With just over 2½ minutes left in the third quarter of the Lynx’s game with Connecticut at Target Center on Thursday, in front of the Lynx bench, star Napheesa Collier made a cut.
She came up limping, without any apparent contact. But she left the game with what the team called a left foot injury and did not return.
As of Thursday night it was uncertain how extensive an injury Collier — set to play in her second Olympics this summer, leading the Lynx in every way — had sustained.
But that might have been the most difficult thing to take from Minnesota’s 78-73 loss to the Sun. It was the first time the Lynx (14-6) had lost consecutive games this season. Having it happen with your best player on the bench just made things worse.
“I mean, she’s an MVP-candidate player,” said Kayla McBride, who hit three of six threes and scored 13 points with eight rebounds and four assists. “We want her on the court with us, her dominance and presence at both ends. We needed her at that moment.”
When Collier left the game the Lynx trailed 55-53, having already given up a 10-point lead from earlier in the third quarter. And if it didn’t hurt the Lynx right away, it did eventually. After Diamond Miller’s three-point play with 7:35 left in the game tied the score at 64, the Sun (16-4) went on a 10-0 run to go up 74-64 on Tiffany Mitchell’s driving layup with just under three minutes left.
It was the decisive run in a game full of them.
To Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, with or without Collier, the Lynx didn’t do enough to win.