An MVP kind of a night

There was little at stake Thursday night. The Lynx already had clinched the top seed and home-court advantage throughout the WNBA playoffs.

Yet point guard Lindsay Whalen approached the second-to-last game of the regular season as if the Lynx were desperate. She kept driving for layups while getting knocked to the Target Center floor.

Whalen finished with 20 points, 10 assists and ZERO turnovers -- a stats line unprecedented in league history -- as the Lynx defeated Chicago 78-69 before an announced crowd of 8,781.

"Just got a couple of good rolls -- ahhh -- just fortunate to make a couple of those," Whalen said. The "ahhh" was for a bag of ice a trainer taped to an aching knee.

"[The game] meant a lot to us," Whalen said. "We wanted to win our last home game, and we wanted to be sharp going into the playoffs."

Whalen certainly is; she made 10 of 15 shots from the field.

"I get caught between teammate and fan all the time when I am out there on the court with [Lindsay]," Lynx forward Maya Moore said. "She is a hockey player playing basketball. She bounces right off of people and has the strength to finish."

"If you are only looking at statistics," Reeve said, "maybe [Whalen's season] is not so impressive to an average person that doesn't watch our team. I thought Whay solidified herself [for league MVP]. Tonight again was an exclamation point."

Whalen is averaging 14.1 points and a WNBA-high 5.9 assists per game.

Whalen's first assist early in the first quarter Thursday broke her own career and franchise record for assists, which now stands at 194.

Other MVP candidates are centers Tina Charles of Connecticut and Sylvia Fowles of Chicago and forward Tamika Catchings of Indiana.

"Lindsay has had an incredible season," said Carolyn Peck, an ESPN basketball analyst and one of the national voters. "She leads Minnesota and her team has dominated the league."

Whalen? Her statistics screamed out.