There were plenty of moments in the second half when the Liberty looked off kilter. They were far from the super team that made it look simple at times, but this moment late in the fourth quarter proved to be the deciding factor.
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton missed the second free throw.
Kayla Thornton picked up the rebound, but as she tried to reset the offense, Breanna Stewart started to set a screen instead of preparing for Thornton’s pass, as the forward expected.
The Lynx got the ball and Bridget Carlton hit a three-pointer at the other end to extend the lead to 11 points.
What started as a promising Commissioner’s Cup with a chance to repeat as champion and win a share of the $500,000 prize money ended in disaster for the Liberty, ending in a 94-89 loss Tuesday night at UBS Arena.
Frustration was building even before the night began as Wednesday’s first-round NBA draft game was moved from Barclays Center.
And then it all ended with the Liberty losing a playoff series, or a preview of the WNBA Finals.
Carlton led the Lynx with 23 points, while Napheesa Collier added 21 points and six rebounds.
It was all going well for the Liberty, especially for Sabrina Ionescu, who intercepted a Collier pass, sprinted down the court and drilled an unstoppable layup. When the Lynx called a timeout, Ionescu roared on her way back to the bench.
The Liberty’s lead grew to 10 points, their largest lead in a Commissioner’s Cup final.
But then everything reversed and stayed that way.
The Lynx’s 33-13 run lasted 3:43 left in the first quarter, the entire third quarter and the first two minutes of the fourth quarter.
At that point, the Liberty was down by 10. Ionescu scored one point in the second half. Jonquel Jones didn’t score until hitting a free throw with 80 seconds left.
Stewart led the Liberty with 24 points and singlehandedly pulled her team back into the game with a 9-0 personal run in the fourth quarter.
Ionescu finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
But the Lynx’s solid second-half defense combined with a balanced offense helped them win their first Commissioner’s Cup and establish themselves as a favorite to win the WNBA title in October.
But the game also came with a backstory that it needed to be relocated from Barclays Center.
Their frustration was clear when Stewart spontaneously broached the topic before shooting practice on Tuesday morning.
Jones used words like “frustration” and “annoyance” to describe the Liberty’s frustration at never truly hosting the title game despite going 5-0 in eight days and emerging as the Eastern Conference representative.
But once the game began, Liberty’s offense played like it has in many games over the past two seasons, with Ionescu at the heart of it all.
She led the team with 18 points by halftime, hitting a 3-pointer from the Commissioner’s Cup logo, a deep floater and stealing a pass to race down the court and make an unstoppable layup.
Ionescu is in her fourth year in the WNBA and is healthy, hitting floaters with ease and her record-setting 3-point shot remains her greatest strength, giving Stewart the floor to thrive.
But eventually, Lynx responded.
They took advantage of a series of Liberty turnover fumbles (the majority of their 20 turnovers came there) and relied on clutch shots from Carlton and Collier to build a double-digit lead themselves.
Thus ended Liberty’s quest for a second consecutive championship title in a heartbreaking way.
The first loss came in October, when the team was defeated in four games by the Aces, missing out on a chance to achieve the perennial victory that has eluded them since the franchise’s inception.
“Everybody has scars,” coach Sandy Brondello said before the game. “These are memories, but scars heal.”
But less than a year later, Lynx gave Liberty another aircraft.
