After their Game 1 implosion, New York successfully held off Minnesota 80-66 in Sunday's Game 2 to bring the best-of-five 2024 WNBA Finals to an even 1-1 split.
The Lynx threatened a repeat come-from-behind victory by chipping away at the Liberty's 17-point lead, shrinking it to just two points in the fourth quarter.
However, New York's defense stepped up, limiting Minnesota's Napheesa Collier and Courtney Williams to just 16 and 15 points, respectively. The Liberty also forced an uncharacteristic seven turnovers from 2024 Defensive Player of the Year Collier.
Stewart, Laney-Hamilton lead Liberty
Both two-time MVP Breanna Stewart and teammate Betnijah Laney-Hamilton had statement performances in Game 2.
Laney-Hamilton tied her scoring season-high by dropping 20 points in just her second double-digit showing this postseason. The feat is particularly impressive in light of the her July knee surgery which forced her to miss 12 games.
“To see a glimpse of what I’m capable of, it felt really good,” Laney-Hamilton told reporters after Sunday's game.
As for Stewart, she topped New York's stat sheet with 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and set a Finals single-game record with seven steals.
Liberty guard Courtney Vandersloot summed up Stewart's Game 2 performance, saying "she was all over the floor, just wreaking havoc on everything, was in the gaps, and making things hard [for Minnesota]."
"When you have your best player, your leader, playing as hard as she does, night in and night out and impacting the game in different ways — not just scoring and rebounding," explained Vandersloot, "it's a big motivator for everybody and she sets the standard for us."
2024 WNBA Finals continue breaking records
Sunday's Game 2 brought a record 18,046 fans to Brooklyn's Barclays Center, the largest Liberty crowd at the venue since the franchise moved there full time in 2021.
Even more, just days after Game 1 set a new viewership record, Sunday's matchup surpassed those numbers, becoming the most viewed Finals game in WNBA history. An average of 1.34 million viewers tuned in, peaking at 1.82 million — a 115% increase over last year's Game 2.
How to watch the Liberty vs. the Lynx in Game 3 of the 2024 WNBA Finals
The series now moves to Minneapolis, with Game 3 tipping off Wednesday at 8 PM ET. Live coverage will air on ESPN.