Lynx’s Napheesa Collier may have wrapped up WNBA MVP race with elite performance in win over Liberty

The Minnesota Lynx were in control for much of the second half on Wednesday in their Finals rematch with the New York Liberty, but with less than a minute to play, their advantage, which had once been 15 points, was suddenly down to four. The home crowd inside the Target Center was getting antsy and the Lynx needed someone to make a play. 

Enter Napheesa Collier. 

The All-Star forward sauntered over to the right wing and acted like she was setting up a play with Courtney Williams and Bridget Carleton. Then, all of a sudden, she crossed over and drove hard to her left. In two dribbles she got from the 3-point line to the charge circle and flipped in a tough runner with her left hand while being fouled by Isabelle Harrison. 

Collier converted the three-point play to push the Lynx’s lead back up to seven and effectively end the game. After a few perfunctory free throws on either end, the Lynx came away with a 100-93 win to extend their lead atop the league standings to five games over the Liberty. 

On a night when the Lynx made a season-high 15 3-pointers, Williams tied her career high with 13 assists and Kayla McBride had 24 points for her second-highest outing of the season, the story was still Collier, who showed once again why she’s the frontrunner for MVP. 

Collier poured in 30 points on 11 of 16 from the field, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots in 35 minutes. The Lynx were plus-12 with her on the court and minus-five in the five minutes she sat. 

The Liberty, who were playing without Breanna Stewart, Nyara Sabally and Kennedy Burke, as well as the soon-arriving Emma Meesseman, had no answer for Collier, particularly around the basket. Whether she was diving to the rim out of the pick-and-roll, or putting the ball on the deck herself, Collier got to her spots with ease and shot 8 of 11 in the paint. 

Thanks to her fifth 30-point outing of the season — tied with A’ja Wilson for the most in the league — Collier is averaging 23.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.7 blocks on 53.7% shooting from the field, including 35.9% from 3-point range. She’s on track to record career highs in scoring, assists, blocks and field goal percentage, and is leading the race for the scoring title. 

Fittingly, the only other player in WNBA history to put up at least 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists over the course of a season was Lynx legend Maya Moore, who did so in her MVP campaign in 2014. Collier was already well on her way to joining Moore and Sylvia Fowles as the only Lynx players to win the league’s highest individual honor, but her big night in a big win over the Liberty essentially ended the race. She’s now listed at -1200 at Caesars after Wednesday’s result.

While Collier appears to have her first MVP award in the bag, she and her teammates still have a plenty of work left to accomplish their ultimate goal. 

In case it wasn’t obvious, Collier reiterated what the Lynx are chasing as she walked off the court on Wednesday: “a championship.”