The Minnesota Lynx overcame an 18-point deficit, including becoming the only team in WNBA history to erase a 15-point deficit with under five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, to edge the New York Liberty 95-93 in overtime and steal an important road win in the best-of-five Game 1 of the 2024 WNBA Finals in front of 17,732 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Thursday night. The Lynx lead the series 1-0.
The Liberty jumped out to a quick lead when center Jonquel Jones got fouled by Lynx guard Courtney Williams while making a layup. Jones converted the free throw for the three-point play and a minute later forward Breanna Stewart made a put back layup after a miss by forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton to make it 5-0. Williams made a layup for Minnesota’s first score.
The next two minutes led to some unbelievable play as the teams rattled off five consecutive three pointers. Lynx guard Kayla McBride made the first to tie the game 5-5. New York guard Leonie Fiebich made one. Stewart made the next one. Then back to Fiebich, making it a 9-0 New York run. Finally, Minnesota forward Bridget Carleton hit the last one in the string to close out the run. The Liberty led 14-8 midway through the opening quarter.
New York continued to build on the momentum and the lead. Jones hit a bank shot and was fouled by Carleton for the “and one,” and then made the put back on a miss by guard Sabrina Ionescu to extend the lead to 19-8.
Minnesota struggled in the first quarter as they turned the ball over three times during this stretch which led to eight of the Liberty’s points, while missing four shots and getting no offensive rebounds. Meanwhile, New York grabbed two offensive rebounds and two steals.
Ionescu’s back-to-back three-pointers extended the Liberty lead further. It was 27-12 in favor of New York with 1:24 remaining in the quarter, and after the teams exchanged baskets, it was 32-19 when the quarter ended.
Minnesota clamped down on defense in the second quarter, forcing New York to take tougher perimeter shots while forcing turnovers. The exchanging of baskets continued in the first half of the frame as Lynx forward Myisha Hines-Allen made a layup which was answered by a jump shot from Liberty guard Courtney Vandersloot. Jones made a layup and Laney-Hamilton made a reverse layup for a short 4-0 run forcing Minnesota to call timeout with 6:18. New York led 39-21 at that point, which was the largest lead of the game.
Coming out of the timeout, Minnesota took the game to the Liberty. New York missed 11 of their next 13 shots. The Lynx had five points from McBride, four points from center Alanna Smith, four points from forward Napheesa Collier, and two points from Williams as Minnesota finished the quarter on a 15-5 run. An Ionescu three-pointer and a jump shot from Stewart were the only points from New York. Minnesota cut the deficit from 18 points down to single digits as the Liberty led 44-36 at halftime.
McBride opened the third quarter with a long jumper, which was answered by a layup from Stewart. Williams, Collier and Carleton all scored as Minnesota went on an 8-2 run to make the score 46-44 with 7:43 left in the period.
The Liberty were not phased by the Minnesota run. Fiebich made her third three-pointer of the game, which was answered by one by Minnesota’s Smith. Jones converted two free throws after getting fouled by Smith, Ionescu made a layup and Stewart connected on a jump shot as the Liberty went on a 6-1 run to obtain some separation again. New York led 55-48 with 4:08 left in the third quarter.
Fiebich hit her fourth three-pointer of the game and Jones made a jump shot and New York led by 10 points again.
McBride answered with a three-pointer which was followed by eight straight free throws between the teams. Stewart made two free throws after getting fouled by Carleton. McBride sank four free throws after fouls by Vandersloot and center Nyara Sabally. Then Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman fouled Sabally, who made two free shots of her own. At the end of the third quarter, the Liberty led 68-61.
Jones and Collier tied up for a jump ball. Hiedeman made a layup and a free throw after getting fouled by Vandersloot. The Liberty then got momentum and pushed a 13-2 run. Fiebich put back an Ionescu miss and made her fifth three-pointer; Stewart and Laney-Hamilton hit shots from three-point range; and Ionescu connected on a floating bank shot, while Minnesota missed four out of the next five shots. New York held an 81-66 lead with 5:20 left in the fourth quarter as fans in Barclays Center began showing excitement at the prospect of a Liberty win.
The Lynx refocused and played better defense. McBride and Hiedeman made three-pointers. Jones scored a layup for New York. Collier and Williams each made two jump shots to put Minnesota knocking on the Liberty’s door. It was 83-80 in favor of the home team with just 42.5 seconds left on the clock.
