By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK — Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve has seen a lot in her incredible career that has included four WNBA championships.
The historic rally by the Lynx to beat the New York Liberty, 95-93, in a wild Game 1 of the WNBA Finals ranks right up there as one of the best moments.
“We’re the first team in WNBA playoff history to be down 15 (in the final five minutes) and come back and win the game,” Reeve said. “So that ranks really high. I think it defines our team. Getting through difficult times. That’s what we’ve been talking about. You have to be mentally tough, resilient. … Thrilled that we could hang in there.”
Minnesota rallied from 18 points down in the first half and Napheesa Collier’s turnaround jumper with 8.8 seconds left in overtime lifted the team to the win over the Liberty on Thursday night.
With the game tied, Collier faked in the lane and scored. New York had a chance to tie it but Breanna Stewart’s layup at the buzzer was off.
“The basketball gods were on our side tonight,” said Courtney Williams, who had 23 points, including a four-point play with 5.5 seconds left in regulation, to lead Minnesota.
Collier finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, six blocked shots and three steals.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Sunday in New York. Before the game, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that the league is expanding the Finals to best-of-seven starting next year.
The OT got off to a slow start before Minnesota built an 88-84 advantage as New York missed its first six shots. Jonquel Jones finally got the Liberty on the board with a corner 3-pointer with 1:38 left. Williams answered with her own 3-pointer and the teams traded baskets over the next minute. Sabrina Ionescu’s steal in the backcourt and layup got New York within 93-91 with 32.9 left.
Jones then stole the ball at midcourt and scored to tie it four seconds later. Minnesota worked the clock down before Collier’s basket broke the tie.
The Liberty blew an 11-point lead in the final 3:23 of regulation when Minnesota scored 12 straight points, capped by Williams’ four-point play.
The Liberty made the most of the last few seconds. After Stewart’s first shot was blocked with a second left and went out of bounds, Ionescu inbounded the ball to her under the basket and she was fouled. The officials reviewed the play to see if the foul occurred before the buzzer sounded and deemed that it did awarding Stewart two free throws with 0.8 seconds left.
She hit the first of two free throws with the second one rolling off the rim. Williams’ shot on the other end was off and the game headed to OT.
“We just take it on the chin, you know. We were up a lot and then we had a wild kind of sequence to end the fourth,” Stewart said. “Didn’t start overtime great. I had a great look at the end and I didn’t make it. But I think that this is a series. We wanted to really win, obviously, for home court. But the beauty is, we have another game on Sunday and we’ll be ready.”
Jones led New York with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Ionescu finished with 19 and Stewart had 18.
New York came right at Minnesota, which was playing just two days after beating Connecticut in the semifinals. The Liberty built an 18-point lead in the first half before the Lynx rallied.
The 18-point rally tied the New York Liberty’s record they set in 1999 in Game 2 of the Finals that ended with Teresa Weatherspoon’s historic halfcourt shot.
Both teams are looking to make history in this series. The Liberty are looking for the franchise’s first championship while the Lynx are vying for a league-record fifth. They were the best teams during the regular season, finishing in the top two spots in the standings.
New York is in the Finals for the second consecutive year and is hoping to erase the scar of losing to the Las Vegas Aces in 2023. Minnesota is making its first appearance in the championship round since 2017, when the team won its fourth title in a seven-year span.
The Liberty had lost two of the three regular-season meetings to Minnesota and the Commissioner’s Cup championship, but both teams have said that those games didn’t really matter heading into the championship.
The Lynx were able to hold Jones in check in all three of the wins with the Liberty’s star center scoring in single digits each time. She reached double figures by the end of the first quarter on Thursday.
Minnesota held New York to 38% shooting and improved to 181-11 since 2011 when the team holds an opponent under 40% shooting.
The star-studded New York crowd of 17,732 was loud and spirited as it has been all season. Spike Lee, Jason Sudeikis, Meek Mill and New York Mets third baseman Mark Vientos were all in attendance. Lee was wearing an Ionescu jersey.
ENGELBERT ON FORMAT CHANGES
In her address to the media before Game 1, Engelbert also said the league will go to a 1-1-1 format for the best-of-three first round, giving all playoff teams at least one home game.
In addition, the regular season will expand from 40 to 44 games.
The WNBA has had a best-of-five format for the Finals since 2005. From 1998 through 2004, it was a best-of-three series. The championship in the inaugural WNBA season in 1997 was decided in a single-game format.
The best-of-seven series will have a 2-2-1-1-1 structure in which the higher seed would host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7, and its opponent would host Games 3, 4 and 6.
“This will give our fans a championship-series format they are accustomed to seeing in other sports,” Engelbert said.
The WNBA semifinals will continue to be a best-of-five format.
The first round has changed over the years. Its most recent setup featured the first two games of a best-of-three series played at the home of the higher seed, and a possible third game at the home of the lower seed. But that format didn’t guarantee at least one home game for every playoff team, which the 1-1-1 scenario will do.
Engelbert said the WNBA’s move to charter flights for all games starting this season will help with the playoff format changes.
She also announced that the expansion draft for the league’s 13th team, the Golden State Valkyries, will be Nov. 17. It was also confirmed that the Valkyries will pick fifth in every round of the standard draft in April. The Valkyries, who announced new coach Natalie Nakase earlier Thursday, begin play next season.
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The WNBA’s regular season moved to 40 games in 2023. Adding four more regular-season games and the potential of longer playoffs means the league is likely to go later into October to finish its season, which generally starts in mid-May.
The league also must plan around international events – the Summer Olympics and the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup – every other year. Neither event is held next season, so Engelbert said it was the perfect time to launch the playoff changes, which have been discussed the past few years.
“It’s a constant balancing of the schedule,” Engelbert said. “The league’s growth and increased demand for WNBA basketball made this the ideal time … to provide fans more opportunities to see the best players in the world compete at the highest level.”
The WNBA has two more expansion teams that will begin play in 2026: Toronto and Portland. Engelbert reiterated Thursday the league expects to add one more team no later than 2028. Sixteen teams would match the most the WNBA has had in its history.
