Lynx Coach Drops Mic on Napheesa Collier's MVP Case After She Joined Rare WNBA Club

It has been a season for the ages for Napheesa Collier.

Even though she missed seven games due to an ankle injury, Collier has authored the best season of her already-impressive career, as she became just the second WNBA player to record a 50-40-90 season (50 percent shooting from the field, 40 percent shooting from three and 90 percent shooting from the free-throw line) and the first to do so while averaging north of 20 points per game.

And while Collier may have taken a bit of a backseat to three-time MVP and Aces star A'ja Wilson in the eyes of the oddsmakers, her coach sure doesn't think so.

Speaking to reporters after Minnesota's regular season-ending 99-84 win over the Dallas Wings on Thursday, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve revealed that a 50-40-90 season was a preseason goal of Collier's, then proceeded to drop the proverbial mic with a firm statement about the Lynx star's MVP case.

"Well it can be revealed now, but it was a goal of ours when we sat down with 'Phee [Napheesa Collier]," Reeve said. "Knowing that it would be a lofty goal. It had only been done once before and that player was MVP of the league. 'Phee deserves that same recognition. And the numbers don't lie. And I think that's somethign that voters should look at.

"It's from start to finish. A 50-40-90 is historic. Don't know how long it will be before it happens again. Napheesa Collier's been the best player in the WNBA this season and deserves MVP."

It's become a two-woman race between Collier and Wilson, the reigning MVP who has led the Las Vegas Aces on a furious second-half tear that has seen the club carry a 16-game winning streak into the postseason.

Collier, who described herself as a "goal-oriented person", acknowledged that she knew how many threes she needed to clear the 40-percent mark from beyond the arc. And while she almost certainly wants to take home the first MVP award of her career, Collier has her eyes on the prize as the Lynx head into a first-round playoff matchup against the Golden State Valkyries.

After falling just shy of capturing a championship this past season when the Lynx lost a must-win Game 5 to the Liberty in the WNBA Finals, Collier and company are hungry entering the postseason.

"We are a better team than [than last year]," Collier said. "We have that year of experience, and experience always makes better teams, better players. We know what it takes to get there. We got there to the very last possible game of the season last year. We know what it takes.

"So I think that experience did make us better, it made us hungrier, and it's something we are thinking about going into the playoffs this year."