Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier and New York Liberty center Jonquel Jones fight for a rebound during Wednesday night’s WNBA Finals Game 3 at Target Center. Photo by Abe Booker III/Sportspage Magazine
MINNEAPOLIS – A three-pointer by New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu with 2.4 seconds remaining lifted the Liberty past the Minnesota Lynx 80-77 in front of a record Lynx crowd of 19,521 at Target Center on Wednesday night. The win gives New York the 2-1 edge in the best-of-five series.
Ionescu’s shot was one for the ages, and harkens back memories of Maya Moore’s buzzer beating three-pointer when the Lynx downed the Indiana Fever in Indiana to win Game 3 of the 2015 WNBA Finals. Wednesday’s game and the 2015 game both finished with the score of 80-77.
Liberty guard Leonie Fiebich got the scoring going with a floating bank shot, which was answered by a finger roll layup from Minnesota forward Napheesa Collier to tie the game 2-2.
Fiebich drained a three-pointer to give New York a 5-2 lead, which would prove to be their largest of the night. Lynx guard Kayla McBride made a finger roll layup and then Minnesota guard Courtney Williams picked off a Fiebich pass and was fouled by New York center Jonquel Jones while attempting a three-point shot. Williams made two of her three free throws to give the Lynx a 6-5 lead.
Minnesota game on strong in front of their home crowd. McBride made a three-pointer, stole the inbounds pass from Fiebich, and made a second three-pointer. Collier then stole the ball from Ionescu but missed the layup. Collier got her own rebound, passed to McBride who missed a three-point shot. Lynx center Alanna Smith pulled down the rebound and passed to Collier who drained a 21-foot jump shot. The score was 14-5 with 6:58 left in the opening quarter as New York called their first timeout.
Minnesota Lynx guard Kayla McBride attempts a three-point shot as New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart tries to defend during Wednesday night’s WNBA Finals Game 3 at Target Center. Photo by Abe Booker III/Sportspage Magazine
Minnesota wasn’t finished. After New York forward Breanna Stewart scored on a driving layup, the Lynx stepped on the gas. Williams made a layup and a free throw after getting fouled by Ionescu on the shot. Smith made two free throws after getting fouled by Stewart. Forward Bridget Carleton made a reverse layup to cap a 19-2 Minnesota run.
The Lynx grabbed a 15-point lead when Carleton made a turnaround jump shot to make the score 28-13, but a three-pointer by guard Courtney Vandersloot and two free throws by Jones cut the Liberty deficit to 10 points. Minnesota led 28-18 after the first quarter.
Lynx forward Cecilia Zandalasini opened the second quarter with two shots in the first few minutes. However, Liberty center Nyara Sabally was able to answer that effort with a steal, layup and block during the same span. Zandalasini got the assist on a McBride three-pointer, and then Sabally scored another layup. Zandalasini fouled Stewart, who made two free throws. The score was 35-26 in a favor of the Lynx when Zandalasini and Sabally were subbed out with 5:41 left in the half.
Minnesota brought their lead back up to 13 with a three-pointer from Carleton along with a free throw and a turnaround fadeaway shot by Collier, but Fiebich made a three-pointer and a finger roll layup, and Ionescu connected on a floating jump shot to cut the deficit to eight points. Minnesota led 43-35 at halftime.
The margin was small during most of the third quarter. Minnesota was able to regain the 11 point lead on three occasions, but New York answered each time. Williams made a three-pointer followed by a turnaround shot by Jones. Collier made a layup then Stewart would make two free throws. Collier made a layup, Jones makes a layup. The Lynx maintained a 55-46 lead when the officials timeout occurred at the 4:57 mark.
Minnesota Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman tries to drive against New York Liberty center Nyara Sabally during Wednesday night’s WNBA Finals Game 3 at Target Center. Photo by Abe Booker III/Sportspage Magazine
Stewart made two free throws and a pull up jump shot to cut the deficit to five points, but a Hines-Allen shot and a McBride three-pointer brought the score back up to 50-40. Fiebich answered McBride’s three-pointer with one of her own, and Collier made a putback layup with 1:23 left in the quarter to give Minnesota the 62-53 advantage.
However, Stewart was determined to will her team back into contention. Ionescu made a three-pointer to cut the deficit to six. Stewart made two free throws after getting fouled by Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman. Stewart made a turnaround jumper after forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton rebounded a McBride miss, and then added a free throw when Williams fouled her on the shot. New York went on an 8-0 run to close out the third quarter and trailed by a single point. It was 62-61 in favor of Minnesota heading into the final frame.
The pace of the game slowed down and the shots refused to go down easy for either team in the fourth quarter. Combined, the teams went 0-5 before Collier was able to score on a layup with 8:47 left in the game, which was immediately answered by a turnaround fadeaway shot by Stewart.
