Minnesota Lynx’s center Sylvia Fowles won her first WNBA Most Valuable Player award on Thursday. Fowles received the majority of the first place votes and was way ahead of the other candidates, including Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks and Tina Charles of the New York Liberty.
Fowles is a one-time WNBA champion and WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player awardee, four-time WNBA All-Star, five-time All-WNBA team member, and a three-time Defensive Player of the Year awardee. She is also a three-time Olympic gold medalist.
Sylvia Fowles led the Lynx to a league-best 27-7 record, and the Lynx also had the No. 1 seed going into the 2017 WNBA playoffs. Fowles averaged 18.9 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.0 blocks per game this season. She was tied with Jonquel Jones of the Connecticut Sun for the most number of double-doubles with 20. Fowles also led the league in field goal percentage by shooting a career-high mark of 65.5 percent.
Fowles is a key part of what the Minnesota Lynx were able to achieve this season. Even though key players like Lindsay Whalen and Rebecca Brunson suffered injuries, and with Maya Moore having her worst scoring season since 2012, the Lynx were still able the have the best WNBA regular season record for the fifth time in seven seasons.
Listen to what Sylvia Fowles had to say after receiving the WNBA Most valuable player award.
Sylvia Fowles broke her nose in May after San Antonio Stars’ rookie Nia Coffey decided to test Fowles’ defensive abilities in the paint. She sent back Coffey’s attempt so hard that Nia Coffey fell to the ground after her attempt. Fowles may be the one player to receive the most number of elbows and have the most number of bruises on her body.
Fowles also said, “I kind of enjoy it in some weird way, getting hit. I don’t know anything else.”
The Minnesota Lynx is now leading the Washington Mystics 2-0 in the 2017 best-of-five WNBA playoffs. The Lynx won game two in Minnesota with the score of 93-83. The Lynx also blew out the Mystics in Game 1 with the score of 101-81. In this year’s WNBA playoffs, Sylvia Fowles is No. 2 in points and is tied with Courtney Paris of the Dallas Wings as the top blockers, with averages of 21.5 and 2.0 respectively.
[Featured Image by Hannah Foslien/Getty Image]