Jace Frederick: Game 1 Finals performance suggests Lynx’s Napheesa Collier is the best player in the world

With chaos ensuing around her for the previous minute of overtime basketball in the WNBA Finals, of all places, Napheesa Collier caught the ball in the middle of the floor with 10 seconds to play and went to work.

Calmly, she got her opponent on her back, made her move and fired a turnaround jumper.

Cash.

Lynx lead, 95-93 with 8.8 ticks remaining.

On the other end, Collier was again tasked with stopping Breanna Stewart — one of the WNBA’s premier offensive players — to seal the victory.

She did so with physicality and a basketball IQ few people on this planet possess.

Stewart got into Collier’s body and was spinning toward the middle of the paint on her first go at the game-tying bucket when the newly minted Defensive Player of the Year wrapped Stewart up to utilize Minnesota’s foul to give before Stewart could get up a shot with 2.6 seconds to play.

Stewart went back to work on the ensuing inbounds, going at Collier in an attempt to get to the rim and tie the game. Her attempt didn’t touch iron.

You can debate ad nauseam who the best women’s basketball player on the planet is at the moment, so long as that conversation only features two names: Aces forward A’ja Wilson and Collier.

No one else can approach the level of play Collier exhibited on both ends of the floor Thursday.

Collier scored an efficient 21 points on 10-for-16 shooting to go with eight rebounds, six blocked shots and three assists.

In the fourth quarter and overtime, the all-world forward was 4 for 4 from the field with five rebounds and three steals. All on a night where she was tasked with defending Stewart, a two-time MVP.

Collier held Stewart to 6-for-21 shooting. Stewart went 0 for 7 from the field over the final 11-plus minutes of play.

That Collier can reduce one of the game’s icons to rubble on the grandest stage is a testament to the level her game has gone. Opponents shot just 31.8% against Collier this season on shots taken outside of the restricted area.

You cannot guard Collier with one player or she will score. If she is guarding you, good luck dribbling, much less getting off a shot.

If Minnesota needs her to score 40 to win a game, that’s what she’ll do, as she did against Phoenix in Round 1. If she needs to grab double-digit rebounds every game — as she did in the semifinals — that’s not a problem, either.

But oftentimes it has to be a bit of everything. Collier has to hit the big shot, then get the big stop. She has to be the anchor and the captain of the USS Lynx.

On nights like Thursday, she brought the energy early to get the team back into the game after a rough start in a contest played less than 48 hours after the conclusion of the previous series and also served as the calming force amid a storm of chaos down the stretch.

And that’s all fine with Napheesa Collier. Because she is everything – everything for the Lynx, and everything any team could want in its superstar.

You’d expect nothing less from the best player in basketball, and Collier continues to deliver such performances, even as the stage gets bigger and the bulbs burn brighter.

These are the scenarios in which superstardom is truly born. And Collier will no longer be denied such a status.

That she’s humble-spoken and team-driven has somehow been a detraction to her excellence. But with two more Lynx victories in this series, Collier can stand on a stage with both a championship trophy and MVP hardware in tow.

She is this close to, quite literally, taking her throne atop the women’s basketball world. And, if and when that moment arrives, she’ll have earned every jewel in her crown.

WNBA Finals

Here’s the schedule for the upcoming games in the Finals:

• Game 2: Lynx at New York, Sunday at 2 p.m. on KSTP Channel 5.

• Game 3: New York at Lynx, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

• Game 4 (if necessary): New York at Lynx, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

• Game 5 (if necessary) Lynx at New York, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

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