WNBA: Get Your Magic Numbers and What's Needed for Seeds by Teams in Playoff Hunt

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

And now to flip our WNBA tracking to the end of the regular season instead of our ongoing bottom’s up posts on the race for the top lottery picks here are all the permutations in terms of finishes for the playoffs and magic number or what teams have to do to reach each attainable position.

First let’s take the East with standings and games left.

New York 21-9 (4) @ Minn (Sun), Conn. (Wed); Wash (Fri); @Ind (Sun).
Chicago 19-12 (3) Seattle (Sun); Tulsa (Fri); @ Conn. (Sun).
Indiana 18-13 (3) @ Wash (Tue); @ Atlanta (Fri); New York (Sun).
Wash 16-14 (4) @ Atlanta (Sun); Ind (Tue); at New York (Fri); Atlanta (Sun.)
Atlanta 12-18 (4) Wash (Sun); Los Angeles (Wed); Ind (Fri); @ Wash (Sun).

Eastern Playoff Race
New York to finish first has a magic number 1 over Chicago and Indiana after the Fever loss Friday to Minnesota. If Chicago gets to 22, New York owned the Sky during the season.

Chicago must sweep and New York lose all four games to finish first.
There can be a three-way tie for first but we will not pursue that unless still alive later in the week.
The Sky magic number to finish over Indiana in second is two since Chicago won season series.

Indiana with a sweep and New York losing all four can finish first since the Fever won the season series over the Liberty.
The Fever need to finish one better than Chicago for second since the Sky won the season series.
Indiana also needs to win two to clinch third since Fever won season series over Washington.

Washington can finish second by sweeping last four games and Chicago losing its three. Sky won season series.
The Mystics can finish at least third going either 4-0, assuming Chicago got to 21 wins for second, and Indiana losing two or Washington goes 3-1 and Indiana going 1-2 and losing to Washington on Tuesday to lose season series which is tied.
Washington needs one win for fourth to knock out Atlanta or at least one Dream loss.

Atlanta must win all its remaining games to finish fourth and send Washington to the lottery.

Western Playoff Race

Minnesota 21-10 (3) New York (Sun), Seattle (Tues); at Seattle (Fri).
Phoenix 18-13 (3) @ San Antonio (Sat), Los Angeles (Fri); at Tulsa (Sun).
Tulsa 16-14 (4) @ Los Angeles (Sun), San Antonio (Tues); @ Chicago (Fri); Phoenix (Sun).
Los Angeles 13-18 (3) Tulsa (Sun); @ Atlanta (Wed); @ Phoenix (Fri).
Seattle 9-21 (4) @ Chicago (Sun); @ Minn. (Tues); Minn. (Fri); San Antonio (Sun).

Minnesota needs one win or Phoenix loss to clinch West since Mercury won season series otherwise Lynx drop at worst to second.

Phoenix needs to sweep three games and Minnesota to lose all three to finish first in season series win to gain first place tie breaker.
Mercury magic number to finish second over Tulsa is two since Phoenix won season series.
The worst Phoenix can finish is third.

Tulsa needs to go 4-0 or 3-1 to finish second over Phoenix and needs to beat the Mercury in their last meeting in this equation.
The Shock magic number to finish third is one win or Los Angeles loss but note the Sparks and Tulsa are tied 2-2 in series so Sunday’s game in Los Angeles is big.

Los Angeles needs a win or Seattle loss to clinch a playoff berth in fourth. The Sparks can finish third by going 3-0 and Tulsa going 0-4.

Seattle needs to win its last four games while Los Angeles loses its remaining three games to bump the Sparks out of the playoffs, winning the season series serving as a fourth-place tiebreak for the Storm.

That’s it and after the weekend, the Guru will also return to this to update the playoff seed race.

-- Mel





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