Napheesa Collier is postulated as MVP with a historic 50-40-90 season
Napheesa Collier, who had 53% in field shots, 40% in triples and 91% in free throws, joined Elena Delle Donne (2019) as the only WNBA players to achieve this brand for a full season.
The eaves of the Minnesota Lynx, Napheesa Collierwas running as MVP on Thursday night, becoming the second player in the history of the WNBA In finishing a regular season with a percentage of 50-40-90 field shots after the victory of Lynx by 72-58 over the Golden State Valkyries.
Collier, who had a 53% success in field shots, 40% in triples and 91% in free throws, joins Elena Delle Donne (2019) as the only players of the WNBA in achieving this brand for a full season. Collier, who scored 22.9 points per game this season, is the first player to achieve the feat with an average of more than 20 points.
“It has only been achieved once and that player was the MVP,” said Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve. Phee deserves that recognition. The numbers do not lie … it has achieved it from beginning to end (from the season). A 50/40/90 is historical. I don’t know how long it will happen before it happens again. Napheesa Collier has been the best WNBA player. The MVP deserves.
Reeve set Collier’s goal at the beginning of the season. Collier, who proclaims himself a person oriented to objectives, wanted something to fight after being second in the vote for the MVP last season.
Collier arrived at Thursday knowing how many triples he needed, and the minimum percentage, to reach the brand.
“When I achieve that, I feel good. I fell a little short for the last game of the season,” Collier said laughing.
To achieve this goal, Collier had to focus on his triples, convinced that the other areas of his game, such as contact and efficiency in the line, as well as his scoring capacity in the lower and middle zone, would be resolved alone.
Reeve encouraged Collier to feel more comfortable by launching a greater number of triples per game, establishing a minimum requirement for five times All-Star. Adding this to her game also helped her to raise her potential to a new level, said Reeve.
“It’s great. Two years in a row, it is one of the best players in the league,” Reeve said. “I think (the triples) were a special unlock to become really indefensible … Napheesa Collier is the most indefensible player in the league.”
“It’s the best of all time,” added Natisha Ilicanman. “Without her, we would not be the Minnesota Lynx.”
Collier now leads Lynx to the postseason, where they seek to return to the WNBA finals and, this time, they hope to win their fifth title in the history of the franchise.
His Thursday victory assured the Golden State Valkyries the eighth place and his rival in the first round. Minnesota had a 4-0 record against Golden State during the regular season.
“We are a better team than last year,” said Collier. “We have that year of experience, and the experience always makes better teams. We know what is needed to get there. We arrive until the last game of the last year … it made us better, it gave us more hunger and it is something we are thinking about the playoffs this year.”
