WNBA PLAYER RANKINGS

 

SABRINA LONESCU SECURES LIBERTY GAME 3 WIN VS. LYNX IN WNBA FINALS

MINNEAPOLIS -- Sabrina Ionescu had to watch video in the locker room of her winning 3-pointer Wednesday night to know just how long it was. But she said that as soon as she launched it, she thought, "Yeah, this is in."

Ionescu's 28-foot dagger that swished with 1 second left -- "definitely the biggest shot of my career" -- gave the New York Liberty an 80-77 come-from-behind win over the Minnesota Lynx in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals. The Liberty are now one victory away from their first league title in franchise history.

"I would say I visualize a lot when I'm practicing in the offseason, the night before a game, the day of a game," Ionescu said. "I'm always visualizing different scenarios and putting myself in tough situations. Obviously, I didn't play my best tonight, but finding a way to continue to stick with it ... I feel like that's been a big growth for me, whether the ball is going in or not."

This one went in, the 10th 3-pointer of the game for the Liberty. Ionescu's shot left the Lynx's record crowd of 19,521 stunned, much like Minnesota did to the New York crowd in Game 1, a 95-93 Lynx win in overtime.

The Liberty lost an 18-point lead in that game; the Lynx lost a 15-point edge Wednesday. In both cases, there were dramatic momentum shifts and huge plays in the kind of heavyweight matchup expected when the top two seeds play for a championship.

"The hardest thing to do when we're in a series ... is there's so many ups and downs and swings," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said, "and it takes special mental toughness and physical toughness to weather those swings. We're disappointed -- we're home, we played well and just couldn't come up with the win.

"We have to dust ourselves off and get another crack at it here at home. We'll see what we can do on Friday."

The teams will return to Target Center with the Lynx trying to send the series back to New York for a deciding Game 5 on Sunday. Minnesota has an uphill battle, but it has been done before. Four other teams have won the WNBA title after being down 2-1 in the Finals, including the Lynx in 2017.

The Liberty want to end the series Friday. They are one of three original WNBA teams still in the city where they started; the other two, the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury, each have won three titles.

New York  has played for the championship five times before this year. One of the most dramatic of those series losses was in 1999, when the Liberty won Game 2 of what was then a best-of-three series at Houston on Teresa Weatherspoon's shot at the buzzer from beyond half court, only to lose the next day to the Comets.

Weatherspoon's shot, often cited as the most famous in league history, is one of four times that a WNBA player has made a winning 3-pointer in the last 5 seconds of a Finals game. The others were Minnesota's Maya Moore in Game 3 in 2015 against Indiana, and Los Angeles' Nikki Teasley in Game 2 in 2002 against New York.

Teasley's shot won that series in what was then still a best-of-three Finals. Moore and Minnesota lost Game 4 of the 2015 Finals, but then won Game 5 and the title.

So Ionescu is the fourth player to pull off this feat, and it came in a game that was eerily similar to New York's victory when Weatherspoon made her shot 25 years ago. The Liberty led for just 2 minutes, 19 seconds Wednesday, the second-shortest amount of time leading in a Finals win in WNBA history.

The shortest time to lead in a Finals win? You guessed it: Game 2 of the 1999 Finals, when the Liberty led the Comets for just 2:15 before Weatherspoon's buzzer-beater.

Trying to win a long-awaited championship for New York has been on Ionescu's mind since she was drafted No. 1 in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that cancelled the NCAA tournament her senior season at Oregon.

Ionescu then suffered a season-ending ankle injury in her third Liberty game. She left the WNBA's COVID-19 bubble in Bradenton, Florida, and went home to California to rehab. Ionescu said she couldn't bring herself to watch many Liberty games on television the rest of that season, as the team finished 2-20.

Then, before the 2023 season, she was joined by free agents Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot, and Jonquel Jones, who arrived via trade. Those players and Ionescu helped form the core of the team that is playing in its second consecutive WNBA Finals.

The Liberty lost 3-1 to the Las Vegas Aces last season, but the players said they learned a lot about themselves in the process. This season, New York had the best record in the regular season (32-8) and is the No. 1 seed.

The Liberty didn't look like it in the first quarter Wednesday. Contrary to fast starts in the first two games of the Finals, the Liberty trailed 28-18 after the first quarter. They cut the deficit to 43-35 by halftime.

