They did it their way. The Minnesota Lynx did not take their first lead until there was five seconds left in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. Fortunately, it was those last few moments that mattered and made the difference in the outcome, and also, the extra session.
The Lynx showed off their championship metal as a franchise by scratching and clawing their way to a 95-93 overtime victory in enemy territory at Barclays Center on Thursday, despite multiple double-digit comebacks to stun the title favorites and take a 1-0 lead in the Finals. Their win after trailing by 18 points is the largest comeback victory in WNBA Finals history.
WNBA MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier played the hero in overtime, making a contested, fadeaway jump shot with 8.4 seconds left.
Collier was given the unenviable task of guarding her old college teammate Breanna Stewart on the Liberty’s game-ending possession, preventing one shot with an intentional foul. After Stewart got the ball again, she drove and had a game-tying shot that bounced off the rim to end the game.
Prior to that, the night came down to the last 10 seconds of regulation. The Lynx got the ball down three points, 83-80, with 18.1 seconds left. They twice went to playoff star Courtney Williams, with her dad looking on nervously in the stands, who missed her first shot, then buried her second, a four-point play courtesy of a foul by Sabrina Ionescu. It silenced the Barclays Center crowd.
That crowd included stars such as film maker Spike Lee, TV personality Gayle King, actor/comedian Jason Sudeikis, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and WNBA commissioner Cathy Englelbert.
Embed from Getty Images“The basketball gods were on our side tonight,” said Courtney Williams, who had 23 points, including a four-point play with 5.5 seconds left in regulation, to lead Minnesota.
The Liberty had an opportunity to take the game back right there, but a would-be Stewart game-winner got blocked by Collier in the paint. New York got the ball back, in-bounded it back to Stewart and watched her draw a foul from Collier.
Down by one point, Stewart made the first, and with all the pressure on her shoulders then missed the second to send the game to overtime. The two-time WNBA MVP and two-time Finals MVP with the Seattle Storm was visibly upset with herself as she walked down the court.
“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.”
Liberty center Jonquel Jones led all scorers with 24 points plus 10 rebounds, while Stewart and Ionescu combined for 14-of-47 shooting from the field. The trio of Williams, Collier and Kayla McBride all chipped in at least 20 points
New York began the night on fire, they just could not miss. They built a lead as large as 18 points in the first half, with an eager Barclays Center erupting with each subsequent basket.
With the Liberty entering Game 1 and picked by many to win their first WNBA championship as one of the original teams in the league, it could have just become uglier from there. Instead, the Lynx, hardly underdogs after leading the WNBA in defensive rating, leading the West with a 30-10 record and continuing to have four-time champion and Coach of the Year, Cheryl Reeve patrolling the sideline, allowed only one New York field goal for the final five minutes of the first half.
“We’re the first team in WNBA playoff history to be down 15 (in the final 5 minutes) and come back and win the game,” Reeve said. “So that ranks really high. I think it defines our team. Getting through difficult times. That’s what we’ve been talking about. You have to be mentally tough, resilient. … Thrilled that we could hang in there.”
The Minnesota run picked up right where it left off in the third quarter, eventually narrowing the deficit to only two points. The Liberty offense finally got out of hibernation at that point and built up another double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. Recent history repeated, though, with the Lynx holding the Liberty without a field goal in the last three minutes of the game.
A 14-2 Minnesota surge culminated in the Lynx getting the ball back with 18.5 seconds left in regulation. Then, the Williams shot. Then, the foul. Then, the controversy. Then, the overtime. If Game 1 is a sign of things to come, it will be a fun, and nerve racking, WNBA Finals.
Game 2 is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET in New York (ABC).
