And so a culture-changing season in the WNBA comes to a close. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese dominated the headlines during the season, but we’re ending with a dramatic finale that showcased the depth of talent in the league.
Bryan Armen Graham was on the scene:
That’s a wrap. Next up in women’s sports: the NWSL playoffs, coming up soon.
Jonquel Jones wins WNBA Finals MVP
What was the betting line on her winning instead of Stewart or Ionescu?
Thoroughly deserved.
The Bahamian-born center is overcome with emotion. Not something she expected, even after that performance.
Key event
Clara Wu Tsai of the Liberty’s board of governors notes that the team was formerly playing before 2,000 fans a game in Westchester County. Now they’re in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. They’re doing pretty well now.
Meanwhile, two of the players’ daughters are playing in the confetti next to the trophy.
In the end, it’s a gritty, gutsy performance from the Liberty. Sabrina Ionescu couldn’t hit anything from the floor. Breanna Stewart wasn’t much better.
But Ionescu hit one big shot, and Stewart hit free throws under immense pressure.
The MVP of the game, though, was Jonquel Jones. She picked up 17 points and six rebounds.
“That is some of the most beautiful basketball we’ve seen in WNBA history,” says ESPN’s Holly Rowe. Was it? Not really. This was a battle of attrition, not a shootout.
Stewart gets the first postgame interview. “I wanted to come here. I wanted to be the first (to win in New York).” She won two championships in Seattle.
New York Liberty win first WNBA championship
Fiebich gets a steal after the inbounds play, and that’s it.
Lynx 62-67 Liberty, 10.1 seconds left, overtime: One down. Two down. Stewart has had a very rough night shooting, including some missed free throws, but she has come up huge at the line when it mattered most.
Timeout Minnesota.
Lynx 62-65 Liberty, 10.1 seconds left, overtime: New York inbound to Stewart. She’s fouled. Can she ice the game at the line?
Lynx 62-65 Liberty, 13 seconds left, overtime: The only field goals in overtime were scored eight seconds into the session and 1:46 in.
Carleton tries a long 3 to tie – no! Sabally has the rebound.
Collier fouls out. Spike Lee waves goodbye. Harsh.
Updated
Lynx 62-65 Liberty, 18.4 seconds left, overtime: Ionescu misses a jumper, barely hitting the rim. 1-for-18.
Williams turns it over to Stewart. New York kill the clock.
Ionescu shoots from Caitlin Clark range with the shot clock running down. She’s 1-for-19.
Timeout Minnesota.
Lynx 62-65 Liberty, 1:15 left, overtime: Offensive foul on Sabally. Rare call in pro basketball, but that was pretty blatant. Carleton was completely set to take the charge.
Sabally gets quick redemption with a block on Collier. Hiedeman gets trapped on the sideline and turns it over.
Timeout New York. One more solid offensive sequence might do it.
Lynx 62-65 Liberty, 1:51 left, overtime: The long break to check the video, followed by a floor wipe, seems to have sapped the life out of the building. Will it affect the Liberty’s momentum?
Not yet, at least – more good defense, and Heideman tries to force a pass to Collier. Out of bounds.
Stewart has a good look for a 3-pointer, but it comes up short. Again.
McBride drives and draws a foul from Jones. She hits both shots.
Lynx 60-65 Liberty, 2:44 left, overtime: No, not a “clear path foul.”
Reminder – Collier has five fouls. One more, and she’s out. Carleton also has five.
Lynx 60-65 Liberty, 2:44 left, overtime: Good defense from New York, and McBride is forced to launch a 3. Airball, shot clock violation.
McBride bounces back with a steal, and Sabally fouls. Could this be a “clear path foul,” which would give Minnesota two free throws and possession? I’m inclined to say no, because Ionescu was in position to defend.
Ionescu is 1-for-17. And New York are still winning. Who would’ve guessed that?
New York have been so close to putting this away already. Can they exorcise some demons and hang on here?
Lynx 60-65 Liberty, 3:14 left, overtime: Fiebich opens with a 3! That’s just the second for New York in this game.
Sabally commits a foul but then snares the rebound on a Williams miss. Williams hasn’t been herself tonight.
Fiebich tries another 3 with the clock running down but misses. Williams misses a tough layup.
New York turnover. Williams misses again and gets the rebound, but Sabally gets a steal and a breakaway layup.
Timeout Minnesota.
End regulation: Lynx 60-60 Liberty
McBride puts up a long 3 and misses. New York win the scramble for the rebound, and the buzzer sounds.
To overtime we go.
Stewart makes the second. Tied.
Stewart makes the first …
Replay shows Smith got Stewart on the wrist.
Can Stewart hit two clutch free throws after missing two?
Or it’ll be a foul. Smith fouls Stewart, who’ll shoot two.
Or maybe not – Minnesota are challenging the call.
Lynx 60-58 Liberty, 5.2 seconds left, 4th quarter: Ionescu misses a 3. Carleton gets the rebound.
Collier misses a layup. Stewart gets her 15th rebound.
Timeout New York.
The next update will announce the 2024 WNBA champion. Or overtime.
Lynx 60-58 Liberty, 33 seconds left, 4th quarter: Oh, big call here. Carleton is called for blocking on Jones. That easily could’ve gone the other way.
Collier gets her fifth foul.
Stewart misses both free throws! New York retain possession.
Lynx 60-58 Liberty, 1:04 left, 4th quarter: Jones misses, and the Lynx gain possession.
Collier drives the baseline, and Minnesota lead again.
Stat check …
Collier has 20, shooting 10-for-20. She’s also the leading Lynx rebounder with seven.
Jones leads the Liberty with 17 points. The next two scorers are both German national teamers – Sabally with 11, Fiebich with 10.
Stewart has 14 rebounds.
Lynx 58-58 Liberty, 1:35 left, 4th quarter: New York commits its fifth team foul somehow, so McBride goes to the line. She makes both.
Stewart misses. Collier rebounds. Williams sizes up the defense and gives it to Collier, who drives and ties it.
Timeout New York.
Lynx 54-58 Liberty, 2:08 left, 4th quarter: McBride. Again. So many driving layups.
AND FINALLY … Ionescu hits a 3! First field goal of the game for her, first 3 of the game for New York.
Collier gets inside to answer at the other end.
Ionescu figures she’ll have another go. Misses, but ends up with the rebound and feeds it to Stewart, who’s making a textbook backdoor cut and finishes. Beautiful.
Lynx 50-53 Liberty, 3:41 left, 4th quarter: Another missed 3 for New York. Jones keeps it alive for Fiebich to get the rebound, and the German Olympian drives and draws a foul. Makes both. New York by 3.
Lynx 50-51 Liberty, 3:57 left, 4th quarter: Another jump ball! Are we in the 1950s? Collier ties up Jones inside.
For once, McBride doesn’t get possession. Fiebich gets it. But Ionescu tries an impossible runner and is 0-for-13.
Stewart gets a big block on Heideman, and Fiebich breaks a couple of ankles en route to a layup. Liberty back in front.
Heideman 3-pointer misses. Ionescu gets the rebound and is knocked to the floor by Collier – that’s her fourth. Uh oh.
Can the Liberty really win this game without a 3-pointer? Or without a field goal from Ionescu? They’re shooting 30.4% from the field, including 0-for-14 from 3-point range. Their free throws – 15-for-17 – have kept them in it. They’ve also built up a rebounding advantage – 34-27, with Stewart hauling in 14.
Lynx 50-49 Liberty, 5:29 left, 4th quarter: Replay shows I might have been harsh in saying Smith tried a judo toss. I think either player could’ve been called for the foul, though.
Beautiful pass from Stewart inside to Jones, who might be the MVP at this rate. She scores again.
Carleton and Fiebich miss at each end.
McBride finds a seam and scores. Maybe she’ll be MVP? Nah – if Minnesota win, it’s Collier.
Hiedeman ties up the ball with Sabally. Shot clock down to four, and even after New York take possession, they only have time for Ionescu to heave up a prayer.
Heideman takes the feed from McBride at the other end, and just like that, Minnesota reclaim the lead.
Timeout New York.
Anonymous email: “What’s with the foul disparity--do the Lynx have it coming to them with aggressive coverage(s)?”
I think it also has to do with the Liberty working the ball inside – a good choice when they can’t hit a 3-pointer. Or maybe the back-and-forth accusations of favoritism from each coach in this series have warped the officials’ minds.
Lynx 46-47 Liberty, 7:26 left, 4th quarter: Ionescu heads to the bench.
