Sabrina Ionescu saw Breanna Stewart lead the New York Liberty throughout the game, but when it came time to win, the ball was in her hands.
“In the timeout, (coach) Sandy (Brondello) was like, ‘You’re going to shoot the shot,’” Ionescu said.
She nailed a three-pointer from 28 feet away with just one second left, giving the Liberty an 80-77 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday night and bringing them one victory away from their first WNBA title.
New York now leads the finals 2-1, marking the first time they have ever been ahead in the championship series. They can clinch the title Friday night in Minnesota.
“We know we’re one game away from winning the championship, and I think that they are going to give us their best shot,” said Stewart, who has won two titles with Seattle. “They are going to give everything they have got, and you know what, so are we. The turnaround is quick, but we are going to continue to be ready.”
Ionescu mentioned she had to watch a replay of her shot after the game to fully understand what happened.
“I didn’t even really remember it. I had to go look at the video really quickly to see like how far I was,” she said. “I feel like I was able to get a little separation in range and get a really good shot to go.”
With the game tied at 77, Ionescu dribbled around before stepping back a few feet behind the arc and making the shot to break the tie.
“It’s pretty special. It was never in doubt. Obviously Stewie got us back in there, willed us in there, but I thought the right time, this is Sabrina,” Brondello said. “She just made a big shot. She’s a great shooter and she just needed a little bit of separation.”
Stewart contributed 22 of the team’s 45 points in the second half and finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocked shots.
“We don’t win this game without Stewie,” Ionescu said. “There’s nothing I can say. That shot’s nice, but what she was able to do for us tonight willed us back into the game.”
Minnesota didn’t get a real chance to tie the game at the end. “Great player made a good shot,” Minnesota guard Kayla McBride said. “I guarded her for 40 minutes.”
The Liberty came back from a 15-point deficit and are now one win away from their first title.
“There’s a lot of things that we didn’t do right tonight and have a kind of quick memory,” Stewart said. “I think that we’re happy we got this win but the job’s not done.”
The Liberty have been in the finals five times before, including last season, and lost all of them.
With 2:26 left in the fourth quarter and trailing 73-69, the Liberty scored eight straight points, starting with five from Jonquel Jones. Ionescu, who hadn’t played as well earlier in the game, then hit a 3-pointer after a missed shot by the Lynx, bringing the score to 77-73 with 55.5 seconds remaining.
Bridget Carleton brought the Lynx closer with a layup, making it 77-75 just 21 seconds later. On New York’s next possession, Ionescu had a 3-pointer that went halfway through the basket before bouncing out, allowing Minnesota to grab the rebound.
Napheesa Collier was then fouled with 16 seconds left and made both free throws to tie the game, leading to a thrilling finish.
Collier finished with 22 points and McBride added 19 for Minnesota.
“Our defense gave us a chance to win the game, period, and our offense is going to help our defense,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “If you told me that we would have got the amount of stops that we did and we wouldn’t have scored 80, that would be surprising to me.”
The Lynx changed the pattern from the first two games by taking a double-digit lead in the first half. Minnesota, which had only led for a bit over three minutes in the first two games, was ahead 60-50 with 2:28 left in the third quarter before the Liberty narrowed it to 62-61 by the end of the period.
Stewart scored the last five points of that quarter, including a three-point play with 19 seconds remaining.
She then scored the first eight points for New York in the fourth quarter, tying the game at 69 with another three-point play with 6:18 left.
Carleton made two free throws to break the tie just 12 seconds later. Neither team scored again until Courtney Williams hit a pull-up jumper from the baseline with 2:26 left, giving the Lynx a four-point lead.
