Sabrina Ionescu hit the biggest shot of her career on Wednesday night, a game-winning step-back 3-pointer from just inside the logo to give the New York Liberty an 80-77 victory over the Minnesota Lynx in Game 3 of the 2024 WNBA Finals.
The Liberty trailed by 15 points in the first half, and were still down by double digits in the third quarter until Breanna Stewart led an impressive comeback and set up Ionescu’s heroics. Now, the Liberty are up 2-1 in the best-of-five series and are one win away from their first title in franchise history.
Between the Lynx’s stunning 18-point comeback in Game 1 and the Liberty’s own comeback in Game 3, this is already on the list of the best Finals ever. But what about Ionescu’s shot, specifically. Where does that rank in Finals lore? Let’s take a look back through the archives to put her shot into historical context.
Here are the biggest shots in WNBA Finals history:
7. Alana Beard: Game 1, 2016 Finals
Beard, who won two Defensive Player of the Year awards and made nine All-Defensive Teams, was not much of a scorer later in her career with the Los Angeles Sparks, but she became an unlikely hero with a buzzer-beating jumper in Game 1 of the 2016 Finals.
As time wound down at the end of regulation, Chelsea Gray drove to her right and kicked it out to Beard in the corner. She buried the shot, which turned out to be a two-pointer, while falling into the Sparks’ bench and was mobbed by her teammates.
The Sparks would go on to win the title in five games. More on that later.
After leading the Mercury to championships in 2007 and 2009, Taurasi got her team back to the Finals in 2014, where they faced off against the Chicago Sky. The Mercury were far superior to the Sky and won Games 1 and 2 by a combined 50 points.
Game 3 was much closer. With less than 30 seconds to play, the score was tied at 82-82 and the Mercury had possession. To no surprise, they put the ball in Taurasi’s hands and let her go to work. She drove to the basket, drew the contact from Coutney Vandersloot and converted the and-one with 14 seconds left to give the Mercury the win and the title.
Taurasi was named Finals MVP for the second time in her career.
5. Nikki Teasley: Game 2, 2002 Finals
Teasley was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2002 WNBA Draft and became an immediate contributor for the Los Angeles Sparks. That didn’t change in the playoffs. In fact, she only got better. While she primarily made her mark as a playmaker, dishing out 7.8 assists per game in the playoffs, her most memorable moment came as a scorer.
Back in those days, the Finals was a best-of-three series, and the Sparks won Game 1 over the New York Liberty. In Game 2, the score was tied at 66-66 and the Sparks had the ball. Teasley was trying to feed Lisa Leslie in the post, but there was no room to make a pass so she had to fire away herself. Her 3-pointer went in with two seconds remaining to win the game and the title for the Sparks.
4. Sabrina Ionescu: Game 3, 2024 Finals
For much of Game 3 of the 2024 Finals, Ionescu was a mess. She was barely shooting, her few attempts weren’t going in and she couldn’t take care of the ball. Then, suddenly, she flipped the switch. She assisted on a go-ahead bucket by Jonquel Jones, then hit a 3-pointer to give the Liberty, once down by 15, a four-point lead.
The Lynx would come back to tie the game at 77, and then the Liberty opted to hold the ball for one final shot. Ionescu let the clock melt away before she shook her defender and let it fly from just inside the logo. Her 28-foot triple caught nothing but net and made the Liberty victorious in the pivotal contest.
With this result, the Liberty are now up 2-1 and are one win away from the first title in franchise history.
3. Teresa Weatherspoon: Game 2, 1999 Finals
With just two seconds remaining in Game 2 of the 1999 Finals, Tina Thompson scored to put the Houston Comets in front. Everyone expected that to be the game-and-title-winning shot for the dynastic Comets, but Teresa Weatherspoon had other ideas.
The Liberty point guard, known far more for her defense than her offense, put up a halfcourt heave that went in off the glass and gave New York a stunning victory that tied the best-of-three Finals at 1-1. Unfortunately for Weatherspoon and Co., they would go on to lose Game 3 and the Finals just 24 hours later.
Known as “The Shot,” Weatherspoon’s miraculous effort is still perhaps the most well-known single moment in league history.
2. Maya Moore: Game 3, 2015 Finals
Moore’s career only lasted eight seasons, but she packed two decades worth of accolades and highlights into those years. The third of the four titles she won with the Minnesota Lynx came in 2015, when they defeated the Indiana Fever in five games.
In Game 3, with the series tied at 1-1, the two teams battled back and forth in an incredible game that looked like it could go either way down the stretch. Moore ensured it went to the Lynx with an iconic buzzer beater. After catching the inbounds pass, she pump faked to create space, then pulled up from the top of the arc and held her follow through as the ball fell through the net to give the Lynx an 80-77 victory.
The angle from the opposite baseline, which shows Moore’s shot in mid-flight in front of the opposing crowd, is often compared to Michael Jordan’s game winner in Utah during the 1998 NBA Finals.
The 2016 Finals, which the Sparks won in five games over the Lynx, was only possible because the league altered the playoff format that season to make conference affiliation irrelevant. That turned out to be a presciant decision, as it produced one of the best Finals ever.
After two games, the two teams were all square at 2-2, and traveled back to Minneapolis for a winner-take-all Game 5. In one of the most dramatic games ever played, there were 11 ties and 23 lead changes. The last one came with 3.1 seconds remaining when Nneka Ogwumike grabbed an offensive rebound, got her initial shot blocked, then went up again with a fadeaway that she converted.
Ogwumike’s shot remains the only game winner to decide a winner-take-all Finals game.
