'She just doesn't waver': Can ever-steady Collier lead Lynx back from brink of elimination?

MINNEAPOLIS — When Cheryl Reeve reconvened with her Minnesota Lynx less than 12 hours after Wednesday’s heartbreaking WNBA Finals Game 3 loss, the coach noticed the same quality in star Napheesa Collier that she has seen time and again since drafting her in 2019.

“This is where you realize how consistent and steady Phee is,” Reeve said.

The Lynx had every reason to be dispirited after giving up a 15-point lead at home and losing on a last-second Sabrina Ionescu 3-pointer. But Collier wasn’t dwelling on the game or panicking about facing elimination heading into Friday’s Game 4 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

“When she comes into a gym instead of being like, ‘Oh, woe is me,’ or ‘woe is us,’ she comes in the same as she came in after [the Lynx’s own comeback win in] Game 1,” Reeve said. “And that’s where there’s value, that you get confidence from. That’s our leader. That’s something that’s contagious, and that’s Phee.”

Collier has been everything for the Lynx this season, both in her leadership and on-court production. If not for A’ja Wilson‘s historically dominant regular season, Collier almost certainly would have won her first MVP (she finished runner-up, earning 66 of 67 second-place votes). And if not for Collier — who Wednesday set a record for most points in a single postseason (249) — the Lynx wouldn’t be in their first WNBA Finals since 2017, when the franchise won its fourth title in seven years.

The Lynx will need Collier, the franchise cornerstone of their post-dynastic era, to embody every bit of the poised superstar she has become for Minnesota to keep its season alive.

“Even the hard times,” Lynx forward Bridget Carleton said, “she just doesn’t waver.”

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COLLIER’S ASCENSION INTO superstardom wasn’t preordained. She was an All-American at UConn, where as a freshman she teamed with then-senior Breanna Stewart to win the 2016 NCAA championship. Collier was still available when Minnesota selected her No. 6 in the 2019 WNBA draft — which Reeve deemed Thursday a “very subjective draft” in which most teams selected players based on need. Collier’s ceiling then might have been difficult to project by talent evaluators; she was a 6-foot-1 undersized big who hadn’t shot many 3-pointers in her college career.

There’s no mistaking it now. Fans might look back at 2024, when she propelled the Lynx to the Finals, as her breakthrough year. But her growth as a pro has been steady, from earning WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2019 to securing her first All-WNBA nod in 2020 to making her first Olympic team in 2021.

Collier missed the majority of the 2022 campaign after giving birth to her daughter, Mila, that May. Collier only returned for the Lynx’s final four regular-season games so she could share the floor one last time with Sylvia Fowles before the Lynx legend’s retirement.

Fast-tracking her return that season — playing 74 days after giving birth — is something she “probably wouldn’t do a second time,” Collier said this week. She spent much of the 2023 offseason rehabbing — “I came back so fast. It was really hard on my body” — but knew she had to embrace a bigger role and more aggressive mindset offensively following Fowles’ retirement. Collier answered the call, ranking fourth in the league in scoring (and fourth in MVP voting) last season, her first of now two consecutive seasons where she has averaged 20 points per game on at least 48% shooting.

“Everyone always talks about how good I’ve been since I had Mila, but I feel like I’ve always been the same player,” Collier said of her growth. “I do feel more mature, though. … I feel through my years of experience, I’m able to kind of read the game a little bit more, see what my options are and take advantage of that.”

This past offseason was her first since having Mila where Collier was able to focus on improving her game: guard skills, footwork, ballhandling, attacking from the perimeter and 3-point shooting. All of it has been on display this season as Collier scores from nearly everywhere on the court.

With just five players coming back from the 2023 roster, the Lynx opted to build through free agency, surrounding Collier by signing Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith. But they needed Collier to take the next step defensively for Minnesota to truly contend.

Reeve told Collier in the offseason that while many focused on the offensive production of the championship Lynx teams, their defense was what allowed them to be great. She challenged Collier to play not just at an MVP level, but to win defensive player of the year, too — which she did this season as the anchor of Minnesota’s top-two defense in the league.

“I knew that Phee was going to make her mark in the WNBA, and seems like some other franchises didn’t,” Stewart said. “Her skill set, the way that she’s able to continue to be a two-way player, she kind of trusts the process.

“She got to Minny and she trusted the process to get to the point where she is now. And I don’t think she plans on stopping.”

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THE RAFTERS AT Target Center are littered with history. The Lynx’s four WNBA championship banners. The retired numbers for Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson and Fowles.

One day, Collier’s number could be up there too. But she’s more concerned about helping the Lynx become the first WNBA team to win five titles.

“I just think she handles herself with so much grace,” Smith said. “It’s not a big show, like, ‘Look at me, look what I’m doing, I am so amazing.’ She is amazing, and she could be doing it that way, but she’s not. She’s very team-oriented, very team-focused, and that’s why we are the team that we are, because our leader, our superstar, is more focused on that.”

Added Williams: “She’s a bona fide superstar, but she’s so humble, and it’s so crazy to be able to witness it every day.”

Collier’s performance in the postseason has solidified her status as one of the top three players in the world alongside Wilson and Stewart.

“People always kind of go, ‘She’s good, but she’s not quite A’ja Wilson or Breanna Stewart,'” Reeve said. “But she’s coming.”

Collier’s ascent would reach another level if she’s able to lead the Lynx to a championship in her first WNBA Finals. Stewart and Wilson have each won multiple championships and at least one Finals MVP.

“It’s a huge stage, it’s a huge moment, and some people can shy away from that and fold under that pressure,” Collier said. “But it’s such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you never know what’s going to happen next year. … Now that you’re in it, you really have to take the bull by the horns and appreciate it and have fun with it.”