From her spot in the corner, Bethniya Rainey Hamilton made the same shot that became her signature shot, her go-to spot to distance herself from the Liberty's other stars. But during last year's finals run, Laney Hamilton hit the following shot: window. It's short, but enough to get you something. She caught a pass from Sabrina Ionescu and was able to gather herself for a moment and rise.
There were many moments throughout the season when Liberty needed Lainey Hamilton and couldn't use her. A knee injury led to mid-season cleanup procedures during the Olympic break. She missed 12 regular season games.
However, in Sunday's second game, Liberty's 17-point lead was cut to two points, and with the danger of falling down to 2-0 becoming more and more real, Lainey Hamilton, who switched from being the anchor of the defense to the offense, was there. Sparks returned to the corner and watched her shot fall into the net as Liberty's lead expanded to five points. There was Laney Hamilton, who grabbed a defensive rebound on the next possession.
And the Lynx wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way, and after the blueprint that worked all season and helped them reach this milestone worked again, the Liberty ran away after an 80-66 win to even the series. I made it. They held Lynx star Napheesa Collier, who is on pace to become the league's all-time leading scorer in the postseason, to just 16 points. A balanced offense led by Brianna Stewart, who had 21 hits, and Laney Hamilsion, who had 20, provided enough cushion.
The optics weren't great in the second loss to Minnesota. The Lynx were already the only team to beat Liberty multiple times during the regular season, and Liberty was nursing an emotional hangover from Thursday's collapse when Stewart missed a free throw and missed the win at the end of regulation. It was already a task to overcome. After Liberty took a double-digit lead.
So head coach Sandy Brondello had no problem taking two days off between games. So was Jonquel Jones. Liberty was able to reflect on what went wrong along the way and how the lead it held during the regular season evaporated. They could see the movie. And they can move forward — “We can't stay in the past,” Brondello said before the game.
It didn't take long for that to lead to the second match. Ionescu scored 12 points in the first quarter, including the first five points on a layup and a 3-pointer in transition. Liberty shot 72 percent from the field. They quickly built a 10-point lead and forced the Lynx into some difficult shots. We had a maximum difference of 17 points. They took a similar lead until halftime, as almost everything from the first leg played out the same way, at least for the first 20 minutes.
But in the end, the Lynx prevailed despite Collier being benched late in the third quarter with four fouls. She returned in the fourth and hit a come-from-behind jumper with just over six minutes left to make it a four-point lead. In the end, they caught up to within two points.
However, Liberty did not collapse again and kept the lead intact. They hit the shot that ended the game. It's a shot that doesn't leave any room for collapse at the last minute or at the last minute. Fievich connected with one from near the 3-point arc. Jones added the extra point in the final seconds. This time, Liberty didn't need the last two free throws. They avoided any collapse, leading by 12 points for 18 seconds.
And best of all, they avoided the franchise's best regular season and the 2-0 hole that derailed everything the superteam had built for last year. They couldn't recover from a convincing first game from the Aces. In the afternoon, when the Lynx's victory would have eliminated most of Liberty's margin of error, they confirmed that its mark would still be there for at least two more days.
There is still life left in their season.