Collier blocked a shot put up by Jones with seven seconds left on the shot clock. Jones received the inbounds pass and held onto it too long and turned the ball over on a shot clock violation.
Williams shot a three-pointer to tie, but it bounced off the front of the rim. Smith rebounded the ball and immediately passed back to Williams who drained the three-point shot, getting fouled by Ionescu in the process. After the free throw, Minnesota took their first lead of the game, 84-83 with 5.5 seconds left.
Collier tried denying the inbounds pass to Stewart. The ball hit off of Collier’s hand then Stewart’s foot. The officials ruled it a jump ball, which New York won when Williams committed a lane violation.
Collier then blocked Stewart’s layup, but fouled Stewart right after. The Liberty forward made the first free throw to tie the score 84-84, but missed the second one, which was rebounded by Hines-Allen.
Minnesota used their reset timeout to advance the ball with 0.5 second left. Williams took the inbounds pass and missed a jump shot as time expired, forcing overtime. The Lynx finished the quarter on an 18-3 run.
Both teams turned the ball over and missed shots in the first part of the five minute overtime period. Then Collier made a layup to break the tie in Minnesota’s favor. Smith scored a layup 50 seconds later. Minnesota led 88-84 with 2:43 left in overtime when New York called timeout. The Liberty shot 0-6 in the first half of the overtime period.
Jones and Williams exchange three-pointers. Ionescu made a floater, but Williams again answered, this time with a layup.
Williams made a bad pass which went right to Ionescu who hit a midrange jump shot to cut the Liberty deficit to two points. Jones then stole the inbounds pass from Smith and finished the play with a fast break layup to tie the score 93-93 with 28.5 seconds left in overtime.
Stewart blocked a Williams layup, but Minnesota maintained possession. Collier then made a turnaround jump shot in the lane with 8.8 seconds left to make the score 95-93. New York called timeout to advance the ball.
It was Stewart who received the inbounds pass and was getting ready to put up a shot with 2.6 seconds remaining, but Collier wrapped her arms around the shooter before she could put up the shot since Minnesota had a foul to give.
Stewart against received the pass from the sideline inbound and threw up a layup as time expired. The shot didn’t fall. Minnesota won the first game of the five-game WNBA Finals series 95-93 in overtime.
Minnesota went 35-for-71 (50.7 percent) from the field; 9-for-22 (40.9 percent) from three-point range; and 14-for-15 (93.3 percent) from the free throw line. They committed 12 turnovers that led to 15 New York points.
“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 Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve. “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 Liberty went 34-for-90 (37.8 percent) from the field; 13-for-33 (39.4 percent) from three-point range; and 12-for-14 (85.7 percent) from the charity stripe. They turned the ball over 15 times for 17 Lynx points.
“We’re disappointed,” said Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello. “We have to go back to work. We have to freshen up. We have to look at how we can be better, and it’s just really principles of play. Things that we have been great all season long, we have to just refocus on them.”
The 42-35 points-in-the-paint advantage went to Minnesota, but New York led in second chance points 23-11, and 19-17 in fast break points.
“No question about it, the second chance points are really, really disappointing. That could have really cost us, and we were very, very fortunate that we overcame that,” said Reeve. “But defensively, we knew what we had to get done once our offense improved a little bit, and we stopped turning the ball over.”
The Lynx were led by 23 points and five assists from Courtney Williams. Kayla McBride added 22 points; Napheesa Collier was good for 21; and Natisha Hiedeman pitched in for 10 points. Alanna Smith led Minnesota with nine rebounds.
“That’s just a testament to how we believe in each other. We have so many great three-point shooters and the fact that these girls are out here trying to get me the ball, I mean, I could cry. This is amazing. I love it,” said Williams.
Jonquel Jones led New York with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu added 19 points; Breanna Stewart tossed in 18 points and Leonie Fiebich chipped in 17 points, 15 of which were on three-point shots. Three Liberty players had four assists.
“We had a lot of opportunities to close the game out,” said Jones. “A few things that we have to change and kind of be aware of moving forward, but still some things to build up on and things to learn from.”
Game 2 of the WNBA Finals will be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT.
