Chelsea Gray’s step-back game-winner proves Sparks-Lynx WNBA Finals NEVER disappoint

You won’t see a better basketball ending than the one we saw in Game 1 of the 2017 WNBA Finals between the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks.

With 15 seconds left, Lynx superstar Maya Moore grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw, rushed down the court, and cut for an open layup to redeem the one she had missed seconds prior. That secured a one-point lead for the Lynx with six seconds to go after her team came thundering back from a 26-point first-quarter deficit.

The Lynx had finally overcome the deep hole they dug themselves in with erratic shooting and haphazard defense. They just needed one more stop.

Sparks guard Chelsea Gray wasn’t having any of that.

Just as she had all game, Gray stepped back with a defender all over her, and drained it. She was the go-to all night. It wasn’t last year’s Final MVP Candace Parker, or last year’s league MVP Nneka Ogwumike — it was Gray, who sunk 10-of-16 shots for 27 points.

This was her game. Even when Minnesota found solutions to contain Parker and Ogwumike, nobody could contain the third-year player who wasn’t a regular starter until this season.

This game should never have been this close

The Minnesota Lynx were lost for the first 15 minutes of this one. L.A. was up 26 points (28-2) in the opening few minutes. Minnesota was doing EVERYTHING wrong.

Parker moved freely and shot from wherever she pleased. Gray was a killer in the mid-range game, and on the other end, the Lynx couldn’t compose themselves for a trip down the floor.

Parker swamped MVP Sylvia Fowles in the post, and Defensive Player of the Year Alana Beard was on Maya Moore’s hip whenever she caught the ball.

This one looked over from the VERY beginning, and that’s not something we’re at all accustomed to seeing from Minnesota.

Then the Lynx made a key switch

The Lynx have been to six of the last seven Finals, and won three of them for a reason. They have a smart leader to go along with their premier talent.

With Parker taking over like she had for much of last season’s Finals, coach Cheryl Reeve put her best defender, all-second team member, Maya Moore, on her. Moore gives up three or more inches on the Sparks’ big, but is one of few who can match her quickness.

Taking Parker out of the game forced her teammates to step up. Had Chelsea Gray not been on fire, that might have been enough.

How does this compare to Game 1 last season?

This was just as wild! And eerily reminiscent of the Sparks’ game-winning shot in Game 1 in Minnesota last season. Ironically enough, it was Gray who made the assist to Alana Beard, who hit a wide-open shot to steal one on the road.

The teams will retreat in the same manner as they did in 2016, and last year, the Lynx collected themselves to win Game 2.

We can only be so lucky if this series continues to feel like a continuation of what may have been the league’s best Finals ever a season ago.