Courtney Williams, Lynx Deny Another Liberty Comeback
A Minnesota nice game from Courtney Williams doomed the New York Liberty to another defeat in an ongoing WNBA Finals rematch series.
Williams' sterling shooting night—and perhaps a mile-wide free throw discrepancy—was enough for the Minnesota Lynx to withstand a furious rally from the shorthanded Liberty, which dropped another WNBA Finals rematch by an 86-80 final on Saturday afternoon at Target Center.
Jonquel Jones led the Liberty, still missing All-Star starter Breanna Stewart, with 17 points while Sabrina Ionescu made up for a 5-of-16 output from the field with a double-double in defeat at 13 points and 10 rebounds. Kennedy Burke and Marine Johannes united for 23 points off the bench, the loss spoiling an otherwise string showing for the former in her second game back from a calf issue.
Williams put up 26 points on 10-of-18 from the field, allowing the Napheesa Collier-less Lynx (28-5) to improve to 3-0 in the immediate aftermath of the epic five-game clash that yielded the Liberty's first postseason championship last fall. Jessica Shepard had a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double as Minnesota cut down its magic number to clinch the top seed on the 2025 playoff bracket to five.
Generating a dramatic finish after falling behind by 15 in the first half, the Liberty (21-13) staged a comeback that was partly stifled by a 33-8 deficit at the foul line. The minus-25 differential is the worst the Liberty have endured in a single game since 2002 and the minus-37 margin over the last two games (minus-12 in Wednesday's loss in Las Vegas) is the second-worst they've endured in that same span (worst since 1999).
New York, however, was also distraught and done in by a 11-2 run Minnesota embarked upon in the last three minutes, one partly punctuated by Kayla McBride's three-pointer that made it a two-possession game with just over 31 ticks remaining. That atoned for a 3-of-14 tally from the field for McBride, who also shot 9-of-13 at the charity stripe for the whistle-happy Lynx.
Despite some demonstrative, physical player, New York was unable to get to the foul line, spelling their doom in the third loss over their last four games.
A tepid start for the Liberty, one that saw allowed Minnesota to build a 30-15 lead, was remedied by some energy from Natasha Cloud, who earned a couple drives and a flashy assist on Ionescu's first three-pointer of the day after taking a technical foul when she complained to officials about the foul trouble. New York went a 15-8 run to close out the first half after that and then scored the first 10 points of the third to officially flip momentum.
Every major Liberty tally, however, was seemingly answered by Williams, who had a season-high in scoring while helping Minnesota improve its home record to 17-1 in the regular season. New York, on the other hand, dropped two-of-three on this compacted road trip, previously splitting a back-to-back between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in less than 48 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
The last of four Finals rematches lands on Tuesday night, with the Liberty hosting at Barclays Center on Atlantic Avenue (7 p.m. ET, My9).
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.