Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier made her MVP case Thursday night, becoming just the second player in WNBA history to finish a regular season with a 50-40-90 shooting split after the Lynx's 72-58 win over the visiting Golden State Valkyries.
Collier, who shot 53% from the floor, 40% on 3s and 91% from the free throw line, joins Elena Delle Donne (2019) as the only WNBA players to achieve this mark for a full season. Collier, who scored 22.9 points per game this season, is the first player to accomplish the feat while averaging over 20 points.
"It's only been done once before and that player was the MVP," Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. "Phee deserves that recognition. The numbers don't lie. ... It's done from start to finish [of the season]. 50/40/90 is historic. I don't know how long it will be before it happens again. Napheesa Collier has been the best player in the WNBA. She deserves MVP."
Reeve set the goal for Collier at the start of the season. A self-proclaimed goal-oriented person, Collier wanted something to strive for after she finished second in MVP voting last season.
Collier entered Thursday's game knowing how many 3s she needed -- and the minimum percentage -- to achieve the milestone.
"When I accomplish those, it feels good. I kind of cut it close for the last game of the season," Collier said while laughing.
To reach this goal, Collier had to put the most focus on her 3-point shooting, with the belief that the other areas of her game -- such as drawing contact and efficiency at the line, as well as scoring ability down low and in the midrange -- would take care of themselves.
Reeve pushed Collier to get more comfortable taking a higher volume of 3-pointers per game, setting a minimum requirement for the five-time All-Star. Adding this to her game also helped elevate her ceiling to a new level, Reeve said.
"She's already great. Two years in a row, she's a top player in the league," Reeve said. "I think (the 3-point shooting) was a special unlocking to becoming really unguardable... Napheesa Collier is the most unguardable player in the league."
"She's the GOAT," Natisha Hiedeman added. "Without her, we are not the Minnesota Lynx."
Collier now leads the Lynx into the postseason, where they look to make it back to the WNBA Finals, and this time, they hope, win their fifth title in franchise history.
Their win on Thursday locked the Golden State Valkyries in at the No. 8 seed and as their opponent in the first round. Minnesota went 4-0 against Golden State during the regular season.
"We are a better team than (than last year)," Collier said. "We have that year of experience and experience always makes better teams. We know what it takes to get there. We got there to the very last possible game of the season last year ... it made us better, it made us hungrier and it's something we are thinking about going into the playoffs this year."
