Lynx, striving to clinch top playoff seed, visit improving Sun

As they close in on clinching the top seed in the WNBA postseason, the Minnesota Lynx are slumping for the first time this season and doing so even with the return of Napheesa Collier from an ankle injury.

The Lynx attempt to avoid consecutive losses for the second time this season as Collier plays her third game since returning Saturday night in a visit to the Connecticut Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

The Lynx won six straight and 10 of 11 earlier this summer, a stretch that featured three wins over the New York Liberty. Starting with an 85-75 loss at New York on Aug. 19, Minnesota (30-8) is 2-3 in its past five games.

Collier returned from missing seven games in Sunday's 97-84 win over the Indiana Fever and scored 32 points. On Thursday, Collier shot 7-of-23 from the field and was held to 18 in a 93-79 home loss to the Seattle Storm, when the Lynx blew a 21-point lead by getting outscored 60-33 in the second half.

"Play some defense, man," coach Cheryl Reeve said after Minnesota allowed 11 3s in the second half and a season-worst 16 overall. "Act like that, and (it) matters. We have not done that in a long time. And that was the focus. You play one quarter of defense, and that's it."

The Lynx shot 44.1 percent Thursday as they took their largest margin of defeat this season, and it marked the fourth time in six games they shot 45 percent or lower.

Connecticut (10-28) will finish with a losing record in a full season for the first time since 2016 but is playing better of late. The Sun dropped 10 straight June 8-July 6 and five straight Aug. 3-11 but since the second skid, they are 5-2 with the two losses coming by a combined eight points.

The Sun are returning home after earning a 101-95 win over the Dallas Wings on Wednesday. Rookie Leila Lacan led the Sun in scoring for the third time in this improved stretch by scoring a career-high 22 points for the second straight game.

Lacan started for the 10th in 11 games Thursday and reached double figures for the ninth time this year.

"It's not how you start, it's how you finish," veteran Tina Charles said of Connecticut's recent improvement. "I think we're definitely defining that. Everybody's coming together."

--Field Level Media