MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Lynx had just beaten the New York Liberty to win the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup earlier this season, and their next game was a noon start in Dallas.

Courtney Williams just wasn’t into it.

The ninth-year veteran went through the motions in that loss to a Wings team that wound up with the league’s second-worst record, and Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve let her point guard have it.

“We don’t pay you just to play at 7 p.m. If we have a game at noon, we pay you to play then, too,” Reeve said, recalling her message that day.

Williams shot 1 for 6 and had four turnovers. Reeve told her she felt she gave in to the fatigue.

“I told her I would never do that again. You will never have to worry about that again,” Williams said. “I think from that moment, I invited hard.”

Williams went so far as to declare that stern conversation changed her life, an assessment she reiterated again this week when she and Reeve spoke upon the team’s return from New York. The Lynx split the first two games of the WNBA Finals with the Liberty. Game 3 is in Minnesota tonight.

“Some players aren’t held accountable like that,” Reeve said. “She’s an exceptional listener, and the coachabilty is off the charts.”

Including the four-point play that completed Minnesota’s comeback from an 18-point deficit in Game 1, Williams had 23 points to open the best-of-five series.

In nine games in these playoffs, she’s averaging 14.9 points and shooting 57.9% from 3-point range.