Breanna Stewart had two key chances … and fell short in the Liberty’s Game 1 WNBA Finals loss

NEW YORK — For the briefest of moments, Breanna Stewart put her hands on her head. Then she slapped them on her legs, bowed her head and gave a half-hearted high five to a New York Liberty teammate.

In a matter of seconds — 2.6, to be exact — Stewart had an opportunity to tie the roller coaster between the Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA Finals opener. In the waning moments of overtime, she drove past Lynx star Napheesa Collier and elevated between Courtney Williams, Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith. On the left side of the basket, Stewart attempted a layup with her right hand. She later called the look one of her cleanest of the game, but it didn’t fall. It didn’t even touch the rim, and New York dropped Game 1, 95-93. In an instant, a historic collapse was cemented.

Stewart is a two-time WNBA MVP, a two-time Finals MVP and a two-time WNBA champion. If she were to never play again, she would be a first-ballot Naismith Hall of Famer. But Thursday night’s defeat won’t be part of any Stewart highlight reel. Though she finished with 18 points and nine rebounds — a great game for most — her 6-of-21 shooting is a stain. The basketball was in her hands in deciding moments twice, and she came up short.

“We just take it on the chin,” Stewart said.

Minnesota’s overtime win tied the largest comeback (18 points) in WNBA Finals history. Though games don’t come down to a single play — especially ones with as many twists and turns as this one — with just 0.8 seconds left in regulation, Stewart went to the free-throw line with the opportunity to snatch the victory back from the jaws of defeat.

Her focus didn’t waver. But Stewart’s second free throw did.

A career 83.6 percent shooter at the foul line, she launched a second attempt that clanked off the back of the rim, then the front, and ricocheted away from the cylinder. She paced back to New York’s bench, letting out screams that could linger long into the offseason if the Liberty don’t come back in this series.

The game tying freethrow by Breanna Stewart that sends the game to overtime

At the end of regulation the score is 84-84#WNBAFinals presented by @YouTubeTV pic.twitter.com/O1Cg0MkbNi

— WNBA (@WNBA) October 11, 2024

Credit Collier, this season’s Defensive Player of the Year, for stifling Stewart. The Lynx star finished with six blocks and three steals (and on the other end, she supplied 21 points). Collier and Stewart have known each other since their UConn days, playing a single season there together. Though they didn’t overlap much in Storrs, Stewart surely knew what to expect entering the series opener. Collier presented a defender long and mobile enough to hang with Stewart. And against Minnesota’s scrambling team defense?

“I feel like our keys against Minny are play our style, our tempo, control the boards — I think that’s the biggest factor,” Stewart said. “Know that they’re a team that definitely is gonna scramble, trying to muck us up offensively, but we just need to be able to play through that and continue to find the open person.”

But New York struggled to find the open player, especially in key moments.

The anatomy of New York’s crumbling can be traced to two stretches. One came in the second quarter, when the Liberty, leading 41-24 with 5:14 to play in the first half, went cold. They scored only three points the rest of the way until halftime. The Liberty lacked physicality, and coach Sandy Brondello said they got outhustled, became stagnant and didn’t get downhill enough.

Later, New York led by 15 points with 5:20 to play in the fourth quarter. The Liberty scored just three more points in regulation, then did not score until the 1:38 mark of overtime. By then, they trailed by four points.  “We can’t play to lose,” said guard Sabrina Ionescu, who shot only 8-of-26. She said New York took its foot off the gas and had moments of looking at the clock.

“We should have won this game,” the Liberty’s Leonie Fiebich said. “It’s us against us.”

In mid-September, Stewart set season-high marks against Minnesota, with 38 points and 18 rebounds while tying her career high of six offensive rebounds. But that game was also a loss. It marked one of three times — including in the Commissioner’s Cup — that New York had fallen to Minnesota before the finals.

This fourth defeat will surely sting the most. New York became the first team in WNBA postseason history to lose a game it led by at least 15 points in the final five minutes of regulation. What was 183-0 is now 183-1.

Too often late in the game, the basketball stuck in the hands of New York players. Players said they over-dribbled, got too deep into the trees of Minnesota’s defense when they did attack, and allowed possessions to get late into the shot clock, which led to forced attempts. “They took us out of what we wanted to run,” Brondello said. “Defensively, they executed better than us. That’s what it came down to.”

Courtney Vandersloot, a 14-year veteran, said the defeat was the most bizarre game she’d participated in.  She said she told her teammates: “When you leave this building, you have to think about moving on and being able to put this behind us because we can’t just dwell on this loss.”

She told Stewart: “It happened, it’s never going to happen again. So let’s move on from it and be better next game.”

no ma’am. ❌ pic.twitter.com/rgUh7kiLWG

— Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) October 11, 2024

New York had spent all season talking about how it had healed from losing in the finals last season to the Las Vegas Aces, whom they beat in this season’s semifinals. Thursday night, a sellout crowd of more than 17,000 people at Barclays Center was silenced and appeared stunned. Many exited the arena with their hands on their heads much like Stewart’s had been as the final buzzer sounded.

Though a new wound surely opened, the Liberty said they hoped it wouldn’t sting for long.

“I want to be taking these shots,” Stewart said. “I feel like knowing my teammates and that everyone has confidence in me is important. It’s kind of like going on to the next and still making sure I’m aggressive any time on the court. Obviously as a player, it’s very frustrating. But bounce back for Game 2.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

New York Liberty, WNBA

2024 The Athletic Media Company