FEVER

Fever fall to Lynx on buzzer-beater in WNBA Finals Game 3

David Woods
david.woods@indystar.com
A dejected Indiana Fever Tamika Catchings (24) late in the second half of their game. The Indiana Fever play the Minnesota Lynx in Game #3 of the WNBA Finals Friday, October 9, 2015, evening at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Maya Moore remembered making a buzzer-beater 10 years ago in an Amateur Athletic Union game. If the Minnesota Lynx go on to win a third WNBA championship in five years, Friday night’s buzzer-beater will be more memorable than that.

Moore sank a 3-pointer as time expired, lifting the Lynx over the Indiana Fever 80-77 before a crowd of 16,322 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The victory gave the Lynx a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five WNBA Finals.

Game 4 will be Sunday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse (8:30 p.m., ESPN2). Game 5, if necessary, will be Wednesday at Minneapolis.

“I think that might have been one of the best-played WNBA Finals games in our history,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said.

It was. Not that it made the Fever feel better. Reeve referred to the 2009 WNBA Finals as perhaps the best in league history, and that one opened with the Phoenix Mercury beating the Fever 120-116 in overtime. The Mercury beat the Fever in Game 5 at Phoenix to take the title.

Moore scored 24 points. But it was the Lynx’s bench — Renee Montgomery (12), Anna Cruz (10), Devereaux Peters (six) – that ultimately made the difference.

Reeve called Montgomery the Lynx’s “player of the game.” After the Fever went ahead 77-74 with two minutes left, Montgomery responded with a game-tying 3.

Shenise Johnson’s 17 points led the Fever. Her attempt at the go-ahead basket was deflected, and the Lynx cleared the rebound before calling timeout with 1.7 seconds on the clock.

Lindsay Whalen inbounded the ball to Moore. She pump-faked against Marissa Coleman — who left her feet — then swished the 3-pointer.

“It’s like what you see in the movies,” Reeve said. “They slo-mo the ball going through the basket.”

It would take a Hollywood ending for the Fever to pull out this series now, although there is precedent. In the three five-game finals in league history, the eventual champion trailed 2-1 after each Game 3.

Tamika Catchings said afterward that it “was probably the worst that I’ve played.” She did make a 3-pointer to tie the score at 73, but it wasn’t vintage Catchings.

She scored 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting and missed a wide-open layup after a steal. The Fever did score on the possession to go ahead, 75-73.

She called the defeat “heart-breaking” but said the Fever should reflect on what they did well.

“We did some really good things all night long,” Catchings said. “That last-second shot, it doesn’t go, and we go into overtime. And who knows what the outcome of the game is?”

Coach Stephanie White said the Fever expected the ball to go to Moore on the final play and that Moore simply made a great play.

“Marissa did everything she could to keep her from getting the ball,” White said. “One of the things that Maya Moore does is she always stays poised. She always stayed under control.”

If the Fever had taken a 2-1 lead in the series, point guard Briann January would be front-runner for MVP. Her pullup jumper pushed the Fever ahead 77-74 with 2:02 left, and she finished with 15 points, eight assists and three 3s.

“We gave ourselves an opportunity and didn’t capitalize,” White said.

The game was close in every statistical category. The Lynx shot .516 from the field to the Fever’s .500. The Fever led 28-27 in rebounds. The Lynx were 7-of-13 on 3s after failing to score from behind the arc in Game 2.

Moore sat with a third foul with 8:33 left in the second quarter and picked up a fourth with 8:39 left in the third. Yet the Lynx prevailed with Moore confined to 22 minutes and with only 11 points from 6-6 center Sylvia Fowled.

The Fever went on a 9-0 run late in the second quarter to erase what had been a seven-point deficit and took a 42-38 halftime lead. The Lynx had led 26-19, 28-21 and 30-23 — their largest margins of the series.

Etc.

The Fever honored retired players Katie Douglas and Tammy Sutton-Brown, who were on the 2012 championship team.  … The playoff game was Catchings’ 65th, a WNBA record.  … Over the past five seasons, Minnesota is 3-4 against the Fever in the postseason and 25-5 against all other opponents.

Call Star reporter David Woods at (317) 444-6195. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.