Everyone in the building knew who was going to get the ball.
Or at least they thought they knew.
After the Minnesota Lynx built a 15-point first-half lead in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Wednesday, and after the Liberty fought back with a third-quarter flurry and took their first lead of the game in the waning moments of the fourth quarter, Napheesa Collier made a pair of free throws to tie the game at 77 with 16 seconds left on the clock.
Liberty head coach Sandy Bordello immediately called a timeout. Breanna Stewart — fresh off an All-WNBA First Team nod — had a game-high 30 points.
The ball was expected to go to her.
It did not.
Instead, it went to Sabrina Ionescu, who spotted up from well beyond the three-point line and drilled a game-winning three to lift the Liberty to an 80-77 victory over the Lynx on Wednesday.
Ionescu was two-for-seven from downtown and just 4-for-11 from the field before the cold-blooded bucket lifted New York to a win.
The Liberty have now taken a 2-1 series lead over the Lynx and are one win away from delivering the franchise the first championship in its history. They will have to handle business on the road in Game 4, or return back to Barclays Center for a sudden death Game 5.
Yet this is what champions do — they find a way to win when defeat appears imminent.
The Liberty spent three-and-a-half quarters on a one-way train to a 1-2 WNBA Finals deficit.
And then, it clicked.
The early turnover woes quickly became a thing of the past.
So did the defensive miscues, primarily leaving Minnesota Lynx sharpshooter Kayla McBride open time and time again in the first half.
The cold three-point shooting, too, became a distant memory: The Liberty got off to just a 4-of-15 start from downtown but finished Game 3 at a 10-of-25 clip.
Victory cures all.
And victory it was for the Liberty, who dug an early hole, then came firing back in the third quarter, when they cut a 15-point lead down to eight, then took their first lead since 5-4 in the first quarter late in the final period, off of back-to-back baskets from Jonquel Jones.
How poetic of a night: On the very day Stewart, Ionescu and Jones became the first trio of teammates in Liberty franchise history to earn All-WNBA Team honors in the same season, they brought the franchise one step closer to basketball immortality.
Of the six other such trios in WNBA history, five went on to win a championship together during their tenure as teammates.
A championship won’t come easy. The Lynx won’t go down without a fight. In fact, an injury to Alanna Smith may be to blame for Minnesota’s second-half meltdown.
The Liberty also cannot afford to let McBride torch them from downtown. McBride connected on five of her nine attempts from three-point range for 19 points in Game 3.
Stewart finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds on 9-of-20 shooting from the field, and Jones and Ionescu each added 13 points, none more timely than their crunch-time heroics — first Jones to give the Liberty a lead, then Ionescu to seal the deal.
Can the Liberty do it again?
They will have two shots at WNBA history, the first of which will come on Friday in Minnesota. If they lose there, they will have an opportunity to close the series out in front of their own home fans.
