MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Setelah Minnesota Lynx dengan tegas mengalahkan Connecticut Sun dalam pertandingan pemenang-takes-all untuk maju ke Final WNBA, Napheesa Collier membawa putrinya yang berusia 2 tahun bersamanya ke panggung untuk wawancara pasca pertandingan.
Wawancara baru berlangsung beberapa detik ketika Mila, yang diizinkan tinggal sampai larut malam di malam yang monumental ini, menjadi gelisah dan segera dibawa pergi oleh ayahnya, suami Collier, Alex Bazzell. Meskipun protes balita dan teriakan berulang untuk kembali ke pelukan ibu, Collier tetap tenang dan terkumpul — sama seperti ia di lapangan.
“Hal yang membuat Phee istimewa adalah konsistensi dan cara dia tampil setiap hari,” kata pelatih Lynx Cheryl Reeve. “Phee selalu sama: etos kerjanya, sikapnya, semangatnya untuk memperbaiki diri. Dia telah meningkat setiap musim. Dia benar-benar luar biasa, dan setiap pertandingan ia lebih dari sekadar mencetak gol bagaimana dia membantu tim kami.”
Penampilan Collier dalam Game 5 semifinal pada hari Selasa adalah tipikal Collier. Dia mencetak 27 poin dengan 10 tembakan dari 16 percobaan, 11 rebound, empat assist, empat block, dan satu steal dalam 37 menit untuk memimpin kemenangan 88-77 yang mengirim Minnesota ke final untuk pertama kalinya sejak memenangkan gelar keempatnya pada tahun 2017. Lynx akan menghadapi New York Liberty dalam Game 1 pada hari Kamis.
“Dia adalah pemain hebat. Dia membuat permainan di kedua sisi lapangan. Dia memimpin timnya sepanjang malam. Dia agresif,” kata DeWanna Bonner dari Connecticut, yang sering dijodohkan dengan Collier di posisi power forward. “Dia telah memiliki tahun yang luar biasa sepanjang tahun, jadi saya tidak melihat itu berhenti di pertandingan ini. Ketika dia dalam ritme, sulit untuk menghentikannya.”
Finis sebagai peringkat kelima dalam liga dalam hal penjaringan dan peringkat ketiga dalam rebound seperti Collier lakukan selama musim reguler adalah prestasi luar biasa. Dengan penobatannya sebagai Pemain Bertahan Terbaik WNBA, ini adalah pemain generasi sejati dalam era liga di mana kekuatan bintangnya belum pernah sebesar ini. Tetapi apa yang membedakan Collier adalah betapa rendah hati dan sederhana dia, sifat-sifat yang dimilikinya jauh sebelum dia menjadi seorang ibu dan mengambil sebagian besar musim 2022."
She’s a renaissance woman off the court, an Olympian with Team USA who has partnered with her former college teammate and current Liberty star Breanna Stewart to found a 3-on-3 league, Unrivaled, that is scheduled to begin competition in January and pay six-figure salaries with equity stakes for players. Still, Collier is often one of the WNBA’s more overlooked stars, having never been this far in the playoffs before and not playing for one of the league’s marquee teams.
“I’ve played with so many great players, and Phee is so different, it’s crazy,” Lynx point guard Courtney Williams said. “She is so coachable, from anybody. It does not matter. She just wants to be great. She shows up every day in her humility and the way she talks to people and the way she carries herself, it’s actually insane. Like this girl’s a bona fide superstar. They don’t act like that. A lot of superstars do not act like that, and the way she shows up and she cares, it’s different. When your leader and your superstar moves like that, it’s easy to trickle down.”
At times, Reeve and her staff have to prod Collier to be more aggressive to find her shot, rather than deferring too much to the outside shooters. There is, after all, no bigger fan of them than her.
“The fact that we have worked hard and we genuinely just love each other so much, it just makes it all the sweeter and it makes you want to win for them, too,” Collier said. “It’s not just like you want to get the accolade of winning a championship, you want to do it for your teammates as well, and I think that makes the ride that much sweeter. You want to keep playing because you want to stay together, because you know that every year looks different. This team will never be the exact same again, so not only do we want to win a championship, but we don’t want to leave each other yet.
The 2019 WNBA Rookie of the Year has come a long way since her time at UConn, when she came to the league as a relatively undersized post player lacking exceptional ball skills. Now she can consistently score off the dribble, knock down 3-pointers and do everything else between rebounding and defending. Every season has brought improvement, including this one when she met Reeve’s challenge to win the Defensive Player of the Year award.
“She doesn’t need us to tell her. She knows what she needs to get better,” Reeve said. “I still think she’s got more ways to improve, and that’s what MVPs do, great players do. They never feel like they’ve arrived. They just keep getting better and better, and that’s what Phee has done.”
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