Jones gets tangled with Smith. Smith tries a judo toss but gets hurt in the process, while Jones is whistled for the foul. Life no longer makes sense.
Timeout Minnesota.
Whichever team regains composure first will probably win.
Updated
Lynx 46-47 Liberty, 7:39 left, 4th quarter: Thornton starts the quarter by swiping the ball from Williams. But Ionescu misses – she’s 0-for-11 from the field.
Collier tries and tries and tries to get past Thornton and finally lowers her shoulder with two seconds on the shot clock. In professional basketball, for unknown reasons, that’s always called against the defense.
In the midst of a few misses in a frenzied sequence, McBride hits a layup.
End 3rd quarter: Lynx 44-47 Liberty
The crowd gets into a frenzy as Kayla Thornton ties up the ball with Alanna Smith and forces a jump ball. But McBride gains possession and draws a foul from Ionescu, then hits both free throws.
Again it’s Sabally, who has surely played the best quarter of her life. She drives and hits a running shot. She has scored 11 points in 8 minutes.
Another defensive stop, but the Liberty can’t get a good shot off before the buzzer. Ionescu flings it for New York’s 12th miss from 3-point range.
Huge quarter for the home team, outscoring Minnesota 20-10. They’re 10 minutes away from their first championship. (Or 10 minutes away from Minnesota’s fifth.)
Lynx 42-45 Liberty, 50.9 seconds left, 3rd quarter: Courtney Williams resumes being Courtney Williams with a nifty drive.
Jones turns it over. Williams misses a tough pullup jumper.
Sabally, who has had a huge impact off the bench for New York, drives at Smith and draws a foul. She played with Ionescu at Oregon, and she played with Fiebich on the German Olympic team. More importantly, she hits both free throws.
New York nearly forces Minnesota to rush a shot as the clock runs down, but Collier gets free after setting a pick and takes a short feed from Williams to score.
Sabally again draws a foul and hits one of two.
Williams misses, and New York feeds it inside to Jones against Collier. The Lynx star commits her third foul. Jones hits both shots.
Lynx 38-40 Liberty, 3:07 left, 3rd quarter: Jones fouls McBride as bodies get tangled at the top of the arc.
Fiebich gets a steal, Ionescu gets the ball and lobs it up to Sabally, and the game is tied!
McBride misses, Ionescu threads an impossible pass to Sabally, and the Liberty lead!
Timeout Minnesota.
Lynx 38-36 Liberty, 4:02 left, 3rd quarter: Smith misses a long 3.
Ionescu again forces things, but this time, she at least draws a foul from McBride. She’s 0-for-9 from the field. Can she finally get her first points here? Yes – she hits both.
Carleton, the Canadian player in the Lynx lineup, hits a 3-pointer from Vancouver.
Collier blocks Fiebich’s shot with the shot clock running down.
Stewart returns the favor and gets a block on Collier.
This is a good time to mention that New York have missed all 11 of their 3-point attempts.
McBride’s shot is blocked by Ionescu.
Jones battles inside – the hoop and a foul. She has 12. With the free throw, make it 13.
Lynx 35-31 Liberty, 5:53 left, 3rd quarter: Jones misses a 3 – that’s probably not the shot New York wants.
Collier tries an acrobatic shot in the lane but misses, and Stewart gets her 12th rebound.
Jones finds Ionescu for the drive, and … was she fouled? Certainly seems so, but no whistle.
Lynx 35-31 Liberty, 6:49 left, 3rd quarter: Laney-Hamilton swipes a pass, but the New York offense still looks out of sorts, and the possession ends with a Stewart miss.
Williams misses, and Stewart gets her 11th rebound.
Laney-Hamilton drives and expects a call, but she’s not fouled.
Smith does draw a foul at the other end for Minnesota’s first free throws of the game. Misses the first, makes the second.
Lynx 34-31 Liberty, 8:31 left, 3rd quarter: And Stewart takes a step toward proving me wrong with a nice fadeaway jumper.
Then after a Liberty defensive stop, Stewart barely draws iron on a 3-pointer.
Foul on Collier for putting a little bit of oomph when setting a pick on Ionescu.
Laney-Hamilton hits a sweet pullup jumper, and … the Liberty are within three?
Timeout Minnesota.
ESPN has Breanna Stewart mic’d up, and she told her team the shots will start falling.
