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Outside the 3-point line, Leonie Fiebich paused for a moment. She looked around. When Lynx guard Courtney Williams dribbled off her foot with just over 90 seconds remaining and the Liberty up by six, the ball rolled — and kept rolling — across the mid-court line until Fiebich picked it up.
And even with Breanna Stewart cutting toward the basket, even with Fiebich not needing to rush into a shot given how quickly a late lead unraveled just two days earlier, she went for one anyway.
Liberty coach Sandy Brondello, from her perch on the sideline, saw Stewart cutting.
Then, she realized Fiebich was elevating. It was a “huge” shot, guard Courtney Vandersloot said. “Gutsy,” she added. And when it fell through the net, the Liberty, for the first time this series, had a true dagger.
Up until that point, Game 2 of the WNBA Finals had unfolded similarly to Game 1 for the Liberty. They built a 17-point lead in the first half. They watched the Lynx slowly and slowly — and, at some points, rather quickly — chip away until it reached two points in the fourth quarter and the Liberty season veered toward a crossroads.
But Fiebich’s shot provided the final counterpunch during their 80-66 win Sunday in front of a record 18,046 at Barclays Center to even the Finals at one as the series shifts to Minnesota.
The Liberty escaped by using the blueprint that worked throughout the season and helped them arrive at this juncture to begin with.
They held Lynx star Napheesa Collier, on pace to have the highest-scoring postseason in league history, to just 16 points. A balanced offense — led by Sabrina Ionescu in the opening quarter, then Breanna Stewart (21 points) and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (20) the rest of the game — provided just enough of a cushion and just enough separation.
“If we’re not playing the right way and doing the right things, then that can turn fast,” Vandersloot said, “so we’re obviously just … knowing that if we do the right things, we’re gonna be in good position.”
The optics of a second loss to Minnesota wouldn’t have been good. The Lynx were already the only team to defeat the Liberty multiple times this season, and the Liberty were already tasked with overcoming any emotional hangover stemming from their collapse on Thursday, when Stewart missed a free throw to win at the end of regulation after the Liberty blew a double-digit lead.
But Ionescu scored 12 points in the first quarter as the Liberty shot 72 percent and quickly constructed a 10-point lead.
They forced the Lynx into difficult shots, just like Game 1. They led by as many as 17 points and by 10 at halftime, similar to Thursday’s 18-point advantage.
“I’m disappointed that we let it get to 17,” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “I’m more than disappointed. I’m pissed.”
Eventually, though, the Lynx made their run again in the second half, even with Collier stuck on the bench late in the third quarter with four fouls. She returned in the fourth and made it a four-point game with just over six minutes left with a turnaround jumper. They eventually pulled within 68-66 when Courtney Williams scored with 3:40 remaining.
Then, from her spot in the corner, the one that she has turned into her signature shot, Laney-Hamilton had a window. A brief one, but enough to get something off after Ionescu drove into the paint and flipped a no-look pass. And when the shot fell through the net, Vandersloot, from her spot on the bench, thought, “Hell yeah.”
“It was like [in Game 1] we kinda slowed down to a pace that is a little bit awkward for us,” Stewart said of the Liberty offense down the stretch. “We want to play fast. We want to move the ball. We want to get downhill. We want to score, obviously. So making sure that no matter what, we continue to play fast. We get good shots. And we get that defense moving.”
Instead of another collapse, the Liberty kept their lead.
They hit the shots that put games away. This time, the Liberty didn’t need two free throws at the end. This time, they avoided the 2-0 hole that upended their franchise-best regular season and everything the superteam built toward last year — when they couldn’t recover from a convincing Game 1 from the Aces.
And on an afternoon when a Lynx win would’ve all but eliminated the Liberty’s margin of error, they ensured that — at least until Wednesday — some semblance of that still exists. Their season still has some life.
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