How many times in life are we told that we simply cannot ignore the signs?
When something simply is not going great, perhaps we just have to understand that things are pointing in the direction of not so great and we may have to walk away and allow whatever happens to take place.
On the same token, if something is going absolutely great, it is a definite sign that whatever was meant to be simply was meant to be and there was a destiny laid on it to be such.
The 22nd WNBA season has been heralded by many as one of the – if not the – greatest ever. So with the playoffs starting up, why would they be any different?
This year has been unique from the past few seasons because the league was extremely top heavy between the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks. That is no longer the case. The Sparks and Lynx are still there, but a great deal of the rest of the league has caught up and is now right there with them.
A remarkable element when looking at the teams in this year’s playoffs and last year’s is only one team is different from the 2017 postseason. That is the Atlanta Dream that has taken the place of the New York Liberty, but outside of that, seven of this year’s playoff teams qualified last season.
Listen or read any playoff previews over the next few days. Notice how these playoff previews were essentially penciling in Minnesota and Los Angeles into last year’s finals? That, of course, will not happen this year because those two teams will be featured in one of the first round matchups.
That in itself is a testament to how great this season has been – and a testament to how much parity still remains in the league. Outside of the Fever’s struggles and the Liberty’s struggles, one can make an argument to say that 10 of the 12 teams could have made the playoffs – and those 10 teams could have landed anywhere in the standings.
Look at the two teams that earned double byes into the semifinals this year. One of them was a team that the last couple of seasons barely made the postseason in the Seattle Storm. They brought in Dan Hughes in place of Jenny Boucek and they have the makings of a team that could win a championship.
The other team – the Dream – did not even make the postseason last year in large part because of Angel McCoughtry’s absence. McCoughtry came back, they hired a new head coach in Nicki Collen in place of Michael Cooper, they signed Renee Montgomery, and they made a surge in the latter part of the season.
These same playoff previews when they prognosticate the 2018 WNBA playoffs have zero idea who will win this year’s championship. That only adds to the intrigue. Virtually any of the eight teams that qualified for the playoffs could win the championship this year. Even better, given how so many of the teams this year have been so evenly matched, the games themselves should come right down to the wire.
Even moreso, women’s basketball has been on a roll as of late. Between the last two Final Fours and the last pair of WNBA Finals, our favorite sport has given us plenty of memorable moments these last two years. Everything is pointing in the direction that this year’s playoffs will have a litany of great games, overtimes, and buzzer-beaters. So, yeah – there is a reason why we love this sport so much.
This also means a bit of WNBA viewing ought to be in one’s plans for those that may not have watched much of the season up to this point. As we wrote a few months ago, those that continue to use the sport only as a reason to continue to pile on have no idea what they are missing out on.
Perhaps they will if they watch just a few of these playoff games then commit to following the league on the regular as we enter the offseason, then the NCAA season, then the 2019 WNBA season. They can start with these playoffs and they could not have picked a better time to start following the league, because they – as well as us that have become fans as well. Something tells us that we are in for a treat over the next month.
