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The New York Liberty take on the Minnesota Lynx. Check out our WNBA Finals odds series for our Liberty-Lynx prediction, odds, and pick. Find out how to watch Liberty Lynx.
The New York Liberty, as we mentioned after Game 1 of the 2024 WNBA Finals, had never led a WNBA Finals series in franchise history. The Liberty, one of the original franchises in the league dating back to 1997, had made the WNBA Finals before but never led in a Finals series. Last year, they trailed the Las Vegas Aces 2-1 and lost Game 4 by one point. Winning the 2024 WNBA championship has been the central goal for the Breanna Stewart-Sabrina Ionescu-Jonquel Jones-Courtney Vandersloot core in New York, not only to respond to the pain of coming so close in 2023, but also to lift the Liberty to the top of the heap in professional women's basketball. There is something special about winning a championship no matter the location, but winning in New York is special. Doing something historic in New York — winning the first championship in a franchise's previously snake-bitten history — would take on even greater resonance and personal meaning for the Liberty and their star players.
Friday night, in Game 4 of the 2024 Finals, the Liberty can finally reach that long-elusive goal. It's possible because New York turned the tables on Minnesota in Game 3 of what has been a remarkable and supremely compelling championship series.
In Games 1 and 2, the road team fell way behind and then rallied in the fourth quarter. Minnesota scrambled back from an 18-point deficit to win Game 1 in New York. In Game 2, the Lynx rallied from 17 down to trim their deficit to just two points midway through the fourth quarter. New York stood firm in the final minutes to win and tie the series at 1-1. The pattern had been established: Big early leads by home teams were not safe at all in these Finals.
The trend continued in Game 3.
Minnesota raced to a 15-point lead. The Lynx had enough of falling behind. This time they took the big early advantage in front of a roaring Target Center crowd in Minneapolis. It seemed improbable that the Liberty were going to get another 17- or 18-point lead, but that didn't mean anyone was expecting the Lynx to grab a lead which came close to that size. With the pendulum swinging in the other direction, and with Minnesota having already established its strength in second halves in this series, the Liberty were up a creek without a paddle in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
They kept rowing.
Minnesota led by nine with 1:10 left in the third quarter. The Liberty responded with an 8-0 run to end the third quarter and make the game an even fight heading into the fourth. Minnesota didn't just lose the 15-point lead; it lost the lead quickly. New York at least made Minnesota work the whole game to erase a deficit. The Lynx lost this game by not making it harder for the Liberty to climb back once they fell behind by 15.
The game became a white-knuckler, with the score tied at 77-77 in the final seconds. New York's Sabrina Ionescu, recalling a similarly long 3-pointer Luka Doncic made on the same Target Center floor against Rudy Gobert in the NBA Western Conference Finals several months earlier, drilled a triple with under two seconds left.
Liberty 80, Lynx 77. The Liberty finally have their first lead in a WNBA Finals series. It took only 27 years to achieve that. Now the Liberty will try to take that final step and lift their first-ever WNBA championship trophy.
Here are the Liberty-Lynx WNBA Finals odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
WNBA Finals Odds: Liberty-Lynx Odds
New York Liberty: -2.5 (-112)
Moneyline: -144
Minnesota Lynx: +2.5 (-108)
Moneyline: +118
Over: 159 (-108)
Under: 159 (-112)
How To Watch Liberty vs Lynx
Time: 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT
TV: ESPN, ESPN Plus
*Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (Free Trial)*
Why The Liberty Can Cover The Spread/Win
The Liberty are the better team. We keep saying it, we keep betting on the Liberty to cover. We took New York minus 1.5 points on the early line in Game 3. Why abandon a pro-New York stance now?
Why The Lynx Can Cover The Spread/Win
The Lynx are at home. They are facing elimination. Most of all, they're not going to lose three straight games, and they won't lose back-to-back home games.
Final Liberty-Lynx Prediction & Pick
We have been on the Liberty train. However, Minnesota losing three straight seems unlikely. Our recommendation here: Pass.
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Final Liberty-Lynx Prediction & Pick: Lynx +2.5
