The Liberty Evened The WNBA Finals At 1-1 As They Fought Off Another Lynx Comeback Effort

After the Minnesota Lynx stole Game 1 in an overtime thriller, the New York Liberty came into Game 2 of the WNBA Finals desperate for a win to even the series before it shifted west to Minneapolis. Like in the opener, New York jumped out to a big early lead behind a hot start, as Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Breanna Stewart led the Liberty out to a 17-point first half lead.

However, much like in Game 1, the Lynx would not go away. Minnesota whittled down the New York lead, trailing by just 10 at halftime and after playing the third mostly even, the fourth quarter saw Napheesa Collier come alive with three straight buckets to trim the Liberty’s lead down to two.

It felt an awful lot like the Liberty were headed for another late-game collapse offensively, but unlike in Game 1 when they just could not get anything to fall as the Lynx charged back, this time Laney-Hamilton had the answer with a huge three from the corner.

That three seemed to allow the Liberty to all take a collective breath, and they would go on a 7-0 run to re-establish a nine-point advantage, with Leonie Fiebich hitting the early dagger on a pull-up three in transition after Game 1 hero Courtney Williams dribbled the ball off of her foot.

Unlike in Game 1, Minnesota just could not get shots to drop from distance, as they shot just 6-of-19 from three. That made it extremely difficult to complete another comeback, especially with the Liberty figuring out how to stabilize their offense and make some key shots of their own in the closing minutes.

Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 21 points, eight rebounds, and seven steals, as New York turned up their defensive pressure and was able to force Minnesota into 20 turnovers. Typically Stewart’s co-star in the scoring department is Sabrina Ionescu, but the Lynx seemed determined to take her scoring away, as she had a modest 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting. However, her restraint in not forcing shots as she did in Game 1 and leaning on the depth of talent for the Liberty paid off. Ionescu led the Liberty as a +18 despite a light night shooting the ball, largely because her teammates picked up that slack, headlined by a 20-point outing from Laney-Hamilton, who knocked down four threes.

For the Lynx, they got 16 points from Collier, 15 points from Williams, and 14 points from Alanna Smith, but those three also combined for 15 turnovers as New York ratcheted up their aggression on the defensive end to bother the Lynx much more for all four quarters. Still, Minnesota played far from their best game and still had it down to a one-possession game late, and they’ll head home feeling quite confident that they can go toe-to-toe with the Liberty, while understanding they have plenty to clean up if they’re going to win a championship.