NEW YORK — Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve has seen a lot in her incredible career that has included four WNBA championships.
The historic rally by the Lynx to beat the Liberty 95-93 in a wild Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Thursday night ranks right up there as one of the best moments.
Minnesota rallied from 18 points down in the first half, matching the largest comeback in WNBA Finals history, and from 15 points down with less than five minutes remaining in regulation, a first in the WNBA postseason and only the second time it has happened in the league.
“So that ranks really high,” Reeve said. “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.”
Napheesa Collier‘s turnaround jumper with 8.8 seconds left in overtime lifted the Lynx to the win.
With the game tied, Collier faked in the lane and scored. New York had a chance to tie it, but Breanna Stewart‘s layup at the buzzer was off.
“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.
Collier finished with 21 points, 8 rebounds, 6 blocks and 3 steals.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Sunday in New York. Before Thursday’s game, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that the league is expanding the Finals to best-of-seven starting next year.
The OT 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 within 93-91 with 32.9 left.
Jones then stole the ball at midcourt and scored to tie it four seconds later. Minnesota worked the clock down before Collier’s basket broke the tie.
The Liberty blew an 11-point lead in the final 3:23 of regulation when Minnesota scored 12 straight points, capped by Williams’ four-point play.
But the Liberty made the most of the last few seconds. After Stewart’s first shot was blocked with a second left and went out of bounds, Ionescu inbounded the ball to her under the basket and she was fouled. The officials reviewed the play to see if the foul occurred before the buzzer sounded and deemed that it did, awarding Stewart two free throws with 0.8 seconds left.
She hit the first of two free throws, but the second one rolled off the rim. Williams’ shot on the other end was off and the game headed to OT.
“Take it on the chin. We were up a lot, then we had a wild sequence to end the fourth and didn’t start overtime great,” Stewart said. “I had a great look at the end and I didn’t make it. This is a series and we wanted to really win for home court. But the beauty is we have another game on Sunday and we’ll be ready.”
Jones led New York with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Ionescu finished with 19, and Stewart had 18.
New York came right at Minnesota, which was playing just two days after beating Connecticut in the semifinals. The Liberty built an 18-point lead in the first half before the Lynx rallied.
The 18-point rally tied the Liberty’s record they set in 1999 in Game 2 of the Finals that ended with Teresa Weatherspoon’s historic half-court shot.
Both teams are looking to make history in this series. The Liberty are looking for the franchise’s first championship, while the Lynx are vying for a league-record fifth. They were the best teams during the regular season, finishing in the top two spots in the standings.
New York is in the Finals for the second consecutive year and is hoping to erase the scar of losing to the Las Vegas Aces in 2023. Minnesota is making its first appearance in the championship round since 2017, when the team won its fourth title in a seven-year span.
The Liberty had lost two of the three regular-season meetings to Minnesota and the Commissioner’s Cup championship, but both teams have said that those games didn’t really matter heading into the championship.
The Lynx were able to hold Jones in check in all three of the wins, with the Liberty’s star center scoring in single digits each time. She reached double figures by the end of the first quarter on Thursday.
Minnesota held New York to 38% shooting and improved to 181-11 since 2011 when the team holds an opponent under 40% shooting.
The star-studded New York crowd of 17,732 was loud and spirited as it has been all season. Spike Lee, Jason Sudeikis, Meek Mill and New York Mets third baseman Mark Vientos were all in attendance. Lee was wearing an Ionescu jersey.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
