Lynx win with late FTs to force Game 5 decider

MINNEAPOLIS — Bridget Carleton made two free throws with 2 seconds left and the Minnesota Lynx beat the New York Liberty 82-80 on Friday night to force a decisive Game 5 of the WNBA Finals.

The teams will meet in New York on Sunday night in their first Game 5 of the Finals since 2019, when Washington topped Connecticut. This will be the eighth Game 5 in WNBA Finals history.

Kayla McBride scored 19 points and Courtney Williams added 15 for Minnesota, which forced Liberty stars Brenna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu to have a poor shooting night. Ionescu's heave didn't hit the rim at the buzzer.

Unlike the first three games of the series, when one team built a double-digit lead, it was all over. There were 27 ties and lead changes (14 lead changes, 13 ties), fourth most all-time in a WNBA Finals game. Neither team led by more than six.

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 calmly made two free throws and Ionescu was unable to duplicate his heroics in Game 3, when he made a 28-footer with 1 second left to give the Liberty a 2-1 series lead.

Jonkel Jones scored 21 points and Leonie Fibich scored 19 points 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.

Minnesota built a 77-72 lead with 3:14 left before New York scored eight of the next 11 points, including a three-point play by Jones with 1:10 left that tied it 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.

The home team is 5-2 in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals. The 2016 Los Angeles Sparks and 2007 Phoenix Mercury are the only road teams to win.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.