Liberty win WNBA thriller as Aussie star suffers injury

Minnesota have suffered heart-break at home with a back injury to Opals star Alanna Smith allowing New York Liberty to roar back to take a 2-1 lead in the WNBA finals.

The Liberty, who are coached by Australia's Olympic coach Sandy Brondello, stole the 80-77 win with a spectacular three-pointer by guard Sabrina Ionescu with one second on the clock.

They can wrap up their first title in game four of the five-match series in Minnesota on Saturday (AEDT).

The Liberty have appeared in the finals five times before, including last season, and lost each one, while Brondello's only other WNBA title came in 2014 with Phoenix.

While Ionescu delivered the match-winner from 8.5 metres out, Liberty forward Breeana Stewart finished with a mammoth 30 points, including 22 in the second half, as well as 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Brondello, who made the play-call at the time-out for Ionescu to take the shot, also praised the contribution of Stewart.

"Obviously Stewie got us back in there, willed us in there, but I thought the right time, this is Sabrina," the bronze medal-winning coach said of Ionescu.

"She's a great shooter and she just needed a little bit of separation - it was never in doubt."

The Lynx looked on track for victory in their first final on their home court since 2017, and in front of a record crowd.

After sluggish starts in the opening two games, they led 28-18 at quarter time, while the lacklustre Liberty were guilty of eight turnovers.

During the second quarter forward Smith incurred her third foul after a tussle with Jonquel Jones that left the Australian sprawled on the court and fans screaming for Minnesota to challenge the foul.

A tearful Smith hobbled off court clutching at her back and immediately sought medical attention.

With the margin eight points at halftime, Smith returned after the break but was unable to move freely, and fouled again as she tried to set a screen on Betnijah Laney-Hamilton.

The 28-year-old again returned to the bench and without her defensive pressure, particularly on Jones, the Liberty continued to surge and only trailed by one point at three-quarter time.

Smith again tried to play on but New York took advantage of her obvious injury and picked on her at the defensive end and she ended her night contributing 20 minutes.

Napheesa Collier finished with 22 points and Kayla McBride 19 for Minnesota.

"Give credit to Lan, (Smith) she did what she could do," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said.

"We were plus-20 when she was on the floor so it obviously hurt (to lose her).

"Our starting five is a really good starting five and not having Lan, foul trouble, and then her not feeling like she could go, put us in a bit of a bind."

Reeve was asked if Smith would be available for game four but said she didn't have an update.

Trailing 73-69 with 2:26 left in the fourth quarter, the Liberty scored eight straight points, including the first five by Jones.

Ionescu, who had a relatively quiet game, hit another three-pointer to make it 77-73 with 55.5 seconds left.

A Bridget Carleton layup got the Lynx within two points before Collier was fouled with 16 seconds left and hit both free throws to tie it up.

But Ionescu said she knew she had nailed her shot.

"It's not like a Hail Mary, I hope this goes in. It was like, once I got it off, like, 'Yeah, this is in'," she said.