Jonquel Jones delivers WNBA Finals MVP performance to bail out Ice-cold Ionescu and Stewart

NEW YORK (AP) — Sabrina Ionescu's first shot hit the side of the backboard. Another one soon after hit nothing at all.

After making one of the most memorable shots in WNBA history to win Game 3, the All-Star guard became Ice-cold Ionescu the rest of the way.

Ionescu shot 1 for 19 from the floor on Sunday and Breanna Stewart wasn't a whole lot better, but the New York Liberty got an MVP performance from Jonquel Jones to bail out her fellow two stars.

Jones finished with 17 points and six rebounds in the Liberty's 67-62 overtime victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday night and was rewarded with the WNBA Finals award.

“Her dominance in the paint, on the boards, help-side defense, everything that we needed, she was there,” Stewart said. “She had to wait a while to get to this point, to get to the finals to win a championship. But the wait was worth it.”

Ionescu finished with five points, though she added eight assists and seven rebounds. Stewart shot 4 for 15, ending up with 13 points and 15 boards.

“Just did whatever it took to win," Ionescu said during the trophy presentation. "Believed in my teammates, believed in this entire organization. It takes everyone. You don’t do this alone, and we did it in New York.”

The Liberty built what they hoped was their version of the kind of super-team that wins titles when they brought in Stewart from Seattle, where she was a two-time WNBA Finals MVP, and Jones from Connecticut, where she lost in the 2019 finals, to join Ionescu, their No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft.

They got the Liberty to the WNBA Finals last year and to the best record in the league this season, but it appeared they would fall short of a title as Ionescu and Stewart continued to misfire.

Ionescu opened the game by missing her first 13 shots, giving her 15 straight misses dating to Game 4, before finally hitting for the only time all night on a 3-pointer with 3:10 remaining that gave the Liberty a 56-52 lead.

But after Minnesota surged ahead for a 60-58 lead, it looked as if the superstars' struggles were going to doom the Liberty for good. Stewart missed two free throws with 38 seconds remaining but the Liberty batted out the rebound, only for Ionescu to miss a 3-pointer, then another one after New York again regained possession.

The Liberty got it to overtime when Stewart hit two free throws with 5.2 seconds remaining in regulation. Recalling the two previous misses, she told herself: “No, I can’t do this again, I can’t. I have to be here.”

New York then got baskets from Leonie Fiebich and Nyara Sabally in OT to win it.

New York was hoping to avoid Game 5 entirely after Ionescu's 28-footer gave the Liberty an 80-77 victory in Game 3. But she shot 5 for 16 in Game 4, missing all five 3-pointers, and Stewart was just 5 for 20 for 11 points.

But the 6-for-6 Jones was the workhorse the Liberty needed, finishing with averages of 18 points and eight rebounds in the series. That included 10 points in the first half Sunday to keep the Liberty close while Ionescu and Stewart were combining with just Stewart's five.

“What makes her difficult is you’re spending a lot of time guarding Sabrina and Stewie in some of those schemes that created mismatches,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “But we’re going to live with some of that.”

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) reacts after scoring against the Minnesota Lynx during the third quarter of Game 5 of the WNBA basketball final series, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) drives against Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (24) during the second quarter of Game 5 of the WNBA basketball final series, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) is double teamed by Minnesota Lynx forward Dorka Juhasz (14) and forward Napheesa Collier (24) during the third quarter of Game 5 of the WNBA basketball final series, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

FILE - Las Vegas Aces' Kelsey Plum, right, defends New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu during the second half in Game 4 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series, Oct. 18, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) battles for a rebound against Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (24) during the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the WNBA basketball final series, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) and Minnesota Lynx forward Bridget Carleton (6) battle for a loose ball during the second quarter of Game 5 of the WNBA basketball final series, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) puts up a shot against Minnesota Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman (2) during the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the WNBA basketball final series, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) reacts after scoring against the Minnesota Lynx during the third quarter of Game 5 of the WNBA basketball final series, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones (35) reacts after being given the MVP Award after winning the championship against the Minnesota Lynx in Game 5 of the WNBA basketball final series, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he’s dropping — for now — his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, a move that comes after legal roadblocks held up the effort.

