Lynx roll past Mercury 101-88 and into second round of WNBA playoffs

On Wednesday night at Target Center, Napheesa Collier scored 42 points. Nobody has scored more in a WNBA playoff game.

That is the major reason the Lynx completed a 2-0 first-round sweep of Phoenix with a 101-88 victory at Target Center. And why the Lynx, the second seed, are in the WNBA semifinals for the first time since 2020; they will play visiting Connecticut starting Sunday night.

Forty-two points.

It is, of course, a Lynx record, breaking Maya Moore’s 40. It ties a league playoff record, shared by Breanna Stewart and Angel McCoughtry. And Collier scored 80 points in two games in this sweep, the most scored by a WNBA player in consecutive playoff games.

This is a new level.

BOXSCORE: LYNX 101, PHOENIX 88

Of course, once it was over, Collier wanted to talk about anyone but herself.

“It’s not like I sit back and think, ‘I have to score,’ ‘’ Collier said. “I’m trying to win the game, take advantage of what the defense is giving me. I’m just trying to win the game. At the end of the day that’s all that matters.’’

A quick aside: For all of those 42 points, Collier wasn’t the only reason for the win. All five starters scored in double figures. After a slow start the Lynx offense was a ball-in-motion thing of beauty. The Lynx got 28 assists on 34 made field goals. All five starters had three or more assists and Natisha Hiedeman led the team with seven off the bench.

Kayla McBride scored 15. Courtney Williams scored 11, nine coming in a difference-making third quarter in which the Lynx outscored the Mercury 27-17. Bridget Carleton had 12, including a key steal early in the third which turned into a flagrant foul on Sophie Cunningham, which turned essentially into a five-point possession that put the Lynx up for good. Center Alana Smith also had 12.

But: Collier.

As Mercury coach Nate Tibbets said, her numbers are a creation of both Collier’s talent and her teammates. Try to double her in the post, and the rest of the Lynx can make you pay from behind the arc. Try to cover the perimeter and single-cover Collier?

You get 80 points in two games, the only player to score 35 or more in consecutive games.

The stats bear this out. All 14 of Collier’s baskets were assisted, with five players getting two or more of those assists.

As Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said, Collier has the ability to know, each game, what she’s going to get, and how she’s going to get it.

“She’s like an amoeba,’’ Reeve said. “If she’s in the paint, she’s going to screen, roll. If the paint is more difficult, she knows how to move, how to get to the perimeter. She finds different ways to impact the game.’’

As Collier ascended to a new level, a historic career might have ended. Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, the league’s all-time leading scorer, has hinted that this, her 20th season, could be her last. She fouled out late in the game, getting a standing ovation from the crowd of 8,769. Taurasi (10 points) was one of five Mercury players in double figures, which included 24 from Brittney Griner. Those two, and Collier, played for Reeve on the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic in Paris over the summer.

But Wednesday belonged to Collier. Reeve doesn’t keep track of individual scoring during games. But there was a point late in the first half when she looked up at the scoreboard and saw that Collier had 23 first-half points. “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s pretty good,’ ‘’ Reeve said.

And she was just getting started.

Before the game Reeve warned her team that Collier probably wasn’t going to get the 38 points she got in Game 1. When Collier was finally subbed out with 58.3 seconds left, here’s what she said to Reeve: “Coach, you were right.’’

She got more.

“The way we were moving the ball was so good,’’ Collier said. “We were making them get in rotation. I was just the recipient of that.’’