Breaking Down the Minnesota Lynx vs Indiana Fever Matchup

The Minnesota Lynx have two games remaining in the regular season, though both will be largely meaningless for the team as they are several games removed from already having clinched the No.1 overall seed in the WNBA playoffs. The first of those contests will be against the Indiana Fever on Tuesday, and both teams will enter without their star player and some key supporting cast members.

The Lynx announced on Tuesday that Napheesa Collier will be out for Tuesday’s game for rest, a move that could end up being problematic for her prospective MVP campaign as A’ja Wilson has emerged as the odds-on favorite. The Fever will be without a list of players headlined by superstar guard Caitlin Clark, who was ruled out for the remainder of the season last week.

Although Clark has played just 13 games this season, mainly owing to a significant groin injury, the Indiana Fever have managed to clinch their second straight playoff berth. The Fever can’t fall to the eighth seed, so they’ll avoid a first-round matchup with the Fever, but their last two regular-season games and the Golden State Valkyries’ finish will determine whether they earn the No. 6 or No. 7 seed.

One of Indiana’s most significant wins this season came against the Lynx in the Commissioner’s Cup championship this past July. Something especially encouraging for the Fever leading into this game is the fact that they lost that game while Clark was out of the lineup and Collier was in for Minnesota. With Minnesota

Despite being the odds-on MVP frontrunner for most of the year, Collier will miss her 11th game of the season on Tuesday. Throughout the course of WNBA history, no one has missed as many games and still won the award. No other new inactives have been announced for Tuesday’s game, but guard DiJonai Carrington will miss her third straight game with a shoulder subluxation suffered last week.

Aside from their loss in the Commissioner’s Cup Final, the Lynx actually won the two regular season meetings that counted. Like the NBA Cup Final, the championship game is the lone game of the “tournament” tournament that doesn’t count toward the 44-game schedule. The Lynx won both games of a home-and-home back-to-back in late August.

Despite taking those two games from Indiana at the tail end of last month, the Lynx have gone just 5-4 in their nine games after starting the season 28-5. While you can argue the team has taken its foot off the metaphorical gas pedal, they still lost multiple matchups while they were fielding a full or near-full squad.

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