Perhaps the hectic schedule and tired legs finally caught up with the Liberty. Or maybe the Commissioner’s Cup title game being played at UBS Arena — and not Barclays Center — was at fault for the Libs’ second-half collapse.
But the Lynx managed to slow down Sabrina Ionescu’s hot first-half start and withstand Breanna Stewart’s own 9-0 run in the fourth en route to dethroning the defending Commissioner’s Cup Champions, 94-89, Tuesday night.
After going into halftime up three, the Lynx buckled down and allowed just 10 Liberty third-quarter points.
“I think they lifted up their intensity,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said postgame. “They were in more passing lanes. They were making us speed up which we had spoken about — playing with a little bit more poise. They were more physical.”
Commissioner’s Cup MVP Napheesa Collier stuffed the stat sheet, ending the game with 21 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block. And each time the Liberty made a threatening run, the WNBA MVP candidate was right there for the buzzkill. Her three-pointer with 4:49 remaining in regulation came moments after Stewart’s own 9-0 run.
And her layup with three minutes remaining put her team up seven and forced a Brondello timeout. It was essentially the dagger, but Bridget Carleton scored five points afterwards to drain all the energy out of the Liberty’s home crowd.
“They executed better than us and really that’s it. Both ends of the floor,” said Stewart, who finished with a team-high 24 points and 11 rebounds. “We weren’t able to get really anything that we wanted and then they kept finding — no matter who it was — one of their players [for] a corner three, late shot clock three… that’s gonna make it really difficult for us.”
Stewart acknowledged her team’s 20 turnovers, which was twice the amount Minnesota committed.
“[Twenty] turnovers is never gonna win the game,” Stewart said.
The Commissioner’s Cup goes to Minnesota, and so does the $500,000 prize pool money that comes with the win. League sponsor Coinbase committed an additional $120,000 in cryptocurrency to the prize pool, which includes $5,000 for each player in the championship game. Lynx guard Courtney Williams made sure to let the crowd know who got paid by signaling to the crowd before the final buzzer as teammates rushed to celebrate on the court.
The Lynx, one of the WNBA’s best defensive teams, managed to hold Jonquel Jones to just three shots and two points.
Brondello credited Minnesota’s “three-quarter fronting” that denied the star the ball all night. Her two-point performance follows her four-point performance on five shots in the May 25 loss to the Lynx.
“They were just denying the first pass obviously,” Jones said. “And I think the thing that they kind of left open was the high-low [pass]. We didn’t really get to that action as much as possible. So I think that was the biggest thing — the high-low action just wasn’t there. And that was basically the only thing that was open to get the ball into the paint.
The extra attention on Jones led to opportunities for Kayla Thornton, who knocked down five treys and finished with 17 points.
And after scoring 18 points by halftime, Ionescu scored just five in the final 20 minutes.
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Courtney Vandersloot returned from their absences in Tuesday’s loss. Laney-Hamilton scored 13 in her first start since suffering the knee injury. Laney-Hamilton got started early, contributing to the first 11 of 13 first-quarter points to start the game despite Brondello citing her rust.
“I thought she was OK,” the head coach said. “She was a little rusty coming in. That’s normal even when a player takes even if it’s a few days off.”
Vandersloot recorded four points and assists apiece in 13 minutes off the bench.
