Lynx’s Collier and Williams With Powerful Performances in 2025 Opener in Dallas
In Dallas, Napheesa Collier and Courtney Williams proved too much for a young Dallas Wings team in the Minnesota Lynx’s 99-84 Victory in the 2025 Season Opener on Friday evening. Collier looked like the MVP favorite that the GMs had her at in the GMs’ poll with 34 points, four rebounds, and three assists.
Williams added 25 points, nine assists, and four rebounds in this dominant performance for the Lynx on Night One of the season. Paige Bueckers had 10 points in her WNBA debut, while Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 16 points. Let’s dive into this game a little bit more closely and see how the Lynx were so dominant.
Collier and Williams’ Performances Carried the Lynx
Collier and Williams combined for 59 of the 99 points the Lynx scored in this game, as this duo is the primary option for the team and should have the majority of the load of the offense, and is expected to have this type of performance every night the Lynx step out on the court. Collier and Williams both shot over 50% from the field and three-point range in this game. When these two are doing this consistently, the Lynx will win a lot of games in the 2025 season.
Dallas Struggles in First Game
The Wings couldn’t handle the defensive pressure the Lynx were bringing to the table. Ogunbowale and Bueckers were the duo to expect scoring from, and both of them struggled shooting from the field in this game. Bueckers was 3-10 from the field, and Ogunbowale was 4-12 from the field in this game.
The only Wings players who had a decent shooting night were the former Connecticut Sun DiJonai Carrington, who had 15 points on 5-11 shooting from the floor, Maddy Siegrist, who had 11 points on 5-10 shooting, and Myisha Hines-Allen, who also had 11 points on 5-9 shooting. The Wings also had 14 turnovers as a team in this game, while the Lynx had 13 turnovers themselves. 14 is worse than 13, the last time I checked, so the Wings will have to improve on that going forward.
Final Thoughts
The Minnesota Lynx showed why they were a game away from winning the WNBA Title last season in this game on Friday night. If they continue to play like this throughout this 2025 season, they will be back in the title picture. Meanwhile, for the Wings, this game was a learning opportunity for their young team, and Bueckers did disappoint a little bit. But the potential is there for the Wings to make a surprising run at the playoffs if everything clicks.
