Recap: Mystics come up short vs Lynx, 99-83

Napheesa Collier couldn’t be stopped en route to 30 points on 13-for-16 shooting.

The Washington Mystics fell to the Minnesota Lynx Saturday afternoon, 99-83.

Before the game, the Mystics honored all the Olympians in the building, including gold medalist Napheesa Collier of the Lynx. Washington has three Olympians: Jade Melbourne (Australia), Aaliyah Edwards (Canada) and Julie Vanloo (Belgium). All three of the Mystics’ Olympians were met with raucous applause from the Entertainment & Sports Arena crowd each time they checked into the game.

My notes from today’s game:

• In the second quarter I saw Jade Melbourne at the free throw line for perhaps the first time in my life. I have a running joke with Beckett Harrison of Beyond Women’s Sports about how Melbourne gets sent crashing into the basket support four to five times per game yet is never whistled for a foul, and we finally got to take in the sight of our favorite Australian blue-collar hooper attempting a free throw. By the way, we’re the co-mayors of Jade Melbourne Island, so please pick another role player to hyperfixate on. Melbourne is the youngest rotational player in the W (she turns 22 tomorrow), and she’s from Melbourne, Australia — how cool is that? That’s like if my name was Marco Los Angeles.
• Another point on Melbourne: her energy out on the court is infectious. Watching her sprint around the court banging bodies with much larger players — and always getting up in the aforementioned four to five times per game they bring her to the floor — makes me want to get down on the court and start chasing guards around screens. Also, Melbourne had two statement blocks, both of which were so strong they could be heard from the 200 sections (only one shows up in the box score, but I will maintain her block on Dorka Juhasz should have counted).
• Stefanie Dolson was on an absolute heater today. Her first four shot attempts were all from beyond the arc, and they all went in. Then a middie three feet inside the arc? No problem. Another three? Cash. Six threes, a midrange jumper and a tough and-one on zero misses gave Dolson 23 points.
• Napheesa Collier cooked the Mystics every which way to the tune of 30 points. The members of Team USA have been on an absolute tear since returning from Paris — Collier torched the Mystics in back-to-back outings, Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart each had 25-plus points in their first game back and Kahleah Copper had a viral moment when she erupted for 29 points against the Sky after showing up wearing her old Sky jersey. Must be something in that Paris water.

The Mystics now fall to 6-21, good for worst in the WNBA. With the win, the Lynx climb to 19-8 and are just a game out of second place in the league.