Lynx player Courtney Williams plays again despite injury

For Minnesota, five of those games are away games, including a three-game road trip that begins Friday in Indiana against a Fever team that is the best in the league with five straight wins and has risen to sixth in the standings. If the season started today, those two teams would meet in the first round of the playoffs.

After playing six games in 12 days — including three games in four nights — the Lynx had a five-day break between Sunday's win at Target Center and Friday's in Indianapolis. That gave the team time to rest — get Smith back, who missed a game with an ankle injury — and get some practice in.

That's all good. But what's even better for the Lynx is that their point guard is healthy.

“She never complained once,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “She never stopped playing the way she plays. It was just, 'Hey, this is what I have to do.'”

The final stretch will be difficult. The Lynx play away against Indiana, Washington, New York, Connecticut and Atlanta and have Chicago and Los Angeles at home. New York and Connecticut are currently the two top seeds. Indiana and Chicago are currently in the playoffs, Atlanta and Washington are still fighting for places.

“We want to go into the postseason and play our best basketball,” Williams said. “That's our goal, to get back to what made us a top team.”