Napheesa Collier explodes to tie playoff scoring record as Minnesota Lynx eliminate Phoenix Mercury in Game 2 of playoffs
The Minnesota Lynx forward tied the WNBA single-game playoff record of 42 points in the Lynx's 101-88 win over the Mercury on Wednesday.
MINNEAPOLIS — Napheesa Collier once again torched the Phoenix Mercury; this time, it was even worse for Phoenix.
The Minnesota Lynx forward tied the WNBA playoff single-game record of 42 points on Wednesday in Game 2 of the first round to win the series for Minnesota and end the Mercury’s season.
It was the first time in WNBA history that a player scored at least 35 points in back-to-back playoff games after Collier lit the Mercury up for 38 on Sunday. She also became the first player in league history to combine for 80 points in a two-game span in playoff history.
“I'm just playing for my team,” Collier said. “I'm trying to win a game. I'm trying to take advantage of what the defense is giving me. It's not even like I'm going out there with a point goal in my head. I'm just trying to win the game.
“And so at the end of the day, that's all that matters to me. That stuff is really cool. But if you're not winning, it doesn't matter. So all I'm focusing on is making it to the next round and playing our next game. So I think that stuff just comes from really great teammates. We had so many assists. I think all my baskets were assisted. My teammates did a great job of finding me. I'm just taking advantage of what the defense was giving us.”
The Lynx, the WNBA’s top assist-getting team during the regular season, had 28 assists on 34 made field goals on Wednesday, as six different Minnesota players had at least three assists.
Meanwhile, the story remained the same for Phoenix as it has all season. The Mercury could not put a complete game together and this time it was the third quarter that was their detriment.
“They're a good team,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said about the Lynx. “They move it around, put you in a lot of difficult situations playing side-to-side basketball. I thought we played two good quarters to start, the third quarter we just did not play at the level that we needed to.”
After Sophie Cunningham’s flagrant foul on Bridget Carleton with 7:43 left in the third with the Lynx up 53-52, Minnesota outscored Phoenix 23-11 to finish the period as part of a 27-17 third quarter.
“I know it impacted us,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said about the flagrant foul. “I know how we felt. We had to respond physically in this game and we knew that.
“We knew that they were going to come after us and try to play in a way that would knock us off our stride. That's probably the thing I'm most proud about is that we stood in there and we took a lot of hits and we were convinced that they couldn't play that way the whole game and if they tried they would find themselves exactly where they found themselves with players fouling out and us being at the free throw line.”
The free throw disparity was a major talking point in Game 1 (Phoenix shot 11 while Minnesota shot 25) and it was almost as uneven on Wednesday, as the Lynx shot 23-of-27 (85.2%), while the Mercury went 10-of-14 (71.4%) from the line.
And despite Collier’s dominance throughout, the Mercury looked every bit the better team early.
Phoenix pushed the tempo and got to the basket from the onset. In the game’s first four minutes, the Mercury already had 10 points in the paint (they finished with 46 to the Lynx’s 38).
Just like in Game 1, since the tallest player the Lynx start is the 6-foot-4 Alanna Smith, the Mercury attacked the rim right away with Natasha Cloud and Brittney Griner.
“At halftime, I said to Cheryl, ‘I need help. I need help,’” Smith joked.
“And I think what I've had to learn throughout this season is that it's okay if people score like we win the game. She's a great player like (Griner’s) a great player. She's a generational talent just with her size and her skill, so she's going to score and she's gonna have big games and that's okay, we won.”
Cloud tallied 16 points, 10 assists and five rebounds, while Griner finished with 24 points, five rebounds and two blocks.
“I mean, she's the energy for us like literally it starts with her and ends with her,” Griner said about Cloud.
“Like she sees any of us down, you know not engaged anything, she's gonna bring us together and we need that with our leader out there. I haven’t seen anybody that works as hard as she does and cares as much about every detail that goes into this team.”
While Phoenix had the size advantage in the post, the Lynx went to Collier repeatedly and took full advantage of that matchup.
The Mercury had Cloud defend Collier and although Cloud is one of the best defenders in the league and has been guarding larger forwards all season, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve played into that schematically.
“A lot of times it's about matchups and taking advantage of us either stylistically a defense,” Reeve said. “(Collier) just has the ability to each game know what it is that she's going to get how she's gonna get it.
“She's like an amoeba that if they're going to let her be in the paint, then she's going to find herself in the paint. She's going to screen. She's going to roll. If the paint's gonna be more difficult, she understands how to play in movement and be on the perimeter and then shoot the basketball. I think she's shooting the three well, and she just finds different ways to impact the game based on what's dictated.”
The Lynx forward converted five of her first six shots as the Mercury were headed for déjà vu.
“(Collier) is a good player,” Griner said. “She's a great player and she's gonna challenge you in the perimeter, down low. She reads the game really well. Great players make great shots.”
Another way Phoenix was able to set the tone early was by avoiding taking shots in the midrange. The Mercury shot 9-of-16 (56.2%) in the first quarter and 14 of their 16 shots were either inside the restricted area or 3-pointers, in essence staying away from what Tibbetts has often referred to as the “Manure Strip.”
One of those looks was a Diana Taurasi 3-pointer that capped a 9-0 Mercury run with 6:09 left in the first as Phoenix built a 13-5 lead early with its season on the line.
Taurasi finished with 10 points on 3-of-10 (30%) shooting in 30 minutes in what could have been her final game. The Mercury did not make Taurasi available to the media after the game and Tibbetts, Griner and Cloud did not say anything definitive surrounding the WNBA all-time leading scorer’s future.
“That’s not for us to discuss,” Griner said. “(Taurasi) will say whenever that time comes she'll be the one to address it.”
After Minnesota’s Kayla McBride and Bridget Carleton knocked down triples to pull the Lynx to within three, Cloud hit a 3-pointer with 1:02 left in the opening quarter and she turned and said something to a fan sitting in the front row while running back. That fan was heckling Cloud for most of the night but Cloud was not at all bothered.
Nine of Cloud’s 16 points came in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the fans at Target Center raised their intensity as the crowd did everything they could to make sure the series would not get sent back to Phoenix for a decisive Game 3.
The Lynx lost only four games at home all season and the crowd roared when Carleton hit a 3-pointer with 6:50 left in the second to give the Lynx their then largest lead of the game at 34-29.
Carleton’s triple came during a 7-0 run which was part of a larger 13-2 run for the Lynx.
But Griner and Cloud would not let the Mercury go away.
After trailing by nine, Griner converted an and-one to pull the Mercury back within one and after a Collier layup, Mercury rookie Celeste Taylor grabbed an offensive rebound and Cloud buried a 3-pointer and had something more to say to the fan who continued to heckle her.
Collier broke Taylor’s nose in Game 1 but the rookie played 17 minutes off the bench for the Mercury while sporting a protective face mask.
The Mercury ended the first half on a 14-7 run to pull within 49-47 heading into the break.
Although Kahleah Copper started 2-of-8 (25%) from the field, the WNBA’s third-leading scorer came alive in the third quarter. Eight of her 13 points came in the third, where she shot 3-of-4 (75%) and hit two big 3-pointers.
Copper’s first triple put the Mercury ahead at 52-51, their first lead since it was 29-27 in the second.
But moments after, the game got tense and the momentum flipped when Cunningham was called for a flagrant foul on Carleton.
McBride then hit another three before she ultimately finished with 15 points.
And while Copper answered with another three of her own, everything she did the Lynx had answers for, as the Lynx extended their lead to 76-64 after three.
Collier’s dominance continued in the fourth quarter. She hit another layup with 8:28 remaining to grow Minnesota’s lead to 79-66, their then-biggest lead of the game, and Tibbetts called a full timeout.
Moments later, Copper was called for a personal foul, and the PA announcer called it her sixth personal, as a remix of Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack” played over the Target Center sound system.
The Mercury believed she only had five fouls (and the WNBA’s official box score only tallied five) yet she sat for the final 6:32.
“I think there was a confusion at the scorer’s table or with the officials,” Tibbetts said. “We thought that she had five we were told that she had six. It's an unfortunate situation for something like that to happen in this kind of game.
“They said that they went back and looked at it during one of the time outs and they felt like they had it right but our people felt like they had it wrong so it's just disappointing.”
Insult literally turned to injury when Mercury forward Monique Billings had to be helped off the court with 2:40 left in the game.
“I would guess a sprained ankle, but I'm not sure,” Tibbetts said about Billings.
Taurasi fouled out just seconds later and the Mercury legend received a standing ovation from the Minneapolis crowd upon her exit.
Collier was pulled with 58 seconds left, a missed free throw away from setting the single-game postseason record.
Wednesday’s loss concludes the Mercury’s season while the Lynx will face the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA semifinals.
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