NEW YORK — Sabrina Ionescu’s first shot hit the side of the backboard. Another one soon after hit nothing at all.
After making one of the most memorable shots in WNBA history to win Game 3, the All-Star guard became Ice-cold Ionescu the rest of the way.
Jones finished with 17 points and six rebounds in the Liberty’s 67-62 overtime victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday night and was rewarded with the WNBA Finals award.
“Her dominance in the paint, on the boards, help-side defense, everything that we needed, she was there,” Stewart said. “She had to wait a while to get to this point, to get to the finals to win a championship. But the wait was worth it.”
Ionescu finished with five points, though she added eight assists and seven rebounds. Stewart shot 4 for 15, ending up with 13 points and 15 boards.
“Just did whatever it took to win,” Ionescu said during the trophy presentation. “Believed in my teammates, believed in this entire organization. It takes everyone. You don’t do this alone, and we did it in New York.”
The Liberty built what they hoped was their version of the kind of super-team that wins titles when they brought in Stewart from Seattle, where she was a two-time WNBA Finals MVP, and Jones from Connecticut, where she lost in the 2019 finals, to join Ionescu, their No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft.
They got the Liberty to the WNBA Finals last year and to the best record in the league this season, but it appeared they would fall short of a title as Ionescu and Stewart continued to misfire.
Ionescu opened the game by missing her first 13 shots, giving her 15 straight misses dating to Game 4, before finally hitting for the only time all night on a 3-pointer with 3:10 remaining that gave the Liberty a 56-52 lead.
But after Minnesota surged ahead for a 60-58 lead, it looked as if the superstars’ struggles were going to doom the Liberty for good. Stewart missed two free throws with 38 seconds remaining but the Liberty batted out the rebound, only for Ionescu to miss a 3-pointer, then another one after New York again regained possession.
The Liberty got it to overtime when Stewart hit two free throws with 5.2 seconds remaining in regulation. Recalling the two previous misses, she told herself: “No, I can’t do this again, I can’t. I have to be here.”
New York then got baskets from Leonie Fiebich and Nyara Sabally in OT to win it.
New York was hoping to avoid Game 5 entirely after Ionescu’s 28-footer gave the Liberty an 80-77 victory in Game 3. But she shot 5 for 16 in Game 4, missing all five 3-pointers, and Stewart was just 5 for 20 for 11 points.
But the 6-for-6 Jones was the workhorse the Liberty needed, finishing with averages of 18 points and eight rebounds in the series. That included 10 points in the first half Sunday to keep the Liberty close while Ionescu and Stewart were combining with just Stewart’s five.
“What makes her difficult is you’re spending a lot of time guarding Sabrina and Stewie in some of those schemes that created mismatches,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “But we’re going to live with some of that.”
Officiating complaints
Reeve said the WNBA championship was “stolen” from the Lynx during her complaints about the officiating.
A disputed foul gave Breanna Stewart two free throws that tied the game with 5.2 seconds remaining in regulation.
“We know we could have done some things, right, but you shouldn’t have to overcome to that extent,” Reeve said. “… Officiating is not that hard.”
Reeve, who has led the Lynx to four WNBA championships and coached the U.S. women to an Olympic gold medal this summer in Paris, said she was aware there would be headlines about her complaining.
“Bring it on,” she said, “because that s— was stolen from us.”
The Liberty shot 25 free throws, while the Lynx went 7 for 8. Minnesota was called for 21 fouls to New York’s 17, with All-Star forward Napheesa Collier, the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year, fouling out.
Reeve took particular issue with the foul on Alanna Smith with Minnesota holding a 60-58 lead. Stewart drove into the lane and appeared to take the shot before there was any contact. The Lynx challenged the call, but it was upheld after video review.
Reeve called the contact “marginal at best.”
“This sucks,” she said, after mentioning faulty officiating in Minnesota’s loss in the 2016 WNBA Finals. “This is for a championship, for both teams. Let them decide it. What contact is legal should be the same for both teams.”
