NEW YORK – On a night that WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the Finals would go to a best-of-seven format next season, this year's championship opener was one of the wildest games in playoff history.
The Minnesota Lynx used a historic rally to beat the New York Liberty 95-93 in overtime Thursday night in Game 1 of the best-of-five series.
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The final few seconds of regulation were action packed. There was a four-point play by Courtney Williams with 5.5 seconds left that gave Minnesota its first lead. A few seconds later, Breanna Stewart went to the foul line with a chance to give New York the win, and missed her second free throw. And then in overtime, Minnesota did just enough to become the first team in WNBA postseason history to win after trailing by 15 points with less than 5 minutes left.
“It was the craziest thing I’ve ever been a part of," said New York guard Courtney Vandersloot, who was part of the last OT game in the Finals in 2021 when she played for Chicago. "We had chances, they had chances, of course we wish we just executed better, wish the ball rolled a little bit differently. That happens. I think this is a great learning experience for us. You know, this is hard. I’m not gonna lie to you guys. This is hard.”
Game 2 is Sunday, so New York has a couple of days to recover from the stinging loss.
“I think it’s all about controlling our emotions," Vandersloot said. "This is an emotional time. It’s stressful. I keep saying that the lights are bright and these are the kind of things that you don’t want to shift a series. Because it’s difficult, and I think that the best way we can go about this is realizing that it’s OK to feel the way we feel.
“It’s hard. It wasn’t fun to lose that way. But, you know, moving on and moving forward, this is just part of our journey. This is just part of the story. And this is something that we can talk about one of two ways at the end.”
The game looked as it would have a completely different script in the first 10 minutes. New York took it right to Minnesota, scoring 32 points in the first quarter. The Liberty built an 18-point lead in the first half and were up 15 with under 5 minutes to play in regulation before Minnesota rallied.
“We are the first team in WNBA playoff history to be down 15 and come back and win the game. So that ranks really high,” said Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, who has won four WNBA championships with the Lynx. “I think it defines our team in terms of being able to get through difficult times. ... You have to be mentally tough and resilient. You have to look inward and not blame other people, and give each other confidence. And we were that team. You know, thrilled that we could hang in there.”
The Lynx took their first lead on Williams' historic shot. According to Elias it was the first four-point play in WNBA history in either the regular season or playoffs in the final 10 seconds of a game that gave that team the lead.
“The basketball gods were on our side tonight,” said Williams, who had 23 points.
That could have been the end for New York, but Stewart was fouled just before the buzzer. After a lengthy review by the officials to make sure the foul occurred before the clock ran out, they awarded her two free throws. The two-time MVP and career 84% foul shooter hit the first and then the second one rimmed out and the game went to OT.
The extra period got off to a slow start before Minnesota built an 88-84 advantage as New York missed its first six shots. Jonquel Jones finally got the Liberty on the board with a corner 3-pointer with 1:38 left. Williams answered with her own 3-pointer and the teams traded baskets over the next minute. Sabrina Ionescu’s steal in the backcourt and layup got New York to 93-91 with 32.9 left.
Jonquel Jones then stole the ball at midcourt and scored to tie it four seconds later. Minnesota worked the clock down before Napheesa Collier hit a turnaround shot in the lane with 8.8 seconds left to give the Lynx a lead they wouldn't relinquish as Stewart missed a layup at the buzzer.
“We just take it on the chin, you know. We were up a lot and then we had a wild kind of sequence to end the fourth,” Stewart said. “Didn’t start overtime great. I had a great look at the end and I didn’t make it. But I think that this is a series. We wanted to really win, obviously, for home court. But the beauty is, we have another game on Sunday and we’ll be ready.”
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