Lynx make it a double, sweep home-and-home series with defending WNBA champion Aces

A celebratory weekend kicked off Friday at Target Center when former Lynx stars Maya Moore Irons, Seimone Augustus and Taj McWilliams-Franklin were honored for being a part of the 2024 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class in a pregame ceremony. Saturday night, Moore Irons’ jersey will be retired, raised up alongside those of Augustus, Lindsay Whalen, Sylvia Fowles and Rebekkah Brunson in the arena’s rafters.

In between: A very big rematch with the Las Vegas Aces.

And here’s one impression after the Lynx beat the Aces — this time 87-74 — for the second time in three nights: Someday in the future, Napheesa Collier’s No. 24 will be up in the rafters, too.

“I mean, it’s a blast,” said center Alanna Smith, talking about both winning — which the Lynx (21-8) did for the fifth consecutive time — and playing with Collier. “Not only winning, but watching greatness happen in front of us.”

Playing in her 150th WNBA game, dominating on the offensive end, cleaning the boards and guarding Aces star A’ja Wilson all night, Collier willed the Lynx to another impressive victory, thrusting her up the board in the race for league MVP.

Some numbers: 27 points, a career-high 18 rebounds, five assists, two steals, a plus-23 while playing 37 of 40 minutes.

She guarded Wilson, who had 24 points but was a minus-21.

Here are some more numbers: Collier had a double-double (15 and 10) by halftime, her second double-double half of the season and the third of her career. She scored 27 points taking just 15 shots, making 11 of them.

In two victories over the Aces this week? Collier had 50 points, 25 rebounds, 20-for-30 shooting. In her past three games, she had 80 points on 33-for-46 shooting. Friday she became the first player in WNBA history to score at least 25 points, get at least 15 rebounds and five assists and shoot 70% from the floor. She is 39-for-59 since returning from the Olympics.

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve joked that Collier had a lot of time to think about her offense during the Olympics, considering her role with gold medal-winning Team USA involved more defending and rebounding than shooting.

But seriously: “For every coach out there, you hope you get one of Phee,” Reeve said. “Because it’s the promised land, as a coach.”

Collier scored at least five points in every quarter. She, by herself, outrebounded Las Vegas 18-17, making her the third player in WNBA history to outrebound another team. The Aces (17-11) have now lost three of four.

Afterward, in true Collier fashion, she thanked her team for its confidence in her, their help defending Wilson.

“I’m blessed to have played so many games, for a franchise that is as amazing as this,” Collier said. “It was so fun, the energy we came in with. The level of focus we came back with. When we’re moving the ball like that it’s the most fun you can play.”

For all that, it was a team effort. Six Lynx players scored in double figures. Smith had 15 points and seven boards with four steals. Kayla McBride scored six of her 12 points in the fourth quarter, one of six Lynx players who scored in the final 10 minutes. Natisha Hiedeman scored 12, including a game-sealing three that was followed by trash-talking that was off the charts. Courtney Williams had 13 before leaving the game late after a hard foul; Indications are she will be OK.

The Lynx were up one at the half but broke the game open with a 25-15 third quarter. But the Aces drew to within four with just over 6 minutes to play. They got no closer. McBride followed with a three. She had six and Collier four in a 14-7 run that pushed the lead back to 11 on Collier’s jumper with 2:15 left.

Game.

And an intense one. There was a lot of talking during the game. Both teams brought a swagger and played extremely hard. The game had more of an edge than the one in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

But the result was the same.

“When your best player is willing to play both ends of the floor, to the level Phee plays at?” Reeve said. “To be a highly successful team, your best player has to be the one you count on in those moments.”