They’re alive! Lynx bounce past New York Liberty 82-80 to send WNBA Finals to decisive fifth game

For so long, Bridget Carleton has worked so hard.

Defending with passion, rebounding with a sense of timing. Pushing on bigs down low, fighting through screens up top. Just about everything except what gets a player pushed into the spotlight.

No more.

With two seconds left in a tie game in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals at Target Center on Friday night, Carleton slipped into the paint, got her hands on Courtney Williams’ missed shot, got fouled.

With 19,210 fans screaming, Carleton stepped to the free throw line.

Swish, swish — and let’s go to New York.

BOXSCORE: Lynx 82, Liberty 80

Carleton’s two free throws gave the Lynx an 82-80 victory over the New York Liberty, a win that tied this best-of-five series at two games each. A win that set up a series finale in New York at Barclays Center on Sunday night.

“Courtney got a shot off,” Carleton said. “She missed it perfectly for me. I think I got fouled pretty convincingly.”

And she made the free throws confidently.

“Probably the biggest of my career,” Carleton said.

It’s only right that this one is going the limit. Game 1 was decided, basically, on a four-point play and missed 4-foot shot. Game 3 was decided on a 28-foot shot with one second left.

It was a battle, at times a brawl, with players getting knocked down all over the court. The Lynx got a 20-9 edge in free throw attempts, and New York coach Sandy Brondello got upset about it. There was determined defense, stubborn offense.

And now a trip to the Big Apple. For Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, her fourth Game 5 of a Finals. But she’s not thinking about the other three.

“I feel blessed to have a chance to have been a part of so many,” Reeve said. “We haven’t won them all. … What I’m just thrilled about is that this group gets to experience a Game 5. It’s beyond words how we feel about this team.”

There were 13 ties and 14 lead changes. No team ever led by more than six points.

All 10 starters scored in double figures, but a number of the biggest stars didn’t always shine: Napheesa Collier scored 14 for the Lynx, but just two in the second half. New York’s Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu combined to shoot 10-for-36 overall and 0-for-9 on threes.

So it was the others. Jones hit seven of 10 shots and four threes and scored 21 for New York and Leonie Fiebich had 19.

For the Lynx? Kayla McBride led with 19, Williams had 15, Carleton and Alanna Smith, playing despite a painful back injury, had 12.

But it had to end. And here’s how:

Down six, the Liberty battled back to tie the game at 80 on Jones’ three-point play with 1:10 left. McBride missed at one end, but the Lynx got a stop with 18.3 seconds left.

Time for one more possession: Williams took the inbounds, waited, then dribbled. Reeve had said one thing: Get the last shot. Finally Williams penetrated and did shoot, but she missed.

Enter Carleton.

It speaks volumes about this team that everyone was so thrilled that it was Carleton who won the game. Her star has been rising, of course. She had a career year. She was great in a Commissioner’s Cup final win in New York. She hit a game-winning three in Connecticut that secured the second seed for Minnesota.

But this play, on national TV, under all that pressure?

“Every game, she’s so reliable,” Collier said. “We can depend on her to make those hustle plays, be cool and collected. The hardest shots in basketball are free throws at the end of the game. To make those is who BC is.”

Said Reeve: “It’s the epitome of the year she’s had and how important she’s been to the team. You can always count on her to be there for you.”

And she was. “I was pretty confident, actually,” Carleton said. “Luckily I’d been to the free throw line earlier in the game. And I’m a good free throw shooter.”

After the game both Stewart and Brondello said they would prevail: “We’ve got one more game, and we’re going to win on our home court,” said Stewart.

Perhaps. But Reeve knows this: Her players will be ready. They were Friday.

“This group has a unique ability to believe in themselves and each other,” she said. “We said before the game, can we do it in the toughest of times? I was sure how we’d connect and compete. Didn’t know if we’d win, but I was sure we’d be the Minnesota Lynx.”