Guru’s WNBA Report: Las Vegas Sets Up 1-2 Showdown With Seattle While Washington Tops New York to Reach Brink of the Playoffs

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

The Washington Mystics took care of part one of the two-day back-to-back taking control of the defending WNBA champions’ own destiny Saturday afternoon to reach the postseason by easily beating the last place New York Liberty 75-58, which put them a full-game at 8-13 ahead of the ninth place Dallas Wings (7-14) in eighth place and also knocked the idle Atlanta Dream (7-14) out of contention for the final spot in the playoff field ahead of Tuesday’s openers.

 

Meanwhile, at the high end the Las Vegas Aces muffled the Los Angeles Sparks 84-70 putting the Hollywood land crew (15-7) into third place in their final regular season game with a one-game bye into Thursday’s second-round.

 

The win kept the Aces (17-4) in second one-game behind the front-running Seattle Storm (18-3) heading into Sunday’s 1-2 showdown on the final day of the WNBA’s coronavirus-shortened 22-game regular season inside the wubble better known as the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

And in the middle, already assured of fourth place, the Minnesota Lynx (14-8) finished there alone ahead of the Phoenix Mercury (15-9) with the other one-game bye into Thursday by beating Indiana 98-86 as the Fever (6-16) finished alone in 11^th place.

 

Showdown Sunday

 

That brings us to Sunday, a day on the original schedule to be blank until several weeks ago when each of the 12 WNBA teams over a two-day span stood down supporting their NBA brothers in protest of the recent police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., as well as promulgating other social justice causes such as the Black Lives Matter movement.

 

Three of the six postponements have since been made up and the final three come Sunday thus by nature of a season in which each team played predominantly every other day, consider it a matter of playoff frenzy.

 

It begins like this at noon on CBSSN when Dallas meets New York in a must-win situation to have a chance to take back a slot seemingly theirs when they downed the Mystics a week ago with a rally culminated by Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale firing a three-pointer at the end of regulation to force an overtime dominated by her and the Texans to go up one on the Mystics with a 101-96 victory.

 

But the defending champs would not die, though with the schedule facing them, that looming fatality seemed their fate until they upset Minnesota 89-86 on Tuesday, did likewise to Los Angeles 80-72, on Thursday and took care of business Saturday to hold the eighth spot they retook courtesy of Dallas losing to Seattle 107-95 on Wednesday and getting upset by Chicago 95-88 on a late rally Friday night.

 

If Dallas wins, then Washington in the final overall game of the regular season at 5 p.m. must beat Atlanta or Dallas will earn the spot via tiebreaker on a 2-0 series sweep of the Mystics.

 

On Tuesday when the postseason begins, after sixth-place Chicago plays seventh-place Connecticut at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, the eighth-seed, Washington or Dallas will meet fifth-seeded Phoenix at 9 p.m.

 

Meanwhile, in the middle of all this Sunday back at the top, though ownership of the perks of the top two seeds and double byes into the best-of-five semifinals have been determined, it’s a 1-2 showdown at 3 p.m. on ABC to determine who is the one and who is the two.

 

For all the Seattle season-long glory, should they lose and the teams finish in a tie, Las Vegas will be the No. seed courtesy of a season 2-0 sweep.

 

Individually, beyond what’s at stake for the teams Sunday, there are perceived very tight races for postseason awards and voters are likely to wait for the complete final standings, so in the case of the Seattle-Las Vegas game, the Storm’s Breanna Stewart and the Aces’ A’ja Wilson are both in the hunt along with Los Angeles’ Candice Parker and several other players for MVP honors.

 

Washington Slams New York

 

The Mystics powered to a 9-0 start, let the game then get a little competitive, and the rode on to Sunday’s showdown with Atlanta, which won’t be a showdown if the Liberty come back and take the loss out on Dallas earlier in the day.

 

Former Louisville star Myisha Hines-Allen had another monster day for Washington, scoring 25 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and dealing four assists. She also had three steals.

 

Ariel Atkins had 18 points with five steals, and Leilani Mitchell scored 12.

 

New York (2-19), very young, as well as snakebitten from the outset when top overall draft pick Sabrina Ionescu out of Oregon suffered a season-ending injury in her third game, got 15 points each from the UConn alumni duo of Kia Nurse and Kiah Stokes.

 

“I just think the grittiness to stay in the grind and see what happens,” Washington coach Mike Thibault said of the resiliency of his team down the stretch, especially in a season after losing prominent roster members at the outset such as Elena Delle Donne, Tina Charles, and Natasha Cloud to injury, CVID-19 issues, or opt outs before arriving in Florida, that began 3-0 and then went into long tailspins.

