Since play resumed from the Olympic break earlier this month, only one team in the WNBA has a perfect record: the Minnesota Lynx. After a terrific week in which they beat the defending champion Las Vegas Aces twice, then pulled away from the Indiana Fever on Maya Moore night, the Lynx have now won six games in a row and are just half a game back of the No. 2 seed.
Their impressive depth, bolstered by the trade deadline acquisition of Myisha Hines-Allen, has played a big role in this hot streak, but no one deserves more credit than Napheesa Collier. Fresh off helping Team USA to a gold medal for the second time, Collier has been playing the best basketball of her career.
She has multiple 30-point games during this stretch, and recently pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds in a win over the Aces on Friday, out-rebounding their entire team in the process. Post-Olympic break, Collier is averaging 25.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game, while shooting an absurd 66.2% from the field. In that span she leads the league in scoring.
Collier's recent run will almost certainly be too little, too late for an MVP push, but if she keeps playing like this, the Lynx will be a real threat to lift the bigger trophy in a few months.
| 1 | |
| The Liberty's second eight-game winning streak of the season came to an end Saturday with a loss to the Sun in which they shot 7-of-32 from 3-point range. If there's an Achilles heel for the Liberty this season, it's their inconsistent shooting. The loss to the Sun was their seventh game shooting under 25% from downtown; they are 4-3 in those games and 21-2 otherwise. | |
| 2 | |
| No team has had a more impressive restart than the Lynx, who kept on rolling this week with two wins over the Aces and one against the upstart Fever. Overall they've won six games in a row, the longest active winning streak in the league, Napheesa Collier is making a late push to join the MVP conversation, and Maya Moore's jersey is now in the rafters. Life is good in Minneapolis these days. | |
| 3 | |
| Three games, three wins for the Sun this week, who weren't super convincing in any of them, but got the job done to maintain their hold on second place. Marina Mabrey continues to make a difference since arriving from the Sky just before the Olympic break. She had 24 points in the dramatic win against her former team, and the team's offensive rating drops from 101.3 when she plays to 87.1 when she sits. | |
| 4 | |
| The Storm closed out their tough four-game road trip with a win over the Mystics on Tuesday, then had the rest of the week off. They also re-signed Gabby Williams, who sat out the pre-Olympics portion of the season to focus on her international duties with France. Her return will make the Storm's already terrific defense even more difficult to score against. | |
| 5 | |
| A'ja Wilson's buzzer-beater Sunday saved this from being a truly disastrous week for the Aces, who lost back-to-back games to the Lynx and nearly blew a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter to the Sky. Even with the dramatic win in Chicago, the Aces are 2-3 since play resumed and are ninth in offensive rating (97.0) and seventh in defensive rating (102.5) in that stretch. | |
| 6 | |
| The Mercury split a pair of road games with the Dream this week to finish a key portion of their schedule in which they played five games against the three teams directly below them in the standings. They went 3-2 overall to solidify their hold on sixth place, but can't get too comfortable just yet with the Liberty, Lynx and Aces all coming to town this week. | |
| 7 | |
| Just one game this week for the Fever, who are catching up on all the rest they missed out on early in the season. Like a number of teams before them, they were unable to slow down the Lynx, and were sloppy on both sides of the ball in the process. That loss was a good reminder that for all of the talent and excitement, this group is still extremely young and has a lot of room to grow. | |
| 8 | |
| Atlanta's perfect start to the second half of the season ended with a narrow loss to the Mercury, but they've still made tremendous progress toward a postseason berth, thanks to some help from the fading Sky. All of a sudden, they're just half a game back of eighth and have a fairly easy schedule the rest of the way. Now that they're healthy, they should perhaps be favored to claim the final playoff spot. | |
| 9 | |
| Teresa Weatherspoon's team fought hard this week, but lost a pair of heartbreakers to the Sun and the Aces. In both, they staged big comebacks in the fourth quarter before falling in the final seconds. Now on a three-game losing streak, and 1-4 overall since the season picked back up, they're only half a game up on the Dream for the eighth and final playoff spot. | |
| 10 | |
| The Wings entered Sunday's matchup with the Sparks looking for their first win since before the Olympic break, and got it in stunning fashion with a 22-point comeback. In fact, they still trailed by double digits with two minutes remaining, but closed the game on a 14-1 run. Their 113 points in the game were the third-most in franchise history. | |
| 11 | |
| The Mystics snapped their five-game losing streak by beating the Sparks in large part thanks to 14 points, 11 rebounds and three steals from Shakira Austin. She's finally found a rhythm after missing most of the season with a hip injury, which is encouraging for the future. The continued development of Austin and fellow big Aaliyah Edwards is the only real item to watch for the Mystics the rest of the way. | |
| 12 | |
| Perhaps no team has suffered as bad of a defeat this season as the Sparks did on Sunday, when they blew a 22-point second-half lead to the Wings. Their 110 points were the most ever for a regulation loss. They've now lost seven games in a row and are alone in last place. Soon, they will officially miss the playoffs for the fourth season in a row, which would be the longest drought in franchise history. | |