In the third quarter, though, Stewart took over, scoring 14 points and bringing New York to within 62-61. The Lynx defense was hampered somewhat by forward Alanna Smith dealing with a back injury she suffered in the second quarter. She still played nearly 20 minutes but was clearly in pain.

Stewart previously won WNBA titles in 2018 and 2020 with the team that drafted her No. 1 in 2016, the Seattle Storm. Now playing for the team in her home state of New York, Stewart had a tough finish to Game 1 when she missed a free throw at the end of regulation and a layup at the end of overtime.

Since then, though, Stewart has come back strong. Along with her game-high 30 points Wednesday, she had 11 rebounds and 4 blocks.

"That was just a great All-WNBA second-team performance."

Sabrina Ionescu, named to the All-WNBA second team earlier Wednesday

"We don't win this game without Stewie," Ionescu said.

Ionescu, Jones and Leonie Fiebich each finished with 13 points.

Ionescu was named to the All-WNBA second team earlier Wednesday; some thought she should have been on the first team.

"That was just a great All-WNBA second-team performance," Ionescu joked after the game.

New York coach Sandy Brondello said even if Ionescu was 4-of-11 from the field before the winning shot, she never doubted for a minute she should take it.

"Obviously, Stewie got us back in there, willed us in there," Brondello said. "But I thought, '[At] the right time, this is Sabrina.' She's a great shooter.

"What I love about her is that she backs herself. Not everyone can take those big shots and make them. She can."

ESPN Research contributed to this report.

- Michael Voepel, ESPN Senior Writer

US BASKETBALL NAMES 12-MEMBER. WOMEN'S ROSTER FOR PARIS

Reuters 

 USA Basketball announced a veteran roster for the upcoming Paris Olympics, boasting a squad where each member has at least an Olympics or World Cup gold medal.

The Phoenix Mercury's Diana Taurasi was named to her sixth Olympics, with 38 Olympics basketball games to her credit, the most of any women's player in USA Basketball history. She is second in Olympics points scored (414) behind Lisa Leslie (488).

The team, which consists entirely of players from the WNBA, also includes Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx), Kahleah Copper (Mercury), Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas Aces), Brittney Griner (Mercury), Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty), Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm), Kelsey Plum (Aces), Breanna Stewart (Liberty), Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut Sun), A'ja Wilson (Aces) and Jackie Young (Aces).

Cheryl Reeve is the head coach of the team, after serving as an assistant coach the past two Olympics under Geno Auriemma (2016) and Dawn Staley (2020).

"We were supposed to be giving Cheryl a team that has experience and familiarity with international competition, familiarity with the coaching system, leadership abilities, versatility, depth at every position," national team committee chair Jen Rizzotti told The Athletic. "The 12 that we selected, we felt were the best when it boiled down to a basketball decision."

Not included was collegiate star Caitlin Clark, who took Iowa to the Final Four in consecutive seasons and is in her rookie WNBA season with the Indiana Fever.

"Certainly, the success that Caitlin had in college in addition to the way that she's played in the beginning parts of the (WNBA) season was taken into consideration as we talked about this roster, but I think out of respect for the process, we tried to make sure we upheld our integrity when it came to selecting the roster," Rizzotti told The Athletic.

"Marketability, popularity, TV viewership, jersey sales was not something that we were supposed to be measuring."

Clark addressed the pending roster decision Sunday.

"Honestly, no disappointment," Clark said. "It just gives me something to work for; it's a dream. Hopefully one day I can be there.

"I think it's just a little more motivation. You remember that. Hopefully when four years comes back around, I can be there."

Taurasi, Collier, Gray, Griner, Loyd, Stewart and Wilson all were in the 2020 Olympics squad in Japan that went 6-0 while winning the gold medal. Wilson and Griner each scored 16.5 points per game in Japan, while Stewart had 10.0 rebounds per game.

Plum and Young also won a gold medal at Japan, but that was in the inaugural three-on-three tournament.

Staley also was on the committee that selected the roster, in addition to the WNBA's Bethany Donaphin, Atlanta Dream general manager Dan Padover of the Atlanta Dream, LSU assistant coach Seimone Augustus and Old Dominion head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones.

The USA women's team will have training camp at Phoenix then play an exhibition game against a team of WNBA all-stars on July 20. The squad also is set to play an exhibition game against Germany on July 23 at London.

Team USA opens Olympics group play at Paris against Japan on July 29 before facing Belgium on Aug. 1 and Germany on Aug. 4.