 

“The theme of the week after we lost to Dallas, was, `Here’s what we might have to do, we might have to win them all, so let’s go try and win them all, and so far we have’” he continued.

 

“They’ve stuck together. They’ve played hard and as a coach right now with the situation we’ve been put in this summer and everything that’s happened, that’s a testament to their character, and give them an opportunity to control their own fate.”

 

As far Hines-Allen’s major improvement, Thibault said, “I’d be lying if I said she would reach this, I thought we would see some of what she’s been working on. 

“We saw it all last year during our season after practice working on her three-point shot, we knew she had that, she spent time last year working on her ball handling, but just getting a feel for balancing playing inside-outside, taking the ball, I don’t know if any of us thought it would come to this height.

 

“We had hoped she would become a double-figurer scorer, she’s rebounded the ball, but in my estimation, she’s clearly a candidate for all-league, maybe second team, because she’s put herself among the (top) players in the league, both statistically, and she’s dominated in some games against some of the best players.

 

“It would be different if she was just playing against backups and everything else, now she’s playing against the best players in the league and having these performances and she’s done it against some of the best teams, too,” Thibault said. “That’s a testament to all the work she’s put in.”

 

Of Atlanta, he said, “This is a team along with us who have been the most improved over the last three or four weeks. This is a tough, physical team. It’s going to be a tough matchup and we’re going to have to be ready to keep the ball and not let them get out with their quickness.”

 

From New York, coach Walt Atkins noted “Turnovers (25) were the name of the game for us tonight. (Washington) executed their defensive principles very well. It’s a good learning game. It didn’t feel the game was that far apart. It’s plagued us all year.”

 

Las Vegas Handles Los Angeles To Set Up Seattle Showdown

 

It could be a preview for the WNBA finals with 1 playing 2 Sunday with the winner being called the No. 1 seed and Las Vegas got there off its 84-70 win that sent Los Angeles back to the third seed for the playoffs.

 

Dealing on the front of a back-to-back, A’ja Wilson had 19 points and eight rebounds, while dealing three assists, with pairs of steals and assists for Las Vegas, while Angel McCoughtry had 18 points and six rebounds, and Kayla McBride scored 17 and dealt six assists.

 

On the Sparks, Nneka Ogwumike, the Stanford grad and president of the WNBA players union, had a season-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds in their final regular season game, former Tennessee standout Candace Parker had 19 points, 10 rebounds, and dealt five assists, Chelsea Gray dealt 11 assists, and Riquana Williams scored 10.

 

With the bye into the second round of one game and holding third seed, Los Angeles meets the lower of the two winning seeds from Tuesday’s 7-Connecticut/6-Chicago and 5-Phoenix/8-Washington or potential 8-Dallas matchups.

 

Los Angeles coach Derek Fisher said afterwards, “The most important thing is getting these ladies some rest, some recovery, mentally and physically over the next few days, so that we can start to feel the energy that it’s going to take to win Thursday night.

 

“If we can get healthy and find a way to play good basketball at the right time, we feel like we still have a chance to compete for a championship. The things that have worked for us are when we’re playing together, and sharing the basketball and moving it,” Fisher said.”We need to play better more efficiently.”

 

Ogwumike talked about shaking off the two straight losses heading to the postseason.

 

“One thing (Derek Fisher) does really well is he doesn’t allow us to dwell,” she said. “He preaches about moving on, moving forward, attending to what is happening right now. We very much understand the season is not over, and that’s something we can look forward to. We’re looking forward to getting that rest and really come into this playoff swing with some new energy and a great run.”

 

A year ago, the Sparks got bounced 3-0 by Connecticut in the semifinals leading to a tumultuous offseason that saw longtime general manager Penny Toler being let go, besides debate over the use of Parker in the final game.

 

But it’s a different season, one of course with new procedures to actually enable the WNBA to survive in a bubble and get this far without major issues regarding the coronavirus, though each of the  teams have had their own situations with which to cope.

 

Looking ahead, Parker noted, “We’re talented enough to be scoring 85-90 in the postseason. Tonight, we just scored 70. Yes, it is on the defensive end, but also when we are in our half court set we have to move and cut with a purpose and get somebody else open.

 

“I feel like the season is just beginning,” Parker said. “The regular season is great, but that is not what you play for. I think, overall, we got better, everyone was in the same situation being in the bubble playing every other day.”

