Breanna Stewart understands the stakes. So do all of her teammates.
The New York Liberty are one win away from clinching their first WNBA championship. They will try to bring it home when they tip off against the Minnesota Lynx on Friday night in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.
The Liberty have a 2-1 edge in the best-of-five series. If the Lynx prevail on Friday, that will force a winner-take-all Game 5 on Sunday evening in New York.
New York is coming off an 80-77 comeback win in Game 3 on Wednesday night that still had the league and its fans buzzing one day later. Sabrina Ionescu hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer from just inside the Lynx logo near midcourt with one second remaining.
Ionescu said she received more than 200 congratulatory text messages after the win, and she responded to every one of them.
The Lynx would love to spoil the Liberty’s plans for a celebration.
Napheesa Collier and her teammates are determined to do better in Game 4. Collier said reviewing the game film showed that the Lynx had enough to win.
Teammate Courtney Williams agreed.
The Lynx won Game 1 in New York thanks to a historic 18-point comeback to force overtime. The Liberty then evened the series before Stewart dropped 30 points and New York held Minnesota to 38.7 percent shooting in Game 3.
