Having been forced to slow down, Diamond Miller is now looking to speed things back up.
The No. 2 overall pick in the WNBA draft, having returned after missing a month because of a sprained right ankle, scored 17 of her career-high 25 points in the first half Saturday night, and the Lynx inched closer to reaching .500 with an 86-76 victory at last-place Phoenix.
The victory was No. 288 for Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, who now has sole possession of third place in WNBA history. Mike Thibault has 379 coaching victories and Bill Laimbeer 306.
"Knowing that she has all that winning in her history makes it more confident for me to know that when she's coaching me and saying certain things, I have to listen," Miller said of Reeve. "Because clearly, she knows how to win."
The Lynx (7-9) won for the seventh time in 10 games following an 0-6 start to the season. The past three victories all came in a span of five days with Miller back in the lineup — the first three victories of her professional career.
"I'm a true believer in God. I just think He wanted me to get hurt that game so I could see the game from a different lens," Miller said of the injury she suffered May 30 against Dallas. 'I was sad getting hurt. It's not something that I obviously wanted to happen, but it's something God knew I needed to happen."
Asked what she saw during her month on the sidelines, Miller said: "I felt like that the team played a little bit slower than I know we could play. I felt like we could move the game, make it go a little bit faster than the way we were playing. So I knew when I was going to come back, I was just going to run. Hopefully the team followed, and I think we are doing that. We're pushing the pace very well."
Said guard Rachel Banham, who scored 13 points off the bench Saturday: "Diamond worked extremely hard to get back. I saw her every single day. … Everything she's doing right now makes full sense."
Miller shot 9-for-15 from the floor, including 2-for-4 from three-point range, and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line, and she also had six rebounds and five steals. She is the sixth rookie in WNBA history with a game of at least 25 points, five rebounds and five steals — a group that also includes fellow Lynx players Maya Moore (Aug. 9, 2011, at Phoenix) and Betty Lennox (June 24, 2000, at Cleveland).
The Lynx led 46-37 at halftime after a strong finish to the first half, but Phoenix (3-12), which got 23 points on 11-for-19 shooting from All-Star center Brittney Griner, opened the second half on a 19-5 run to go up 55-51. The Lynx clawed back by scoring the next six points, and after a Griner jumper tied the score at 57-57, the Lynx scored the final four points of the quarter for a 61-57 lead.
In the fourth quarter, after Phoenix got within 63-61, the Lynx went on an 13-2 run to pull away, getting baskets from six players: a Lindsay Allen floater, a Bridget Carleton three-pointer, a Napheesa Collier layup, a Banham drive, a Dorka Juhász tip-in and finally a Miller layup to make it 76-63. A Kayla McBride three-pointer with 3:02 left put the Lynx up 82-69, and they held on from there.
It was the first time in nine games that the Lynx weren't led in scoring by Collier, who earlier Saturday was named an All-Star for the third time in her career. Collier finished with 16 points and nine rebounds in 37 minutes, including all 20 in the second half.
"Phee's just a hard player to take off the floor," Reeve said. "Does she want to come out? No. Do I need to probably get her out a little bit more? Probably. But for me, I look at it and I go, 'How many days do we have off before we play again?' She's fine, she's young."
Banham shot 4-for-6 from the floor in 15:27 of playing time. She had a plus-minus rating of plus-33 — plus-15 in the first half, plus-18 in the second.
'The last couple of games have been tough for me," Banham said. "I haven't shot well, I don't think I've played my best basketball. But I have just really great teammates, and people around me who continue to tell me to shoot."
