Spike Lee's face perfectly sums up New York Liberty heartbreak in WNBA Finals loss to Lynx

Spike Lee could hardly hide his disbelief after the New York Liberty suffered a gut-wrenching loss to the Minnesota Lynx in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.

On Thursday, the Liberty appeared to be coasting towards a comfortable victory in front of their home crowd as they entered halftime with an 18-point cushion. New York continued to dominate on both ends of the court for much of the second half, holding onto a 12-point lead with four minutes left in the game.

But the Lynx wouldn’t go down without a fight, staging an improbable comeback capped off by a four-point play converted by Lynx guard Courtney Williams with 5.1 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

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Liberty star forward Breanna Stewart had one last opportunity in regulation to finish off the Lynx after being sent to the free throw line with her team down one point. She only managed to sink one of the shots, though, subsequently sending the game into overtime.

Once the Lynx jumped out to an 88-84 lead nearly halfway through the added quarter, ESPN’s broadcast panned over to Lee, who looked incredibly despondent while sitting courtside at the Barclays Center. Minnesota would go on to win the contest, 95-93, thereby tying the largest comeback victory in WNBA Finals history.

Taking to social media, droves of Liberty fans took aim at Lee and blamed the film director for the Liberty’s defeat. “Y’all gotta stop inviting Spike Lee to stuff. He’s the common denominator,” one X user wrote, with another adding: “I don’t know how, but this is somehow Spike Lee’s fault.”

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Others poked fun at the fact that Lee, a fixture at Knicks home games, has now had to watch two of his favorite teams suffer agonizing losses in the playoffs this year. Back in May, New York’s NBA team was ousted by the Indiana Pacers in the Conference Semifinals.

“Spike Lee was bad luck to the Knicks, and he’s bad luck to the Liberty. He needs to stay home!” someone asserted. Another person said: “Spike Lee has to really really love basketball for him to be on the baseline disappointed 10 months out of the year. That Liberty game was bruuuuuuuuuutal.”

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A fifth declared: “New York can try to win it all in a different league in a different arena, but Spike Lee is still going home from a basketball finals sad! The WNBA, it’s fantastic!”

The Liberty will look to bounce back from Thursday’s loss in Game 2 on Sunday but now face an uphill battle in their pursuit of a franchise-first WNBA championship. History is not on their side, either, as teams that won Game 1 of the Finals have gone on to win the series 74 percent of the time, according to ESPN Stats & Info.