Brondello’s Liberty win WNBA championship in thriller
Sandy Brondello’s New York Liberty have clinched their first WNBA title with the Australian coach guiding her team to a thrilling overtime victory over Minnesota in game five of the finals.
The Liberty had lost five previous finals series but after 28 years were finally able to celebrate in front of a full house at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, clawing their way to a 67-62 win on Monday (AEDT).
The teams were locked at 60-60 at fulltime, with Liberty forward Breanna Stewart slotting two free throws to level with 5.2 seconds left on the clock after she was fouled by the Lynx’s Australian forward Alanna Smith.
New York then raced ahead in overtime thanks to a three-pointer by Leonie Fiebich which was followed up by a lay-up by another unheralded German, Nyara Sabally.
With the Lynx unable to make a dent in overtime, it was the Liberty’s time to shine with Bridget Carleton’s three-pointer with 13 seconds left failing to drop.
Stewart then iced the win with another pair of free throws.
It was Brondello’s second WNBA crown, coming 10 years after she won her first title with Phoenix in her first season as a head coach in 2014.
While the Olympic coach savoured the hard-fought victory, her Opals forward Smith was left shattered.
The 28-year-old carried a back injury into the decider, and was again crunched in the final quarter in a tangle with New York star Jonquel Jones but remained on the court for the thrilling finale.
Locked at 2-2, after Minnesota tied up the finals in game four at home, the Liberty looked lacklustre in the opening half with sharpshooters Sabrina Ionescu and Stewart both struggling.
They trailed by nine after quarter-time and as much as 12 during the second stanza before pegging it back to a 34-27 deficit at halftime.
Lynx forward Napheesa Collier dominated the opening 20 minutes with 14 points.
But New York started to find their groove and solved their shooting woes and hit the front – 40-38 – for the first time in the match with just over three minutes left in the third quarter.
They finished the quarter outscoring Minnesota 20-10 to go into the final quarter with a three-point lead.
The teams went toe-to-toe in the final quarter and it looked like the Lynx were going to hang on for their fifth championship.
Stewart missed two free throws for a chance to tie in the final minute but made no mistake with her second chance after the Smith foul, which was unsuccessfully challenged by the Lynx.
One of the original eight franchises when the league began in 1997, New York were the only left of that group not to have won it all, but not longer.
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