Kristi Toliver returns to deliver a solid performance off the bench in Mystics’ Game 1 win

Tuesday was not only just a win for the Washington Mystics, but it marked the return of point guard Kristi Toliver. She received heavy fan appreciation and applause. Toliver was out nursing a knee injury that sidelined her for over a month.

In her return, Toliver came off the bench playing 23 minutes, more than many expected. It was known she would be on minute restriction based on how she felt getting back in the swing of things. Things seemed to start off rough as Toliver was 0-for-4 in the first half, but went 3-for-4 in the second half finishing with eight points and four assists.

When asked about Toliver, Head Coach Mike Thibault mentioned the amount of confidence she brings to the team as a whole as well as the different ways that confidence could be utilized.

“Right now she’s just trying to get herself going. I think the biggest thing is she gives our team confidence just by being out there knowing that you have another person that is not afraid of taking and making the big shots and she made a couple of them right when we needed them,” he said. “She started off 0-for-4 and then she goes 3-for-4 in the second half. That’s a big turnaround. That gives everybody else on the floor confidence when we made our run with her on the floor to open the gap.”

Elena Delle Donne in the postgame press conference even mentioned how “Kristi has her Kristi moments...THANK GOD!” See what else the MVP-candidate had to say of her fellow teammate in the video below.