New York Liberty won their first WNBA Championship in team history on Sunday, beating Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in a breathtaking winner-takes-all Game 5 that went to overtime.
In front of a raucous 18,090-strong crowd, that include the likes of film director Spike Lee, Breanna Stewart sunk two free throws with 10 seconds left on the clock to pull Liberty clear in a game that ended 60-60 in regulation.
Jonquel Jones led the Liberty, who trailed 34-27 at half-time, with 17 points. Jones, who was the only player on the Liberty to compete in a Game 5 before when she was with Connecticut in 2019, was named Finals MVP.
“I could never dream of this. You know how many times I’ve been denied. It was delayed. I am so happy to do it here,” she said.
The Liberty, one of the league’s original franchises, have made the WNBA Finals five times before, losing each one, including last season. This time they wouldn’t be denied, although it took an extra five minutes
Victory gave the city of New York its first basketball title since 1973 when the Knicks won the NBA championship.
For owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, the victory was the culmination of a five-year journey from rescuing the team from the ignominy of playing in front of 2,000 fans at Westchester Country Centre in 2019, to sell-out crowds at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn.
Wu Tsai, who held the WNBA trophy aloft with her players on Sunday, said the win was not just for basketball, but for investing in women.
“When we bought this team four years ago…the first thing we wanted to do was to bring the team to Barclays Centre so they could have a bigger stage,” Wu Tsai told ESPN’s Holly Rowe.
“Then, we wanted to give them facilities and performance and nutrition and everything they deserve because they are elite professional athletes. And look what can happen when you have an intention and you put resources, care and attention to it.”
That investment paid off on Sunday, when with stars Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu struggling on offence, other players stepped up. Leonie Fiebich started off overtime with a three-pointer, and then Nyara Sabally had a steal for a lay-up to make it 65-60 and bring the sell-out crowd to a frenzied state.
Minnesota didn’t score in overtime until Kayla McBride hit two free throws with 1:51 left. The Lynx missed all six of their field goal attempts in overtime. After Ionescu missed a shot with 21 seconds left, her 18th miss on 19 shot attempts, the Lynx had one last chance, but Bridget Carleton missed a three-pointer with 16 seconds left.
Stewart, who missed a free throw with 0.8 seconds left in Game 1, hit two free throws with 10.1 seconds left to seal the victory. As the final seconds ticked off the clock the players hugged and streamers fell from the rafters
Napheesa Collier scored 22 points to lead Minnesota before fouling out with 13 seconds left in overtime.
This season is the first time the WNBA Finals have gone the distance since 2019, and capped a record-breaking season for the league.
All five games have come down to the final few seconds, with two games going into overtime; a recipe for record television ratings in a year when WNBA rookie star Caitlin Clark drove attendances higher than they have ever been.
The Lynx, meanwhile, were chasing history of their own in the form of a fifth title, which would have broken a tie with Seattle Storm and Houston Comets.