Lynx force Game 5 of WNBA Finals on Carleton's free throws to beat Liberty 82-80

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — With their season on the line, the Minnesota Lynx did enough to avoid elimination and force a decisive Game 5. WNBA Finals.

Bridget Carleton made two free throws with 2 seconds left, and the Lynx beat the New York Liberty 82-80 on Friday night. The teams will meet in New York on Sunday night in their first Game 5 of the Finals since 2019, when Washington tops Connecticut.

“The last 40 minutes of the season, it could be anywhere, really, it doesn't matter. We're going to go out there to battle together and I'm excited,” said Kayla McBride, who led the Lynx with 19 points.

Courtney Williams added 15 points for Minnesota, which forced Liberty stars Brenna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu to a poor shooting night. Ionescu's heave didn't hit the rim at the buzzer.

“I think we're excited,” Napheesa Collier said. “It's a Game 5 of the Finals. We have to go out and execute.”

Lynx coach Sherrill Reeve is no stranger to winner-take-all games. He coached Minnesota in three straight from 2015-17, winning two.

“I don't care about others,” Reeve said. “I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to be a part of so many in my career. I didn't win them all. … What I'm excited about is this group getting to experience Game 5.

Unlike the first three games of the series, when one team built a double-digit lead, it was all over. There were 14 lead changes and 13 ties, and neither team led by more than six.

“It's a close-out game. Their backs are against the wall and we're trying to win,” said Jonkel Jones, who led New York with 21 points. “It's going to be the type of game tonight where we're both trying to claw and both teams are trying to figure out what they need to do to get over the hump.”

With the game tied at 80 with 18 seconds left, Williams dribbled to run out the clock and missed a jumper with seconds left. Carleton got the rebound in the lane and fouled Ionescu.

“He got the shot and completely missed it for me,” Carleton said. “We talked about it later. He wanted to get it high and off the rim.”

The 27-year-old Canadian calmly made two free throwsAnd Ionescu was unable to duplicate his heroics in Game 3, when he hit a 28-footer with 1 second left to give the Liberty a 2-1 series lead.

“I was pretty confident. I'm a confident free-throw shooter,” Carleton said.

Leonie Fibich added 19 runs for New York. Stewart, who scored 30 points in Game 3, went 11 on 5-of-20 shooting, and Ionescu was 5-of-16 from the floor and 10.

Minnesota stands one win away from a record fifth WNBA title, which would break a tie with the Houston Comets and Seattle Storm. The Liberty are looking for their first title and have lost in the final five times. When the league began in 1997 the team was one of the original eight franchises and the only one left of that group that did not win it all.

New York lost to Las Vegas in last season's finals. Friday night marked the one-year anniversary of the Game 4 clincher last season for the Aces.

The Lynx reached the finals for the first time since 2017, when they won the last of four championships in seven years.

Carleton's 3-pointer with 3:14 left gave Minnesota a 77-72 lead, and New York scored eight of the next 11 points, including Jones' three-pointer with 1:10 left to tie the game at 80.

Both teams had chances on Carleton's free throws. McBride missed a layup with 56 seconds left, but the Lynx forced a shot-clock violation at the other end when Stewart missed a shot in the lane with 18 seconds left.

“We wanted to get it done tonight. But like (coach) Sandy (Brondello) said, our fans are like no other, and to be able to go into our atmosphere on Sunday, knowing that they have our backs,” Stewart said. “So whenever the tough situations come, whenever we're going through all that adversity. Fight through, we know the crowd is behind us. That's just going to keep us motivated. Yeah, can't wait for Sunday.

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