Oct 13, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30), guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) and Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (24) fight for a loose ball during game two of the 2024 WNBA Finals at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images MINNEAPOLIS — Breanna Stewart understands the stakes. So do all of her teammates.
The New York Liberty are one win away from clinching their first WNBA championship. They will try to bring it home when they tip off against the Minnesota Lynx on Friday night in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.
“Just knowing that we’re one win away — that’s what’s the most motivating,” Stewart said. “The fact that we have an opportunity to finish this thing (Friday) night. Knowing that what we did (Wednesday) wasn’t good enough, and it needs to be even better.
“Because we’re going to get everything that Minny’s got. But we want this one bad.”
The Liberty have a 2-1 edge in the best-of-five series. If the Lynx prevail on Friday, that will force a winner-take-all Game 5 on Sunday evening in New York.
New York is coming off an 80-77 comeback win in Game 3 on Wednesday night that still had the league and its fans buzzing one day later. Sabrina Ionescu hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer from just inside the Lynx logo near midcourt with one second remaining.
Ionescu said she received more than 200 congratulatory text messages after the win, and she responded to every one of them.
“My husband was getting mad,” Ionescu said. “He was like, ‘Come on. Get to bed.’ I was like, ‘No, I have to respond to everyone and just tell everyone, ‘Thank you.’
“I watched over that clip, obviously, a few times to relive it. But now I’ve turned the page and can’t stay on that high too long because the job’s not finished. We’ve got one more game. And then once we finish this, then I’ll probably watch it a million more times.”
The Lynx would love to spoil the Liberty’s plans for a celebration.
Napheesa Collier and her teammates are determined to do better in Game 4. Collier said reviewing the game film showed that the Lynx had enough to win.
“I thought we played really well for the whole game,” Collier said. “The only problem was that we didn’t execute on offense at the end. We just missed really easy shots that we always make. But we played well enough to win the game. They made shots at the end and we didn’t.
“So I think we’re going to come out (in Game 4) with the same mindset to be really aggressive. It’s a must-win game for us now.”
Teammate Courtney Williams agreed.
“At the end of the day, they’re going to go on runs, we’re going to go on runs,” Williams said. “They’re going to have great games and we’re going to have great games.”
The Lynx won Game 1 in New York thanks to a historic 18-point comeback to force overtime. The Liberty then evened the series before Stewart dropped 30 points and New York held Minnesota to 38.7 percent shooting in Game 3.
“It’s been a great series so far, and now we have to go handle business,” Williams said. “Got to get back to New York.”
–Tom Musick, Field Level Media