The New York Liberty’s title drought is officially over. After 28 seasons, New York finally has its first WNBA championship, the last of the league’s original franchises to do so. In keeping with what’s been a heart-pounding WNBA Finals, Sunday’s Game 5 came down to the wire, with New York gritting out a 67–62 overtime win over the Minnesota Lynx. One year after watching the Las Vegas Aces celebrate on their home court, it was the Liberty’s turn to bask in the spoils of victory in front of the Barclays Center crowd.
It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t New York’s most inspired performance, but Sandy Brondello’s group stuck it out. Perhaps fitting then that Jonquel Jones, the squad’s bellwether and sometimes thankless piece, earned Finals MVP honors. After four Finals appearances, Jones has a title and Finals MVP hardware to go along with it. She kept New York in the game on Sunday night as the team struggled to gain momentum, notching 17 points and six rebounds.
And the Liberty needed Jones’s steady hand after getting out to a sputtering start. Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu failed to score in the opening frame, missing all of their combined eight shots. Collectively, the Liberty shot a disappointing 27.8% from the field, with their season-low first-quarter output of 10 points quelling the Brooklyn crowd. The second quarter wasn’t much better, as the Liberty looked to be gaining their sea legs in a nervy Game 5. Ionescu finished the first half without a field goal, and the squad went to the locker room without a made three to hang their hat on.
That was thanks in large part to the Lynx’s smothering defense, which slowed New York’s offense to a screeching halt. Napheesa Collier looked as poised as she’s been all season, leading the Lynx with 14 points and five rebounds in a first half that saw Minnesota shoot 45.7% from the field, notching 11 assists on 16 made field goals. Considering the disparity of the box score, the Lynx’s 34–27 lead was somewhat promising for the Liberty.
“I think some nerves are good,” Brondello said ahead of Game 5. “I think we got to use the energy of our home crowd.”
Surely the tightness New York exhibited out of the gate wasn’t the “good nerves” Brondello was referring to. But the squad returned from the half looking a little less bewildered. Stewart helped the Liberty work back into the game on the defensive end, protecting the rim and making stops (she finished the night with 15 rebounds). The major difference-maker though? Nyara Sabally, who was a spark plug for the Liberty off the bench, with nine of her 13 points coming in a pivotal third quarter. New York grabbed its first lead of the game with just over three minutes remaining in the third frame, outscoring the Lynx 20–10 to go up 47–43 heading into the fourth quarter.
Breaking out into a chant of New York’s new playoff mantra, “We all we need, we all we got,” with seven minutes remaining, it became clear the fans were going to will the Liberty across the finish line. And ride that wave the Liberty did. Ionescu, one to make her presence known late, drained the team’s first three, and her first field goal of the game, with three minutes left on the clock. (An aberration in a game where Ionescu shot 1 of 19 for five points.) Then it was Stewart’s turn to come up clutch. Two points down, with just over five seconds on the clock, Stewie was sent to the line. After missing a free throw that would have given the Liberty the win in Game 1 and missing another pair just seconds earlier in Game 5, Stewart drained both to help send the game to overtime.
Leonie Fiebich started the extra frame with a bang, nailing the team’s only other three of the night to put New York on the course to victory. Collier, who finished a stellar season with a 22-point, seven-rebound outing, fouled out in the game’s final seconds—putting a nail in the coffin and all but securing the win for the Liberty.
“I think it is going to come down to the end again,” Jones said ahead of Game 5, “and the team that executes well and isn't playing on their back foot is going to be the team that wins.”
On Sunday, that was the Liberty, by the narrowest of margins.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Liberty Outlast Lynx in Overtime to Win First WNBA Title in Franchise History.
