Leading by four with fewer than seven minutes to play Tuesday in New York, the Lynx looked poised to topple the Liberty for a third straight time this season.

And then the Minnesota offense stalled out in a massive fashion in its 76-67 defeat.

Cecilia Zandalasini scored to put the Lynx up 65-61 with eight minutes to play.

That marked the Lynx’s second-to-last score of the contest. Minnesota went the next seven minutes, 30 seconds without a point until Dorka Juhasz scored with 30 seconds to play after both benches had largely cleared.

In between those two buckets, Minnesota missed 10 consecutive shots from the field and two from the free-throw line while committing four turnovers. The Liberty (17-3) went on a 15-0 run to rally and avenge Minnesota’s Commissioners Cup victory that netted the Lynx players $1 million just a week prior.

Tuesday’s duel was a defensive slugfest. Neither team scored more than 22 points in any quarter. The Liberty shot just 37 percent from the field and 22 percent from deep on Tuesday, but Minnesota wasn’t any better. The Lynx shot 39 percent from the field and just 30 percent from 3-point range.

Minnesota held Breanna Stewart to 5-for-20 shooting from the field, though the superstar grabbed 17 rebounds and scored nine points in the decisive quarter. Jonquel Jones finished with 21 points — on 8-for-13 shooting — to go with 12 rebounds.

Napheesa Collier had 15 points — on 7-for-13 shooting — 10 boards and six assists for the Lynx (14-5).

Late-game offense continues to be a bit of an issue for Minnesota, who entered the game with the league’s third-lowest clutch-time offensive rating, scoring just 0.93 points per possession in such situations. The Lynx sported the second-worst offensive rating in the fourth quarters of games (98 points per possession). That’s a significant dip from how well Minnesota scores throughout the remainder of contests.

Thus far this season, Minnesota’s dominant defense has been able to carry the burden when the offense is dipped, but there was no overcoming Tuesday’s offensive struggles.

Even with that, Minnesota’s performance as a whole in Tuesday’s heavyweight bout was further proof that the Lynx firmly belong in the WNBA’s top tier. Minnesota will do battle with another of the WNBA’s elites on Thursday when it plays host to Connecticut.

Briefly

– Kayla McBride was named an all-star Tuesday. It’s her fourth all-star selection. The sharpshooter entered Tuesday’s game averaging 15.8 points per contest on 44-percent shooting from 3-point range.

McBride will play for Team WNBA in the all-star game on July 20, while Napheesa Collier will play for Team USA in a contest that serves as prep for the upcoming Olympics.

– Lynx guard Bridget Carleton was named a member of Team Canada for the upcoming Olympics.

– Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was named the WNBA’s Coach of the Month for June after guiding Minnesota to a 9-2 record in the month, including the Commissioner’s Cup. This is only the second time Reeve has claimed the honor. The first occasion came when the award was handed out for the very first time by the league in May 2017.

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