We now know what the upcoming best-of-five semifinals for the WNBA playoffs will look like as the Washington Mystics and Phoenix Mercury won their respective second-round matchups against the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun, respectively.
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As a result, Washington’s best-of-five semifinal series will be vs. the Minnesota Lynx and the Mercury’s will be vs. the defending champion Los Angeles Sparks.
Washington won its second-round elimination game over the Liberty by a final of 82-68 and on the back of former Spark Kristi Toliver draining a WNBA record nine three-pointers—all while wearing the combination Kyrie-Kobe colorways.
Toliver scoringwise finished with 32 points. Lost in the hoop-la over Toliver’s banner outing was Elena Delle Donne notching a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds as well as an 11-point performance form Krystal Thomas.
Tina Charles led New York with 18 points and Bria Hartley and Epiphanny Prince had 15 and 12, respectively.
If the first quarter was to be any indication, things began promising for the Liberty as they led 21-10 after one frame. Toliver made the first of her nine treys with 6:12 remaining in the first half, and the rest really became history as she continued to make shot after shot from behind the arc.
Ironically, the Liberty actually had a higher three-point shooting percentage as a team than the Mystics—36 to 32. But Washington had a 14-3 rebounding edge over the Liberty on the offensive glass.
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The dream season for the Connecticut Sun—which included Jonquel Jones winning the Most Improved Player award and Curt Miller being named Coach and Executive of the Year—came to a close as the Phoenix Mercury topped the Sun by a final of 88-83 at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Phoenix was helped by a 26-point outing of Brittney Griner and 23 via Diana Taurasi. Monique Currie and Leilani Mitchell each finished with 12 and Yvonne Turner concluded with 11.
As for the Sun, two players ended up with double-doubles as Alyssa Thomas’ line read like this: 20 points and 10 rebounds while Jones’ was 19 points and 15 rebounds. Jasmine Thomas finished with 15 points and Courtney Williams had 10.
In similar fashion with the Mystics and Liberty, the Sun also jumped out to a sizable lead after one frame as they were on top 29-18 with one quarter in the books.
The deficit at one point in the second quarter grew to as many as 17 points for the Mercury. A huge stretch came late in the game when Mitchell, Taurasi, and Currie each made three pointers on a trio of consecutive Phoenix possessions. This allowed Phoenix to assume a lead of 84-79.
The Sun particularly struggled from behind the three-point arc shooting only 4 of 16 from downtown.
Photo Credit: Scott Takushi/St. Paul Pioneer Press
Including the preseason, the Lynx and Mystics have played each other four times this season. Minnesota has won all four. The preseason tilt went the way of Minnesota by a 74-59 tally.
The initial contest went the way of the Lynx with the final score being 98-73 at Capital One Arena. It was a contest that saw MVP favorite Sylvia Fowles notch a double-dobule with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Maya Moore and Rebekkah Brunson added 17 each, Seimone Augustus put in 14, and Renee Montgomery had 13.
Tayler Hill led with 20 for the Mystics and Ivory Latta contributed 15 points but it was a game where Washington did not have Delle Donne.
By the time halftime of this contest arrived, the Lynx had a 58-39 lead over the Mystics. Minnesota shot over 52 percent from the field and nearly 50 percent from behind the three-point arc. They also out-assisted Washington 30-10 and forced the Mystics into 15 turnovers.
Two weeks after their initial get-together in Washington on July, they met again—this time in Minnesota at the Xcel Energy Center. This time, it was a 93-76 victory for the Lynx—and this time Washington did have Delle Donne on the floor.
But the Lynx had both Moore and Fowles on the floor as well—and both finished with double-doubles for that game. Moore had 22 points and 11 rebounds and Fowles added 21 points with 15 rebounds. Lindsay Whalen contributed 12 and Brusnson finished with 11.
Hill led with 21, Delle Donne added 17, and Toliver scored 14.
It was another game where the Lynx won the rebounding battle—43-31 and out-assisted Washington—21-7. Moore had seven assists to go along with the 21 points and 11 rebounds and got 18 of her 22 points in the first half.
The Lynx had a 50-36 lead at the half and did not look back.
St. Paul also played host to the final game of the season series between Washington and Minnesota—and it too resulted in a Minnesota victory with the final tally being 86-72. Moore’s 26 points and Montgomery’s 18 points certainly assisted the Lynx’s cause, but so did 11 via Plenette Pierson and 10 via Brunson.
Toliver’s 20 (on four out of 10 from three-point range), Delle Donne’s 12, Taylor’s 10 and Krystal Thomas’ 14 rebounds were not enough against the Lynx at Xcel Energy Center. The Lynx still outdid the Mystics from downtown by a figure of 41-27. It was a game that Minnesota had issues shooting free throws as they were under 70 percent from the charity stripe as opposed to the Mystics who were perfect from the free throw line.
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As for the Mercury and Sparks, the trio of games that these two teams played against each other all went in the direction of Los Angeles. The first one—which emanated from Talking Stick Resort Arena was a consistent nailbiter, but the Sparks pulled it out with the final being 89-87 on June 10.
Chelsea Gray shot nearly 62 percent from the field and closed out with 24 points. Candace Parker added 14 and Nneka Ogwumike scored 13. Essence Carson and Alana Beard each contributed 12 points each.
Taurasi (27) and Griner (21) combined for 48 points and Camille Little scored 12. Griner also came within one rebound shy of a triple-double as she had nine rebounds.
With five seconds remaining, Taurasi upped her point output to 27 as her three-pointer got Phoenix to within one at 88-87. Gray was then fouled and she made one of two free throws as a game-winning three-point attempt from Taurasi was unsuccessful.
A few days later on June 18—it was the game where Taurasi made history as she set a new all-time scoring mark for the WNBA, surpassing Tina Thompson. Taurasi had 19 points for the game. It was the highlight of the night for both the game and the league, but lost in the hoop-la of the breaking of the record was how the Mercury were blown out by the Sparks with the final being 90-59 at Staples Center.
The Sparks got 18 points via Ogwumike who had another game where she contributed a very high field goal percentage—close to 90 percent from the field. Parker had 17 and eight rebounds, Riquna Williams had 15 and Gray had 12.
The blowout was essentially complete after one frame of play as Los Angeles bested Phoenix in the opening frame by a margin of 38-17. The Sparks shot nearly 50 percent from the field in opposition to the Mercury’s 33 percent. Los Angeles also shot a bit over 30 percent threes—the Mercury were under 20 percent.
On August 24, the Sparks and Mercury met one more time with the game taking place back in Phoenix. The result of this one lingered somewhere between that of the two-point nailbiter and the 31-point rout, but it was another Los Angeles win as the Sparks took the game 82-67.
A big part of that was the 28 points courtesy of Odyssey Sims as well as Ogwumike’s double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Parker and Gray eached closed out this game with 12 points each.
Griner had 18 and Emma Cannon ended up with 11 points. Taurasi did not play.
This would be another contest in which one quarter was the deciding factor. In this case it was the second when Los Angeles outscored Phoenix 26-13.
The Mercury made more free throws (10) than the Sparks attempted (8), but Los Angeles was still perfect from the charity stripe while Phoenix was 10 for 18. The Sparks’ defense was also ferocious, mustering 13 steals and forcing the Mercury into 20 turnovers.
By: Akiem Bailum (@AkiemBailum on Twitter, Instagram)