- Reuters 

NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND TAKEAWAYS: LOTS OF POINTS LOTS OF WINNERS IN INDY

 

AP Photo 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — NBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis had plenty of winners.

There was Damian Lillard, a 3-point shootout winner Saturday and the All-Star Game MVP on Sunday — a two-trophy weekend the likes of which only Michael Jordan pulled off previously. There were Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu, who made their 1-on-1 shooting contest into must-see-TV. There was Karl-Anthony Towns, the fourth player to score at least 50 in an All-Star Game.

And there are the people tasked with updating the NBA’s All-Star record book. They’ll be busy for a while after the Eastern Conference’s 211-186 victory over the Western Conference on Sunday night in the highest-scoring All-Star Game.

The league goes quiet now, at least in terms of games, until Thursday. Everyone gets a break until then, and for those who were part of the shows in Indianapolis this weekend, it’s needed.

Some takeaways from Indianapolis:

ALL THOSE POINTS

Scoring 186 points is something that only two teams in the history of the All-Star Game had done before Sunday night.

The West scored 186 — and lost by 25. Hard to say anyone would have seen that coming.

AP Photo 

Here’s just some of the records: Most points by one team (211), most points by both teams (397), most points in a half by one team (the East tied it with 104 in the first half, then broke it with 107 in the second half), most 3-pointers by one team (42), most 3-point attempts by one team (97), most 3-pointers by both teams (67), most 3-point attempts by both teams (168), most field goals by both teams (163), most field goal attempts by both teams (289), and most assists by one team (the West had 60 to tie the record).

“Usually our preparation to get ready to compete, it looks a lot different than it looks when we come here,” Lillard said. “This weekend was a lot better than the past, but I think when the game is any type of loose, if it’s not a game where you’ve got a scouting report and you’re locked in and a lot is on the line, then guys who are too talented and are going to make a lot of 3s. That’s the kind of game it’s going to be.”

STEPHEN CURRY TOPS SABRINA IONESCU IN 3-POINT SHOOTOUT AT ALL-STAR WEEKEND

 

AP Photo 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Stephen Curry was on a roll — and it was barely enough to beat Sabrina Ionescu.

And fittingly, he won by three.

The Golden State star and NBA's all-time 3-point king beat Ionescu 29-26 in the Steph vs. Sabrina competition at All-Star Saturday night, the first such him-vs.-her event of its kind at the league's weekend showcase.

“For us to deliver a show like that, it was perfect,” Curry said. “As much excitement as you can build in that short amount of time with two great shooters going at it. This is something we’ll remember for a long time.”

Ionescu won the WNBA's 3-point shootout at its All-Star weekend last year with a record 37 points, smashing Curry's NBA shootout mark of 31 points. From there, a challenge was thrown down and the plan was concocted for them to meet at All-Star weekend.

So they did, and it felt like the main event of the night.

“Hopefully, this isn't the last time we do this,” Ionescu said.

Given how the fans — and really, everybody from both the NBA and WNBA — seemed to love it, it likely won't be the last time, especially since Curry and Ionescu talked afterward about adding partners to the mix next year when All-Star weekend just happens to be in San Francisco, the area where he plays and she calls home.

Curry's prize was a championship belt, with images of goats — as in, GOATs — on either side.

And he's the shooting GOAT, without question. But Ionescu, the New York Liberty star, almost gave him more than he could handle.

STEPHEN CURRY, SABRINA LONESCU HEADLINE NBA ALL-STAR SATURDAY

USA TODAY Sports 

 Stephen Curry sensed he was in trouble as he neared the end of his round but suddenly flashed the ability that has helped him make a record 3,642 3-pointers in regular-season play.

It was good timing as WNBA standout Sabrina Ionescu put on a stellar shooting performance of her own. But Curry made 4 of 5 shots from the right corner to end his round and overtake Ionescu to win 29-26 in the special 3-point competition between the two prolific shooters during All-Star Saturday Night in Indianapolis.

The genesis for the Curry-Ionescu showdown came when Curry was talking to Golden State Warriors teammate Brandin Podziemski in a video about Ionescu's stellar performance in last year's WNBA All-Star 3-point competition.

Curry pondered a competition with Ionescu, and the latter made it clear on social media that she was up for the challenge.

Ionescu, who plays for the New York Liberty, started on the left side of the court and made nine of her first 10 shots.