Nationally, Whalen playing in Augustus' shadow

The Lynx are starting to push point guard Lindsay Whalen for league MVPas the regular season winds down. The Lynx only have four games left.

Anyone who has watched the Lynx regularly can see Whalen's all-around value. But someone or several someones at wnba.com consider Seimone Augustus, the Lynx's shooting guard as the team's best player.

In the weekly Race to the MVP feature, Augustus is rated No. 6 and Whalen No. 8 just like last week.

Here are the short blurbs on each -- they reveal a lot more:

Augustus: There's a reason why the Lynx aren't just the only team to clinch a playoff berth, but the first team to secure a No. 1 seed -- and so much of that has to do with Augustus. In yet another set of games worthy of a Player of the Week award, she led Minnesota to three straight wins. Scoring 17.0 ppg across the trio of games, she also shot the lights out, going off at a .564 clip over the week. There's never a wasted possession with Augustus, and on a team stacked with talent, she's still the go-to option.

Comment: Strong support for Augustus there.

Whalen: A typical week for Whalen. Three games, three wins, an assists-per-game average over 5.0 (it was 5.33 this time around), and a 12.67 scoring average. Her game doesn't have a whole lot of flash – it's just been very, very good.

Maybe I am the only WNBA beat writer or broadcaster who reads the Race to the MVP regularly, but I highly doubt it. Clearly, Whalen's case for the MVP award is not being strengthened by what they are writing.

Obviously, Augustus is having a great season, too, and deserves all the awards she has received already: three times Player of the Week and once Player of the Month in the Western Conference.

Whalen has received none of those honors.

But Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve called those two players her co-MVPs last week, saying Augustus was her shot-maker and Whalen her playmaker.

And even though the Lynx will probably finish with the best record in the WNBA, the two top-rated MVP candidates, according to wnba.com, continue to be centers Tina Charles of Connecticut and Sylvia Fowles of Chicago. Indiana forward Tamika Catchings has moved up from fifth to third.

There's a chance Whalen might be able to get some league recognition this week. She had 21 points and five assists in 24 minutes in a 73-56 victory over Washington, which puts her halfway to a Player of the Week award if she can have another strong game against New York on Friday at Target Center.

She was 10 of 12 from the field against the Mystics. Her first nine shots, a mix of layups and mid-range jumpers, all went in.

She and all the Lynx should be amped up Friday. A win and the team clinches the home-court advantage throughtout the playoffs.