Can Collier bring Lynx back from brink of elimination in WNBA Finals? - ESPN

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.»

COLLIER'S ASCENSION INTO superstardom wasn't preordained. She was an