Minnesota can’t finish off New York and now must find way to win two straight games for 5th title

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Lynx got the start they wanted. They just couldn’t finish off the New York Liberty.

The Lynx blew a 15-point lead and will need two straight victories to win a record fifth WNBA championship after losing 80-77 to the Liberty on a last-second shot by Sabrina Ionescu Wednesday night in Game 3 of the Finals.

Game 4 is Friday night.

“There’s so many ups and downs and swings all around, and it takes special mental toughness and physical toughness to sort of weather those swings, and here we are,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “We’re disappointed. We’re home. We played well and just couldn’t come up with the win.”

Minnesota had only led New York for about three minutes in the first two games of the best-of-five series. The Lynx were able to come home with a split though and were playing at home in front of a franchise-record crowd of 19,521 that included former point guard Lindsay Whalen, who was part of the team’s four championships.

That energized the team to get off to a strong start, as Minnesota led by 10 after one quarter. The Lynx were able to build a 15-point lead in the first half before seeing that evaporate as Breanna Stewart rallied New York.

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Minnesota hit 10 of its 20 shots in the opening quarter but was 19 for 55 the rest of the way.

“Definitely, we got the shots that we wanted. We got good shots, and we just didn’t convert and they did,” said Courtney Williams. “Again, great players make great plays. That’s kind of how the game played out.”

Minnesota now will have to find a way to win the final two games. Four teams have done that in the Finals after trailing 2-1. The Lynx were the last to do it in 2017, which also was the franchise’s last title and trip to the championship round.

Phoenix was the only one of the four to lose Game 2 and 3 and still win a championship.

“I feel like they were making plays at the end of shot clocks and like Coach said, we were getting really good looks,” said Napheesa Collier, who led Minnesota with 22 points. “We just weren’t executing on the offensive end. It’s just hard when you get that and then obviously they are a great offensive team.”

Minnesota had to play the last few minutes without forward Alanna Smith, who was having issues with her back.

Reeve didn’t have any update after the game on Smith’s status. She finished with two points and six rebounds in just under 20 minutes. She didn’t play the final 6:06 of the game.

“Give credit to Lan. She did what she could do,” Reeve said. “We were plus-20 when she was on the floor. So it obviously hurt. Our starting five is a really good starting five, and you know, not having Lan, foul trouble, and then just not feeling like she could go put us in a bit of a bind.”

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AP freelance writer Tyler Mason contributed to this story.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball