Cheryl Reeve sat at the podium after the Minnesota Lynx’s 97-84 victory over the Indiana Fever on Sunday. A reporter asked Reeve if she could have imagined a better return game for Napheesa Collier, who returned after missing the previous seven games with a right ankle sprain.
“Sure, you can always imagine more (from her), she’s that darn good,” Reeve said, smiling. “Happy to have her back, and obviously she was ready to play.”
Collier was sensational in her return. She scored 32 points in just 31 minutes of action on an efficient 11 of 16 shooting. Collier went 2 for 3 from distance and 8 for 9 from the free-throw line, for an 80.2% true shooting percentage.
She also pulled down nine rebounds, dished out two assists, and added two steals in her game-high plus-25 performance. The Lynx went 5-2 in Collier’s absence. However, the Lynx played at another level when she returned.
“Oh, we a problem that’s what I said (to the fans),” Courtney Williams said about Collier’s return. “We been a problem, now we really a problem.”
The Lynx were a problem in the seven games without Collier. They ranked 4th in offensive rating at 107.2 and 6th in defensive rating at 103.1. Their +4.1 net rating was fifth in the league.
Their 5-2 record was the second-best in the league, behind the 7-0 Aces, during that time period. Four of the seven games were against the Dream and Liberty, who are second and fourth in the standings. The other three games were all against teams still battling for playoff seeding: the Indiana Fever, Washington Mystics, and Seattle Storm.
Minnesota’s rankings were going to dip, with or without Collier, due to the difficulty of the seven-game stretch. The Lynx’s ability to come out of it without their MVP candidate was truly impressive.
However, Collier’s first game back was a reminder of how much better the Lynx played with her. They posted a 127.6 offensive rating and a 113.5 defensive rating. It amounted to a +14.1 net rating, much more in line with their regular-season league-leading 13.0 net rating.
That was primarily due to Collier. She posted a 133.3 offensive rating and a 93.3 defensive rating in her 31 minutes, resulting in a +40.0 net rating. That essentially means that if the Lynx had had Collier play for 100 possessions against the Fever, they would have won by 40. That alone is impressive, but remember this is her first game back after missing three weeks.
The ball movement returned to form as the Lynx’s assist percentage rose from a league-worst 64.3% in the seven games without Collier to 77.8%, which is even better than their league-leading 72.9%. Everything worked better with Collier. The offense moved better, the defense looked sharper. The Lynx became more of a problem as they dismantled the Fever, who have injuries but remain a playoff-worthy roster.
With Collier returning and appearing not to have needed any time to knock the rust off, the Lynx (30-7) hold a six-game lead for the top seed in the playoffs. With one more win, they will break last season’s record for most wins in a season (30-10). The Lynx will suit up to play the Storm on Thursday night, with a chance to break the record. The magic number of wins to clinch the top seed is only two.
Now that Collier is back, it’s hard to know what the Lynx are fully capable of. Without Collier, they succeeded and remained a top team in the league. With Collier, the Lynx have an argument for the best team in league history. With only seven games remaining in the season, Collier will likely continue to build her MVP resume, and the Lynx will continue to be a really big problem for any other team in the league.
