1:35For even a sedentary human, back problems are the method by which the universe foreshadows purgatory. For an athlete, back problems must feel like an angry god unleashed a squadron of miniature sadistic frat boys to inflict ritual hazing upon the spinal column.
Running a basketball court while an invisible demon jams skewers into your lumbar is no way to pursue a championship. Janel McCarville pursued one, anyway, Sunday night. The Lynx center played in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, and played with no regard for vertebrae or disks. She wasn't the most valuable player for the Lynx in a tour de force 84-59 victory over Atlanta at Target Center, but her play might have been the most surprising.
Considered questionable earlier Sunday because of lower back pain and spasms, McCarville insisted on playing. In the first minutes, she muscled inside for a basket, then stole the ball and, later in the possession, fed Seimone Augustus for a layup.
Then she dived on the floor for a loose ball. Then she dived on the floor again. "Some of it was hustle," she said. "Some of it was uncoordination."
Next time down the court, she threw a no-look, back-door pass to Augustus for another layup. She delivered three of the Lynx's first four assists of the game, creating the kind of ball movement that makes the game beautiful and her team remarkably efficient.
In the third quarter, she made a less artistic play. She floored Atlanta star Angel McCoughtry with a pick, then caught a pass, drilled a jumper and jogged past the still-prone McCoughtry. The Lynx led 48-31 and Atlanta was down for the count.
"I didn't feel it as much as she felt it," McCarville said. "But it definitely jarred me from top to bottom."
Before every game McCarville spreads rosin on the scorer's table, then stencils in her autograph before taking the floor. Sunday, she made shallow etches in a winning boxscore, finishing with seven points, one block, one steal, four assists and five rebounds in 22 minutes, while defending powerful Atlanta post Erika DeSouza.
