The Minnesota Lynx have been in management for a lot of the second half on Wednesday of their Finals rematch with the New York Liberty, however with lower than a minute to play, their benefit, which had as soon as been 15 factors, was all of a sudden right down to 4. The house crowd contained in the Goal Heart was getting antsy and the Lynx wanted somebody to make a play.
Enter Napheesa Collier.
The All-Star ahead sauntered over to the suitable wing and acted like she was establishing a play with Courtney Williams and Bridget Carleton. Then, impulsively, she crossed over and drove exhausting to her left. In two dribbles she acquired from the 3-point line to the cost circle and flipped in a troublesome runner together with her left hand whereas being fouled by Isabelle Harrison.
Collier transformed the three-point play to push the Lynx’s lead again as much as seven and successfully finish the sport. After just a few perfunctory free throws on both finish, the Lynx got here away with a 100-93 win to increase their lead atop the league standings to 5 video games over the Liberty.
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On an evening when the Lynx made a season-high 15 3-pointers, Williams tied her profession excessive with 13 assists and Kayla McBride had 24 factors for her second-highest outing of the season, the story was nonetheless Collier, who confirmed as soon as once more why she’s the frontrunner for MVP.
Collier poured in 30 factors on 11 of 16 from the sector, grabbed 9 rebounds and blocked three photographs in 35 minutes. The Lynx have been plus-12 together with her on the courtroom and minus-five within the 5 minutes she sat.
The Liberty, who have been taking part in with out Breanna Stewart, Nyara Sabally and Kennedy Burke, in addition to the soon-arriving Emma Meesseman, had no reply for Collier, notably across the basket. Whether or not she was diving to the rim out of the pick-and-roll, or placing the ball on the deck herself, Collier acquired to her spots with ease and shot 8 of 11 within the paint.
Due to her fifth 30-point outing of the season — tied with A’ja Wilson for probably the most within the league — Collier is averaging 23.8 factors, 7.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.7 blocks on 53.7% taking pictures from the sector, together with 35.9% from 3-point vary. She’s on monitor to document profession highs in scoring, assists, blocks and area objective proportion, and is main the race for the scoring title.
Fittingly, the one different participant in WNBA historical past to place up not less than 23 factors, seven rebounds and three assists over the course of a season was Lynx legend Maya Moore, who did so in her MVP marketing campaign in 2014. Collier was already properly on her technique to becoming a member of Moore and Sylvia Fowles as the one Lynx gamers to win the league’s highest particular person honor, however her massive evening in an enormous win over the Liberty basically ended the race. She’s now listed at -1200 at Caesars after Wednesday’s outcome.
Whereas Collier seems to have her first MVP award within the bag, she and her teammates nonetheless have a loads of work left to perform their final objective.
In case it wasn’t apparent, Collier reiterated what the Lynx are chasing as she walked off the courtroom on Wednesday: “a championship.”