New York Liberty wins first WNBA championship, defeating Minnesota 67–62

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Liberty finally clinched the WNBA championship after beating the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in overtime of the decisive Game 5 on Sunday night.

Jonquel Jones scored 17 points to lead New York, which was one of the league’s original franchises. The Liberty have reached the WNBA Finals five times before, losing each time, including last season. This time they would not be denied, although it would take another five minutes.

The victory gave New York City its first basketball title since 1973, when the Knicks won the NBA championship.

With stars Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu struggling up front, other players stood out. Leonie Fiebich started OT with a 3-pointer, and then Nyara Sabally stole a layup to make it 65-60 and send the capacity crowd into a frenzy.

Minnesota didn’t score in OT until Kayla McBride hit two free throws with 1:51 left. The Lynx missed all six field goal attempts in overtime. After Ionescu missed a shot with 21 seconds left, her 18th miss in 19 shot attempts, the Lynx had one last chance, but Bridget Carleton missed a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left.

Stewart, who missed a free throw with 0.8 seconds left in Game 1, made two free throws with 10.1 seconds left to seal the victory.

As the final seconds ticked away, players hugged each other and streamers fell from the rafters.

Napheesa Collier scored 22 points to lead Minnesota before fouling out with 13 seconds left in OT.

The Lynx were trying for a record fifth WNBA title, breaking ties with the Seattle Storm and Houston Comets. Minnesota won four titles from 2011-17 behind a core group of Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson, Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore. This was the team’s last appearance in the WNBA Finals until this year.

This is the first time since 2019 that the WNBA Finals have gone the distance. Since the league switched to a best-of-five format in 2005, seven other series have gone to Game 5 and the home team has won five of those games, including in 2019.

This series was a fitting conclusion to a record-breaking season for the league. All five games came down to last possessions and included two overtime games and a last-second shot that led to record ratings.

The first three games each had more than a million spectators on average, with the audience growing with each competition. They also had large crowds in attendance.

Liberty fan Spike Lee was on the court for more than an hour before talking to the media while wearing his Ionescu jersey. Once Ionescu finished warming up before the game, the pair had a brief exchange of words and hugged. Lee was part of a sellout crowd of 18,090 that helped this series set the overall attendance record for the WNBA Finals, as well as the average attendance mark.

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