Liberty get last chance at history in pressure-packed Game 5 moment

The opportunity was there for the Liberty. Ahead 2-1 in their second consecutive WNBA Finals appearance, they were perfectly set up to earn their first title on the Lynx’s home court at Target Center. They battled back in the second half of Game 3 to earn the series lead, largely due to Breanna Stewart’s 30-point night and capped off with a 28-foot 3-point stunner from Sabrina Ionescu that rocked the basketball world. They later had their moments to close in a Game 4 on Friday that featured 14 lead changes. Yet, despite Jonquel Jones and Leonie Fiebich picking up the slack with 21 and 19 points, respectively, in the absence of a big scoring night from both Stewart (11) and Ionescu (10), the Liberty were bested by the Lynx in the final seconds of Game 4, an 82-80 loss on the exact date they were eliminated by the Aces in four games at Barclays Center a year ago. Now, they have one more chance in New York for a winner-take-all Game 5, and the pressure has only increased for the team in its second superteam year that was built purposely for these moments. “We missed some shots we normally make there late down the stretch in the paint and on the 3-point line, and it kinda came back to haunt us in the end,” Ionescu said Friday.“You know, we just gotta be better and take accountability on the things we could’ve done better.” After going 16-22 in the 2022 season, coach Sandy Brondello and general manager Jonathan Kolb laid out an aggressive offseason game plan in search of players to build a championship group in New York.They had the best free agency period of any other team in the offseason, adding the 2021 MVP Jones, a two-time WNBA champion in Stewart, and veteran point guard and five-time All-Star Courtney Vandersloot to pair with Ionescu and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton in the starting five. After a franchise best 32-8 record and their first run to the WNBA Finals since 2002, Kolb and Brondello had a mission to add more versatility to their bench af...