Before the best-of-five WNBA Finals shift to the home floor of the Minnesota Lynx, Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty will aim to even series on Sunday afternoon when they host Game 2.
It will be tough to match the ridiculousness and excitement of the Game 1 ending on Thursday, when the Lynx erased an 18-point deficit and used a four-point play from Courtney Williams at the end of the fourth quarter to push the game into overtime.
In the extra frame, Napheesa Collier swished a mid-range fadeaway while being closely guarded with 8.8 seconds left for a 95-93 lead, then Stewart missed what would have been a game-tying layup near the buzzer.
“I missed, and that’s it. Sometimes you make it and sometimes you miss it, and that’s where I am,” Stewart said. “But perspective, like, I want to be taking those shots. … We gave up 11 points in two minutes. Our offense got really stagnant.”
While Jonquel Jones scored 24 points for the Liberty on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe, New York’s other two stars — Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu — weren’t as efficient in Game 1.
Stewart shot 6-of-21 from the floor and missed two free throws, one of which could have been a game-winner with 0.8 seconds left in regulation. Ionescu shot 8-of-26 from the floor, including 3-of-9 from 3-point range.
For Ionescu, it was the fifth time in the past 10 games that the three-time All-Star and Olympian shot worse than 31 percent from the field.
“Going back and watching film and understanding that we kind of beat ourselves,” Ionescu said. “It’s a crappy way to lose but understanding that a lot of that stuff is in our control to come out and be able to change it and not panicking. You don’t fully flush it. I think you have to learn from it and understand what they did and the errors we made.”
While the Liberty dominated the Lynx on the glass 44-32 and grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, Minnesota is hoping to improve its defense and rebounding while maintaining its efficiency on offense. The Lynx shot 50.7 percent from the floor, 40.9 percent from 3-point range and 93.3 percent from the charity stripe while dishing out 20 assists on 36 made baskets.
Williams led the team with 23 points along with her late-game heroics, helping Minnesota complete a comeback that tied the largest in Finals history.
“Honestly, we were surprised how quickly we got hit in the mouth, it was crazy,” Williams said. “They came out and tried to take our life from us, but I think that’s just a testament to who we are, we never got down and kept our composure.”
–Field Level Media