The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: Collier Scores 32 in Return Leading Minnesota Over Indiana; Seattle Wins at the Buzzer at Washington; Golden State Bests Dallas Stopping Bueckers’ Rookie Double-Digit Scoring Streak

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The three favored teams, game-wise, all prevailed Sunday highlighted by the return of Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier from a seven-game absence picking up where she left off suffering an ankle sprain on August 2 by scoring 32 points with nine rebounds as the first-place Lynx (30-7) completed a weekend sweep of Indiana (19-18) with a 97-84 victory before a Target Center home crowd of 15,124 in Minneapolis.

The victory bumped up the Lynx runaway lead over the rest of the 13-team league back up to six games ahead of second-place Atlanta (24-13), which delivered some standings damage Saturday at home to defending champion New York (22-15) causing the shorthanded Liberty to go from what would have been a tie with the Dream all the way down to fifth place now eight behind the Lynx, two behind Atlanta, 1.5 behind surging Las Vegas (24-14) and a half-game behind Phoenix (22-14).

“It felt pretty good,” said Collier, who has a league tying best of 14 25+ point games.

At the moment, Minnesota is still the only team holding a postseason ticket with nine other teams mathematically alive contesting for the seven remaining spots in what has become the playoffs for the playoffs in what might be the tightest overall race from the two spot to tenth in league history.

The outcome for the Lynx means they cannot finish worse than a tie for fourth if they lose their remaining seven games and since they won the series with Phoenix, they have clinched the first of four available spots for home court advantages in the best-of-three first rounds which will all open Sunday, Sept. 14 three days after the record 44-game regular season concludes.

The magic number for No. 1 seed and home advantage in what has been expanded by two for a best-of-seven finals is two in a combination with Atlanta, which won the series 2-1.

That can be obtained the fastest either by winning Thursday hosting Seattle and at Connecticut Sunday or a split if Atlanta loses at home to Las Vegas Wednesday or a back-in if the Dream go 0-2 by also losing to Dallas at home Friday.

Meanwhile in the tight race just to make the field, the loss was costly to the Fever, whose reigning rookie of the year Caitlin Clark has now missed 15 straight games with a second groin injury and 24 overall including a quad and groin injury earlier.

This contrasts what had been an injury-free collegiate career at Iowa and her debut WNBA season in which she arrived as the No. 1 overall pick last summer.

While a loss went to Indiana, which also this month saw guards Sydney Colson (ACL), Aari McDonald (foot) and Sophie Cunningham (knee) suffer season ending injuries, the other two games saw both winners survive sizable blown leads with Seattle (20-18) at the finish clipping Washington 84-82 at the buzzer before a CareFirst Arena crowd of 4,200 in the nation’s capital while expansion Golden State (19-18) snapped a three-game slide by winning 90-81 at Dallas (9-29) before a College Park Center crowd of 6,251 on the campus of Texas-Arlington.

With the wins Seattle moved a step up to sixth 2.5 games behind New York while the Valkyries a half-game behind the Storm got the upper spot as Indiana fell to an eighth place tie a game in front of idle tenth-place Los Angeles (17-18) which hosts Phoenix Tuesday at 10 p.m. on NBA TV the same night Indiana hosts Seattle at 7 p.m. on CBSSN.

On Monday (7 p.m.) New York hosts Connecticut (9-27), which with Dallas and Chicago (9-27), have already been eliminated and will be among the five teams in the draft lottery spots in April.

Washington, off Sunday’s loss moved closer to becoming the fourth team falling 3.5 games behind the last playoff spot with six games left, all of which the Mystics, with the youngest roster in the league, will be decided underdogs.

Monday’s other game has Dallas hosting Las Vegas at 8 p.m. on NBA TV.

Minnesota Completes Weekend Sweep of Indiana

While little has changed in the size of the Lynx view from the top during Collier’s absence short of the team’s only two-game losing streak, which happened at New York and Atlanta on the road last week, much has changed in the landscape below.

The first impacts Collier, herself, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year who was the frontrunner in the MVP race.

But off Las Vegas’ current ten-game win streak, A’ja Wilson, who for the third time owns the honor, has 19 double doubles, and leading the Aces’ surge from way below, is prominently in the mix again and some attention is being given to Phoenix’s Alyssa Harris off her collection of triple doubles.

Coincidentally, the last Aces’ loss was the 111-58 second-worst home wipeout in WNBA history that came at the hands of the Lynx in the game Collier got hurt.

Atlanta has also been hot while New York, the team that beat Minnesota 3-2 in games for the league title last October, has gone from dead-even with the Lynx on a franchise best 9-0 start to scuffling for decent status when the playoffs begin.

Much has to do with a bunch of injuries highlighted by ALL-Star Breanna Stewart, who has been out since late July with a bone bruise in her right knee but hopeful of returning this week.

The Liberty were also missing Sabrina Ionescu in the Atlanta game due to a foot injury suffered in Thursday’s upset home loss to Chicago, but coach Sandy Brondello said she could quickly return pending what she could tolerate.

In Sunday’s win by the Lynx, besides Collier’s performance, Courtney Williams scored 14 with10 assists and devoid of turnovers while Kayla McBride and reserve Maria Kliundikova each scored 13 points.

Williams broke her own season assist record passing 221 set last summer and now at 230, second in the league behind Alyssa Thomas.

“You can always imagine more,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, the former La Salle star Cheryl Reeve out of South Jersey, quipped on Collier’s return. “She’s that darn good. Happy to have her back. Obviously, she was ready to play and having her play kind of makes it easier for everybody else.

“In the second period we felt that shift (on the Lynx style) and held that way the rest of the game.”

