The Lynx spend Sunday afternoon in College Park (2:00 PM Central, NBA TV, Gateway Center Arena) at 31-8, still three results from a No. 1 overall seed they could have wrapped up six days ago.
The math has not moved, and that is the part worth understanding. Minnesota is 31-8 and Golden State 28-11, five games apiece left in a 44-game season, which caps the Valkyries at 33 wins and holds the magic number at three. Golden State won twice this week while Minnesota sat and gained nothing on it, because a team cannot lift its own ceiling by winning. Las Vegas tops out at 31, which is where the Lynx already are.
A win Sunday makes it two. Golden State tips against Portland an hour later.
Atlanta is the wrong kind of dangerous
The Dream are 25-14 and 12-7 at home, which undersells how volatile they are. They won four in a row, including a 36-point burial of the Sparks on Aug. 20, then lost 101-83 at home to the 16-23 Portland Fire on Friday, with Carla Leite scoring 26 and Emily Engstler going 11-for-14 off Atlanta’s rim.
Angel Reese is the reason to tune in regardless. She set the WNBA single-game rebounding record with 26 boards against Los Angeles on Aug. 24 and is averaging 16.1 points and 12.4 rebounds on the season. She also drew her eighth technical Friday, the one that triggers an automatic suspension. The league erased it overnight.
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Allisha Gray (19.2 per game) and Rhyne Howard (18.4, six 3s on Friday) do the scoring. Jordin Canada runs the thing at 7.3 assists.
What Minnesota is bringing
Courtney Williams is day-to-day with a midfoot sprain, and when Cheryl Reeve ruled her out Monday she pointed at the gap in the schedule and named this game. Monday’s 80-66 loss was Golden State’s first win over this franchise, ever. Six days of rest was the whole argument for sitting her; Sunday is the invoice. If she plays, Minnesota gets its closer back for the clinch push. If she doesn’t, the fourth quarter belongs to Miles again.
Then there is the number nobody says out loud. Napheesa Collier has played 11 games in 2026, averaging 18.1 points on 50.7 percent shooting since her July 22 debut, and Minnesota built 31-8 mostly without her. Olivia Miles has carried the load at just under 20 a night on 40 percent from three.
One number to pack: the Lynx are 16-2 on the road and 15-6 at Target Center.
Prediction: Lynx by six. I’ve stopped rounding up.
