Lynx fend off Liberty, 82-80, to send WNBA Finals to decisive fifth game

MINNEAPOLIS – It’s only right that the WNBA Finals is going the limit.

Game 1 was decided, basically, on a four-point play and a missed 4-foot shot. Game 3 was decided on a 28-foot shot with 1 second left.

So when Bridget Carleton went to the line with 2 seconds left in a tie game and calmly hit both free throws?

See you in New York on Sunday night.

Carleton’s free throws after being fouled on a putback gave the Lynx an 82-80 victory before a sellout crowd at Target Center on Friday night in Game 4 of the best-of-five series.

Tied at two games each, the teams will meet in the series finale Sunday at 5 p.m. in Brooklyn at Barclays Center.

It was a battle, at times a brawl, with players getting knocked down all over the court Friday. There was determined defense, stubborn offense.

There were 13 ties and 14 lead changes. No team led by more than six points. All 10 starters scored in double figures, but a number of the biggest stars didn’t always shine.

But it had to end. And here’s how:

The Lynx were up six, but the Liberty battled back to tie the game at 80 on Jonquel Jones’ three-point play with 1:10 left. Kayla McBride, who led the Lynx with 19 points, missed at one end, but the Lynx got a stop with 18.3 seconds left.

Time for one more possession: Courtney Williams took the inbounds, waited, then dribbled. Finally she penetrated and shot, but she missed. But Carleton got fouled by Sabrina Ionescu on the putback attempt.

Swish, swish. Carleton screamed and ran to the Lynx bench during the ensuing timeout. Perhaps fittingly, Ionescu, who hit the winning 3-pointer on Wednesday, missed a long 3 at the buzzer.

Williams had 15 points, Napheesa Collier 14 and Carleton 12 for the Lynx. For the Liberty, Jones scored 21, making seven of 10 shots. Leonie Fiebich scored 19, Breanna Stewart 11, and Begnijah Laney-Hamilton and Ionescu 10 each.

Collier scored just two points in the second half. New York’s pair of Olympians, Stewart and Ionescu, were a combined 10 for 36 overall, 0 for 9 on 3s.

This time it was the supporting cast that came through. McBride and Carleton each scored five fourth-quarter points.

There were six lead changes and five ties in the first 10 minutes, so naturally the game was tied at 23 after a quarter. The good news: McBride, for the second straight game, scored in double figures in the first quarter, getting 11. Collier had eight. The bad: The Lynx didn’t have a lead despite Stewart missing all seven of her first-quarter shots.

The Lynx shot 50%, the Liberty 45%.

Things were just as tight in the second quarter. At one point the Liberty pushed to a five-point lead, and the Lynx responded by going up four. At the half: 46-45 Lynx, who had three players (McBride, Williams and Collier) in double figures while the Liberty had nine or more points from three (Laney-Hamilton, Fiebich and Jones).

The Lynx trailed by five midway through the quarter, but finished the half on a 12-6 run, one that included back-to-back three-point plays by Williams and McBride – with Stewart getting the foul each time – to lead by a point.

The Lynx pushed their lead to five early in the third, but the Liberty – with Jones hitting from the outside – responded with an 11-0 run to take their biggest lead of the night at 61-55.

Again the Lynx responded. Smith scored, then got a steal. Collier made 1 of 2 free throws and the Lynx got a stop, then Smith hit a 3-pointer with 2½ minutes left and the game was tied at 61, for the ninth time. When Carleton ended the quarter with two free throws the Lynx had finished the third quarter on a 9-2 run and they led 64-63.

Smith played 30 minutes despite a balky back, and the Lynx got 10 strong minutes off the bench from backup center Dorka Juhasz.