At the conclusion of last week, three teams in the WNBA had playoff berths locked up—the Minnesota Lynx, Los Angeles Sparks, and New York Liberty. Now, seven of those eight playoff spots in the league are now locked in with one still to be determined.
Needless to say, this final week of the WNBA regular season will be all about jockeying for playoff positioning.
One of those teams is the Seattle Storm, seen by many as a potential sleeping giant and contender for years to come as they build around Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd. There are victories and then there are statement victories, and the Storm’s home 78-60 win on Sunday against the Los Angeles Sparks can certainly be interpreted as such.
The win also secured a playoff berth for Seattle.
The Sparks were shorthanded, though, as both Nneka Ogwumike and Kristi Toliver did not play—meaning arguably their biggest scoring threat and biggest three-point threat were not on the floor. Seattle took full advantage between Stewart’s 20 points, Alysha Clark and Crystal Langhorne’s 15 each (Langhorne also added 10 rebounds), and Sue Bird’s 10 points and seven rebounds.
Candace Parker had 20 points to lead LA.
Seattle is located in Washington State. Prior to returning to the Emerald City to play the Sparks, they traveled to Washington, D.C. to face the Mystics. The result was also a win for the Storm as they topped Washington by a final of 81-76.
Late in this contest, the Mystics were within one of the Storm late at 77-76 before four consecutive points from Loyd extended the Seattle lead out to five…and would be the difference as the Storm would claim victory in the Nation’s Capital.
A balanced scoring effort, a 54 percent shooting percentage, and 36 rebounds all apparently canceled out the fact that Seattle committed 15 turnovers. Bird and “Stewie” added another 17 (the latter of whom also had 10 rebounds), Clark had 14, and Ramu Tokashiki had 13. For Washington, Emma Messeman had 15 points, Tierra Ruffin-Pratt had 13, and Natasha Cloud and Stefanie Dolson each contributed 12 apiece.
Another team that clinched a playoff berth was the Chicago Sky. As of this writing the Sky stand as the sixth seed, but a lot can change in the final week. This weekend did not begin on the right foot for Pokey Chatman’s team as the Sky traveled to Indiana to face the Fever—another team that clinched a playoff berth.
Chicago lost to Indiana 95-88.
Just as Ogwumike and Toliver did play for the Sparks against Seattle, Elena Delle Donne did not go for the Sky vs. the Fever. Cappie Pondexter did—and she scored 22 points. So did Courtney Vandersloot who had 15, and Jamierra Faulkner who had 14.
Ball movement was a big reason why the Fever proved to be victorious over the Sky as they outassisted Chicago 18-9. Briann January scored 20 points, Erica Wheeler had 16, and Lynetta Kizer and Marissa Coleman each added 14.
Delle Donne would also not be on the floor as the Sky traveled to Connecticut to face the Sun. But all was well that ended well for Chicago on that game as the Sky secured its postseason berth via a 96-86 win at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Pondexter (24), Vandersloot (16), Allie Quigley (18), and Imani Boyette (13) combined for 71 between the four players. This also considering how the Sky managed to overcome a free throw shooting percentage of below 80 percent.
For Connecticut, Jasmine Thomas finished with 21 points, Chiney Ogwumike had 20, and Alyssa Thomas added 18. No one else had more than eight.
Speaking of the Fever, they too would also travel to Washington to face (and defeat) the Mystics. As of this writing, the Fever would be the four-seed. But again, much can change in the span of a few days. The final of this one would be 80-73.
Erica Wheeler and Lynetta Kizer each had 17 points each and January chimed in with another 15.
On the Mystics’ side of the ledger, Dolson was held under 10 points, but Messeman added another 19. Tayler Hill had 15 and Kia Vaughn scored 12.
The Storm, Sky, and Fever all clinched playoff berths. So too did the Atlanta Dream, who currently would be the five.
Earlier in this week, the Dream defeated the Sparks in Los Angeles 86-81 to snap what was a four-game losing streak on the road. Atlanta’s road woes would resurface when the Dream traveled to Phoenix against Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury.
The Mercury, a team that was struggling earlier in the season, but is now in contention for that final playoff berth (and would get it if the playoffs began today), took a step towards that on Sunday with their 86-75 win over the Dream.
Taurasi finished with 17 points in addition to making six of her seven three-point attempts. Griner was within one rebound of a double-double with nine boards in addition to her 21 points and five blocks. Candice Dupree would add 15 points and Penny Taylor contributed to the Mercury’s efforts with 14 plus six assists.
Tiffany Hayes’ 22 led the Dream and Bria Holmes scored 14. Angel McCoughtry only played 13 minutes.
In addition to four more playoff berths being clinched, the Minnesota Lynx also officially claimed the top seed for the postseason, earning them an automatic berth into the semifinals. Their lone matchup this week was in San Antonio as they did battle with the Stars at the AT&T Center.
This was a classic example of there being no easy wins in this league. Throw out the records because this turned out to be a tough game for Minnesota. They did get the win by a final of 81-76.
Late in the fourth quarter, though, it was the Stars that had a one-point lead (76-75) as a three by Monique Currie (who had 18 points for the game) put San Antonio ahead. Minnesota finished the game via a 6-0 run to seal the victory and run their record up to 26-5.
Seimone Augustus had 20 points, Maya Moore ended her performance with a double-double (17 points and 10 rebounds) and Rebekkah Brunson brought down 11 rebounds. The Stars got 26 from Moriah Jefferson and 14 via Astou Ndour in addition to Currie’s 18. No one else had more than four.
Of course, right below the Lynx and Sparks in the playoff picture is the currently third-seeded New York Liberty. Two days after being blown out at the Garden by the Storm (and celebrating the amazing career or Swin Cash), the Liberty welcomed the Sun to MSG. It would be an 89-82 result in favor of the Liberty.
In win number 21 for New York, there would be 23 points that would come from Tina Charles. Sugar Rodgers would add 18. Epiphanny Prince would serve as the Liberty’s deep threat with three out of four three-point attempts made and 13 overall.
With one week in the season remaining and the Sun already behind the eight-ball (or eight-seed) for the postseason, the Sun has to win every winnable game they can get. It was not enough despite 20 each from Courtney Williams and Chiney Ogwumike. This and the loss to Chicago does not bode well for Connecticut’s playoff aspirations.
Next up for the Liberty after the win over Connecticut was a road trip to Dallas to visit the Wings—one of only two teams as of this writing that are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.
The Wings may be mathematically eliminated from the postseason status but that does not mean they are eliminated from the win column—as shown when Karima Christmas’ 23 points and Skylar Diggins’ 22 led Dallas to an 84-81 victory over the Liberty.
Courtney Paris also had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Dallas picked up the win despite 58 combined from Charles (29), Rodgers (15), and Carolyn Swords (14).
And prior to that, both Texas teams met once again—this time in San Antonio. The Wings would defeat the Stars by a final of 92-84.
That win ended an 11-game losing streak that Dallas previously was on. Without that, we’d likely be talking about them as a playoff threat. Odyssey Sims’ 20 points, Diggins’ 16, Aerial Powers’ 13, and Courtney Paris’ 11 points and 11 rebounds helped out a lot.
Jefferson finished with 27 and Haley Peters had 19. They also got 13 each from Currie and Jayne Appel-Marinelli, who earlier announced she would retire at the end of this season.
By: Akiem Bailum (@AkiemBailum on Twitter, Instagram)
