Breeanna Stewart scored 21 points and the New York Liberty pulled away late for Sunday's crucial 80-66 Game 2 win over the Minnesota Lynx that evened the WNBA Finals at 1-1.
The top-seeded Liberty closed the game on a 12-0 run to avenge Thursday's stunning home loss to the Lynx, in which second-seeded Minnesota overcame a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to rally for a 95-93 overtime win to open the championship series.
Minnesota put forth another late comeback try in Game 2, as it cut a 10-point third-quarter deficit down to two when Napheesa Collier's turnaround jumper with 6:46 remaining brought the Lynx within 64-62.
It remained a two-point game until New York's Betnijah Laney-Hamilton knocked down a 3-pointer with 3:21 left to give the Liberty a 71-66 lead and start the game-sealing final surge.
Laney-Hamilton went 4 of 6 from 3-point range and finished with 20 points for New York, which made good on 11 of 24 shots from beyond the arc (45.8 per cent) compared to 6 of 20 (30 per cent) for Minnesota.
Stewart added eight rebounds and five assists while setting a WNBA Finals single-game record with seven steals. Fellow All-Star Sabrina Ionescu chipped in 15 points and five assists to help the Liberty avoid a dreaded 0-2 deficit in the best-of-five series.
Collier led the Lynx with 16 points and eight rebounds, while team-mate Courtney Williams recorded 15 points and eight assists and Alanna Smith had 14 points for Minnesota.
The Lynx will host the next two games of the series, with Game 3 to take place Wednesday in Minneapolis.
Ionescu scored 12 points in the first quarter as the Liberty took a 31-21 lead into the second, and New York shot 51.4 per cent in the first half to enter the break with a 49-39 advantage.
Minnesota trailed 64-55 early in the fourth quarter before closing the gap with a 7-0 run capped by Collier's jumper, which followed a 3-pointer from Kayla McBride.
Clippers star forward Leonard sidelined indefinitely
The Los Angeles Clippers are expected to begin the season without Kawhi Leonard in the lineup as the star forward continues to rehabilitate from inflammation in his right knee.
The oft-injured Leonard played in his most games last season since 2016-17 with the San Antonio Spurs as he took the court for 68 of the Clippers’ 82 games.
The six-time All-Star, though, sat out Los Angeles’ final eight regular-season contests due to inflammation in the knee and only played in Games 2 and 3 during the team’s first-round play-off loss in six games to the Dallas Mavericks.
Leonard has yet to take on-court contact during training camp and instead has been focusing on rehabbing the knee.
“He has not been a part of what we've been doing on a daily basis,” Clippers assistant coach Brian Shaw told reporters on Wednesday.
“I know the company line has been that we're going to be patient with him. He's doing everything that he can to rehab it and strengthen that knee on his own with our medical staff, and we’re just dealing with the guys that we have.”
The two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year led Los Angeles last season with 23.7 points and 1.63 steals per game and was second on the team in rebounding (6.1), blocks (0.87) and 3-point shooting percentage (41.7) while ranking third in assists (3.6).
The Clippers went 51-31 last season and won the Pacific Division for the first time since 2013-14.
With Leonard out indefinitely and Paul George signing with the Philadelphia 76ers in the offseason, Los Angeles will turn to former NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star James Harden to lead the way offensively.
Lynx coach Reeve: Special toughness needed to cope with WNBA Finals 'ups and downs'
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."
Leonard a doubt for Clippers' NBA opener
Kawhi Leonard has been ruled out for the rest of the Los Angeles Clippers’ preseason due to an ongoing knee issue.
The inflammation in his right knee has prevented him from playing any of their four preseason matches so far, including Monday's 110-96 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
The injury also saw him miss the final eight games of the last regular season, while he was limited to just two appearances in their six-game, first-round loss to Dallas in the postseason.
Clippers coach Ty Lue confirmed that Leonard will not play in their final warm-up game against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday, and he is a doubt for their NBA season opener against the Phoenix Suns on October 23.
Meanwhile, former Clippers star Paul George suffered a hyperextended left knee injury in Monday's preseason 104-89 win against the Atlanta Hawks.
George was playing just his second game since joining the 76ers as a free agent on a four-year max contract, but planted his left leg awkwardly, jarring his knee.
He did not play the rest of the game, but when asked about the injury, he was not too worried.
"I felt that it hyperextended, and immediately it was, all right, I need to get taken out and [looked at], but if you ask me, I'm not too concerned about it," George told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The 76ers begin their NBA season against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 23.
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