On Tuesday night, the WNBA delivered some delicious pre-playoff drama.
Edwin Garcia covered the happenings with Minnesota Lynx, who clinched the No. 1 seed in the playoffs—despite an ominous loss to the Indiana Fever.
The Portland Fire, immune to any tanking incentives, gifted Minnesota the top spot by upsetting the Golden State Valkyries in overtime. Carla Leite burnished the clutch bona fides she’s been polishing throughout her sophomore season, with critical buckets at the end of regulation and in OT.
Elsewhere, the Washington Mystics and Las Vegas Aces took care of business.
Against the Connecticut Sun, the Mystics notched win No. 27, a new franchise record that, as Beckett Harrison already explained, is a meaningful milestone for the WNBA’s youngest team. The Aces, sitting at the opposite end of the experience spectrum, continued to quietly build their title-defense momentum, winning their sixth-straight game against the Los Angeles Sparks.
Another Vegas win, in conjunction with Golden State’s loss, leaves open the possibility that the Aces could leap into the No. 2 seed; at worst, Vegas will stay in the No. 3 seed. Washington also established their seeding floor with their win, as they will not drop below the No. 7 seed. The Mystics could still rise as high as No. 5. The current No. 5 seed, Indiana, could still take the No. 4 seed, while they also will not fall further than the No. 6 seed.
All those hypotheticals will get somewhat more clear tonight when three playoff-bound teams—the Atlanta Dream, New York Liberty and Dallas Wings—play their final regular-season games.
The No. 4-seed Dream and No. 8-seed Liberty meet in a rematch of Monday night’s game (8 p.m. ET, USA Network).
If the Dream are heading back to Atlanta with the two-game sweep, they will be the owners of the No. 4 seed—and homecourt advantage in the first round. That loss would lock the Liberty into the No. 8-seed, setting them up for a quite interesting first-round series with a stumbling Lynx team that New York twice has beaten this season, including rather resoundingly last Friday.
If the Liberty get revenge, they’ll be alive for as high as the No. 6-seed, with the loss making the No. 5 seed a possibility for Atlanta.
Dallas, the current No. 7 seed, will be rooting for an Atlanta win. As long as they defeat the Seattle Storm (10 p.m. ET, USA Network/CNBC), they’ll stick in the No. 7 seed with a Liberty loss. If Seattle pulls off the upset, then Dallas most likely will be the No. 8 seed.
Of course, that presumes that the Wings would prefer to play the No. 2 seed, either the Valkyries or Aces, over the Lynx. Dallas performed well against Vegas this season, winning two of three games; in contrast, they were swept by the Lynx and Valkyries. Yet, Minnesota is looking quite vulnerable, while Vegas appears to be rounding into championship form.
If Dallas, or any other team, decides to engage in some potential playoff matchup manipulation in their final regular season game, attempting to sort out an already very unsettled playoff picture becomes even more maddening. Presumably, every team facing uncertain seeding scenarios will decide it’s best to control their own destiny and attempt to win, even if there’s compelling case for a strategic loss.
What’s your still-subject-to-change playoff seeding prediction? How is all this mess going to shake out? And if you were in control, what matchups do you want to see?
Share your predictions, preferences and more in the comments.
