Lynx: Phee makes WNBA All-Star Game her own
INDIANAPOLIS Napheesa Collier played the role of All-Star captain perfectly First the Lynx superstar made all the right picks for her roster Then she answered all the labor questions And certainly she presented everyone even the WNBA s young guns how to stay focused on basketball The five-time All-Star capped a busy All-Star Battle week by scoring a record points grabbing nine rebounds and leading the aptly named Gang Collier past Gang Clark - in the highest scoring All-Star Event in WNBA history on Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Minnesota Lynx's Napheesa Collier holds the MVP trophy following a WNBA All-Star basketball battle against Crew Clark Saturday July in Indianapolis AP Photo Michael Conroy Naturally Collier was selected the MVP Collier made of shots four from the specially designed AT T logo -point-line that seemed perfectly aligned for Caitlin Clark the other band captain who didn t play because of a right groin injury And it was all by design I tried to make my gang not have that countless new players Collier reported I ve played with a lot of them and so it was good to get back with them play with a few of those new players I haven t played with before But for Collier this weekend in Indianapolis was about much more than a single battle The vice president of the Women s National Basketball Players Association executive committee co-founder of the Unrivaled basketball league and the league s first one-on-one tournament champion never got distracted by a demanding schedule that forced her to prioritize the WNBA s future over adding another award to her trophy incident Collier spent Thursday afternoon negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement and Friday answering questions from a throng of reporters detailing the meeting On Saturday she shared the pregame stage with Clark for a news conference between the captains And after the match there were even more questions about the CBA I feel like I haven t been able to forget it Thursday s meeting because people won t let us which is amazing Collier mentioned Just the awareness we ve raised this weekend you guys asking these questions the fans doing the chants that like gave me chills But Collier also helped fuel the effort She like the other All-Stars wore a T-shirt that read Pay us what you owe us during pregame warmups Then she reinforced the message with a historic encounter Collier broke the All-Star Event s individual scoring record while her company scored a record first-half points Another of Collier s picks Seattle guard Skylar Diggins became the first player with an All-Star triple-double in the same venue where she led Notre Dame to the national championship tournament more than a decade ago And Collier even connected with rookie Paige Bueckers her fellow former UConn star from Hopkins for a basket The captain couldn t have scripted it any better We set a lot of records Collier explained Skylar had a triple-double which is insane It was just so fun We had a great time Next up for the WNBA-leading Lynx - is a home encounter Tuesday against the Chicago Sky at Target Center