Lynx’s Napheesa Collier responded to WNBA MVP ‘snub’ the only way she knew how originally appeared on The Sporting News
Despite entering the hallowed ground that is the 50/40/90 club, and despite leading the Minnesota Lynx to the WNBA’s best record, Napheesa Collier still did not do enough to win her first MVP award.
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It was revealed Sunday that Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson won WNBA MVP with 51 out of a possible 72 first-place votes; Collier received 18 first-place votes. It was a wider margin than expected, especially as Collier was regarded as the favorite until an ankle injury on Aug. 2 kept her out of action for three weeks.
MORE: A’ja Wilson named WNBA MVP for an unprecedented fourth time — but it wasn’t a unanimous vote
Collier though didn’t seem too aggrieved by the voters’ decision to hand Wilson her fourth MVP award — a WNBA record — while the Lynx forward still waits for her first. Collier, a five-time All-Star and the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, prefers to let her game do the talking.
And talk it did on Sunday, when the top-seeded Lynx rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat the fourth-seeded Phoenix Mercury in Game 1 of their WNBA semifinals matchup.
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After scoring 18 points and hauling in nine rebounds in the 82-69 victory at Minneapolis’ Target Center, Collier brushed aside her “personal goals” and put herself at the service of the team — which is now two wins from a second successive appearance in the WNBA Finals.
“Right now, we’re focused on a championship,” Collier told the media Sunday. “It was easy not to think about (the MVP voting).”
Collier knows winning a WNBA title — Minnesota’s first in eight years — would be the best revenge against those who had her second in MVP voting. She can help the Lynx get closer with another win in Game 2 against the Mercury, which tips off at Target Center on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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