NEW YORK — Napheesa Collier rewatched the Game 1 broadcast, even though the Minnesota Lynx star never normally does, because it was all so blurry. The MVP runner-up couldn’t remember when Courtney Williams, her 6-foot-1 point guard, went downhill and ended up against 6-foot-1 center Jonquel Jones. She was in awe.

New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart also watched it in full. She felt better after seeing her missed free throw that won the game for the Liberty. The third-place MVP was in her routine, not getting off the line too quickly and doing everything she usually does. There was no awe, but there was optimism.

“I keep shooting them and the next one goes in,” Stewart said after the Liberty practiced Saturday at Barclays Center.

The Liberty are “movie addicts” at this point, she said, as they were in the semifinals and first round. Same as last year’s Finale series. But this year, they are also tasked with taking responsibility, regrouping and avoiding panic, lest the emotion of Game 1’s collapse wrest the series from their grasp.

“This is just part of our journey. This is just part of the story,” Liberty Point Guard Courtney Vandersloot said after Game 1. “And this is something we can talk about in one or two ways at the end. We are trying to change the course of this.”

After the Liberty blew a 15-point lead in the final five minutes and lost 95-93 in overtime, Vandersloot said she told the team to feel the bad emotions but leave them behind heading into outside that evening. Players took responsibility during practice on Saturday and turned the page to the task at hand. It should never have come down to Stewart’s missed free throw, or even her open look in the final seconds of overtime.

“(Stewart) didn’t lose the game. We’ve lost that before,” head coach Sandy Brondello said. “It’s no one’s fault, it’s all our faults and no one’s fault in that regard.”

It’s a series for a reason, several players said. They’re focused on Game 2 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET on ABC) and appear willing to tip early if they can.

“We’re just really hungry and eager for our recovery,” Stewart said of a game that is almost a must-win as the series heads to Minneapolis for Games 3 and 4.

The Liberty did not perform well offensively, settling for shots and not playing at a good pace. They knew the Lynx defensive switches were coming and couldn’t counter. It’s the fourth loss to Minnesota in five tries this year.

Defensively, they allowed 84 points in regulation (eight more than their average) and a total of 42 points in the paint (seven more than average). The Liberty are a mediocre 4-6 in the regular season when they give up 83 or more points. Williams burned them not only with her late goals, but also with her ability to get Collier open.

“Everyone is disappointed, but you keep (the team) working,” Brondello said. “We can’t even think about that, what that felt like (in Game 1). I can’t change it. So what are we going to do about it? And that is our goal as we move forward.”

Brondello wants the Liberty to get better on screens so Jones can roll and use her consistently, including drawing attention to kickout passes. Jones led New York with 24 points and 10 rebounds, but was held scoreless on four shots in the second quarter and made one of only two attempts in the crucial fourth. The center makes her fourth finals appearance and is the key asset to the franchise’s first championship.

But even her standout play alone — coupled with strong play from Leonie Fiebich from three-point range — couldn’t lift the Lynx defense in a déjà vu aura of the 2023 finals against Las Vegas. The Liberty attempted 90 shots, an incredible number that is 12 more than their season high and 22 more than their season average. None of them have been easy and that needs to change in Game 2.

“The players that normally have the ball in their hand and are able to come down and get off a pick-and-roll and wheel and deal and set up the offense, (the Lynx) let it not so easy,” says the guard. said Sabrina Ionescu. “But they’re not perfect either, and so I think we understand that we’re looking at that game where we can get (Jones) going, get her in, ways we could get people going with our height advantage and playing our post and how that can open the floor for everyone.”

Ionescu said it was “pretty quiet” in the locker room after the first match ended, but they started talking about the mistakes collectively and individually.

“That’s a powerful locker room when you can take ownership of the things you didn’t do well and commit to doing them better, instead of just pointing fingers,” Ionescu said.

New York lost Game 1 of the 2023 semifinals at home against Connecticut but won its next three games, Ionescu recalled. Minnesota lost the first game of this year’s semifinals (also to Connecticut), but still clinched its spot in the Finals by the end of the series.

“You can’t let the last match influence your next one,” Ionescu said. “You just have to learn from it.”

Ionescu is excited to punish the holes she saw in the Lynx defense while watching film. Stewart spent the days between games watching clips as if they were representatives on the field, making sure the “scout was well ingrained in our minds.” The Liberty need to make sure they’re locked in and ready with “ten toes down,” Stewart said. In her mind, it’s just another battle against adversity they’ve endured for more than a year.

“One thing I’ve been thinking about a lot is that there is beauty in the struggle,” Stewart said. “And that’s basically where we are now.”