Napheesa Collier, who is currently the league’s frontrunner MVP, left The Lynx’s last game at the 8min mark in the 3rd Q with a non contact back injury, didn’t return. She now holds a questionable tag after 3 full days of rest, yet there may be more merit to holding her out. The Lynx went 5-1 in their Commissioner’s Cup games with a point differential of +77, garnering them a spot in the finals for The Western Conference along with home court advantage. The Cup will be their 5th game in the next 10 days, which may leave the players accruing some fatigue in the 4 prior regular season games.
Assistant Coach Thibault noted yesterday, “She was feeling decent today, I think Cheryl had said it’s something she’s dealt with before so just trying to get her feeling good, we know it’s a long year”.
Alanna Smith notched a double double in Minnesota’s last game once Collier went down, as Collier injured and Shepard at EuroBasket leaves their frontcourt incredibly depleted. She has the biggest jump in usage with Collier off the court (26.4) versus on (13.9).
Of course, the true usage hog is Courtney Williams. She shot 15 TIMES after Collier went down, which translated to 18 Points. She leads the squad in USG this season with Collier off at 31.7%, producing 18.6 FGA per 30min and 6.5 Ast (47.8% AST rate).
After having foul issues last game vs LA paired with a MIN blowout, Court played just 18 minutes. She has o21.5 PRA in 7/8 games with 24+ minutes this season, and 6/6 with >26.
Another biproduct could be Hamby, who notched 8 DREB defending Collier last game and has 5+ in 10/13 games this season. She has notched 5+ in all meetings vs MIN since the start of last season, with 6+ in 5/6. Minnesota has been a B4 rebounding unit in June, returning to a similar ranking they were last season without Shepard.
On a separate note, Rickea Jackson has really blossomed to form as Sims remains out due to personal reasons. Sparks luckily do get to welcome back Kelsey Plum. Jackson has notched 21.7 PPG across her last 3 games, with 33+ minutes in all of them and a 24% usage rate.