On Thursday, the New York Liberty suffered one of their most heartbreaking defeats in franchise history.
With a 99.2% chance to win and up 15 with 5:20 remaining, the Liberty crumbled like never seen before in WNBA Finals history. Literally. The Minnesota Lynx, spearheaded by the clutch gene of Courtney Williams, completed the biggest single-game comeback in the history of the Finals, winning 95-93 on a Napheesa Collier game-winner, following in the footsteps of the great Maya Moore.
It’s a hard-enough task to come back from any loss. It would be a herculean one for New York to come back from Thursday’s loss.
So that’s exactly what they did.
Betnijah Breaks Out
Last season, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was a big part of the Liberty’s deep playoff run, averaging 15.2 points per game on 47/36/73 splits.
This season, she hadn’t found the same rhythm from the year before, but there was a reason for that. Laney-Hamilton didn’t play the last four games before the Olympic Break due to injury, then over that said break, got knee surgery for what Sandy Brondello called “two loose bodies” in that area.
She came back four games after the break and looked alright, but not up to her standards. Then the playoffs began, and Laney-Hamilton fell into a deep slump, only scoring double-digits in one of the first seven games.
She broke out of that slump Tuesday.
Laney-Hamilton had a season-high (regular season or postseason) of 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4/6 on three-pointers. She added two assists, rebounds and a steal to her masterful performance as well.
Easily the most impressive aspect of her performance was her shot-making. Look no further than her very first shot of the game; a very confident pull-up jumper from 18 feet:
That shot was only two of her 13 first-half points, a team-high. Fast forward to the third quarter, and Laney-Hamilton would be at it again with a turnaround fadeaway:
There was even a shot in the fourth quarter that ended up not counting, but that might’ve been the hardest shot of them all.
Laney-Hamilton’s shot-making was superb in this game, but it wasn’t just superb. It was timely. Laney-Hamilton would make timely shots at every turn, whether to stop runs or extend them. She saved her biggest for last, however, as this fourth-quarter three put New York up five and stunted a Minnesota comeback for good:
New York’s Tuesday turnaround was a monumental one, and it laid soundly on the shoulders of their Queen B.
Death to All Minnesota Buckets
In Game 1, the Liberty allowed a playoff-high 95 points.
The Lynx shot 50.7% from the field, and 40.9% from three. Everyone on Minnesota could get to their spots and do exactly what they wanted to do, and it played a critical part in their historic comeback. In Game 2, however, the Barclays Center was where Minnesota buckets met their end. The Lynx shot 45% from the field and an unusually low 30% from three. Napheesa Collier in particular only scored 16 points, a stark downturn from her ridiculous postseason average of 25.2 points per game.
Breanna Stewart did a fantastic job on Collier — and on defense in general — in this matchup. Using her length, Stewart was able to stop Collier from finding her spots and teammates multiple times.
This is just one example, as Collier misses a shot, grabs the rebound, and tries to dish it to teammate Alanna Smith, only for Stewart to get her hands on it and tip it straight to Jonquel Jones:
Then, in crunch time, Stewart yet again made her presence felt. Collier instinctively sees teammate Natisha Hiedeman and tries to tip a ball doomed to go out of bounds to her. The tip outstretches everyone not named Breanna Stewart, who boxes Hiedeman out and grabs the ball, leading to a scrum that ends in another missed shot for Minnesota.
Stewart ended with a WNBA Finals record seven steals in this contest. She wasn’t the only one to step up on the defensive end, however. Here’s Nyara Sabally bringing help defense to force a Collier travel:
On this play, Courtney Vandersloot comes over to cut the baseline off to Natisha Hiedeman, forcing an errant pass that ends up in the lap of Sabrina Ionescu:
More on Ionescu, as she recognizes here that Kayla McBride has to shoot with the shot clock fading, and gets a hand on the ball for a block:
And to seal the game, Jonquel Jones intercepts a pass and turns it into the final points of the afternoon:
In total, Minnesota registered 20 turnovers, the most they’ve had in a single game this postseason, disrupting the usual flowy ball movement that makes them extremely dangerous. With the Libs headed on the road to the Target Center, they’ll look to continue this defensive tenacity to secure the two wins they need for their first WNBA title.
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