Reusse: These are an unforgettable WNBA Finals, and we didn't need Caitlin Clark

There should be no energy used to downplay those four WNBA championships and six appearances in the Finals by the Lynx from 2011 to 2017. Those were loaded teams and the last two five-game Finals, split with Candace Parker and the Los Angeles Sparks, provided outstanding drama.

The playoffs were played in Williams Arena in 2017, and the joyous postgame media sessions with Moore, Whalen, Fowles, Brunson, all of 'em, after a victorious Game 5 in a jam-packed Barn remain memorable.

This is different, though, because the WNBA is now different. It has shaken off its roots as a league the NBA started out of obligation and to fill some dates in empty arenas in the summer.

The league started in 1997, and the Lynx started in 1999, and it should be pointed out that Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, who also owns the Minnesota Star Tribune, hung with it while most of his NBA contemporaries were bailing out. Taylor has been so committed to the cause that he spent $1 million to provide temporary air conditioning for the teams and fans at Williams in 2017.

The NBA gave up ownership in 2002, and it was a long build to this, but the WNBA has gained steam in 2024 beyond any previous moment. And with these Lynx as an unlikely force in the middle of it.

This is not based on the arrival of Caitlin Clark. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was correct in the preseason when saying the league was about more than one player, even though Caitlin Nation went goofy and never stopped complaining that Olympic coach Reeve was anti-Clark.

Ridiculous. Clark put more eyes on the league, for sure, but she didn't belong on the Olympic team, and also could have been missing from the All-WNBA first team announced this week if receiving as much attention for her record-breaking turnovers as she did for points and assists.

Heck, I go way back as a Clark booster, but without her in sight, the favored New York Liberty and the relentless Lynx have put on an unforgettable Finals, and that was only three games into the best-of-five going into Friday night in Target Center.

Enough growth in interest going on here that it was announced that future WNBA Finals would be best-of-seven, and there are also three expansion franchises on the way: San Francisco in 2025, and Toronto and Portland will join in 2026.

There was the usual pregame screaming from the in-arena announcer and the crowd-stirring tandem on court. The theme being bellowed often was this game was, "Win or go home for the Lynx."

This made no sense, of course, since the object was to win and go to Brooklyn for a Sunday night decider, win and then come back for what would figure to be a much larger parade than those compact journeys from championships past.

Which is what happened in an incredibly physical game in which the refereeing crew of Isaac Barnett, Eric Brewton and Tiara Cruse seemed to be auditioning for jobs in the octagon used for mixed martial arts.

There were only 18 fouls called through the first three quarters, despite hounding, pounding defense being played by both teams — and particularly the home team.

Over those three quarters, there were six fouls on the Lynx and 12 on the Liberty, but with four of those on star Breanna Stewart, who had herself an awful night.

The uncalled major contact was particularly grievous in the fourth quarter, until the final two seconds, when Sabrina Ionescu, the hero of the Liberty's Game 3 victory, was called for a foul against Bridget Carleton with the game tied at 80.

Carleton made both, the Liberty fired crooked at the buzzer and that was it:

Lynx 82, Liberty 80.

A rugged, remarkable series now goes to Game 5 in Brooklyn on Sunday night — great excitement for the WNBA, and with Clark, for all those fans she packed in this summer, not required.

The Lynx received splendid first-half efforts from star Napheesa Collier, from relentless Courtney Williams and a fired-up Kayla McBride to take a 46-45 lead into the locker room. Williams was 6-for-10 for 13 points and you keep wondering how it was that Reeve knew that getting Williams as a point guard could change everything for her team this season.

And yet, the most intriguing part of the first half was the number the Lynx did on Stewart, the Liberty superstar who had 30 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks in Wednesday's win in Game 3.

Stewart finished 5-for-20, no threes, and only 11 points. Collier's numbers weren't much, either, but she took only 10 shots to finish with her 14 points.

Bottom line: The Lynx didn't take that screaming, pregame advice. They won to leave home one more time.