“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again - Only a question of time!" he said in a social media post Wednesday.

Governors typically control states' National Guardsmen, and Trump had deployed troops to all three cities against the wishes of state and local Democratic leaders. He said it was necessary as part of a broader crackdown on immigration, crime and protests.

The president has made a crackdown on crime in cities a centerpiece of his second term — and has toyed with the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act to stop his opponents from using the courts to block his plans. He has said he sees his tough-on-crime approach as a winning political issue ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

Troops had already left Los Angeles after the president deployed them earlier this year as part of a broader crackdown on crime and immigration.

In his post, Trump said the troops' presence was responsible for a drop in crime in the three cities, though they were never on the streets in Chicago and Portland as legal challenges played out. When the Chicago deployment was challenged in court, a Justice Department lawyer said the Guard’s mission would be to protect federal properties and government agents in the field, not “solving all of crime in Chicago.”

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson’s office in a statement said the city’s reduction in crime was due to the efforts of local police and public safety programs. Chicago officials echoed the sentiment, saying in a release Tuesday that the city had 416 homicides in 2025 — the fewest since 2014.

Trump’s push to deploy the troops in Democrat-led cities has been met with legal challenges at nearly every turn.

The Supreme Court in December refused to allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area. The order was not a final ruling but was a significant and rare setback by the high court for the president’s efforts.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote on X Wednesday that Trump “lost in court when Illinois stood up against his attempt to militarize American cities with the National Guard. Now Trump is forced to stand down.”

Hundreds of troops from California and Oregon were deployed to Portland, but a federal judge barred them from going on the streets. A judge permanently blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there in November after a three-day trial.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement Wednesday that her office had not yet received “official notification that the remaining federalized Oregon National Guard troops can return home. They were never lawfully deployed to Portland and there was no need for their presence. If President Trump has finally chosen to follow court orders and demobilize our troops, that’s a big win for Oregonians and for the rule of law.”

Trump's decision to federalize National Guard troops began in Los Angeles in June, when protesters took to the streets in response to a blitz of immigration arrests in the area. He deployed about 4,000 troops and 700 Marines to guard federal buildings and, later, to protest federal agents as they carried out immigration arrests.

The number of troops slowly dwindled until just several hundred were left. They were removed from the streets by Dec. 15 after a lower court ruling that also ordered control to be returned to Gov. Gavin Newsom. But an appeals court had paused the second part of the order, meaning control remained with Trump. In a Tuesday court filing, the Trump administration said it was no longer seeking a pause in that part of the order.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to return control of the National Guard to Newsom.

“About time (Trump) admitted defeat,” Newsom said in a social media post. “We’ve said it from day one: the federal takeover of California’s National Guard is illegal.”

Troops will remain on the ground in several other cities. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in December paused a lower court ruling that had called for an end to the deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., where they’ve been deployed since August after Trump declared a “crime emergency.”

Trump also ordered the deployment of the Tennessee National Guard to Memphis in September as part of a larger federal task force to combat crime, a move supported by the state’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee and senators. A Tennessee judge blocked the use of the Guard, siding with Democratic state and local officials who sued. However, the judge stayed the decision to block the Guard as the state appeals, allowing the deployment to continue.

In New Orleans, about 350 National Guard troops deployed by Trump arrived in the city's historic French Quarter on Tuesday and are set to stay through Mardi Gras to help with safety. The state's Republican governor and the city's Democratic mayor support the deployment.

Ding reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press reporters John O'Connor in Springfield, Illinois, Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, Jack Brook in New Orleans and Adrian Sanz in Memphis contributed.

FILE - A protester confronts a line of U.S. National Guard members in the Metropolitan Detention Center of downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

FILE - Protesters stand off against California National Guard soldiers at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, during a "No Kings" protest, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)