The WNBA postseason ended with an instant classic that saw the Los Angeles Sparks take a thrilling 77-76 Game 5 win over the defending champions Minnesota Lynx to crown themselves champs for the first time since 2002.

Clutch shots, a controversial call and non-stop end-to-end action were all part of Thursday night's heart-pulsing game played at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Minnesota led 55-54 at the end of the third quarter, but fell behind 71-63 after a Candace Parker layup midway through the fourth. The Lynx then made an 8-0 run to tie the game at 71.

At the fourth quarter's 1:12 mark, league MVP Nneka Ogwumike hit a shot that appeared to be released after the shot clock had expired, but it wasn't reviewed by the officials.

Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve was clearly upset with the officials for not reviewing a basket that could have cost her team the game.

“Get the simple things right and we'll live with the other stuff that happens in a game,” Reeve told Mechelle Voepel of ESPNW. “Maybe they still win; I don't know. That's why I don't want to take anything away from L.A.”

On the very next play, the longest-tenured Lynx player, Seimone Augustus hit a jumper to knot the game at 73. After a stop at the other end, Minnesota's Rebekkah Brunson was fouled after getting an offensive rebound and attempting a put-back — she made 1-of-2 free-throws to give the Lynx a one-point lead.

Parker answered with a layup off a pass from Ogwumike to put Los Angeles back up 75-74 with 19.7 seconds left on the clock, but Maya Moore hit a turnaround baseline jump shot to give the Lynx a 76-75 lead.

Point guard Chelsea Gray took the shot in the Sparks last possession and missed, but Ogwumike grabbed the offensive rebound and was blocked by Sylvia Fowles in her attempt to score, only to grab her own rebound and hit a fall-away floater to give her team the lead with 3.1 seconds to go.

With no timeouts for either team, Lynx point guard Lindsay Whalen heaved a half court shot as the time expired, only to hit high off the backboard, sealing the Sparks title in one of the most exciting WNBA Finals series in league history.

“We said, ‘The rebound of your life is coming,'” Sparks guard Kristi Toliver said about what the team told Ogwumike during their last timeout. “And that was the rebound and put-back of her life.”

“They really wanted it,” Ogwumike said. “But we wanted it, too.”

Parker won Finals MVP honors after the game, as she finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds, three steals, and a block in a heroic performance down the stretch.

“It's like, I can't breathe until the ball hit the backboard,” Parker said. “There's a possibility Lindsay could make a half-court shot with our luck. Until the last moment when there was zero on the clock and I had the ball, that's when Kristi just tackled me, and it was amazing.”

Moore, a former MVP herself, finished with 23 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, and three steals — and possibly could have earned Finals MVP honors had her team managed to come out on top.

“The team that won this game deserved to win the game,” said Moore said in a very quiet, disappointed Minnesota locker room. “It's just hard to have it come that close. The crowd was awesome, and we're so appreciative of all the support and energy that they brought us, and we gave it everything we had.”