Liberty-Lynx series has had just about everything — and now it has a winner-take-all Game 5

MINNEAPOLIS — That the 2024 WNBA Finals would be decided short of a full five-game series was inconceivable. Not with the whiplash momentum swings, double-digit comebacks and elite playmaking.

The cliché coaches sprinkle into postgame answers and practice-day scrums is a series in a chess match. They tinker, making mini-adjustments for the upper hand. It’s been difficult to determine if either the New York Liberty or the Minnesota Lynx really has it at any given moment in a heavyweight bout that may go down as one of the most evenly contested Finals in WNBA history.

With it has come clutch moves, shocking endings and odd choices. Two of the three largest blown leads in Finals history. Three games decided in the final seconds. Game-winners by Napheesa Collier, whose fadeaway stunned the Liberty’s Barclays Center in overtime of Game 1, and Sabrina Ionescu, who sent a whited-out Target Center quiet as snow in Game 3. X-factor performances by Liberty wing Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, coming off a knee injury, and Lynx center Alanna Smith, playing through a back issue.

And a Game 4 that cinched everything that happened prior even tighter as time drained on the season clock.

“Probably information gathered in the three games [made this game closer],” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “It’s getting harder. So the edge that maybe the other games provided each team, there’s no secrets at this point.”

For the first time in the series, the game was tight from tip to buzzer. Neither side built a double-digit lead in the first quarter and the lead never strayed more than six points. Minnesota outlasted 14 lead changes and 13 ties Friday night to keep its season alive, 82-80, and force a Game 5 back in New York on Sunday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

It was another eyebrow-raising chapter in one of the wildest Finals in history.

Bridget Carleton, who hadn’t quite found her groove in the series, delivered the winning points with free throws. Ionescu wrapped her hands around Carleton trying to box out when Courtney Williams’ midrange shot bounced long and Carleton attempted a tip-in. It’s the second time Ionescu has fouled a shooter in the final 10 seconds, the first coming on a 3-pointer from Williams in Game 1. Minnesota also won that one.

It’s a prime example of how quickly a superstar can switch from a historic moment in one game to a major blunder in the next. It’s happening on both sides. There was never much margin for error, but four games down it’s even smaller. Game 5 will be the ninth meeting between the Liberty and Lynx in 2024. They all know their personnel and are largely focused on executing the game plan every 48 to 72 hours. It’s about who can pop out to make the final move.

“Elite players play,” Reeve said. “No matter the environment, home, road, elite players play. They love the environment and they’re not affected by the environment. That’s why you see the series has been what it has: winning on each other’s court.”

Ionescu broke free over Kayla McBride to hit the Game 3 dagger, but it was McBride on Friday who contained the star to 10 points on 5-of-15 shooting and zero 3s. Liberty MVP candidate Breanna Stewart won her battle in Game 3 with 30 points, but on Friday, it was Napheesa Collier who helped keep Stewart to 11 points (5-of-21 shooting) and 11 rebounds.

“It’s going to get harder and harder each time to get those shots that you normally get,” Collier said. “Everyone’s out there to do the same thing. Make shots hard.”

The only note on the Finals script is that anything is possible and the absurd is most likely. After WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced ahead of the Finals the series would move to a best-of-seven, jokes popped she would show up randomly and announce a 2024 start date instead. The series is delivering on that anticipation. The first three Finals games have averaged at least 1 million viewers, a notable marker and the first to do so since 2003.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what the ratings are for this one,” Reeve said.

The nature of the games have largely fueled the interest. Now the Finals might have also gained beef to cap a quiet series, at least compared to the heated rivalry between the Liberty and Aces in last year’s Finals. After Game 3, Reeve called out officiating and the “special whistle.”

“The game is called differently for Phee than it is for Stewie, for sure,” Reeve said Wednesday. “You look at the same level of activity, and around-the-rim contact. For whatever reason, we have a hard time getting to the foul line in this series.”

Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello, a typically positive, glass-half-full person, took her shot after Game 4 on a question about Ionescu’s and Stewart’s subdued games.

“We got no calls today,” Brondello said. “So do I need to talk up in a press conference? Because they were getting ticky-tacks. And we went down there and got hit and get nothing.

“All we want is fair, OK? So if we are getting hit, that’s a foul. You know, I’m one of the nicest bloody coaches in this league, but this pisses me off. Just be fair. You know, if they are getting hit, it’s a bloody foul.”

It will all come to a head in the first Finals Game 5 since 2019 and the last winner-take-all one. The only safe prediction is a sell-out crowd.

“The last 40 minutes of the season, it could be [played] anywhere, really,” McBride said. “It doesn’t matter. It’s like, we’re going to be out there together, going to war. And I’m pumped.”

The Liberty players and coaches said ad nauseam over the last month they haven’t done anything yet. Toppling the Aces to avenge their 2023 Finals meant nothing in the big picture. The loss Friday was the one-year anniversary of their Game 4 loss to Las Vegas, which played without two starters due to injury.

“All that happened tonight is the series is even,” Stewart said. “And there’s a Game 5, winner-take-all. We’re going back to New York and we’re going to get it done.”