WNBA Finals: Lynx stun Liberty in OT after multiple comebacks in Game 1

The Minnesota Lynx didn’t lead for the first 39 minutes, 55 seconds of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. Fortunately, it’s those last five seconds that matter. And also overtime.

The Lynx scratched and clawed their way to a 95-93 overtime victory in enemy territory Thursday, riding multiple double-digit comebacks to stun the title favorites and take a 1-0 lead in the Finals. Their win after trailing by 18 points is the largest comeback victory in WNBA Finals history.

WNBA MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier played the hero in overtime, making a contested, fadeaway jump shot with 8.4 seconds left.

Collier was tasked with guarding Breanna Stewart on the Liberty’s game-ending possession, preventing one shot with an intentional foul. After Stewart got the ball again, she drove and had a game-tying shot clank away to end the game.

Before that, the night hinged on the last 10 seconds of regulation. The Lynx got the ball down three points with 18.1 seconds left. They twice went to playoff star Courtney Williams, who missed her first shot, then made her second, a four-point play courtesy of a foul by Sabrina Ionescu. It silenced the Barclays Center crowd.

The Liberty had a shot to take the game back right there, but a would-be Stewart game-winner got blocked by Collier in the paint. New York got the ball back, in-bounded it back to Stewart and watched her draw a foul from Collier.

Down one point, Stewart made the first, then missed the second to send the game to overtime. The two-time WNBA MVP and two-time Finals MVP was visibly furious with herself as she walked down the court.

Liberty center Jonquel Jones led all scorers with 24 points plus 10 rebounds, while Stewart and Ionescu combined for 14-of-47 shooting from the field. Meanwhile, Williams, Collier and Kayla McBride all chipped in at least 20 points

The Lynx came back, twice, against the Liberty

New York began the night by building a lead as large as 18 points in the first half, with an eager Barclays Center erupting with each subsequent basket.

With the Liberty entering Game 1 as -275 favorites at BetGM for Thursday and picked by many to win their first WNBA championship, it could have just become uglier from there. Instead, the Lynx — hardly plucky underdogs after leading the WNBA in defensive rating, leading the West with a 30-10 record and continuing to employ four-time champion Cheryl Reeve — allowed only one New York field goal for the final five minutes of the second quarter.

The Minnesota run continued in the third quarter, eventually narrowing the deficit to only two points. The Liberty offense finally woke up at that point and built up another double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. Recent history repeated, though, with the Lynx holding the Liberty without a field goal in the last three minutes of the game.

A 14-2 Minnesota run culminated in the Lynx getting the ball back with 18.5 seconds. Then, the Williams shot. Then, the foul. Then, the controversy. Then, the overtime. If Game 1 is a sign of things to come, it will be a fun, and stressful, WNBA Finals.

Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET in New York (ABC).