Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve knows it takes a "special mental toughness" to deal with the pressures of the WNBA Finals.

The Lynx are 2-1 down to the New York Liberty following a 77-80 defeat at home on Wednesday.

Minnesota blew a 15-point lead in front of a franchise-record home crowd, but four-time WNBA champion Reeve says the swings in momentum are part and parcel of a Finals series.

"There's so many ups and downs and swings all around, and it takes special mental toughness and physical toughness to sort of weather those swings, and here we are," said Reeve, who has been named WNBA Coach of the Year four times.

"We're disappointed. We're home. We played well and just couldn't come up with the win."

Having sunk half (10/20) of their shots in the opening quarter, the Lynx only converted 19 of 55 for the rest of the game.

They now face the prospect of having to be the first team to overturn a 2-1 deficit heading into the last two fixtures since they won the Finals in 2017.

"I feel like they were making plays at the end of shot clocks and like the coach said, we were getting really good looks," said Napheesa Collier, who finished with a team-leading 22 points for the Lynx.

"We just weren't executing on the offensive end. It's just hard when you get that and then obviously they are a great offensive team."

Breanna Stewart led for the Liberty with 30 points and 11 rebounds.

But Sabrina Ionescu was the hero for New York, with her 3-pointer coming with just two seconds remaining. The Liberty are now just one win away from their first championship.

Ionescu said: "I had to go look at the video really quickly to see how far I was.

"Sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn't. I've practiced that shot a thousand times in my head, on the court, and I feel like that’s just something that as athletes, you put yourself in that position to want to be able to make a shot."