Lynx beat Fever 99-88 with strong, steady second half

A quick scan of the box score would suggest: Napheesa Collier did it again.

Of course she did. Friday at Indiana she scored 26 with rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

But look again.

A huge key to Minnesota’s 99-88 victory over the Fever in a nationally-televised game between the two hottest teams in the WNBA was Bridget Carleton.

She was the one who scored the final five points of the first half, cutting a daunting 10-point Fever lead to five. She was the one who scored nine of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, hitting three threes and assisting on another by Courtney Williams after the Fever had trimmed a 12-point Lynx lead to one.

“It was fun to be a part of, fun to watch,” Collier, on a postgame Zoom conference call with reporters, said of Carleton’s play.

Carleton? “I got some good looks,” she said. “They were packing the paint, worried about Phee on ball screens. That gives us opportunities. I just had to knock down threes. It was just a matter of time.”

It wasn’t all Carleton. Collier continued her MVP push. Williams scored 15, eight in the fourth and had seven assists. Alanna Smith scored 13 with five assists.

The Lynx rebounded from a first half that saw the Fever score 50 points, to dominate in the second to the tune of 54-38. If you go back a little further, to the final minute of the first half, the Lynx outscored the Fever 59-38.

The victory — coupled with Connecticut’s home loss to Las Vegas — pushed the Lynx (25-9) into sole possession of second place in the WNBA, a game ahead of the Sun, three games behind New York, with six games to play. The Lynx are 8-1 since the Olympic break. The Fever (18-17) had their five-game winning streak broken. Caitlin Clark scored 25 points with eight rebounds and eight assists. Kelsey Mitchell scored 23, Aliyah Boston 20.

But, Carleton: She missed her first three three-pointers — all good looks — in the first quarter. There was a time, years back, when a slow start might have led to her passing up shots. No longer. She made four of six threes in the final 10-plus minutes.

And, in a game that featured huge momentum swings, the Lynx needed it. Scoring 26 points in the paint and shooting almost 50%, the Fever led by 10 late in the first half. But Carleton hit two free throws then a three-pointer 8.4 seconds before halftime.

That was just the start. The Lynx came out I the second half a different defensive team. They held the Fever to eight paint points and 38 points total in the final 20 minutes. Starting with Carleton’s five points at the end of the first half to the end of the third the Lynx outscored Indiana 34-12, taking a 12-point lead into the fourth.

But the Fever responded, pulling within one twice, the final time on Mitchell’s three with 4:03 left.

But Carleton hit a three. The Lynx got a stop, and Carlton hit another three. After Boston scored, Carleton rebounded Smith’s three-point miss, got the ball to Williams, whose three with 2:30 left put the Lynx up eight. With 1:46 left, Carleton’s third three of the quarter put the Lynx up 11 with 1:03 left, icing the win.

Williams became the fourth-fastest WNBA player to reach 3,000 points, 1,500 rebounds and 1,000 assists, doing it in her 283rd came. Only Candace Parker, Alyssa Thomas and Tamika Catchings were faster.

All year long the Lynx have had different players step up at big times. In the Lynx’s last win, it was Williams down the stretch. Friday it was Carleton.

And, others. The Lynx ended up getting as many points in the paint (34) as Indiana. They out-rebounded the Fever, got more second-chance points.

Moved into second place.

“What I told the team I really appreciated was I thought they played with a lot of physical toughness in the paint, particularly in the second half,” coach Cheryl Reeve said. “We were hungry to change the narrative, maybe, that Indiana feels about us, in terms of our paint protection, our ability to rebound. We responded.”