Not if they take the same shots they took in the first half.
Stats of note …
For Minnesota, Napheesa Collier is putting on an MVP-caliber performance. She has 14 points on 7-for-13 shooting. Kayla McBride has nine.
For New York, you can’t fault Breanna Stewart’s effort. She has 10 rebounds. But she’s 2-for-9 from the field. Sabrina Ionescu is simply having a nightmare – 0-for-8.
Despite Stewart’s efforts, the Liberty haven’t had a massive edge on the boards – they have 19 to Minnesota’s 17.
Minnesota’s ball movement has been superb. They have 11 assists on 16 field goals. They have not yet attempted a free throw.
Halftime: Lynx 34-27 Liberty
That has to sting. The Liberty forced the Lynx to run down the shot clock, but then McBride just raced past Ionescu to score.
At the other end, Minnesota knock the ball out of play with 2 seconds on the shot clock, and Thornton misses a 3.
Collier misses a 3.
Jones feeds it to Stewart inside, and she converts.
Smith loses the handle. New York in transition – Ionescu passes out to Stewart, and … she misses. But Jones gets the rebound and draws a foul from Williams, much to Williams’ dismay. Jones hits both free throws. She has nine points.
Carleton travels. Can the Liberty close to within five at the break? Nope – Ionescu again misses a drive, and Stewart misses a tough shot at the buzzer.
Lynx 32-23 Liberty, 1:59 left, 2nd quarter: Jones goes after Smith inside and draws a foul. She hits both free throws. ESPN says the Liberty have made 28 straight at the line. That’s why Game 4 was close.
Ionescu tries to drill a pass into Jones, and she’s a little lucky that Collier fouled inside. Fiebich misses a 3. Stewart gets the rebound but misses a shot. Stewart battles for another rebound and draws a foul from Williams.
And the Liberty’s free-throw streak ends with Stewart’s first attempt. She makes the second.
Lynx 32-20 Liberty, 2:49 left, 2nd quarter: The crowd wants a traveling call. It will not happen. Collier scores.
Minnesota calls timeout, perhaps in order to make a bunch of substitutions – among them, Courtney Williams will return after a long break. The sparkplug guard was winded through much of the fourth quarter in Game 4. She plays at 110 mph and knows nothing else. (Someone can surely convert that to km/h.)
Lynx 30-20 Liberty, 3:12 left, 2nd quarter: Jones gets trapped inside in a triple-team.
Collier gets called for traveling. See, that IS sometimes called in the pro game!
Laney-Hamilton gets a nice roll on a turnaround jumper in the lane.
Heideman sprints down the court to score for the Lynx.
Fiebich tries to force a pass and turns it over.
Collier misses a 3.
Stewart drives awkwardly and turns it over.
Collier fakes and hits a bank shot. Ten-point lead. She has 12. She’s the only US national team who’s looking like an Olympic champion here.
Lynx 26-18 Liberty, 5:38 left, 2nd quarter: Ionescu misses a tough layup. She’s 0-for-6. Shocker from the player who was basically the predecessor of Caitlin Clark in college.
Liberty get a steal and a fast break, and Heideman blocks Fiebich’s layup attempt.
Timeout New York.
Lynx 26-18 Liberty, 6:52 left, 2nd quarter: Leonie Fiebich draws a foul and hits her two shots. She and Jones have 12 of the Liberty’s 18 points.
Smith puts up an airball from 3-point range.
Updated
Lynx 26-16 Liberty, 7:23 left, 2nd quarter: Jones gets a layup for the Liberty. She has 6 points.
McBride hits a long 2.
Breanna Stewart scores! A difficult jumper in the lane. Will that get her on track? (Note to sports commentators: It’s “on track.” Not “untracked,” which is a bad thing.)
Defensive stop for New York, and Fiebich scores on a nice drive. The German national teamer has been a solid contributor in this series.
Collier scores. Stewart does not.
McBride hits an impossible runner.
End 1st quarter: Lynx 19-10 Liberty
Vanderslute comes in off the bench and tries to get something going inside, but her shot goes off the rim.
Collier misses at the other end – a rare mistake from her in this game.
Lynx 19-10 Liberty, 43.8 seconds left, 1st quarter: Ionescu misses horribly.
Alanna Smith, who fought through back pain in Game 4, hits a nice 3.
Fiebich misses, but Williams misses once again.
