Jace Frederick: This is the time for Napheesa Collier to have another moment

Napheesa Collier is one of the best players in the WNBA. That’s not up for debate among ball knowers. She just won WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. The 28-year-old just averaged north of 20 points per game for the second consecutive season, nearly averaging a double-double (9.7 rebounds)

She finished second in the Most Valuable Player race, only losing out to a historic season from Las Vegas forward A’ja Wilson. Collier was the driving force for a Lynx team that took the league by storm, shocking many en route to 30 regular season wins and the No. 2 seed.

And yet, Collier still can sometimes fly a touch under the radar — everyone knows she’s a great player, but she’s yet to be mantioned in the same discussions as Wilson or Breanna Stewart as the WNBA’s *best* player.

Between that and Minnesota being overshadowed by bigger markets and the attention rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese received this season, it’s easy for the unassuming Collier to not receive her proper due as the top two-way player in the WNBA.

That could begin to change Tuesday evening. The eyes of the WNBA world will be on Minneapolis, as the Lynx and Sun duel in a winner-to-the-Finals Game 5 to declare a winner in what has been an intense WNBA semifinal series. New York bounced Las Vegas on Sunday. So this is it — the lone game upon which all attention will be fixated.

This is the time for Collier to deliver a moment — the type of outing in which her excellence shines brightly on a national setting to be appreciated and respected by all, and in turn sends Minnesota to the Finals for the first time in Collier’s career. That — and an ensuing title that could be won in the next round — is all that’s missing from her resume.

Think Kevin Garnett carrying the Timberwolves to a Game 7 victory over Sacramento. The stage is prepped for a performance that can be discussed and reveled in by Lynx fans for decades to come.

Frankly, no less should be expected from Collier by now. It’s what she has delivered all playoffs. From averaging 40 points in a first-round series victory over Phoenix to dropping 26 points and 11 rebounds in Game 3 and 29 points and 13 rebounds in Game 4, she has brought the goods every single game under immense pressure.

And now, the stage will be even bigger and brighter. She figures to shine accordingly.

Surely, Tuesday isn’t all about Collier. Minnesota’s great strength in this season and even this series has been its depth. Courtney Williams, Alanna Smith, Bridget Carleton and Kayla McBride are all capable of knocking down a big shot that could sway an outcome. But in such a big spot, the star has to at least set the standard. Minnesota noted after Game 4 that it has to be better defensively in Game 5.

Who better to lead that charge than the newly crowned Defensive Player of the Year?

Connecticut and Minnesota are so evenly matched on paper — both in production and style of play — and the first four games of this tightly-contested semifinal back up the numbers. Any contest between these two teams looks like a coin-flip.

But the Lynx have one thing the Sun do not — the best player on the floor. In these situations, that has to count for something.

Collier is everything any professional sports franchise would want its star player to be. She is a humble face of the franchise who has fully bought into the organization’s vision and puts the team above all else.

But Tuesday is high time to remind the nation of what else one of — if not the — best women’s basketball player on the planet is: Unstoppable.