 

Meanwhile, Las Vegas coach Bill Laimbeer, who won three titles with the former Detroit Shock and had several other contingents out of Motown play for the title, said, “our bench was still our strength. They didn’t over perform but contributed in other ways.

 

“We’re going to go play basketball,” he said of Sunday’s matchup. “I’m not going to slow us down and try make us what we’re not. I have a lot of depth. I can run people in and out. If we win we get the number one seed, if we don’t we get the number two.

 

“But they’re all good, no matter who we play. Just go play basketball. We beat Seattle once. It’s still a mental game. We’re going to eyeball them. They’re going to eyeball us, and we’ll see what happens. We’re going to need all weapons. I’m looking to this next series, no matter who we play.

 

“It’s not one-and-done when you’re gone with an injury or official’s call.”

 

Minnesota Tops Indiana

 

The Lynx got ready for their second-round Thursday playoff matchup against an opponent to be determined by finishing Indiana’s season with a 98-86 victory.

 

Minnesota reigning rookie of the year Napheesa Collier had another standout performance in her second season as the former UConn great scored 23 and grabbed eight rebounds while rookie Crystal Dangerfield out of UConn was rested.

 

No problem there.

 

Rachel Banham picked up the slack with 29 points and dealt 10 assists, while Damiris Dantas had 15 points and dealt eight assists, Odyssey Sims scored 12, and Shenise Johnson had 10 points.

“Once those two threes went down in the first quarter, yeah, I was really feeling it,” Banham smiled during the postgame presser.

 

Indiana, which will be 11^th when the final regular season standings are posted Sunday night, got 20 points from Kelsey Mitchell, while Tiffany Mitchell scored 14, Temple grad Candice Dupree scored 12, and rookie Julie Allemand scored 11.

 

The game was a matchup of two coaches with Philly backgrounds with Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve from South Jersey in suburban Philadelphia having starred at La Salle while first-year Indy coach Marianne Stanley starred on Immaculata, and coached Old Dominion to three national titles, two in the AIAW and one in the NCAA besides also being on several WNBA staffs, including the champion Washington Mystics.

 

As for the way the Lynx played in what became a tuneup, Reeve said, “Obviously, Rachel is really capable and we’ve seen that in a lot of different games. She really rose up. We had a late scratch in Crystal.

 

“We haven’t been here that long. There was an element of monotony being here in the bubble, the NBA players can tell you that. Certainly I cannot give our players enough credit. Certainly the entire league, as difficult as this situation is.

 

“We love playing the game. But it took a lot of digging deep at certain times to fight through the monotony. But literally every other day, your days are identical if you’re playing, certainly your off days, so it’s what you’d expect in challenges.

 

“We understand outside the bubble there’s a lot of challenges, too. It’s not that they didn’t have fun but you have to work yourself through and I can use myself as a barometer.  Certainly I don’t know if (WNBA Commissioner) Cathy (Engelbert) and her team knew it could go as well as it could. The situation was fluid when it had to be fluid in terms of protocol. The quarantining, while it was difficult to do, but it kept us safe so credit to Cathy and her team.

As for resting Dangerfield, “This has been a hard rookie year, so we decided it was best to find a way through it for the bigger picture, so we were thankful Rachel had her back.

“We wanted to play better, so that was the mission. Certainly we wanted to win. So that was the mojo to bring some momentum into the next game.”

 

Indy’s Stanley said of Banham’s game on the opposition, “No disrespect. She’s a really, really good player. She’s one of those types of players if she makes a couple of shots and has confidence, she can go off.

 

“We talked about knowing where she was. We talked about the fact she’s a really good three-point shooter, but she got away from us and made us pay. You have to tip your hat to her. She also had a good floor game. She was an all-star. And Napheesa Collier also had a good game. Couldn’t find a way to shut them down.”

 

Dupree became the sixth on the all-time rebounding list.

 

“I want to congratulate Candice on a tremendous achievement. That put’s her up there where she deservedly belong with some of the best who have played this game,” Stanley said.

 

As for putting the season in perspective, “No one likes losing. So you want to remember what this feels like so you don’t have to experience it again. Our goal is to improve and be a playoff caliber team. The schedule really hurt us. Being the last team got us off to bad start. And then it was injury after injury.

 

“We didn’t really have the kind of training camp a new coaching staff likes to have,” Stanley said.

 

“I’m proud of our players for being as resilient as they were. Beating Seattle was a big win. As you can see in this league there are no easy wins. Every time out it was a struggle. We’re going to build on the bright spots.” 

 

And that’s the report.