Guru’s WNBA Report: Minnesota Edges Chicago While Seattle and Los Angeles Also Win at the Top of the League Standings

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

In the focus game of the night Wednesday among the three-game WNBA card as the shortened season comes down the stretch the Minnesota Lynx edged the Chicago Sky 86-83 to hold fourth and stay on the heels of the three teams in front.

 

Both teams are now officially in the postseason mix making five of eight slots.

 

The Los Angeles Sparks answered the Minnesota threat by beating the Dallas Wings 91-83 to move for the moment alone in second place 0.5 games behind the Seattle Storm, who answered everybody’s threat by beating the defending champion Washington Mystics 71-64 in the late game at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

So your standings at the top in the race for the first two seeds and double byes in the semifinals has Seattle (14-3) at a game in front of Los Angeles (13-4), 1.5 games in front of the idle Las Vegas Aces (12-4), two games ahead of Minnesota (12.5), 3.5 in front of fifth place Chicago (11-7), and 4.0 in front of the Phoenix Mercury (10-7), which has five games remaining on the 22-game sked reduced from the what was to be the new normal 36 which was reduced because of the coronavirus.

 

On the back end, in the fight at the bottom to finish filling the eight playoff slots, the Connecticut Sun (8-9) is seventh, two games in front of Dallas (6-11), which held eighth despite the loss.

 

Trying to upend the teams immediate front are the Indiana Fever (5-12), a game behind Dallas, Washington, which trails the Wings by 1.5 games with six remaining, the Atlanta Dream (4-13), which is two games off the playoff pace, and the New York Liberty (2-14), who are 3.5 games behind Dallas.

 

As Far as how the Minnesota game with Chicago went, Damiras Dantas had 28 points propelled by a perfect 5-of-5 on three point attempts for the Lynx, and rookie Crystal Dangerfield scored 15.

 

Chicago, which saw Courtney Vandersloot set a WNBA record last time out with 18 assists, got 23 from Allie Quigley, who is married to Vandersloot, who scored 15 and dealt 12 assists, Cheyenne Parker had a double double with 20 points and 15 rebounds, while Rutgers grad and Philly native Kahleah Copper had 10 points.

 

Minnesota led all the way in the final quarter but had to withstand a closing rush that ended when Vandersloot missed a potential game-tying three-pointer for Chicago.a time expired.

 

Meanwhile, Los Angeles stopped Minnesota from gaining ground by beating Dallas as Candace Parker had 22 points, 10 rebounds, and dealt six assists. She also blocked a shot.

 

Brittney Sykes scored 19 points, Chelsea Gray scored 16, and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt scored 10.

 

Nneka Ogwumike, the Stanford grad and president of the players union, missed another game for the Sparks after recently leaving a game with back problems.

 

Dallas, trying to hold eighth at worst and perhaps move up a spot, got 17 points from former Notre Dame star Arike Ogunbowale, while Allisha Gray and rookie Satou Sabally out of Oregon each scored 16, and Sabally grabbed 11 rebounds, Marina Mabrey had 13, and Kayla Thornton scored 11.

 

Each team is playing the other 11 twice and it was that Washington faced Seattle for the first time since they helped open the season in late July.

 

The Mystics were upset winners that day and went on to win their first three despite a slew of roster losses due to injuries and opt-outs. Since then, though they’ve only won once, though are still alive in the playoffs while Seattle had powered through despite a recent two-game losing streak to keep the race at the top close.

 

That continued Wednesday as Sue Bird returned for Seattle from a knee injury. Breanna Stewart had 16 points and 14 rebounds, Natasha Howard had 13 points and nine rebounds, Jewell Loyd scored 13, and Bird in 25 minutes, scored nine.

 

Washington, which lost several notables for the season due to injuries and opt-outs such as Saint Joseph’s grad Natasha Cloud and Delaware sensation Elena Delle Donne, got 17 points from Belgian star Emma Meesseman, who was the first reserve to become playoffs MVP last season, while Tianna Hawkins and Jackie Gemelos each scored 10.

 

Looking Ahead

 

Your focus game of the night on Thursday has Connecticut, which hasn’t won much against teams with winning records, meeting Las Vegas, which will be looking to close its Seattle gap to a half-game when they meet at eight on twitter.

 

The opening game has the bottom two teams fighting to mathematically stay in the playoff race as Atlanta meets New York at 7 on CBSSN.

 

The nightcap at 10 on Facebook has Indiana, trying to stay in the playoff hunt, meeting Phoenix, which is trying to become the official sixth qualifying team.

 

On Friday, your marquee game has Seattle meeting Los Angeles at 10 on Facebook.

 

“I think it’s going to be a great barometer of letting us know where we are at this point of the season,” Los Angeles second year coach Derek Fisher said following Wednesday’s victory. “One thing we’ve been talking about since April 26, even before that, is falling in love with the process of becoming a champion. Not being focused on the outcome of any particular game but the real process of being great and becoming great.”

 

Parker also spoke of the next opponent, saying, “We need to win,” also noting the build of momentum off Dallas. “At this point, you can’t look past teams. Everyone in the WNBA has proven they can beat everybody..

 

“No this was not us playing hard to try to gain momentum to beat Seattle, we had to beat Dallas. Tomorrow we will prepare for Seattle.”

 

The trifecta of games Friday begin with Chicago playing Washington at 7 on twitter before Minnesota and Dallas meet at 8 on Facebook.

 

On Saturday Connecticut and Indiana meet at 4 on Facebook, followed by Las Vegas and Atlanta at 6 on Facebook, and concluding with Phoenix and New York at 8 on twitter.

 

And for now that’s the report.