Liberty welcome the noise in Minnesota
New York visits Target Center for Games 3 and 4
The New York Liberty haven’t been to Minnesota in nearly five months.
They hope their next two games in the North Star state end with a win and this organization’s first-ever WNBA title.
But the capacity crowd at Target Center might not make it so easy.
Not to mention a Lynx team that beat New York three times in four regular-season meetings and managed a split of the first two contests of this best-of-five WNBA Finals at Downtown’s Barclays Center.
“It’s not going to get any easier from here. This is the Finals,” All-Star forward Breanna Stewart insisted after spearheading the Liberty to a desperation Game 2 victory in Brooklyn on Sunday.
Stewart could have sealed Game 1 with a free throw in the final second of regulation after the Liberty squandered a 15-point cushion in the final five minutes.
Instead, she and the 17,732 fans at Barclays watched helplessly as Minnesota celebrated an overtime win.
But Stewart scintillated the biggest crowd in franchise history with 21 points, eight rebounds and a Finals-record seven steals to get New York even last weekend.
The 18,046 that filled Barclays to the gills for Game 2 probably won’t be matched in Wednesday night’s Game 3, as the Lynx only drew 8,769 for their winner-take-all Game 5 vs. Connecticut in the semifinal round on Oct. 8.
Stewart knows the Liberty (1-1) will have to contend not only with the Lynx (1-1), but their fans, who have a chance to watch Minnesota grab the crown without flying back to Brooklyn for a potential Game 5 on Sunday.
“It’s only going to get harder, but we’re excited for the atmosphere where nobody’s cheering for us and everybody’s cheering against us,” Stewart added.
That was not a problem during the Liberty’s first win of the series as New York used a game-ending 12-0 run to thwart another Lynx comeback.
Minnesota beat the Liberty in their only previous visit to Target Center on May 25 behind 15 points and 12 rebounds from star forward Napheesa Collier.
The Lynx also took two of three meetings in Brooklyn this year, including the Commissioner’s Cup Final at Barclays on June 25.
None of that previous success mattered much to Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve after her team crawled back into contention late in Game 2, only to watch New York pull away for good.
“The same things that (Liberty coach) Sandy (Brondello) felt after Game 1, we felt after Game 2,” ceded Reeve, who has won four WNBA titles for the Lynx and a gold medal as coach of Team USA last summer in Paris.
Coming off a win made Brondello feel a touch better, but playing two on the road in what should be a raucous postseason environment is something she is steeling her team for.
“Look, I think we’ve been in these moments before,” she said. “And we kind of know how do we want to play. We know that they’re going to make runs.
“We know the crowd’s going to get into it. But we just got to continue to play, stay true to who the New York Liberty are. And if we can do that, we can overcome any obstacle.”
The Liberty can also look to Betnijah Laney-Hamilton for inspiration.
Hampered by a knee injury that cost her six weeks during the season, the former All-Star forward helped New York avert an 0-2 series hole with an epic performance in Game 2.
Laney-Hamilton, who had not scored more than 10 points in any of the Liberty’s first seven postseason contests, put up a personal Finals-high 20 on 8-of-14 shooting.
She drained 4-of-6 attempts from 3-point range, including the 23-footer that sparked New York’s decisive run.
“I think everyone has seen her. She’s been struggling but she’s been feeling good these last few days. I can tell you that much,” Brondello said.
“We just knew it was a bit of time. We’ve given her so much rest here and she was ready to go. She puts the work in. Like I said, she’s tough. We talked about the grittiness that she gives us.”
The Liberty won’t be underestimating the Lynx’s collective grit.
After winning 30 regular-season contests, only two fewer than top-seeded New York, Minnesota swept through Phoenix in the opening round and outlasted the Sun before taking Game 1 at Barclays.
Veteran point guard Courtney Williams had 15 points, six rebounds, eight assists and a steal in Game 3, but the Lynx were unable to walk out of Brooklyn with a second straight win.
“Everything you’ve got in your bag, it’s time to pull it out,” Williams told the Associated Press following practice Tuesday.
“I guess I’m built different. I love the moment. I don’t shy away from the moment at all. All my life, since rec(reational) league, I always want the ball in my hand when it’s time to go make a play.”
Williams displayed that fearlessness by making a driving layup with 3:40 remaining Sunday that drew Minnesota within two points before the Liberty ran away for good down the stretch.
Coupled with the league’s top postseason scorer in Collier, Williams is eager to bring the Target Center its first WNBA crown since 2017.
“We always believed it from the beginning. We have a great group,” she said. “Yeah, it’s hard. We understand that it’s hard. But we invite hard. We love hard.”
Stewart, who won two titles and a pair of Finals MVPs during her six-year stint in Seattle before signing with the Liberty in 2023, is eager to find out how she and her teammates will respond on the road after Minnesota stole home-court advantage with a win in Brooklyn.
“I think we we embrace it. We like it when it’s loud,” she said.
“We like it when it’s difficult, as we did tonight, when it’s so loud that you can’t hear. Just expecting that when we go to Minny obviously. Hopefully it’s going to be an incredible atmosphere for both of those games.”
By pulling out a win Wednesday, the Liberty would be guaranteed at least one more game in Brooklyn if they need it.
Brondello, who is seeking her first title as a coach since guiding the Mercury to the WNBA championship in 2014, isn’t interested in looking past the opening tip of Game 3, which is slated to go up at 8 p.m. ET.
“Now we’re just gonna tidy up some things. So they can tidy up some things as well too,” she revealed. “So we’ll look forward to playing another tough game on Wednesday.”
Game 4 is Friday night.
GIVE ME LIBERTY: Stewart revealed Tuesday that her wife, Marta Xargay Casademont, received a threatening anti-gay email following New York’s Game 1 loss. “Myself and my family, we’re definitely doing OK,” Stewart said. “We’re taking the proper precautions.” … Minnesota went 16-4 at Target Center this year while the Liberty had the same mark on the road. … Stewart and fellow Olympian Sabrina Ionescu are neck-and-neck for the team’s scoring lead this postseason. Ionescu is averaging 19.8 points per game while Stewart is at 19.9. Ionescu paces New York with 4.9 assists and 1.9 steals in the playoffs while All-Star power forward Jonquel Jones is pulling down a team-best 8.9 rebounds per contest.
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