Kristi Toliver key to Mystics’ second straight Finals run

LAS VEGAS — Guard Kristi Toliver said the mental aspect was the hardest part of missing 11 games this season with a bone bruise in her knee. She was aiming at returning for the WNBA playoffs. But as the regular season wound down, she had her concerns.

Her Washington Mystics were the No. 1 seed, and they had played well without her down the stretch. What would her role be coming back? How would her knee feel? Could she help the Mystics make the WNBA Finals for the second consecutive year?

Toliver answered the questions this past week as she returned to the court. The Mystics — behind 25 points from Elena Delle Donne, 22 from Emma Meesseman and 20 from Toliver — are headed back to the Finals after a hard-fought 94-90 victory Tuesday over the Las Vegas Aces.

Washington hosts the second-seeded Connecticut Sun in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday (ESPN, 3 p.m. ET).

In her 11th season in the league, Toliver has been through all kinds of pressure situations. She spent seven years with the Los Angeles Sparks, helping them win the 2016 WNBA championship. A native of Virginia who played collegiately at Maryland and helped the Terps win the 2006 NCAA title with one of the most famous 3-pointers in women’s basketball history, Toliver has never been afraid to take big shots.

And when her signature 3-pointer isn’t falling — and it wasn’t Tuesday as she went 1-of-8 from downtown — Toliver commits to taking the ball to the rim. Her offense, including nine assists, were critical in Washington’s win.

Toliver started in place of Meesseman on Tuesday, as Mystics coach Mike Thibault tweaked his lineup in response to some of the struggles Washington had in Sunday’s Game 3 loss. The move worked for both players. Toliver had her best game of the postseason, and Meesseman, after a slow start, was fantastic in the fourth quarter scoring 13 of her 22 points.

It was Meesseman’s third 20-point game of the semifinals. She was 4-for-4 on 3-pointers.

FACTS!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/ptURMBJs24

— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 25, 2019

Toliver made two free throws with 13.9 seconds left, putting the Mystics up 93-90. Delle Donne is the free throw queen of the league, hitting 97.4 percent during the regular season and 93.8 for her WNBA career. But Toliver has made 88.1 percent of her free throws in her WNBA career.

There was no chance she was missing these two that meant so much to her team. This is what Toliver lives to do, and doing it for the Mystics, she said, has meant all the more.

“This is what I wanted to come here for,” Toliver said of signing with Washington in 2017. “I want to help this franchise win a title.”

Now she’ll have another chance.

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