Collier makes MVP case with 50-40-90 season

Minnesota Lynx guardant Napheesa Collier made her MVP lawsuit connected Thursday night, becoming conscionable the 2nd subordinate successful WNBA past to decorativeness a regular play with a 50-40-90 shooting divided pursuing the Lynx's 72-58 triumph implicit the Golden State Valkyries.

This refers to a play wherever a subordinate shoots implicit 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point range, and 90% from the free-throw line.

Collier, who finishes with 53% tract extremity shooting, 40% 3-point shooting and 91% connected escaped throws, joins Elena Delle Donne (2019) arsenic the lone qualified WNBA players to execute this mark. Collier is the archetypal subordinate to bash it portion averaging implicit 20 points per game, arsenic she scored 22.9 points per game.

"It's lone been done erstwhile earlier and that subordinate was the MVP," Minnesota caput manager Cheryl Reeve said. "Phee deserves that recognition. The numbers don't prevarication ... It's done from commencement to decorativeness (of the season). 50/40/90 is historic. I don't cognize however agelong it volition beryllium earlier it happens again. Napheesa Collier has been the champion subordinate successful the WNBA. She deserves MVP."

Reaching this milestone was thing Collier decided to spell for erstwhile she saw it was obtainable. Reeve acceptable the extremity for her astatine the commencement of the season. A self-proclaimed goal-oriented person, Collier wanted thing to strive for and propulsion her to beryllium amended than a twelvemonth ago, erstwhile she finished 2nd successful MVP voting.

Collier entered Thursday's crippled knowing precisely however galore 3's she needed to marque -- and the minimum percent she needed -- to execute her 50/40/90 split.

"When I execute those, it feels good. I benignant of chopped it adjacent for the past crippled of the season," Collier said, laughing.

To scope this goal, Collier had to enactment the astir absorption connected her 3-point shooting, with the content that the different areas of her crippled -- specified arsenic drafting interaction and ratio astatine the line, arsenic good arsenic scoring quality down debased and successful the midrange -- would instrumentality attraction of themselves.

Reeve pushed Collier to get much comfy taking a higher measurement of 3-pointers per game, mounting a minimum request for the five-time All-Star. Adding this to her crippled besides helped elevate her ceiling to a caller level, Reeve said.

"She's already great. Two years successful a row, she's a apical subordinate successful the league," Reeve said. "I deliberation (the 3-point shooting) was a peculiar unlocking to becoming truly unguardable... Napheesa Collier is the astir unguardable subordinate successful the league."

"She's the GOAT," Natisha Hiedeman added. "Without her, we are not the Minnesota Lynx."

Collier present leads the Lynx into the postseason, wherever they look to marque it backmost to the WNBA Finals, and this time, they hope, triumph their 5th rubric successful franchise history.

Their triumph connected Thursday locked the Golden State Valkyries successful astatine the No. 8 effect and arsenic their hostile successful the archetypal round. Minnesota went 4-0 against Golden State during the regular season.

"We are a amended squad than (than past year)," Collier said. "We person that twelvemonth of acquisition and acquisition ever makes amended teams. We cognize what it takes to get there. We got determination to the precise past imaginable crippled of the play past twelvemonth ... it made america better, it made america hungrier and it's thing we are reasoning astir going into the playoffs this year."