Minnesota Lynx Clinch Playoff Spot with Win Over Connecticut Sun
Napheesa Collier steadied the ball in her hands, Olivia Miles carved up another defense, and the Minnesota Lynx took one more decisive step toward owning the WNBA postseason.
Collier poured in 23 points, Miles added 21, and Minnesota rolled past the Connecticut Sun 101-89 on Sunday, snapping a three-game skid and moving to the brink of clinching the league’s top seed.
One more Lynx win, or a Golden State loss, and home-court advantage through the playoffs belongs to Minnesota. They finish with a home-and-home against Indiana. At this stage, the path is clear.
Miles passes Clark, and a rookie season rewrites history
The night belonged to the Lynx, but a significant slice of it was Miles’ alone.
The rookie guard has been the engine of Minnesota’s rise all year, and with 9:31 left in the second quarter she crossed a historic threshold. A routine free throw — her 770th point of the season — pushed her past Caitlin Clark’s single-season WNBA rookie scoring record of 769, set earlier this year for Indiana.
No fanfare in the moment. Just a point on the board and the game rolling on. But the number lingers. On a team chasing a title, a first-year guard is rewriting the record book on the fly.
Lynx punch first, and hard
Minnesota came out like a team tired of talking about a losing streak.
Collier scored the game’s first four points, and the Lynx ripped off an 11-2 start in the opening 3:30. Courtney Williams, returning to face the franchise where she once starred for five seasons, chipped in five early points as the visitors seized control.
The Sun never really settled in during that first quarter. Minnesota’s defense crowded the perimeter, Collier dictated the tempo, and the Lynx walked off after 10 minutes with a 27-12 lead. Collier had 10 by then, already setting the tone.
The gap ballooned to 45-26 late in the second after another Collier layup. The game threatened to be over by halftime.
Connecticut refused to let it be.
The Sun strung together a 15-4 run, finally finding rhythm from deep and trimming the deficit to single digits. Just as the building stirred, Collier answered again, muscling through contact for a three-point play with 25.2 seconds left in the half to restore a double-digit cushion. Minnesota went to the locker room still in command.
Sun live and die by the three
Connecticut’s season has been battered by injuries, and Sunday was no different. Already short-handed, the Sun lost Saniya Rivers in the first quarter to another injury setback. She did not return.
What they did have was shooting.
The Sun bombed their way back into contention from beyond the arc, hitting 12 of their first 19 3-pointers and repeatedly slicing into Minnesota’s lead. Every time the Lynx looked ready to pull away, another shot dropped from deep and dragged the margin back toward single digits.
Early in the fourth quarter, the deficit was down to seven. For a 10-32 team on a five-game losing streak, it was a stubborn response.
Connecticut finished a blistering 15-for-28 from three, but it never fully erased the early damage. Minnesota’s offense simply had too many answers, too many ways to score, and too much Collier and Miles.
A farewell night, and a familiar name on the other bench
The game carried extra weight for Connecticut beyond the scoreboard.
Before tipoff, the franchise honored former head coach Mike Thibault in what was the Sun’s second-to-last home game in Connecticut before their relocation to Houston next season. Thibault led the team from its inception in 2003 through 2012, building the early identity of the franchise and taking them to the WNBA Finals.
Sunday felt like a reunion. Tina Charles, Bria Hartley, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Nicki Collen and other former Sun players and staff were in the building, a living roll call of the club’s history.
On the opposite bench, the tribute took on an even more personal layer. Mike’s son, Eric Thibault, now serves as an assistant coach for the Lynx, alongside Lindsay Whalen — who played in the 2004 WNBA Finals under the elder Thibault. On a night meant to honor the past, the present and future of the Thibault coaching tree sat in Minnesota gear, helping guide the team that just might be the title favorite.
Minnesota’s stakes rise as Connecticut’s clock winds down
The loss drops the Sun to 10-32 and stretches their losing streak to five. The move to Houston looms, the roster is ravaged by injuries, and nights like this — when the threes fall but the result doesn’t follow — underline how far they have to climb.
For Minnesota, the picture looks very different.
The Lynx are 32-10, one step from locking up the No. 1 seed, with a rookie guard breaking records and a franchise cornerstone in Collier playing like a Finals MVP-in-waiting.
Next up, both teams hit the road on Tuesday: Minnesota travels to Indiana, where Miles’ record will share the court with Clark’s presence, and Connecticut visits the Mystics, trying to salvage something from a season that keeps slipping away.
