Breanna Stewart still doesn't see herself as a WNBA champion with Liberty: The job isn't done

The Minnesota Lynx got the start they wanted. They just couldn't finish off the New York Liberty.

The Lynx blew a 15-point lead and will need two straight victories to win a record fifth WNBA championship after losing 80-77 to the Liberty on a last-second shot by Sabrina Ionescu Wednesday night in Game 3 of the Finals.

Game 4 is Friday night

"There's so many ups and downs and swings all around, and it takes special mental toughness and physical toughness to sort of weather those swings, and here we are," Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. "We're disappointed. We're home. We played well and just couldn't come up with the win."

Minnesota had only led New York for about three minutes in the first two games of the best-of-five series. The Lynx were able to come home with a split though and were playing at home in front of a franchise-record crowd of 19,521 that included former point guard Lindsay Whalen, who was part of the team's four championships.

That energized the team to get off to a strong start, as Minnesota led by 10 after one quarter. The Lynx were able to build a 15-point lead in the first half before seeing that evaporate as Breanna Stewart rallied New York.

Minnesota hit 10 of its 20 shots in the opening quarter but was 19 for 55 the rest of the way.

"Definitely, we got the shots that we wanted. We got good shots, and we just didn't convert and they did," said Courtney Williams. "Again, great players make great plays. That's kind of how the game played out."

Minnesota now will have to find a way to win the final two games. Four teams have done that in the Finals after trailing 2-1. The Lynx were the last to do it in 2017, which also was the franchise's last title and trip to the championship round.

Phoenix was the only one of the four to lose Game 2 and 3 and still win a championship.