The dog days of summer go by a bit faster when you have high-level basketball on the screen. The Minnesota Lynx continue to provide just that. Eight games remain on the WNBA regular season docket and with the Lynx defeating the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday, a win against the Golden State Valkyries this week would all but sew up the number one seed. This would ultimately give Minnesota homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs.
While the end of the season is drawing near, it might not feel as close
with the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup tournament coming up. The international affair will create a two to three week break that starts at the end of the month. If the Lynx are able to defeat the Valkryies in a pair of games in the next seven days, the ensuing FIBA break could give Minnesota enough cushion to really rest up before their postseason run.
Week in Review
WEEK 13:
OFFRTG: 114.1 (2nd)
DEFRTG: 103.3 (3rd)
NETRTG: +10.8 (1st)
eFG%: 55.0 (3rd)
FTr: 24.2 (15th)
TOV%: 16.1 (5th)
OREB%: 33.2 (3rd)
Week 14:
OFFRTG: 113.9 (2nd) –
DEFRTG: 103.4 (3rd) –
NETRTG: +10.5 (1st) –
eFG%: 55.0 (2nd) ↑
FTr: 24.7 (15th) –
TOV%: 16.0 (5th) –
OREB%: 32.9 (3rd) –
Holding on for a Win
With a lighter week, their game against the Portland Fire last Wednesday was one where Minnesota was happy to escape with a win. The first half started off with the Lynx on fire which included a massive 23-4 run to start the second quarter. The lead ballooned up to 29 points before a tough second half let Portland climb all the way back. The wheels were coming off, but it was the Lynx vets who were able to calm the team down and help them pull out the victory. There was some reasonable concern with this one, but it was good to win and learn while doing it.
These types of games are good to test how the team responds. They did so with an exclamation point against the Las Vegas Aces next.
Nia Coffey Coming Through
Another mature game from the Lynx helped them rebound after that scary near-loss against Portland. However, with the ramifications of their next game against the reigning champions in the standings, it was important for them to flush the Fire game and re-focus on the task at hand.
It was a back-and-forth affair on Saturday, as to be expected from two of the best teams in the WNBA. Fortunately, Minnesota responded to every Vegas punch thrown. Napheesa Collier hit a couple huge triples in the fourth quarter to extend the lead just as the Aces home crowd was starting to get rowdy. Olivia Miles capped things off by attack NaLyssa Smith on switches down the stretch, scoring tough buckets. That said, the story of the game was the Nia Coffey doing everything that was needed to win the game.
Collier was in foul trouble for key stretches late in the game, so Coffey stepped up to hit a total of four treys all while having to guard A’ja Wilson. The Minnesota-native has been asked to do everything for this Lynx team all season. She started the year with big shoes to fill in Collier’s absence, and has now seen her role change upon Collier’s return. This kind of bench performance will be something to build on moving forward and could be a huge part of the Lynx depth success as the postseason nears.
One down, One to go
Zooming out, the Aces win was incredibly important for the prospects of the Lynx chase for the number one seed. The Aces were slightly behind the Golden State Valkyries in the standings, but still could’ve threatened for the top seed with a win on Sunday. Now, with only eight games remaining, Minnesota is five games up on the Aces and own the tiebreaker by winning the season series 2-1.
They will now travel west to face the second place Valkyries who are just 3.5 games back of the Lynx (and have interestingly played three less games at this point). With a win on Wednesday, the Lynx would win the season series against Golden State and set themselves up in a great position for the number one seed.
