MINNEAPOLIS — Sabrina Ionescu smiled, smiled, dropped her face into her hand and ran her hand over her signature ponytail. The timeline was still lit by reactions to one of the most memorable shots in WNBA Finals history and a heavyweight series already filled to the brim.
“I mean, it was just a great second-team All-WNBA performance,” Ionescu said coyly, avoiding any further discussion of the potential motivation for the award snobbery.
that of New York three All-WNBA selections – two more than any other team – elevated the Liberty to an 80-77 comeback victory in game three at Target Center on Wednesday. None have been more effective than Ionescu.
She started the day as the most notable snub First Team All-WNBAtrailing a logjam of standout frontcourt players, including teammate Breanna Stewart, who is monopolizing the league’s awards. She finished it with “definitely the biggest shot of my career,” a 28-foot 3-pointer in the final second near the logo to clinch Liberty’s victory in the franchise’s first WNBA championship.
“I really didn’t realize how far away I was,” Ionescu said.
Ionescu teased Kayla McBride, stepped to her left and fired a deep shot just steps from the Lynx logo at center field to quiet the franchise-record crowd of 19,521 fans. Call it revenge for the stunned silence the Lynx threw the Barclays Center into to end Game 1.
“A great player made a good shot,” McBride said. “I kept it on for 40 minutes.”
The attempt was perfectly in motion, a shot she’s practiced hundreds of times and a reminder to anyone who didn’t know, or perhaps forgot, that she drained those shots in this league years before before Caitlin Clark makes it a national obsession.
Ionescu was also a highly regarded and sought-after No. 1 pick. Liberty was thrilled to win the draft rights in 2020 with their first-ever selection. It was a franchise-changing, lottery-luck dynamic that led to a superteam and potentially uncharted territory. Leading them to their first title, which eluded them on four trips before his arrival – New York is the only original franchise without a trophy – was always in the plan.
Ionescu didn’t start the third game well. The guard didn’t attempt a shot and remained scoreless in a sloppy first quarter that the Lynx ultimately won, 28-18, after two games falling into deep holes early. The Liberty found their feet in the second quarter, but their Snakehead still only had a bucket next to its name. She was empty on three 3-point attempts as New York got within eight to start the second half after trailing by 15.
“I think we were all just waiting for our moment, waiting for the script to change a little bit,” Stewart said. “They talked about the first five minutes, they were going to hit. They hit us in the face in the first quarter. And we continued to wear them down.
Ionescu’s first 3 in the final minute of the third brought the Liberty within six. Jonquel Jones, a second-team All-WNBA selection, blocked Napheesa Collier and Stewart made contact on the other end. Stewart had a five-point run to bring the Liberty within one, 62-61.
Stewart tied the game twice in the first four minutes as New York’s leading light while Ionescu and Jones remained dormant. Jones, the player who has consistently struggled against Minnesota this year but whom the Liberty needs, had eight points and four assists in three quarters. Ionescu had seven points and four assists. The only double-digit scorer besides Stewart’s 22 (en route to career highs of 30 and 11 rebounds) was Leonie Fiebich with 13.
“That shot is nice,” Ionescu said of her game-winning goal. “But that doesn’t take away from what (Stewart) was able to do for us tonight and how she was able to get us back in this game.”
Sloppy defense and offense filled nearly four minutes midway through the fourth as the Lynx went up by four with 2:25 left. Jones responded on a corner 3 with crisp ball movement and picked off an assist from Ionescu to take the lead, 74-73. Ionescu made just her second 3 of the game to give New York a four-point lead.
“Between Sab, JJ and myself, we know when it’s time to step up and make an impact,” Stewart said.
Minnesota responded to tie it for a fifth time with 16 seconds on the clock, drawing flashbacks of the first game and eventual overtime. New York persevered for a second straight game and head coach Sandy Brondello stayed true to the 2024 Liberty way.
She put the ball in the hands of Ionescu and Stewart.
“Stewie took us back there (and) let us in,” Brondello said. “I just thought it was the right time. It’s Sabrina. …Not everyone can take these big shots and make them happen. She can.
Ionescu finished with a modest 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting, making 3 of 8 from 3. She added six assists, five rebounds, a steal and a block. It was its second-lowest point total of the playoffs, a stat line that could have doomed New York against a team as high-caliber as Minnesota.
But the last three points will live on in Liberty lore.
Jones started setting a screen for Ionescu and ran toward the paint to give him room. As Jones turned his back to the basket on the left block, Ionescu let go with three seconds remaining. Jones thought to herself: “Oh my God, she’s about to hit that.”
“Cold-faced, but that’s also the type of player she is,” Jones said. “She intervenes in big moments and takes these photos with pleasure. We need it.
“Pumped.” Excited. Impressed,” reserve point guard Courtney Vandersloot said of the winner. “Because it’s not an easy thing to do. Obviously, shooting is difficult. But at that time. All. What’s at stake?”
Ionescu remained calm in the middle of the field, with one second remaining until the Liberty was able to secure the victory. She thumped Stewart’s chest and gave him a quick beaming smile before getting back into the face of Liberty’s latest playoff hero.
“I always visualize different scenarios and put myself in difficult situations,” Ionescu said. “Obviously I didn’t play my best tonight, but I found a way to keep sticking with it, and I feel like that was a lot of growth for me, that the ball go in or not.”
Although it was the biggest move of his career, it was not without competition. She built an illustrious legacy at Oregon, becoming the first player in NCAA history, male or female, with 2,000 career points, 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 career assists. His 26 triple-doubles probably won’t be touched by anyone on either side anytime soon. She was the school’s third No. 1 pick in all sports and first since the 1970s.
A few hours earlier, Ionescu had donned her Nike Sabrina 1 colorway in honor of the Ducks for a second straight game. A few green Oregon jerseys dotted the whitewashed Target Center, as they do back home in New York. Oregon head coach Kelly Graves flew out after practice to see former players Nyara Sabally, whose efforts on both ends offset Stewart’s early foul trouble; Vandersloot, whom he coached at Gonzaga; and Ionescu, who hit the shot to put New York within 40 minutes of history.
The coach who spent four years watching Ionescu train for this moment shared video from his perspective, writing on social media, “was there ever a doubt?!?!” » Before Ionescu joined her family outside the Liberty locker room and focused on closing out what will be a desperate Lynx team in Game 4, the three-time second-team All-WNBA superstar hugged her coach -college head in his arms.
“He kind of told me the same thing,” Ionescu said. “There was never any doubt.”
