Minnesota Lynx overwhelm Dallas Wings in the fourth quarter, improve to 9-0

The Phee for MVP Tour made another stop at Dallas on Sunday afternoon.

She did not disappoint.

In an 81-65 matinée victory over the Dallas Wings, Lynx star Napheesa Collier did it all. She scored 28 points on 10-for-19 shooting and had 10 rebounds. She dished out four assists and made three steals. She had three blocks and nine deflections.

“I’m just glad people are understanding Phee’s greatness,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said on a Zoom call from Arlington, Texas, after the game. “Because there’s nothing else you can say about it at this point. At both ends of the floor. Just a complete player. Best player in the league.”

The fact that the Lynx needed all of that — and more — to beat a 1-9 Wings team playing without Paige Bueckers?

Perhaps a bit frustrating. But nothing the Lynx — who are making a habit of finishing games with knockout punches — couldn’t handle while improving to 9-0. That matched the 2017 team for the third-best start to a season in franchise history. Next up: the 10-0 start by the 2012 team.

The Lynx led by 17 in the first half and by 14 early in the third quarter until a red-hot Arike Ogunbowale pulled the Wings within a point entering the fourth quarter.

But, after allowing too many offensive rebounds and a few too many three-pointers, the Lynx slammed the door with a 24-9 fourth quarter.

The Lynx held Dallas to 3-for-18 shooting down the stretch, 1-for-10 on threes. Ogunbowale scored 26 points, 17 in the third quarter. But she didn’t make a field goal in the fourth, getting run off the three-point line into the teeth of very good Lynx interior defense. Bueckers, having cleared the concussion protocol, was out because of an illness, missing her fourth game in a row.

“We’re battle-tested,” said Kayla McBride, who hit six of 10 three-pointers and scored 21 points; she and Collier scored 49 of their team’s 81 points and made nine of their 13 threes. “We’re a very resilient group. We had to knuckle down on rebounds and defense, and that’s what we did. On the road it’s always hard, and there are no asterisks for it. There are dubs and losses. And today was a dub.”

The Lynx held Dallas under 30% shooting, turned the Wings’ 17 turnovers into 24 points and had 25 assists on 29 made baskets.

But it was Collier who broke the game open. It started when Courtney Williams — dealing with a sore calf muscle — talked herself back onto the court for a short stint to start the fourth.

Williams fed Collier for a three. Moments later, with Dallas mired in an 0-for-9 shooting start to the quarter, Williams assisted on Collier’s 14-footer. And the Lynx were off. Collier scored seven points in a 14-3 start to the quarter, and the Lynx never took the foot off the gas.

Did Collier know it was time to take over, or did it just happen that way?

BOXSCORE: Lynx 81, Dallas 65

WNBA standings

“I feel like it’s both,” Collier said. “I mean, my teammates put me in really great positions. I think Cheryl does a really great job of knowing where people should get the ball to be efficient, and our team — especially in our second year together — has really recognized that, as well. I think all my baskets were assisted by my teammates [They were: four each by Alanna Smith and Williams, one each by Jessica Shepard and McBride]. I am not the player I am without them.”

Since the start of last season the Lynx have been a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts team. But the bottom line wouldn’t be as impressive as this 9-0 start if Collier’s part weren’t so large.

“Obviously, Phee is great at everything,” Reeve said.