Sandy Brondello acknowledged that the Minnesota Lynx had the Liberty’s number during the regular season, but she also firmly believes her star-studded team had been playing its best basketball of the season entering the WNBA Finals.
Both of those statements seemed true at different junctures of one of the wildest games in recent memory.
Beginning the final leg of their quest to finally capture the first league title in franchise history, the top-seeded Liberty flushed an 18-point first-half lead and a 12-point cushion with four minutes remaining in regulation — not to mention home-court advantage — in a stunning 95-93 overtime loss to the Lynx in Game 1 at a hushed Barclays Center.
Minnesota’s Courtney Williams converted a four-point play with 5.1 seconds remaining in regulation — and she scored five points in the final 1:17 of overtime — for the Lynx’s fourth win in five games against the Liberty this year with Game 2 back in Brooklyn on Sunday.
Jonquel Jones posted 24 points and 10 rebounds, and rookie Leonie Fiebich scored 17.
But they couldn’t fully offset a combined 14-for-47 shooting night by Breanna Stewart (18 points) and Sabrina Ionescu (19) as the Liberty gave away home-court advantage after stressing all season the importance of securing it throughout the playoffs after dropping the first two games in last year’s Finals in Las Vegas en route to a crushing four-game elimination.
The top-seeded Libs also lost twice in three games against the No. 2 Lynx during the regular season and a third time in the 2024 Commissioner’s Cup.
Napheesa Collier, the runner-up for league MVP this year and a former teammate of Stewart’s at UConn, scored 21 points, while Williams finished with 23 and Kayla McBride had 22 for Minnesota.
“They’ve had our number,” Brondello said before the game. “I was pretty disappointed in the way we played in all of those games.
“We weren’t nowhere near where we’re at now. … But the motivation is they’ve beaten us. That should get our attention.”
The Liberty came out firing from the opening tap, nailing three early 3-pointers — two by Fiebich and one by Stewart — for a quick 14-5 lead.
With Collier held to four points, the Liberty carried a 32-19 cushion into the second.
Another three-point play by Jones and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s first bucket — both off assists from Courtney Vandersloot — pushed the cushion to as many as 18.
But the Lynx closed the half on a 15-5 run to slash the Liberty lead to eight at intermission, with McBride netting a team-best 10 through two quarters.
10 against the Lynx. Michelle Farsi for the NY Post
Another 8-2 spurt to open the third — including a key block by Collier on Stewart — erased most of what was left of the one-time 18-point advantage, drawing the Lynx within two.
But they couldn’t tie it, as the Liberty got a couple of defensive stops and mid-range jumpers by Stewart and Jones sandwiched around a long-range make by Fiebich for some double-digit breathing room at 60-50 before carrying a 68-61 lead into the final quarter.
The home crowd erupted a few more times in the fourth, most notably following 3-pointers by Stewart and Fiebich for a 12-point advantage with under seven minutes to play.
Minnesota didn’t go quietly, cutting it back to three on inside buckets by Collier and Williams with 42.5 seconds to go.
A shot clock violation by the Liberty gave the Lynx a chance at least to tie, but they took the lead when Williams was fouled by Ionescu on a made 3-pointer and sank the ensuing free throw for an 84-83 lead with 5.1 seconds to go.
Stewart tied the score but missed one of two free throws after she was fouled by Collier underneath the basket on a last-second inbounds pass with 0.8 seconds remaining in regulation.
Williams also helped the Lynx go up by four with under a minute to play in overtime, but consecutive steals and baskets by both Ionescu and Jones drew them even at 93-all with 28.5 seconds left.
After Collier sank a 12-footer to regain the lead with 8.8 ticks left, Stewart missed a driving layup in traffic as time expired.