New York Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in additional time of a winner-take-all Recreation 5 showdown in Brooklyn to safe their first WNBA title on Sunday, a 12 months after falling brief within the championship spherical for a fifth time.
Jonquel Jones landed a team-high 17 factors as she was named Most Invaluable Participant of the WNBA Finals, and the top-seeded Liberty overcame a sluggish begin to deny the Lynx a document fifth title.
“This is something special right here and I’m trying not to cry,” mentioned Breanna Stewart, who together with Sabrina Ionescu additionally gained a gold medal with Workforce USA on the Paris Olympics.
“We had some ups and downs, this series was tough but we fought through because we wanted to bring it home to this city and this crowd.”
Well timed shot-blocking and a clutch three-pointer by Ionescu, her staff’s first of the sport, allowed New York to seize a four-point lead late within the fourth quarter however neither staff had been in a position to draw back.
Stewart missed an opportunity to tie the sport with 38 seconds left in regulation when she missed a pair of free throws however redeemed herself on her subsequent journey to the road to drive the additional interval.
New York gained the bounce ball to start out additional time and rapidly went forward with a Leonie Fiebich three-pointer that proved to be the game-winning basket earlier than Nyara Sabally gave them their greatest lead of the sport.
Stewart then sealed the title when she made two free throws with 10 seconds left in additional time.
The Liberty, who squandered an opportunity to safe the title in Minnesota on Friday, had been sluggish to start out Recreation 5. They missed their first 16 three-point makes an attempt and by no means led till late within the third quarter.
Minnesota, powered by Napheesa Collier, led 19-10 after a primary quarter throughout which Stewart and Ionescu, the Liberty’s two main scorers this 12 months, didn’t register some extent.
The Lynx used strong protection to maintain Stewart and Ionescu from discovering any rhythm however the Liberty, who missed all 9 of their three-point makes an attempt within the half, used a late surge to chop right into a 12-point deficit and trailed by seven on the break.
New York got here out extra energized to start out the third quarter and grabbed their first lead of the sport late within the interval when Ionescu threaded an excellent move to Sabally for a lay-up that put the hosts forward 40-38 and awoke the house crowd.
“I could never dream of this,” Jones, who averaged 17.8 factors within the Finals, mentioned after being named MVP.
“It’s the biggest moment and you have to lock in if you want to be a champion and it was all about this and us winning together because we really love each other.”
