WNBA Playoffs: Napheesa Collier makes history as Lynx face Sun

One UConn legend is preparing to say goodbye, while another is just getting started.

Diana Taurasi has not yet commented on her possible retirement after 20 seasons in the WNBA, but if Wednesday was her final game, she left at the hands of another UConn player whose legacy is just beginning.

Napheesa Collier led the No. 2 Lynx past the No. 7 Mercury with a 42-point performance, winning the second game of the first round 101-88. A day earlier, Collier talked about games with and against Taurasi.

“It seems like this is her farewell tour,” Collier said. “I don't know. She's been pretty low-key. But she's obviously a UConn great, a GOAT of the league.”

“I'm glad I got to play with her and against her on Team USA, and hopefully we can end her career on Wednesday.”

At that last sentence, a mischievous smile spread across Collier's face. She was joking… sort of.

Collier wanted to win Game 2 at all costs rather than head to Phoenix for a decisive Game 3, and the forward did everything in her power to make that happen. In the sweep, Collier scored a total of 80 points, the most of any player in a two-game playoff period. Her 42 points also set a postseason record for most points in a game.

And yet Collier had only one thought as she looked at the scoresheet after the game.

“I should have made my free throws,” she said with the same sly smile.

Collier made 12 of 14 free throws. Another hit would have broken the single-game scoring record. But head coach Cheryl Reeve took the opportunity to recognize her star's great performance in the series.

“She tied the single-game record, but she holds the two-game record,” Reeve said. “That makes her the first.”

Collier has been Minnesota's catalyst this season, averaging 20.4 points per game and finishing second in MVP voting. When the Lynx need a basket, Collier is the one to make it. That was the case in Game 1, when Minnesota battled a resilient Mercury team that came from a 23-point first-half deficit to a one-point fourth-quarter lead. Collier scored 38 points in that win, something Reeve brought up in the locker room before Game 2.

“I told the team before the game, 'Look, they're not going to score 38 points tonight.' So they came out and said, 'Coach, you were right.' They had 42 points,” Reeve said, laughing. “So that was an incredible, incredible run.”

Collier scored in a variety of ways in Wednesday's win. She got to the basket, shot from mid-range and sank threes. Collier shot 70% from the field in Game 2 and 57.9% in Game 1.

“Phee just has the ability to know what she's going to get and how she's going to get it every game,” Reeve said. “If they let her in the box, that's where she's going to find herself. … She understands how to play in motion, how to be on the perimeter and how to shoot the basketball. She just finds different ways to impact the game.”

With the win over Phoenix, the No. 2 seed Lynx advance to the semifinals to face No. 3 seed Connecticut. The two teams have met three times this season. Connecticut won the first game 83-81 in overtime and the second 78-73, but Minnesota won their last meeting, a 78-76 victory on Sept. 17.

Collier was the Lynx's leading scorer in two games, with 31 points in the first and 25 in the second.