New York Liberty wins first WNBA championship, defeating Minnesota 67-62 in OT

NEW YORK (AP) — As confetti fell and Frank Sinatra's “New York, New York” boomed through the arena, the New York Liberty celebrated the end of a 27-year odyssey.

The team that consistently underperformed from its days at Madison Square Garden to detours to Radio City Music Hall and the Westchester County Center finally found its way to the top.

Actually start spreading the word: After a 67-62 overtime win over Minnesota in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday night, there is finally a pro basketball champion in New York again.

“I've been manifesting this moment for a while. There’s no feeling like it,” said Breanna Stewart. “We thank Minnesota for giving us a tough series. The fans were great everywhere we went. It's an incredible feeling to bring a championship to New York for the first time in franchise history. I can't wait to continue celebrating with the city. It’s going to be crazy.”

Jonquel Jones scored 17 points to lead New York, one of the league's original franchises. The Liberty have reached the WNBA finals five times and lost each time, including last season. This time they were not deterred, although it took another five minutes.

While stars Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu struggled on offense, other players stepped up. Leonie Fiebich started OT with a 3-pointer, and then Nyara Sabally had a layup steal that made it 65-60 and sent the sellout crowd into a frenzy.

“Whoever scores first in overtime usually wins,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said.

Minnesota didn't score in OT until Kayla McBride hit two free throws with 1:51 left. The Lynx missed all six of their field goal attempts in overtime. After Ionescu missed a shot with 21 seconds left, her 18th miss in 19 shot attempts, the Lynx had one last chance, but Bridget Carleton missed a three-pointer with 16 seconds left.

Stewart, who missed a free throw with 0.8 seconds left at the end of regulation in Game 1, shot two free throws with 10.1 seconds left in overtime to secure the win.

As the final seconds ticked down, players hugged and streamers fell from the rafters. Stewart and Jones hugged. The two award-winning free agent signings two years ago who helped this team win their first title.

New York was down two seconds in regulation when Stewart was fouled with 5.2 seconds left. After a detailed video review, Stewart calmly shot two free throws and tied the game at 60.

Kayla McBride, who finished with 21 points, had an open chance for a 3, but she fell off the rim and the game went to OT.

Many of the former Liberty greats were in the audience, including Teresa Weatherspoon, who made a half-court heave in the 1999 WNBA Finals to force a decisive Game 3 that year. Until this year, that was the last time New York had a chance to play in a championship-winning game.

Jones, who was the only Liberty player to previously appear in a Game 5 when she played for Connecticut in 2019, received MVP honors.

“I could never have dreamed of this. You know how many times I've been rejected. There were delays. I’m so happy to be doing it here,” she said.

Napheesa Collier scored 22 points to lead Minnesota before committing a foul with 13 seconds left in overtime.

The Lynx were attempting to win their record fifth WNBA title, breaking a tie with the Seattle Storm and Houston Comets. Minnesota won four titles from 2011 to 2017 behind the core group of Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson, Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore. That was the team's last appearance in the WNBA Finals until this year.

“Congratulations to the Liberty on their first championship,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “It took them 28 years to do this, congratulations to them. We were so close to our fifth goal that it just didn’t work out.”

This is the first time since 2019 that the WNBA Finals will go the distance. Since the league switched to a best-of-five format in 2005, seven other series have gone to a Game 5, and the home team had won five of those previous contests, including in 2019.

This series was a fitting end to a record season for the league. All five games came down to the last few possessions, including two overtime plays and a last-second shot, resulting in record odds.

The first three games averaged over a million viewers each, with viewership increasing with each contest. They also had large influxes of visitors.

Liberty fan Spike Lee was on the sidelines for over an hour before the game, chatting with the media while wearing his Ionescu jersey. After Ionescu finished warming up before the game, the two briefly exchanged words and hugged each other. Lee was part of a sellout crowd of 18,090 that helped this series set both the overall attendance record for a WNBA Finals and average attendance.

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