When their All-World player had a game to forget, the torch was carried by some unlikely heroes – and in the end, the New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in overtime of Game 5 of the NBA Finals to capture the WNBA Championship.
The Liberty were the last remaining original WNBA team to not win a championship, but they ended that 28-season drought in front of a capacity crowd at Barclays Center.
Sabrina Ionescu, the Liberty’s first-ever No. 1 pick and a three-time All-Star, had one of the worst games of her career, going 1-for-19 from the field (including 1-for-10 from three) for just five points, but the Liberty got contributions up and down the roster.
Former WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones, who had 21 in Game 4, had a team-high 17, and was named WNBA Finals MVP after the game. Now three-time NBA Champion Breanna Stewart added 13 and a game-high 15 boards, Leonie Fiebich also had 13, and Nyara Sabally – Ionescu’s college teammate at Oregon who had just 11 points over the first four games – had 13 and seven rebounds in just 17 minutes.
For Minnesota, it was almost a two-woman show in the scoring column, with Napheesa Collier scoring a game-high 22, and Kayla McBride adding 21.
The Liberty did not have a three-pointer until Ionescu connected in the fourth quarter, and they trailed by nine after one at seven at halftime. But, a 20-10 third quarter gave them the edge heading into the fourth, and after McBride missed a three-pointer in the final seconds of the fourth, Kayla Thornton’s rebound meant OT for the second time in the series.
New York dominated that extra five minutes, outscoring the Lynx 7-2 and locking it down right away with Fiebich’s three just seven seconds in. Minnesota had possession down three with 18 seconds left, but Bridget Carleton missed a three, Stewart made two free throws on the other end, and Carleton’s bad pass was stolen by Fiebich with seven seconds left to ice it.
And so tonight, the Empire State Building is lit up in green for Lady Liberty and Brooklyn’s squad, who avenged their loss in the 2023 WNBA Finals to Las Vegas – the team they vanquished in this year’s semifinals – and denied Minnesota a league-record fifth title en route to their first.