Former Olympic teammates and MVP finalists battling for spot in WNBA Finals

Napheesa Collier seemed to sense the foul was coming.

In overtime of Minnesota’s 89-83 loss Tuesday, Phoenix forward Alyssa Thomas shouldered into Collier once, twice, before pulling up to shoot. As if she could tell her defense was already going to draw a whistle, Collier clamped down on the ball to prevent an opportunity for a three-point play.

Thomas, smiling, made a comment to Collier under the basket — a comment that, postgame, Thomas said was “nothing important.” When asked about the interaction, Thomas let a sly grin peek through. Safe to assume it wasn’t a happy birthday wish for Collier, who turned 29 on Tuesday.

“She’s the ultimate competitor,” Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said of Thomas. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been around anyone quite like her.”

The series is tied 1-1 after the Lynx blew a 20-point lead in Game 2 and shifts to Phoenix for Friday’s Game 3. The matchup so far has proven to be a showcase of the unique strengths of Collier and Thomas.

The pair are the only two players to receive first-place votes for MVP this season aside from the winner, Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson. Collier and Thomas have both been to the Finals and lost and are looking for their first title.

And early in this series, they’ve shared two irreplaceable qualities.

In the waning days of the No. 1-seeded Lynx’s regular season, head coach Cheryl Reeve painted a picture of how her team runs its offense, which averaged a league-high 86.1 points per game.

“Everybody stays in your one or two — that leads to efficiency," Reeve said. “One of the first things I tell players when we sign them is ... ‘Live in the space of your one or two.’ What does that mean? Do the thing that you do best, that’s No. 1, right? What is the thing you do second best? That’s two.”

How does Collier, averaging 22.9 points per game, fit into that equation?

“She doesn’t,” said Reeve.

“She has more of a bag, as the kids say, than a lot of players,” she added. “So we don’t talk to Phee about that.”

The Lynx forward, who became the first player in WNBA history to shoot over 50% from the field, 40% on three-pointers and 90% from the free-throw line while averaging 20-plus points per game in a season, is a versatile scorer. She can hit a contested layup, a silky fadeaway jumper or a pull-up three-pointer. Her 50 threes this season were a career-high, and her 40.3% clip was good for 10th in the league.

Thomas, who joined No. 4-seeded Phoenix last offseason in a trade with Connecticut, scores two-thirds of her points in the paint, where Collier nets just under half of hers, according to the WNBA’s Advanced Stats.

Thomas plays a hybrid role of 6-foot-2 ball-handling point guard and physical power forward. Due to torn labrums in both shoulders early in her 12-season career, Thomas has long played with an altered shooting form and was 0-for-7 on three-pointers this season.

Instead, Thomas drives to the basket or looks to swing the ball to a teammate left open by her gravitational pull of defenders. Her 9.2 assists per game this year were second-highest in WNBA history, in addition to her 15.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. She has nine triple-doubles this season and 21 in her career, while no other player in league history has more than four.

“When things run through A.T., your offense is better,” Reeve said. “Nate’s system, you know, (is) just using her in a more full-time way, as a facilitator.”

She finished with a team-best 24 points on 10-for-22 shooting by the time overtime wrapped.

Minnesota managed to slow Thomas down the stretch in Game 1, holding her to just two points (18 total) after halftime. The Lynx were able to disrupt what Reeve called “the most unguardable play in the league,” the flat action screen that the Mercury like to run to get Thomas into a mismatch and into the paint.

But on Tuesday, even when Minnesota stifled Thomas’ chances, her teammates’ shooting hands weren’t as cold as in Game 1. Capitalizing on the Lynx’s late miscues and turnovers, Thomas’ 13 assists were a franchise playoff high, and power forward Satou Sabally bagged a team-high 24 points.

Thomas finished with 19 points (6-for-15 shooting) and drew a game-high seven fouls. She went 7-for-10 from the free-throw line.

“(My competitiveness) started with my parents as a kid,” Thomas said. “Any win that we had, whether it was Trouble, Candyland, we had to earn our win. ... This is what it’s all about. We play the whole season for playoffs and moments like this.”

Thomas’ response was short and to the point: