BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — When Courtney Williams signed as a free agent with Minnesota in February, the ninth-year guard knew she’d have to tweak her game, and focus on passing more than scoring.
After all, the Lynx feature one of the best players in the world in Napheesa Collier, a forward who can score inside and out and make all sorts of defensive plays. Collier will almost always be the go-to, especially when the Lynx need a bucket in a late-game situation.
But it turns out the 5-foot-8 guard can still be a No. 1 offensive option — especially when her team needs it.
Williams hit two crazy, how-did-that-happen? 3s, one with 5.5 seconds left in regulation and the other with 1:16 to play in overtime, helping the Lynx pull off a stunning, come-from-behind win in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, beating the New York Liberty 95-93 in Barclays Center.
Minnesota now leads the best-of-five series 1-0. Game 2 is Sunday at Barclays before the series moves to Minneapolis for Game 3 and, if necessary, Game 4. Game 5 would be back in New York.
Williams finished with a team-high 23 points, Kayla McBride added 22 and Collier chipped in 21. The Defensive Player of the Year, Collier also tallied eight rebounds, six blocks and three steals.
Williams’ most crucial points came down the stretch, a result, Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said, of the veteran playmaker recognizing that “her team needed her to be more aggressive.”
Down 3 with 18 seconds to go, Williams drained a 3 with 5.5 seconds on the clock — and drew a foul on Sabrina Ionescu for a potential four-point play. Her make came after her miss, and she got another shot (literally) because of an offensive board by Minnesota’s Alanna Smith. It was one of only five offensive rebounds the Lynx nabbed in the game, but it was huge. Williams drained the free throw, giving the Lynx a one-point edge — the first time they’d led all night. New York coach Sandy Brondello called it a “backbreaking” sequence.
After a chaotic back-and-forth on the other end, Breanna Stewart stepped to the line for two shots with .8 seconds left in regulation. She hit the first but missed the second, and suddenly, despite the fact that New York had at one point held an 18-point lead, the game was headed to overtime.
Williams’ second big 3 came with 1:16 in the extra period, with the Lynx rolling and the Liberty on their heels. Her 28-footer stretched Minnesota’s lead back to four, and on the following possession, she finished at the rim for two more points. Collier wound up hitting the game-winner, a tough, turnaround fadeaway 12-footer with 8.8 seconds to play.
Williams and Collier combined to score 22 of Minnesota’s final 24 points.
Stewart got a great look inside at the buzzer, but couldn’t finish.
The comeback tied the largest-ever in WNBA Finals history; in 1999, the Liberty came back from 18 down to beat the Houston Comets (Houston went on to win the championship).
Williams, a Georgia native whose Southern drawl always makes her teammates and coaches smile, said her flurry of late-game points is “a testament to how we believe in each other. We have so many great 3-point shooters, and the fact that these girls are out here trying to get me the ball, I mean, I could cry. This is amazing. I love it.
‘These people I’m around, we believe in each other so much. It’s crazy, man. I’m happy to be here.’
The same cannot be said for the Liberty, who looked shell-shocked postgame.
Stewart, who finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, said of New York, “we take it on the chin.”
“We were up a lot, then we had a wild kind of sequence to end the fourth, didn’t start overtime great, I had a great look at the end and I didn’t make it,” Stewart said. “But this is a series. We wanted to win, obviously, but the beauty is, we have another game on Sunday and we’ll be ready.”
Asked afterward where her four-point play ranks of her favorite shots, she laughed.
“Where does that rank, I don’t know. It’s No. 1 right now, cause we are here, 1-0,” Williams said.
Then Reeve quipped, “I”m just happy she made a clutch free throw.”
The two ribbed each other back and forth, more proof of what Reeve said after Minnesota’s series-clinching win over Connecticut in the semifinals, when she admitted, “I didn’t really know what we were getting (with Courtney). The basketball, sure, I watched her play for years. But I don’t know if I knew exactly what we were getting in terms of the person or the coachability. You can say anything to her and I love that.”
It’s true. When they studied the stat sheet together Thursday during the postgame news conference, Reeve happily pointed out Williams’ five assists — then wondered aloud, “Does that one you threw to Sabrina count?”
Everyone laughed, Williams the sharpshooter hardest of all.