Liberty Take Game 3, One Win Away From WNBA Title

Breanna Stewart's historic outing and Sabrina Ionescu's heroics pushed the New York Liberty to the cusp of a WNBA championship.

Oct 16, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Lynx guard Kayla McBride (21) works towards the basket as New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) defends during the first half of game three of the 2024 NBA Finals at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images / Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Teresa Weatherspoon was unable to reprise her role but Sabrina Ionescu and the New York Liberty penned a perfect sequel to "The Shot" on Wednesday night.

Ionescu's deep three-pointer served as the difference in Game 3 of the 2024 WNBA Finals, complementing a historic shooting output from Breanna Stewart to secure an 80-77 victory over the Minnesota Lynx at Target Center. New York now leads Minnesota 2-1 in the best-of-five series with a chance to lock up the first postseason championship in franchise history on Friday night (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Stewart scored 30 points, her third time with a triple-decade in her WNBA Finals career to tie a Finals record that she'll share with Angel McCoughtry. New York trailed by as many as 15 on Wednesday but fought all the way back to secure the third-largest comeback in WNBA Finals history, two games after losing an 18-point advantage in the opener last Thursday.

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

Ionescu's late three almost perfectly rhymes with Weatherspoon's heroic heave at the end of the 1999 Finals' second game against the Houston Comets. That win likewise placed the Liberty within one game of an elusive title ... and Ionescu's group now has a chance to atone for the near-miss a quarter-century later.

Entering Game 3, the Liberty had held a lead for over 78 of the 85 minutes of game time over the first two showings. Eager to capitalize on newfound homecourt advantage, the Lynx made it clear that things would be different this time around: energized by Kayla McBride's early breakout (eight of the Lynx's first dozen points after being held to eight in all of Game 2) and a defensive blizzard, the Lynx jumped out to an early lead that energized those seated.

Further fueled by 14 points picked up by eight New York turnovers, Minnesota's early advantage summitted at 15 before the visitors made it somewhat respectable by the the first horn, trailing "only" 28-18 at the debut break.

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

Period-closing runs became a recurring them for New York from there on out, even before Ionescu's heroic heave: the Liberty sliced a 13-point lead to eight over the final 3:14 of the second and more or less officially declared a comeback effort with eight unanswered over the final 83 seconds of the third. New York also did not allow Minnesota to get past 20 points in any of the final three frames.

Part of that success came off the bench: all three of the subs that New York used in its eight-woman rotation finished with a positive plus/minus. Kayla Thornton was best on the team at plus-12 while Nyara Sabally and Courtney Vandersloot each played major roles with Ionescu's early struggles and Stewart landing herself in early foul trouble.

That latter run began with Ionescu's first triple, her first after being held mostly scoreless in the first half (salvaging it with a floater that cut the lead to a fateful eight) but Stewart then took over to score the Liberty's next 13 points. By the time that run ended, Minnesota's lead never moved past four ... and that lead was quickly erased by Jonquel Jones' three that cut the lead to one and set the stage for the thrilling final stanzas.

On the hosts' side, Naphessa Collier nearly played the heroine again, earning 22 points, nine rebounds, and five steals, two short of the WNBA Finals single-game record Stewart set in Game 2. Collier also sank the equalizing free throws in the final minute ... which served only to set the stage for Ionescu's Liberty launch. Minnesota kept things close despite lingering back issues for defensive stalwart Alanna Smith, who was a team-best plus-20 in just over 19 minutes of play.

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