It was, practically from beginning to end, a thing of insulting beauty.

The third-placed Lynx played against the defending champions Aces in Las Vegas on Wednesday evening and showed a brilliant performance: moving, passing, shooting, hitting.

And that includes virtually everyone involved in Minnesota’s 98-87 victory.

While winning their fourth straight game and their third in a row since the Olympic break, the Lynx (20-8) posted a double-double with 22 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds from Courtney Williams. Napheesa Collier (24 points, seven rebounds) led the way in the battle against A’Ja Wilson (15, 9). Myisha Hines-Allen, who was transferred to the team on Tuesday and had only one shootaround in a Lynx jersey, played important minutes while center Alanna Smith struggled with foul trouble all evening. She posted eight points, four rebounds and two assists in 14 minutes.

The Lynx made 59.4 percent of their shots overall, converted 11 of their 19 three-point shots and had an assist on 28 of their 38 field goals.

It was the Lynx’s second win in three games against the Aces (17-10), both on the road. The Lynx’s offense was so efficient that they led for much of the game – and held onto their lead – on a night when the Aces (46.5 percent shooting) were also pretty good.

The Aces had just used a five-point run to turn the Lynx’s 11th lead into six points with 7:31 left in the first minute of the fourth quarter.

But after a timeout, the Lynx scored eight straight points, four of them for Collier, to regain control of the game.