Kelsey Mitchell shot 7-12 from the field scoring 26 for Indiana while Temple graduate Shey Peddy, who is on a short hardship contract, scored 16. Aliyah Boston collected 14 points, Natasha Howard scored 10 while Aerial Powers, also on a hardship deal, had five points, five boards, and three assists.

“We’re a team still integrating new pieces,” said Indiana coach Stephanie White. “We have  to find a way to make it click.

“Look, this team busts their ass, man. I’m proud of the way they compete. We put ourselves in position night in and night out. Minnesota’s the best team in the league for a reason. And it was a tough one.”

The game was close in the first half, the Lynx closing with an 11-0 run to go up 52-45.

Collier quickly expanded the advantage to 12 at the outset of the third with a jump shot and a make from deep.

Indiana, in a game Clark also missed, won the Comissioner’s Cup at Minnesota on July 1, a contest apart from the regular season.

Ogwumike’s Buzzer Beater Foils Washington Comeback

The Mystics’ Alamo-like operation push in the playoff pursuit took a hit at the finish to a Seattle team also in the hunt when Nneka Ogwumike nailed a 15-foot jumper for her 30th point at the finish after the Mystics had tied the Storm on the earlier possession on Sug Sutton’s 3-pointer with 6.1 left in regulation.

The winning shot taken on a pass from Skylar Diggins bounced around the rim before dropping through.

“Based on what we had been seeing leading up to that point, Noey (Storm coach Noelle Quinn) was talking about getting Sky downhill, that’s something that time and time again that’s worked for us,” Ogwumike said.

“But Sky told me when we came back out that that she anticipated them switching if I slipped. So instead of actually setting the screen, she told me to slip. That’s what we ended up doing, not only to get the shot off, but the last shot off.”

“To help us win in that way, I have a full amount of trust and confidence in them,” said Quinn, of Ogwumike and Diggins. “They’re two of the best to have ever played in the W and our game in general.”

Quinn now has 94 wins passing the late Anne Donovan into second in Seattle history.

“From the point, guard to post, they’ve seen a lot of games and played a lot of games,” Quinn said. “They feed off one another. For me, it’s not over-coaching it and allow great players to be themselves.”

Seattle had been in the middle of the standings when a six-game slide of narrow losses brought the Storm down to the playoff cutoff neighborhood where they since have won 4-of-five while the Mystics have lost four straight to fade from the mix.

Reserve Dominque Malonga, the French rookie and overall second pick of the draft in front of Washington successive selections of Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, had 17 points, 10 rebounds, her fourth double double, besides three steals, while Diggins had 10 points and 11 assists. Brittney Sykes had 10 points and three rebounds.

Washington’s Shakira Austin was 10-15 from the field and a perfect 10-10 on the line for a career best 30 points, Citron scored 14, Iriafen had 12 and Stefanie Dolson scored 11.

Dolson’s three-ball came at the end of an 11-1 rally that brought the Mystics within three points late in the third and they went on to get their first lead at 71-70 the next quarter on Austin’s driving layup with 4:53 left in regulation.

Iriafen grabbed six boards and has a franchise single season record of 332 breaking Maryland grad Crystal Langhorne’s mark of 330 set in 2010.

The Storm held a 13-point lead early in the second quarter.

“We've been in a lot of close games the last month,” Ogwumike said. “We’ve been executing in the big moments.

“It’s the smaller moments that I think we were able to string together today to be able to put a nail biter into the win column. We had a lot of big plays, but also a lot of great defensive moments and attention-to-detail moments that kept us in the game and gave us an opportunity to be on top in a close game.”

The game was the first for Sykes against her former team after being recently dealt to Seattle. In the last minute she hit a three for the lead that Sutton briefly erased before the Storm game-winner.

“Ultimately, coming back here, my end goal was just to win, however that may look,” Sykes said.

Golden State Stops Three-Game Slide Beating Dallas

Veronica Burton scored 25 points as the Valkyries got back on the winning side in the lower part of the standings trying to be the first expansion team to make the playoffs.

Their previous triumph set an expansion record for wins in a season.

Iliana Rupert scored 17 points and her 5-9 ahead of Iowa grad Kate Martin’s 4-9 for all 12 of her points accounted for over half of Golden State’s 16 made 3-pointers.

Kaila Charles scored 16 points for the Valkyries while Janelle Salaun and Temi Fagbenle each had nine points and nine rebounds.

Dallas trailed 7-0 early until Villanova grad Maddy Siegrist got the Wings on the scoreboard with a pair of foul shots.

It got to 20-6 and the lead stayed in double digits 23-11 at the end of the first quarter.

The Wings rallied in the next period and went up 30-29 on Grace Berger’s two foul shots and it stayed close with the home team up 38-36 at the half.

In the third beginning with Burton’s made technical foul shot with 5:02 left in the period, the Valkyries went on a 9-0 run to go up 54-47 and finish 60-55 heading into the final 10 minutes where Golden State maintained control the rest of the way.

“At half time, we had to make some adjustments,” said Golden State coach Natalie Nakase. “Credit to our players for being open minded, agreeing to the changes, agreeing to the adjustment and being able to execute on the fly. They’ve shown a lot of growth.”

Siegrist led Dallas with 16 points but rookie Paige Bueckers, shooting 3-12, had nine points and nine assists, the first time this season in games played by the overall No. 1 pick she did not score in double figures in games she played, ending the streak at 30, third longest for a WNBA rookie.

“What she’s been doing, that’s impressive,” Nakase said of Bueckers. “To do the step-back, to do the floater, to do the deep threes. Credit to our whole team defense for being locked in, because she’s not an easy coverage. She demands a lot of attention.”

Haley Jones scored 15, as did reserve Myisha Hines-Allen with eight boards, while reserve Amy Okonkwo, a former TCU star recently signed, scored 12, and Berger scored 11.