The Guru’s WNBA Playoffs Roundup: Indiana Forces Las Vegas to Game 5 While Phoenix’s Deep Rally Knocks Out Top Seed Minnesota

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Two hometown crowds at WNBA semifinals Game 4 action Sunday afternoon and night were delighted at what became more twists and turns with stunning results as 6-seed Indiana extended 2-seed Las Vegas to a deciding Game 5 with a 90-83 victory before 16,022 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis followed by 4-seed Phoenix rallying to finish knocking out top-seed Minnesota 86-81 before 16,919 at PHX Arena and advancing to the expanded best-of-seven Finals that will get under way Friday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN at a city to be determined Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

That both chapters of the current round of playoffs are not yet closed are due to the two Indiana mainstays, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, who have played through an injury-riddled Fever squad, who's reigning 2024 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark appeared in only 13 games this season and none after July 14 because of a pulled right groin to add to prior quad and left groin pulls.

Clark, picking up from her stellar collegiate career at Iowa as the all-time NCAA scoring leader, in her WNBA debut provided the same national boost she delivered with the Hawkeyes to the women’s game causing record attendance and TV ratings.

In August, while Clark, who was injury-free since high school, was trying to get healthy, Indiana lost four more players, two in one game, in what was the remaining guard tandem of Sydney Colson, Aari McDonald and Sophie Cunningham.

While Indiana was crowding the medical ward but also receiving help from the tightest playoff race in WNBA history, Las Vegas blossomed from a mediocre start to winning the Aces’ last 16 games and an added one against Seattle when the postseason opened.

The Fever, who earned the playoffs the last week, took Game 3 in an upset at 3-seed Atlanta while Las Vegas edged 7-seed Seattle in the same contest in the Aces’ series to set up a matchup featuring stars of separate NCAA champions at South Carolina under Dawn Staley in Boston and now four-time MVP A’ja Wilson, who has two titles in her pro resume at Las Vegas.

On Sunday afternoon, Boston, an All-Star center drafted overall No. 1 in 2023, scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while Mitchell, the former Ohio State standout, scored 25 points as Indiana forced the series, tied 2-2, back to Las Vegas where the Fever won the opener in the semifinals.

Indiana was able to close out Game 4 at the end Sunday when Las Vegas mistakenly took a timeout it no longer had with 30.1 seconds left in regulation allowing the Fever to score on the technical and then connect on two more from the line for an 87-77 lead retaining possession as the Aces were forced to foul.

“It was a good old-fashioned mistake,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said afterwards of the error miscounting the Aces’ remaining timeouts.

In a late huddle as shown on the national TV broadcast Hammon told the team they had two timeouts and a reset timeout remaining, which she acknowledged at the postgame press conference.

Since the playoffs got under way, Indiana has won three straight elimination games, two against Atlanta and on Sunday.

Boston was 10-13 at the line while Mitchell also dealt four assists. Odyssey Sims, signed as a replacement when the injuries started to accumulate, scored 18 points, including four free throws in the last minute while former Stanford star Lexie Hull had seven points, seven boards, and four steals.

“It's just being confident,” Boston said. “The fans were great, everyone showed out, and we were confident shooting the ball.”

Wilson on Las Vegas had 31 points, her 17th career 30-point playoff game, one short of the WNBA record held by former UConn greats Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart. She eclipsed 1,000 points at 1,024 in playoff performances with nine rebounds, four steals, three blocks and three assists.

Jackie Young added 18 points and Chelsea Gray scored 12.

“I think we were the agressor,” Indiana coach Stephanie White said of the Fever’s change approaching the Aces. “And usually, when we're the aggressor and move the ball, good things happen for us. We attacked. We played with a sense of urgency; we made the right reads and the right plays. The ball moved really well, and we found the open player.”

At the half, Indiana went up 46-38 after an 11-2 spurt to finish the second quarter and stay ahead, not that the Aces vanished.

Las Vegas moved within a basket 71-69 in the fourth quarter, but Boston and Sims scored consecutive baskets, the Fever won the battle of 50-50 balls and got the job done at the foul line.

“They shot 34 free throws, we shot 11. Next question,” Hammon said when asked about how the game was officiated.

Mercury Rallies Over Lynx for First Finals since 2021.

Minnesota was without coach Cheryl Reeve, the former La Salle star from South Jersey, suspended for behavior and comments on officiating at the end and after Game 3, and missing runner-up MVP Napheesa Collier, suffering an ankle injury near the finish in the same game, yet the Lynx were up 13 points on the Mercury at the outset of the fourth quarter seemingly on the verge of getting their semifinal series back to the Target Center, Tuesday night.

But just like the Game 2 meltdown from a 20-point lead back in Minneapolis, the Lynx faded again making it the second straight year they fell short of a record fifth title following the controversial finish in overtime over a missed call last October at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn where New York won the Liberty’s first title in their 29-year history dating to the WNBA inaugural summer of 1997.

