There are all sorts of stats to pick out from the Minnesota Lynx's dominant post-Olympics performance. They're 12-1, the best record in the league in that span, have won nine of those games by double digits, boast a 58.0 true shooting percentage and have victories over both of last season's finalists.
Perhaps the most notable data point, however, is they have just one player in the top-20 in scoring (Napheesa Collier) and two in the top-30 (Courtney Williams) since the season resumed last month.
Collier is their superstar and all-around leader, but this incredible hot streak has been a true team effort. They may not have any other household names, but everyone can shoot, pass and defend. Of their top-seven rotation players, Collier is actually the only one shooting worse than 34% from behind the arc since the restart, while all of them are averaging at least two assists per game. On the other end, they have bought in, and what they may lack in size they make up for with effort and versatility.
"We're not a super team," head coach Cheryl Reeve said after the Lynx's latest win over the New York Liberty on Sunday, their third of the season (including the Commissioner's Cup championship) over the league leaders. "We're a collective. Nobody gets that excited about players other than [Collier]. It's true. They believe in each other and they believe in our collective. There's more than one way to be successful."
Soon, we'll find out just how far that collective approach can take the Lynx.
| 1 |  |
| Are the Lynx actually the best team in the league? They staked their claim Sunday with an extremely impressive showing against the Liberty to run their record to 3-1 against the current No. 1 seed (including the Commissioner's Cup championship game) and extend their winning streak to six games. They're now 12-1 post-Olympics, with nine of those wins coming by double digits. | |
| 2 |  |
| The Liberty's five-game winning streak came to an end with a rough loss to the Lynx despite 38 points and 18 rebounds from Breanna Stewart, which was just the fifth 35/15 game in league history. While New York will soon clinch the No. 1 overall seed and remains the deserved favorites heading into the playoffs, the inability to beat Minnesota is at least somewhat concerning. | |
| 3 |  |
| Here come the Aces. In what was arguably their most impressive week of the season, they went into Indianapolis and beat the Fever twice, then returned home and crushed the Sun. They've quietly won seven of their last eight games and appear to finally be rounding into form. In that victory over the Sun, A'ja Wilson continued her historic campaign by becoming the first player in WNBA history to have a 1,000-point season. | |
| 4 |  |
| A loss to the Aces on Sunday ended the Sun's three-game winning streak, and, likely, their hopes of catching the Lynx for the No. 2 seed. Again, the Sun's offense was nowhere to be found against a top team, as they managed just 71 points on 49.7% true shooting. They're now 4-8 against the other teams in the top-five in the league and 23-3 against everyone else. | |
| 5 |  |
| A rocky week for the Fever, which included back-to-back defeats against the reigning champion Aces, ended on a high note with a win over the Wings in which Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 35 points and set the rookie scoring record. In addition, the Fever reached the 20-win mark for the first time since 2015 and clinched the No. 6 seed in the playoffs. | |
| 6 |  |
| This week summed up the Storm's season, as they extended their winning streak to four games, but were not at all convincing along the way. They have four All-Star caliber players, a 24-14 record and the fourth-best defense (96.2 defensive rating). The numbers are there, but they don't feel like one of the best teams in the league when you watch them play. The Storm have now won four games in a row, but they were not convincing at all this week as they needed late-game heroics to escape versus both the Wings and Sparks -- though the latter did come without Jewell Loyd and Ezi Magbegor. Against the Wings, they needed to make a huge comeback, while against the Sparks they almost blew a huge lead. | |
| 7 |  |
| The Mercury finally ended their 1-6 skid with a narrow win over the Sky, but that was too little, too late in the race for the No. 6 seed, and they're now locked into No. 7. To make matters worse, Kahleah Copper has missed the last two games with a back injury. Head coach Nate Tibbetts told reporters the team doesn't think it's a serious issue for Copper, but it's still concerning with the playoffs less than a week away. | |
| 8 |  |
| The Mystics are, somehow, occupying the eighth and final playoff spot as we enter the final week of the regular season. In case you somehow haven't heard by now, they were 0-12 not too long ago, which was the fourth-worst start in league history. They are 7-3 in their last 10 games, which is more wins than they had in their first 28 opportunities this season. Just a remarkable turnaround. | |
| 9 |  |
| The Dream snapped a three-game losing streak and kept their playoff hopes alive with an overtime win over the Mystics on Sunday -- their third overtime in their last five games. It's hard to know what you're going to get from this group from game-to-game, but they have the most talent out of the three teams still fighting for the final playoff spot and a legit defense. | |
| 10 |  |
| The Sky got run out of the gym a few times this week, which is not what you expect to see from a team fighting for a playoff spot. They were much more competitive Sunday against the Mercury, but still fell to their third consecutive loss. Offense is just too big of a challenge for this team on most nights, and they've now lost 10 of their last 12. In the last two months, the only teams they've beaten are the two already eliminated from playoff contention. | |
| 11 |  |
| For the second time this season, the Wings have a losing streak of at least eight games; the Liberty don't have that many defeats all summer. The one bit of good news for the Wings this week was that Arike Ogunbowale became the fastest player to reach 4,000 points in WNBA history. It took her 195 career games, one fewer than Breanna Stewart. Since she entered the league back in 2019, Ogunbowale has never finished outside the top-five in scoring -- a streak that will continue this season. | |
| 12 |  |
| Rickea Jackson continues to impress. She added two more 20-point games to her resume this week and is going to finish the season as the second-leading scorer on the team. Her performance has easily been the most encouraging aspect of another long summer in Los Angeles. The Sparks have won just once in the last two months and will soon head to the lottery for the fourth season in a row. | |
