The 2024 WNBA season is on the line, ending Sunday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) with a winner-take-all between the No. 1 seed New York Liberty and the No. 2 seed Minnesota Lynx at Barclays Center.

The home teams are 5-2 overall in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals.

The Liberty could have won their first championship in franchise history on Friday, but the Lynx held sway. New York, the league's only remaining original franchise without a title, has lost all five of its previous championship games.

Minnesota can win a record fifth WNBA title with a win on Sunday. As head coach, Cheryl Reeve has a 2-1 record in the fifth final game.

What can we expect in Game 5? ESPN breaks down the X-factors and predicts which team will be crowned champions.

Is this the best WNBA Finals in league history?

Michael Voepel: Questions like this usually have a recency bias because what we've seen in the last week is so fresh.

Nevertheless, there are some arguments in favor of this series. It went the distance and three of the four games were decided by three points or less. And the other one — New York's 80-66 win in Game 2 — was a two-point game with under four minutes left. Even in a really good championship series there is often at least one blind game, but that hasn't happened yet.

We saw a bit of everything:

Game 1, Lynx win: An 18-point comeback, a four-point game to take the lead in the final five seconds by Courtney Williams and overtime. Game 3, Liberty win: Sabrina Ionescu's 28-foot 3-pointer with one second left. Game 4, Lynx win: Bridget Carleton's two game-winning free throws with two seconds left. This game was also the closest of the entire game with 14 lead changes and 13 draws.

Sunday marks Reeves' sixth Finals Game 5 (including her time with the Detroit Shock as an assistant coach), so she's well positioned to make comparisons. She said the 2016 and 2017 Minnesota-Los Angeles Sparks Finals, both of which lasted five games, were notable for having several future Hall of Famers playing for both teams.

Two games in the 2016 final ended in the last second, both won by the Sparks. The first two games of the 2017 finals were decided by one and two points respectively, the next three by 11, 11 and 9 points.

The 2024 WNBA Finals were ____.

Charlie Cream: heartbeat. All four games were close late into the night. In terms of pure viewing pleasure, there have been few better series in the history of basketball.

Alexa Philippou: Delightful. In a season that has welcomed many new fans and spectators due to the sensational rookie class, it is a joy that these two teams – historic and special in their own way – are putting on a series at such a high level. It's the latest reminder of how good the players, coaching and basketball were in the WNBA, long before it suddenly rose to cultural prominence.

Voepel: Unbearable for Liberty fans. Some New York believers date back to 1997. They stayed the course despite many disappointments after the season. It felt like this was “their year,” especially when they defeated the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals. But the Lynx make the Liberty work as hard as possible. Some New York fans will watch Game 5 as if it were a horror movie that could go horribly wrong. That's the price of a long-standing fan base.

Who or what will be the X-Factor in Game 5?

Philippou: The health and effectiveness of Alanna Smith, who is dealing with a back problem that (along with foul trouble) kept her sidelined for much of Game 3. She finished Game 4 with 12 points and 7 boards in 30 minutes, a good sign for the Lynx, who also got good minutes from Dorka Juhasz. After a run and a quick turnaround after Friday's game, whether Smith can continue to battle Jonquel Jones will be crucial for Minnesota.

And as obvious as it may sound, this game could come down to which team makes fewer mistakes down the stretch and which takes the lead. Late fouls, efficient free throws and great 3-pointers influenced the outcome of three of the four finals games. When it comes down to the last minute or second on Sunday, late-game execution will determine which team is crowned champion.

Cream: Officiating. I don't think Friday's game was unfairly officiated, as Sandy Brondello said in the post-game press conference on Friday, but now both coaches have spoken out about the referees. What game 5 is called will be kept in mind. After Game 3, Minnesota's Reeve complained that Napheesa Collier received more scrutiny from officials than Breanna Stewart. In Game 4, Stewart was the superstar in foul trouble. Did Reeve's words have some influence? We'll never know, but now that Brondello has publicly expressed her displeasure with the whistles after a game in which her team attempted 11 fewer free throws, it will be interesting to see what the foul and free throw numbers do on Sunday look.

