The Minnesota Lynx will be missing both Napheesa Collier and Cheryl Reeve in an elimination game.
The Minnesota Lynx will be without both star player Napheesa Collier and head coach Cheryl Reeve for a do-or-die Game 4.
Collier has been ruled out for the elimination game with an ankle injury, the Lynx announced. DiJonai Carrington was also ruled out with a foot injury that has ended her season. Game 4 is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Sunday.
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The injury was part of a wild sequence at the end of Game 3 on Saturday, an 84-76 Mercury win. As Collier began a drive from the top of the arc, Mercury star Alyssa Thomas swooped in and stole the ball while making significant contact with Collier's leg. Replay also showed Collier roll her ankle as she hit the ground.
The play left Collier on the floor in clear pain and eventually needing to be helped off the court, with Reeve saying after the game that she might have sustained a fracture. It remains unclear if that's true.
Meanwhile, Thomas scored a breakaway lay-up to put the game away and Reeve responded by furiously walking on the court to berate the officials, whom she called "f***ing awful" in postgame. It was pure chaos, with multiple players and coaches stepping in to restrain Reeve, and another holding up a towel to break her line of sight with the officials.
Lynx HC Cheryl Reeve received her second technical foul toward the end of Game 3 and was EJECTED after Napheesa Collier was injured on this play.
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) September 27, 2025
(via @espnW)pic.twitter.com/zFQ2KPkNY0
Reeve was suspended one game by the WNBA a day later for "aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing a game official on the court, failure to leave the court in a timely manner upon her ejection, inappropriate comments made to fans when exiting the court and remarks made in a post-game press conference."
That ending managed to take out arguably the two most important figures on the Lynx, while also sealing Game 3 for Phoenix. Minnesota now needs a shorthanded win on the road just to force a winner-take-all Game 5 at home.
Vegas is skeptical they get it done, as BetMGM had the Mercury as a -185 favorite for Game 4 after Collier was ruled out.
Category: General Sports
