The Guru’s WNBA Report: Minnesota’s Carlton Hits Two Foul Shots at the Finish to Top New York 82-80 Sending the Finals Back to Brooklyn for Winner-Take-All Game 5

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

In what is a fitting climax to what has been the WNBA’s most thrilling season, the finals are going the distance to a deciding Game 5 back in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn after the Minnesota Lynx prevailed at the finish 82-80 over the New York Liberty Friday night in a game that was tight wire to wire.

In fact, this is only the second time in a five-game finals that three games have been decided by three points over less.

Game 3 had seen New York go ahead 2-1 in the best of five series on Sabrina Ionescu’s 3-pointer with time running down, giving the Liberty their first-ever series lead in six finals appearances.

But the Lynx, going for a record fifth championship, stopped New York for the moment from gaining their first when Bridget Carleton sank a pair of foul shots with two seconds remaining in regulation and Ionescu failed to provide more heroics going the other way to the delight of the sellout Lynx hometown crowd of 19,210 in the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Tip-off is 8 p.m. Sunday night on ESPN.

New York is the only of the original remaining eight teams yet to win a title.

Seattle has also won four titles like Minnesota, which won its fourth in seven years in 2017, the Lynx’ last finals appearances. The former Houston Comets are also part of the current record, winning the WNBA’s first four titles when the finals format was shorter.

“I don’t think about the other ones,” said Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, the La Salle grad from South Jersey in suburban Philadelphia. “I feel very blessed in my career to have a chance to been part of so many. I haven’t won them all … What l’m thrilled about is that this group gets to experience the Game 5.”

Narrow outcomes in both directions have been a way of life this year for Reeve, who steered the USA Olympians to a record sixth gold medal with a one-point win in the championship in Paris over the host French in Paris last August.

Then in Game 1 in New York of this WNBA series between the two top seeds, the Lynx battled back from deficits of 18 points in the first half and 15 with five minutes left in regulation and when Breanna Stewart missed a foul shot that could have won it, the visitors gained control in overtime stealing home court advantage.

New York got even in Game 2 and then closed a deficit to not only counter-steal home court in Game 3 but also with the win get two shots to reach the promised land as the top seed after gaining revenge for the finals a year ago dethroning two-time reigning champion Las Vegas 3-1 in the semifinals in Sin City.

By preventing a sweep on their court, the Lynx, who went 3-1 including the Commissioner’s Cup over the Liberty during the season, sets the stage for perhaps the greatest viewership for a game for all in the marbles in league history to go with what will easily be a Barclays sellout dotted with notables from both the sports and entertainment industries.

The last finals Game 5 in 2019 saw the Washington Mystics rally at home for their first title beating the Connecticut Sun, another long-time existing franchise yet to capture a trophy.

Notre Dame grad Kayla McBride scored 19 points Friday night for Minnesota, while Courtney Williams contributed 15 with seven assists.

“I think we’re excited,” said the Lynx’s Napheesa Collier, the UConn grad who has had one of the most explosive scoring efforts in league postseason history and set the finals record by the time she appeared in Game 3. “It’s a Game 5 of the Finals. We have to go out and execute.”

Minnesota defensed Ionescu and Breanna Stewart into struggling shooting performances and Ionescu’s attempt to score again at the very end was short of the rim.

“They defended it well,” said New York coach Sandy Brondello, who won a title with the Phoenix Mercury and has also coached the Australian Olympians.

Collier, voted the league’s defensive player of the year,had 14 points and nine rebounds while Carleton and Stanford grad Alanna Smith, a defensive ace who had to leave before the end of the last game with a back injury, each scored 12 for the Lynx.

“All season long (Smith has) been in those positions for us, and we just appreciate her ability to turn around and buck up and do what her team needed to do,” said Reeve, a Big 5 Hall of Famer, who also will go into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 7. “It’s important for her to be on the floor for us.”

McBride observed, “It’s the fourth time we are playing them. We know each other so well and we know each other’s tendencies.

“It’s just making everything hard. I think that’s the name of the game on both sides now.”

Stewart was 5-21 scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds while Ionescu, who scored 10, was 5-15 and failed in all five 3-point attempts.

But Jonquel Jones, whose guardian has been Temple coach Diane Richardson, scored 21 for New York, including 4-of-5 from deep, while rookie Leonie Fibich out of Germany totaled 19 on 7-12 from the field.

“‘It’s a close-out game,” Jones said. “Their backs are against the wall, and we are trying to win.

“It was going to be that type of game tonight where we are both trying to claw and both teams are trying to figure out whatever to do to get over the hump.”

Rutgers grad Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, the daughter of Cheyney all-American Yolanda Laney, scored 10 for the Liberty on 4-7 from the field.

“I’m one of the nicest coaches in this league but just be fair,” Brondello complained about officiating in which she noted disparity of fouls and of the Lynx gaining “tickey-tack calls” and the Liberty nothing when getting hit. “It pisses me off. There are things we could have done better, including me.

“We’ll just have to go back to New York and win.”

Minnesota had 10 steals.

“We wanted to get it done tonight, but like Sandy said, our fans are like no other,” Stewart noted. “To go in our environment on Sunday and know they have our backs, when there are tough situations fighting adversity, we have the crowd behind us. Can’t wait for Sunday.”

Stewart and Collier are starting a new 3-on-3 winter league “Unrivaled” in Florida in January offering WNBA players six-figure salaries without having to play abroad in the off-season.

TNT has agreed to a multi-year broadcast deal.

Earlier Friday Dallas coach Latricia Trammel became the fourth to be let go joining Los Angeles’ Curt Miller, Atlanta’s Tanisha Wright, who played at Penn State, and Chicago’s Teresa Weatherspoon, who starred with the Liberty in its early era.

Dallas president and Ceo Greg Bibb, who also functioned as general manager, announced a front office reorganization of the team that contains former Villanova star Maddy Siegrist, saying a separate GM will be hired, who will then seek the new coach.