Phoenix has made the finals with rallies on the Lynx and in the best-of-three first round, evening the New York series with a Game 2 blowout after the Liberty took the opener in Arizona.

Should Indiana pull another upset, the Finals will open in Phoenix otherwise Las Vegas gets the home court advantage.

“We knew they were going to challenge us today and I'm just proud of how we responded,” said former Maryland star Alyssa Thomas,” the Harrisburg native and triple-double career leader in regular season and playoff action who scored 23 points while DeWanna Bonner hit two late 3-pointers to complete the comeback.

“We could have easily given up and be headed to Minnesota right now,” Thomas said. “But we stuck together and dug deep on defense.”

Thomas’ WNBA career prior to this season was in Connecticut where Indiana coach White had been in charge and Bonner followed White to the Fever, became disenchanted with her role, was let go and picked up by Phoenix.

With Reeve relegated to her hotel room, associate head coach Eric Thibault, who was the head coach in Washington last season, guided the Lynx.

The Mercury reached the final period trailing 68-55 but began another comeback getting to 70-69 on Sami Whitcomb’s shot from deep with 4:46 left and going ahead 72-70 on Bonner’s make beyond the arc and she hit one more for a 77-73 lead with 2:03 left.

The Lynx’s Kayla McBride, who had six 3-pointers in the second half, canned one to get Minnesota within a point at 77-76 with 1:04 left in regulation.

Bonner had 11 points in the final period in which Phoenix scored 31 points.

“We didn't have much of A choice,” said Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts. “We were down 13, needed to get stops. And when we get stops, we're pretty good offensively because we're playing free and we don't have time to overthink it.

“We made some great plays, some really good passes. That's what it took.”

Satou Sabally, whose sister Nayara was a factor in New York’s Game 5 victory over Minnesota in last year’s finals, scored 21 points for the Mercury.

McBride scored 31 for the Lynx and Courtney Williams scored 20.

“Got to give Phoenix credit for the way they defended in the fourth quarter,” Thibault said. “They switched and made it hard on us. We didn't get enough quality shots down the stretch.”

Rutgers grad Kahleah Copper out of North Philadelphia hit one deep early in the third quarter to put Phoenix up for the first time 41-38, but Minnesota, which dominated the league all summer, responded and looked like the team that held its own when Collier was out for a long stretch in August, outscoring the Mercury 23-9.

In the first half, Phoenix overcame a Minnesota 12-1 start to knot the score at the break 38-38.

“It was ugly at times,” said Tibbetts. “But we kept fighting.”

Phoenix, which only retained Copper and Natasha Mack from last year’s squad, is the first franchise in the WNBA to make two Finals in a five-year period without the same players on the two squads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guru’s WNBA Playoffs Roundup: Phoenix Upsets Top-Seed Minnesota While Las Vegas Downs Indiana Each Moving Within One Win of the Finals

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The expanded best-of-seven WNBA championship round is one away each after Friday night’s pivotal Game 3s in the best-of-five semifinals for a matchup that few had on their bingo cards at the All Star break two months go.

Two-seed Las Vegas on the road broke away from six-seed Indiana for an 84-72 victory before a Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd of 16,507 in Indianapolis followed by top-seed Minnesota on the road pushed to the brink of elimination 84-76 in front of a four-seed Phoenix crowd of 15,941 at PHX Arena.

The ending in the Arizona desert was testy for the visiting Lynx, who had dominated the 13-team league all summer, outscored 21-9 in the fourth quarter, in which Satou Sabally scored 15 of her 23 points for the Mercury in an ending that saw Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, the former La Salle standout from South Jersey, ejected and MVP runner up Napheesa Collier limp off the floor.

Sabally’s shot from deep put Phoenix ahead 78-76 with 3:05 remaining followed by two foul shots a minute later for a four-point lead continuing to a shut-out close as Maryland grad Alyssa Thomas out of Harrisburg got a steal and layup with 21.8 seconds to clinch the outcome.

“We closed them out, we knew what they were running,” said Sabally of the Mercury’s defense.

Ironically, a year ago Sabally’s sister Nyara was a factor in the deciding Game 5 of the Finals that saw New York at the finish in overtime edge Minnesota at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Liberty’s first title in their 28-year history dating to the WNBA’s inaugural summer in 1997.

Now after a hot start by New York and Minnesota early in the season with a potential rematch seemingly ahead, the Liberty were knocked out 2-1 by Phoenix a week ago in the opening round with coach Sandy Brondello fired on Monday and the Lynx needing a win in Sunday’s Game 4 at 8 p.m. on ESPN to get the series back to the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Game 4 in the other series on Sunday will air at 3 p.m. on ABC.

Reeve got her second technical after the Mercury’s last bucket.

