Minnesota Lynx win wild Game 1 of the WNBA Finals
On a night that WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the Finals would go to a best-of-seven format next season, this year’s championship opener was one of the wildest games in playoff history
NEW YORK (AP) — On a night that WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the Finals would go to a best-of-seven format next season, this year's championship opener was one of the wildest games in playoff history.
The Minnesota Lynx used a historic rally to beat the New York Liberty 95-93 in overtime Thursday night in Game 1 of the best-of-five series.
The final few seconds of regulation were action packed. There was a four-point play by Courtney Williams with 5.5 seconds left that gave Minnesota its first lead. A few seconds later, Breanna Stewart went to the foul line with a chance to give New York the win, and missed her second free throw. And then in overtime, Minnesota did just enough to become the first team in WNBA postseason history to win after trailing by 15 points with less than 5 minutes left.
“It was the craziest thing I’ve ever been a part of," said New York guard Courtney Vandersloot, who was part of the last OT game in the Finals in 2021 when she played for Chicago. "We had chances, they had chances, of course we wish we just executed better, wish the ball rolled a little bit differently. That happens. I think this is a great learning experience for us. You know, this is hard. I’m not gonna lie to you guys. This is hard.”
