Liberty know the little details that will decide WNBA Finals

MINNEAPOLIS — Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve knew the stat before it was mentioned at the team’s practice Tuesday ahead of Game 3 of the WNBA Finals at Target Center.Minnesota has held the lead for just 3 minutes, 17 seconds in the best-of-five series, all of it coming in Game 1.And only 4.7 seconds of that was in regulation, per ESPN, while the Liberty has held the lead for a dominant 81:43 of the series.Nevertheless, in a series tied 1-1, the Liberty have had trouble holding that lead late in both games.The Lynx have managed to dig themselves out of big holes in each game.

Though only one turned into a victory, they cut down an 18-point and 17-point lead down the stretch in Game 1 and Game 2, respectively.Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello attributed those lead slip-ups to “little details” that need to be cleaned up.“It’s a really good team.You’d wish you’d keep those leads, but you kind of know that you’re not going to blow a team out by 30 at this level,” she said Tuesday.

“So they’re going to make runs at all of that.We just handled the runs better in the second game than we did in the first.

… Every possession matters.Execution matters.

Taking care of the ball matters.All of the little details matter in these moments because that’s the difference between winning and losing.”The Liberty committed fewer turnovers than the Lynx in Game 2, and although it was three more than the 15 from Game 1, it still led to the same number of points (17) by the Lynx.Limiting turnovers and momentum-shifting plays will be crucial for the Liberty, along with continuing to set the tone from the start.

In Game 2, they forced the Lynx to “scramble,” as Breanna Stewart noted, and fight from behind while creating defensive mismatches to execute scoring opportunities in the final moments.The Liberty held the best record on the road during the regular season (16-4) and Stewart said after Game 2 that they “embrace” being away.The Lynx, however, ar...