 3 — first confronting officials on the court, then lambasting the league in the postgame news conference.

Now the Lynx are without both Reeve and Collier, ruled out with a left ankle injury, in Game 4, down 2-1 in the best-of-five WNBA semifinal series. Thibault, who joined the Lynx this past offseason, will step into head coaching duties in place of Reeve for Game 4 (7 p.m., ESPN).

When asked about managing the team’s emotions after Game 3, Thibault said: “You have the most success in these situations when you control what you can control. For us, that’s playing better, playing through exhaustion, playing until the tank is empty, and being sharper in execution on both ends of the floor.”

Thibault isn’t a stranger to calling the shots. Before joining Minnesota, Thibault spent 12 seasons with the Washington Mystics, the last two as head coach with a 33-47 record. He helped Washington reach back-to-back WNBA Finals in 2018 and 2019, including winning a title on the second trip.

The Lynx also aren’t strangers to playing without Collier this season. The MVP runner-up missed 11 of the team’s 44 regular-season games, with forward Jessica Shepard typically taking her place in Minnesota’s starting lineup.

Collier’s status for a potential Game 5 and Finals series is still unconfirmed, though the Lynx forward posted on social media using a mobility scooter for her left leg Sunday. She rolled her ankle when Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas stole the ball with 21.8 seconds remaining in Friday’s game, their knees making contact on the follow-through.

“Everyone in our organization, our team, feels bad for [Collier],” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said pregame. “You hate seeing a player, any player, especially a player of her caliber, go down in a series like this.”

Tibbetts added that “if anyone has a glimmer to think that [Alyssa Thomas] made that play on purpose, that that was a dirty play, is just straight up out of line, in my opinion.”

With the Lynx having dropped Game 2 at home, then Game 3 on the road, Thibault pointed to defending more as a unit and rebounding as keys down the stretch for Game 4, as well as leadership from veteran guards like Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride.

“Everyone knows it’s not on one person to step up and shoulder the whole load,” he said. “It’s going to be across the whole group, everybody playing the best they can and being more connected.”

Earlier Sunday, the other playoff semifinals already stretched to a decisive Game 5, with the No. 6-seeded Indiana Fever beating No. 2 Las Vegas Aces to tie the series 2-2.