The bench contributes for Minnesota – Natasha Heideman with a nice drive.
Laney-Hamilton misses for New York – she rushed that one.
McBride hands off to the onrushing Collier for a layup, and New York will take timeout.
Lynx 12-10 Liberty, 2:24 left, 1st quarter: McBride hits a smooth jumper for a long 2.
Stewart can’t get the roll on a hook shot, but Thornton gets the putback.
Lynx miss, and Sabally (who has just come in) gets inside to score for New York.
It’s another atrocious start for the Liberty, especially for their two megastars. Breanna Stewart looks tense and has put up two shots that have come up short. Sabrina Ionescu has been nowhere near on any of her three shots.
At the other end, Courtney Williams is now 1-for-5. Still a sweet pass to Collier to open the scoring.
Collier leads all scorers with six points.
Lynx 10-6 Liberty, 3:57 left, 1st quarter: Again, it’s Jonquel Jones picking up where Stewart and Ionescu are falling short. A strong drive brings the Liberty within four.
Williams misses a corner 3. Her shot selection has been iffy so far.
Ionescu has an open 3. It’s an airball.
Official timeout at last.
Lynx 10-4 Liberty, 4:46 left, 1st quarter: After a brutal series of misses at each end, Williams gets a rebound and hits a very short-range jumper.
Jones gets the Liberty on the board with a nice post move.
Collier gets her third basket.
Fiebich gets inside for the Liberty. Then Smith bumps into her defender at the top of the arc and winds up with an open lane for a layup.
Jones gets a piece of Williams’ shot.
Lynx 4-0 Liberty, 7:06 left, 1st quarter: Williams opens things up with a beautiful bounce pass down the lane for Collier. What a series the Lynx point guard is having.
The Liberty respond with a horrid sequence of pointless passes that result in a leaning off-balance 3-point attempt from Ionescu.
Turnover Williams, but then the Liberty fail to take advantage as Stewart’s shot barely draws iron.
Collier gets her second bucket, this time on a feed from McBride.
The next 90 seconds are not memorable.
Lynx 0-0 Liberty, 10:00 left, 1st quarter: We’re off at last.
Tipoff has not actually happened yet. We were deceived.
New York's title drought
The Liberty have never won the WNBA championship.
How about other NY teams? A quick look at each league and the last NY title …
NWSL: 2023 (Gotham FC)
Ultimate Frisbee Association (formerly AUDL): 2023 (New York Empire – that team was unbeatable)
MLS: 2021 (NYCFC; the Red Bulls, original league members in 1996, have never won it)
World Team Tennis: 2020 (New York Empire – not the Ultimate team)
Women’s hockey: 2018 (Metropolitan Riveters of the now-defunct PWF; the PWHL is new)
NFL: 2011 (Giants)
MLB: 2009 (Yankees)
NHL: 2003 (New Jersey Devils – if you don’t count the Devils, then go back to the Rangers in 1994)
NBA: 1973 (Knicks)
Coming up on ESPN …
Spike Lee.
The WNBA has arrived.
Tipoff in 31 minutes and 45 seconds – around 8:06 p.m. Eastern time.
Updated
It all comes down to this ...
Or whichever cliche you prefer for a winner-take-all final game in a best-of-5 series.
Questions:
1. Will Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu bounce back from rough shooting nights in Game 4?
2. Can the Liberty’s bench step up?
3. Will we see another weak start for the Liberty, or will that change now that they’re playing at home?
4. For the Lynx, can Courtney Williams continue her stellar postseason?
5. Which coach will be complaining about the officiating after this game?
The answers to those questions will determine the answer to the overriding question: Will we see the fifth championship for Minnesota or the first championship for New York?
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how Game 4 went down:
Bridget Carleton made two free throws with two seconds left, and the Minnesota Lynx forced a decisive Game 5 of the WNBA finals, beating the New York Liberty 82-80 on Friday night.
The teams will meet Sunday night in New York in the first Game 5 of the finals since 2019, when Washington topped Connecticut.
“Last 40 minutes of the season could be anywhere, we’re going to be out there going to war and I’m pumped,” said Kayla McBride, who led the Lynx with 19 points.
Courtney Williams added 15 points for Minnesota, which forced Liberty stars Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu into poor shooting nights. Ionescu’s heave at the buzzer didn’t hit the rim.
