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The Minnesota Lynx are off to their finest begin in years, and we’re reaching the purpose within the 2024 WNBA common season the place rumblings of a Lynx championship are getting louder.
There’s good cause for that. At 12-3, Minnesota is off to its finest begin to a season since 2017, and also you don’t must remind Lynx followers how issues ended for that workforce. Minnesota received its fourth championship in seven seasons in 2017, bookending maybe the longest dynasty in WNBA historical past, and whereas the Lynx of 2024 look considerably completely different than their most up-to-date title-worthy iteration (save, after all, for head coach Cheryl Reeve), there’s loads cause to get enthusiastic about them as a title contender.
For starters, ahead Napheesa Collier is taking part in arguably the very best basketball of her profession, and that’s a excessive bar to clear. Collier established herself as a real famous person final season and has finished nothing to lose that standing in 2024; she’s considered one of two WNBA gamers to be averaging not less than 20 factors and 10 rebounds per recreation (Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson is the opposite), and she or he’s doing her half as a playmaker, too, chipping in a career-high 3.6 assists per recreation.
It’s Collier’s protection that actually units her aside, nonetheless. Throughout her Rookie of the 12 months marketing campaign in 2019, she rapidly grew to become often called a flexible, athletic and clever defender, and she or he’s taken that to new heights in 2024, posting career-highs in defensive rebounds (7.5), steals (2.4) and blocked pictures (1.5) per recreation. Collier, Wilson, and Seattle heart Ezi Magbegor are the one three gamers within the WNBA who’re averaging a mixed 3.8 steals and blocks (or “shares”) per recreation; based on Across the Timeline, that threshold has solely been reached 28 instances in WNBA historical past.
Minnesota’s chemistry is resulting in environment friendly offense
As spectacular as Collier has been, it’s removed from a one-player present in Minnesota. The Lynx are capturing the ball extraordinarily properly, main the WNBA in 3-point capturing share (40 p.c) and rating second in 3-pointers made per recreation (10.2).
With sharpshooters like Kayla McBride, Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith all taking part in huge roles for Minnesota, this doesn’t come as that a lot of a shock. Nonetheless, there’s one thing to be mentioned for a workforce that constantly generates high-quality seems to be from past the arc, particularly when it will get these pictures with constant ball motion that each participant is a part of, and it’s one thing Lynx coaches have observed.
“We’re all the time a workforce that has some degree of chemistry. This yr’s workforce has maturity with their chemistry,” Reeve said after the Lynx defeated the Dallas Wings final Monday. “They’re sensible basketball gamers.”
Intangibles like chemistry and maturity are exhausting to quantify, however within the Lynx’s case, they do present up on the stat sheet. Minnesota leads the WNBA in each share of pictures assisted on (78.2 p.c) and help/turnover ratio (1.69), stats that show not solely the Lynx’s look after the basketball but in addition their willingness to share it.
The Lynx could have an opportunity to enhance their file towards the WNBA’s finest
How far can this strategy take the Lynx? Their subsequent few video games ought to inform us rather a lot. Whereas 15 video games is in no way a small pattern dimension for fulfillment, there’ll inevitably be chatter that Minnesota nonetheless must show itself towards the league’s finest competitors, and the Lynx could have the chance to just do that within the coming weeks.
Minnesota will play the New York Liberty (13-3) twice on its upcoming four-game highway journey. The Lynx have already beaten the Liberty once this season; one and even two extra wins towards New York wouldn’t solely strengthen Minnesota’s case as a championship contender, however would additionally slim the hole between the 2 groups within the WNBA standings, and maybe maintain implications for playoff seeding later within the season.
After their highway journey, the Lynx will return dwelling to tackle the Connecticut Solar (13-2) on July 4. Minnesota fell to Connecticut again in Could in extra time, an 83-82 result that the majority would say might have simply gone to the Lynx. Simply as with their regular-season collection towards New York, the Lynx would do properly to attain a victory over Connecticut, particularly if the groups will probably be jockeying for playoff place come August and September—which they probably will.