Voepel: For obvious reasons, the pressure appears to be greater on the Liberty as they seek their first championship. How well they defend from the front can set the tone in this game. How well Breanna Stewart plays offensively is the other big thing. As we saw in Game 3, she can completely take control. But as we saw in Game 4, she can also struggle with her shooting accuracy.

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Can the Liberty win the title if Stewart and Ionescu shoot like they did on Friday?

Voepel: In Game 4 you could tell that Stewart and Napheesa Collier were feeling the strain of battling against each other for more than a week. Collier was 4 of 10 from the field and Stewart was 5 of 21. But with everything on the line on Sunday, it's likely we'll see strong performances from both. So a good shooting game from Ionescu could be an absolute key for New York.

Philippou: Thanks to the contributions of Jones, Leonie Fiebich and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, the Liberty were within reach of winning a championship as those two shot poorly on Friday. So it may not be impossible to win in such circumstances – especially if Jones goes out – but it does make the margin for error much smaller.

Still, it is no coincidence that Ionecsu shot 30.8% and 33.3% in the two final losses in New York (compared to 55.6% and 41.7% in their wins) and Stewart shot less than 30% (versus 38.9% and 45%).

Stewart and Ionescu are New York's frontrunners and need to score on the home stretch in the most important game of their Liberty careers. But the Liberty also need to clean up some of their offensive processes; New York's movement and offensive decision-making in parts of this series are more to blame than misses.

Cream: No. That seems like too absolute an answer considering New York almost won Game 4 as its two biggest stars combined to shoot 10-for-36. Stewart and Ionescu also shot poorly in Game 1, an overtime loss for the Liberty. And that's about it: In New York's victories in this series, Stewart scored 21 and 30 points. Ionescu made 10 of 21 shots in Games 2 and 3 combined and had the game-winning 3-pointer in Game 3. Of course, Jones and Fiebich were outstanding in Game 4, but we saw that wasn't enough. New York needs its stars, at least one of them, to be just that to win the first title in franchise history.

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The Lynx have already won one game at Barclays in this series. How do they manage to create another?

Philippou: They need to take another masterclass in defense. In the two games Minnesota lost in this series, New York shot over 45% from the floor and 40% from three-pointers. And as we've discussed before, slowing down Ionescu and Stewart would go a long way. If Stewart and Collier neutralize each other, can a combination of Kayla McBride, Courtney Williams and Bridget Carleton hit the big guys down the home stretch?

Voepel: If the Lynx take a lead late, they could potentially force the Liberty to fall apart like they did in Game 1. It just felt like New York's players didn't really pull together in this loss, as they all tried to right the ship on their own after blowing their 15-point lead into the final five minutes of regulation was lost.

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Which team will win on Sunday?

Cream: New York. But it will be tight again. Stewart will get back to his feet and make a big play late. The Liberty gained home-court advantage by being the best team in the league all season. That's exactly what it's for, and the crowd at Barclays Center, which will almost certainly top 18,000, will give New York just enough of a boost.

Philippou: New York. This series is full of surprises, but I stand by my original prediction. Courtney Williams repeatedly said before Game 3 that the Lynx didn't want to return to Brooklyn because the crowd was so cheering for the Liberty. And after the Aces celebrated a championship at Barclays Center last year, the Liberty won't let a visiting team do it again.

Voepel: Minnesota. Reeve had the best possible answer Friday when asked what would decide Game 5: “They’re two great teams. Who knows?” That’s why this series was so good. Although the Liberty had the best regular season record and were the No. 1 seed, the Lynx had the edge against New York in the regular season and in the Commissioner's Cup final. It was really balanced.

As Charlie and Alexa mentioned, the Barclays crowd could be a sixth player in this game; The energy level will be amazing. But since I chose the Lynx at the beginning of the series, I'm sticking with it.