How the legend of Sabrina Ionescu was made on a Tuesday night in Minneapolis

Photo by Adam Bettcher/NBAE via Getty Images

Sabrina Ionescu was already a star. Now, she’s responsible for one of the biggest shots in basketball history.

MINNEAPOLIS — Sabrina Ionescu can barely even remember taking The Shot. With the Liberty-Lynx Finals game tied at 77 — and the clock winding down — the New York Liberty guard crossed up Kayla McBride, squared up for a near-logo three-point, and sunk the improbable game-winner.

For a brief moment, Ionescu smiled – before quickly hardening her expression with the critical understanding that there was still one second left in the ball game. The Lynx couldn’t get up a shot at the buzzer, and the Liberty walked away with a come-from-behind, 80-77 victory to secure Game 3 of the WNBA Finals.

The home crowd was aghast.

Before jogging into her postgame presser, Ionescu rewatched the clip in the locker room as she waited for Breanna Stewart to be ready for the podium.

“I had to go look at the video really quickly to see how far I was,” she told reporters.

The 28-foot shot was the deepest one either team made all night. It was also Ionsecu’s second made three-pointer in the final minute of Game 3. And, it fittingly punctuated two consecutive Liberty wins following a heartbreaking Game 1 loss that saw her shoot just 8-26 from the floor.

It’s a moment that the 19,521 fans at Minneapolis’s sold-out Target Center will never forget, and it’s one that cements Ionescu’s legacy as an all-time great.

But, there was no luck involved.

This was Sabrina Ionescu at her best.

“It’s a shot that I take often,” she said. “I take it in practice, I take it before the games. It’s not like a Hail Mary, hope-this-goes-in. Once I got it off, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is it.’

The notable part is that she was not having the scoring game of her life. Game 3 in Minneapolis was the furthest thing from that. With under a minute to play, Ionescu had only scored 7 points, far less than her season average of 18.2 points per game. She didn’t attempt a single field goal in the game’s first 10 minutes.

But, she confidently hit a three-point shot with 55 seconds left to give the Liberty a four-point advantage. Her next attempt – with 23 seconds to play and the Liberty down by 2 – was halfway down before it popped out, a rare miss that illustrated she was right on target.

The go-ahead three-pointer with 1 second to spare was nothing but net.

“In the timeout, Sandy [Brondello] was like, ‘you’re going to shoot the shot,’” Ionescu explained, recalling the instruction she received from her head coach. “I feel like I was able to get a little separation, in range, and get a really good shot to go.”

Kayla McBride, who defended Ionescu for much of the night, didn’t have much to say about being on the other end of the play postgame.

“A great player made a good shot,” said McBride, who scored 19 points in the loss. “I guarded her for 40 minutes.”

Just like that, the Liberty find themselves one game away from a franchise-first championship. But, they’re not going to jump the gun on celebrations.

“We’re happy we got this win,” Breanna Stewart said. “But the job’s not done.”

The two-time MVP was no slouch herself in this one — in fact, Stewart was the primary reason the Liberty were within striking distance in the first place after falling behind by double-digits early on. She finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds, both game highs.

Afterwards, Ionescu made sure to give her her flowers.

“We don’t win that game without Stewie,” she said.

Sabrina Ionescu’s shot was ‘never in doubt’ for those who know her best

“I just remember watching it go up and being like, ‘Oh my goodness, she’s about to hit this,’ said Jonquel Jones after the win. “And I was happy.’

Fittingly, University of Oregon women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves, who Ionescu played under for four collegiate seasons, was in attendance for Game 3 in Minneapolis.

He posted the game-winner on social media with the caption ‘Was there ever a doubt?’

The presence of family, friends, and supporters made the moment that much more special for Ionescu.

“Him, Sandy, all the coaches that I’ve had — just their continued belief, and pouring into me, means the world to me — whether I make or miss that shot,” Ionescu said. “The fact that they kind of trusted me to go out there and make big shots, it’s why I love playing for this team.”

Sandy Brondello echoed Graves’ unwavering confidence in Ionescu.

“It was never in doubt,” Brondello said.

Brondello entrusted Ionescu with the ball in her hands in the final possession in large part because she knew her 26-year-old star trusted herself.

“What I love about her is that she backs herself, you know?” Brondello said. “Not everyone can take those big shots and make them. She can.”

Ionescu’s big night came on the heels of being named to the All-WNBA Second Team – and falling one spot short of a highly-coveted First Team honor.

She was asked if she was trying to prove something with her strong play in the final minute.

“That was just a great, All-WNBA Second Team performance,” Ionescu said with a sly grin.

For Courtney Vandersloot, the joy of watching her backcourt mate thrive was a banner moment in and of itself.

​​”Just overjoyed for her, happy for her.. she puts in so much work,” Vandersloot said. “She trusts herself. We trust her. And it’s just a really big moment that you feel like just brings you all really close.”

A basketball legacy cemented

Sabrina Ionescu has achieved a lot in her young career. She’s widely considered one of the greatest college players of all time, was the consensus National Player of the Year as a senior, and is the all-time leader in triple-double in Division I basketball. She’s an Olympic gold medalist and a three-time All-Star. She owners record-breaking sneakers and broke the record for most three-pointers at an All-Star game in 2023.

Now, she’s also responsible for a game-winning Finals shot that silenced a raucous home crowd hoping to witness a marquee win. If the Liberty can get it done on Friday night’s Game 4, Ionescu’s shot will indisputably rank among the greatest in the sports history.

Nearly two hours after the final buzzer sounded, a longtime Lynx fan in a Collier jersey stood outside of the arena in stunned disbelief. She replayed the Ionescu triple, over and over again.

“I still can’t believe that happened to us,” she said.

It’s a shot that will live on forever.