Every move the Lynx made received a countermove from New York. Williams made a pullup jump shot to give the home team the three-point advantage, and then Stewart makes a three-pointer to tie. McBride connected on a three-pointer, and then Stewart made a jump shot and a free throw after Alanna Smith committed her fifth foul. Ionescu fouled Carleton, who made both free throws to give Minnesota the 71-69 lead with 6:06 left on the clock.
Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier attempts a put back layup while being trailed by New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu during Wednesday’s WNBA Finals Game 3 at Target Center. Photo by Abe Booker III/Sportspage Magazine
Then the scoring stopped. Literally. For the next 3:41 in the game, the teams combined for 0-for-10 shooting from the field, committed four turnovers, three steals, one block and one foul. Williams made a driving floating shot with 2:25 left in the game to give the Lynx the 73-69 lead when scoring resumed.
Jones made a three-pointer to cut the deficit to one, and then, after a Collier miss that was rebounded by Fiebich, Jones scored on a cutting layup with 1:31 left to give the visiting Liberty a one-point lead. McBride missed a layup which led to an Ionescu three-pointer and a 77-73 lead with 55.6 seconds remaining in regulation.
Carleton made a layup to cut the deficit to two points, and then, following an Ionescu miss, Collier was able to make two free throws after getting fouled by Jones. The game was tied 77-77 with 16.0 seconds left.
McBride stopped the clock with 10.9 seconds with a transition take foul since Minnesota had one foul left to give.
Ionescu had the ball on the Lynx logo near midcourt when she made a drive against McBride. Using her right hand to create separation, the Liberty guard drove to her left, catching McBride out of position, and launched a deep three-pointer that went in with 2.4 seconds left and silenced the fans at Target Center.
Minnesota called a reset timeout to advance the ball with one second remaining in the game. McBride heaved a three-pointer that was off the mark. New York came out with the 80-77 win.
New York went 28-for-61 (45.9 percent) from the field; 10-for-25 (40.0 percent) from three-point range; and was a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line. They turned the ball over 18 times for 18 Minnesota points.
“It’s pretty special. It was never in doubt. Obviously Stewie [Stewart] got us back in there, willed us in there, but I thought the right time, this is Sabrina [Ionescu]. She just made a big shot. She’s a great shooter and she just needed a little bit of separation,” said Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello. “Really proud of Sabrina and Stewie but just how we stayed resilient. We stayed the course. That shows a lot of growth with this team and the chemistry that we’ve built over these last two years.”
The Lynx went 29-for-75 (38.7 percent) from the field; 9-for-21 (42.9 percent) from three-point range; and 10-for-12 (83.3 percent) from the charity stripe. They committed 12 turnovers for eight Liberty points.
New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart tries to shoot past the outstretched arms of Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier during Wednesday night’s WNBA Finals Game 3 at Target Center. Photo by Abe Booker III/Sportspage Magazine
“The hardest thing to do, I imagine you guys feel it when you are watching, there’s so many ups and downs and swings and all around, and it takes special mental toughness and physical toughness to sort of weather those swings, and here we are. We’re disappointed. We’re home. We played well and just couldn’t come up with the win,” said Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve.
“It’s important that you don’t get too high when you win and too low when you lose, and it’s really hard. It’s really, really hard but we’ve got to dust ourselves off and get another crack at it here at home with our tremendous fans. And you know, we’ll see what we can do on Friday,” Reeve added.
The teams tied 28-28 in points-in-the-paint, while Minnesota had a 14-10 advantage in second chance points and the 11-5 edge in fast break points. There were five ties and two lead changes.
“I trust this team. I feel like we’ve grown so much. We’ve handled adversity even from Game 1, you know what I mean? It’s like, okay, this is a totally different game here and we just had to chip away,” said Brondello.
The Liberty was led by 30 points from Breanna Stewart. Jonquel Jones, Leonie Fiebich and Sabrina Ionescu each added 13 points. Stewart led all rebounders with 11 boards while Ionescu led New York with six assists.
“I would say I really didn’t realize how far out I was,” said Ionescu. “Yeah, like I kind of, you know, wasn’t sure if I was dribbling with my right or left hand and then I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I did hit that step-back.’ But I just didn’t really realize how far I was, but like I said, it’s a shot that I take often and I take in practice and that I take before the game. It’s not like a Hail Mary, hope this goes in. It’s like, once I got it off, I was like, yeah, this is in.”
Minnesota was led by 22 points from Napheesa Collier, 19 points from Kayla McBride, 14 from Bridget Carleton and 12 from Courtney Williams. Collier grabbed nine rebounds to lead Minnesota while Williams dished eight assists in the effort.
“Doesn’t feel great right now, obviously, with a loss. But I am excited to look at film and see what we can do better,” said Collier. “I do think this is our best defense in these two games against New York. So, I’m proud of us for that. But I think just executing more on the offensive end. But it feels amazing. The crowd was awesome. To play at home in the Finals is such a rush. So definitely looking forward to the next game.”
New York has the 2-1 series edge. Game 4 will be held on Friday night at Target Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT. If New York wins, they will win the championship. If Minnesota wins, the decisive Game 5 will be held Sunday in New York.
