With the WNBA season on the line, Lynx center Alanna Smith answers the bell

If it were a regular season game with not nearly as much at stake, Alanna Smith might have sat that out. But it was Game 4 of the WNBA Finals — as she said, where every team wants to be — so Smith was playing New York at the Target Center.

“It’s a big game, a big moment,” Smith said after the morning shootout. The Liberty led 2-1 in the best-of-five series early in the game. “Right now I have to think about the present.”

Smith injured her back when she picked up a foul while trying to guard the Liberty Center – watch it again and you might not be sure it was a good decision Jonquel Jones in the first half of Wednesday’s three-point loss.

She tried to come back but ultimately sat back, more because of the back than the foul trouble that bothered her in the game. Since then, she has received regular treatment – alternating between ice and heat – and was not listed on the team’s injury report.

Smith has struggled with pain all season.

“That’s what I said afterwards [Wednesday’s] game,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “I really appreciate her trying to be on the court for us. Knowing how she feels. She did it all year round. I mean, how many times have you seen her with an ankle? She twists an ankle, limps back across the court and continues playing. Physical resilience is always there. But it’s mental strength that helps her get through. She wants to be there for the team. There’s something to be said for that.”

Smith said warming up properly is paramount to warming up the lower back and working the muscles in the area that have to work particularly hard.

When she was forced to sit, Smith relied on the training staff to keep her from becoming stiff.