On that play, Collier got hurt, rolling her ankle, and had to be helped off the floor.

That soon was followed by Reeve in the Lynx press conference ripping the officiating over letting the game get too physical and saying Collier “probably has a fracture” though no details were given.

“We talked about how dangerous it can be,” Reeve referred to physicality and back to pre-game queries on officiating. “You’re hearing it through the series. You’re hearing other coaches. You’re hearing (Las Vegas coach) Becky (Hammon) talk about when you let the physicality happen, people get hurt, there’s fights, and this is the look our league wants, for some reason.

“We were trying to play through it. We tried to make excuses. One of best players in the league shot zero free throws. And she had had five fouls. Had her shoulder pulled out. And finished the game with her leg being taken out.

“Probably has a fracture. If this is what our league wants, ok. But I want to call for a change of leadership when it comes to officiating at the league level. It’s bad for the game,” Reeve continued.

“The officiating crew that we had for the game tonight, the leadership to deem those three people semi finals playoff worthy, is (bleep) malpractice. I can take an ‘L’ with the best of them. I Don't think we should have to play through what they did to the players. I think it’s crap. I think it’s (bleeping) awful.”

Meanwhile, Thomas, the WNBA’s regular and playoff career leader in triple doubles, had 21 points as did Rutgers grad Kahleah Copper out of North Philadelphia for Phoenix in the tightly contested game that saw 15 lead changes.

“This is a team that believes in each other — been overlooked a little all year,” said Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts. “But one thing we are is tough and we fight, we compete, and we did that in the fourth. “We made it hard on every possession and that's what good defensive teams do.”

Minnesota reserve Natisha Hiedeman scored 19 points, Collier scored 17, shooting 8-15 from the field, and Courtney Williams scored 14.

The Lynx were behind four points, 48-44, at the half but went into the final period up 67-63 propelled by Hiedeman scoring eight points in the closing five minutes of the third quarter.

Phoenix, losing the opening game of the playoffs, came back and routed the Liberty in New York to send the series back home for Game 3, then equalled the semifinals by rallying from a 20-point deficit in Minneapolis to win in overtime to capture the home advantage for the next two games to try and close out the Lynx.

The comeback tied for third in the league’s playoff history.

Minnesota was in the same position in last season’s Finals, but at home, when they forced Game 5, which also had a controversial ending over missed calls.

Young Leads the Aces

The bravado run of the injury-riddled Fever, which upset 3-seed Atlanta on the road to advance and took the semis opener at Las Vegas, may have run its course.

Jackie Young scored 25 points in a home-state return while NaLyssa Smith thwarted her former team with 16 points as Las Vegas since the record 53-point home wipeout to Minnesota, won 17 straight, including the first-round opener, then fell in a rally by Seattle before edging the Storm at the finish of Game 3 to advance, and then fell in the opener of the semis before winning Games 2 and 3.

Though the Aces came into the season in the wake of back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 and a semifinals loss to New York last fall, they struggled heading into August barely in the eight-team playoff mix before reigniting on the play of now four-time MVP A’ja Wilson.

In this one, though, the star of Dawn Staley’s first of three NCAA titles at South Carolina, after she got the game under way with a 3-pointer, missed her next 11 shots before finishing with 13 points, eight boards, four assists and three blocks.

Chelsea Gray added 15 points with six assists.

That Indiana got this far would have been no surprise back in May with game-changer Caitlin Clark coming in off her Rookie of the Year season, but the former Iowa sensation and all-time NCAA scorer, who had been injury-free since high school, only appeared in 13 games and had not played since July 14 after suffering a right groin pull and unable to complete a rehab fast enough for the playoffs.

Then in August, while still hopeful of a Clark recovery, Indiana lost four more players, two in the same game and all guards, to season-ending injuries.

Still, the way this WNBA season has gone league-wide, the Aces are not considering the Finals are in the bag.

“We just have to get the job done Sunday,” said Young, who was the Indiana girls’ basketball career scoring leader with 3,268 points. “The job’s not finished yet. Second round, right?”

Former Ohio State standout Kelsey Mitchell, fifth in the five-player MVP balloting who kept Indiana in the playoff hunt through all the injuries, scored 21 points, while Lexie Hull double doubled with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Aliyah Boston, Indiana’s No. 1 overall pick out of South Carolina the season prior to Clark, had 12 points, eight boards, and four assists for the Fever who stayed competitive early with what became an overallgg 16-4 edge on the offensive boards.

But the Fever’s demise came between the third and fourth quarter on a near nine-minute drought unable to make shots allowing Las Vegas an 8-0 run to build a 12-point lead.

“I thought we got a lot of good shots. Didn't make a lot of them, you know,” said Indiana coach Stephanie White. “We missed some opportunities at the free throw line and then got a little stagnant. We were still in a good spot, though, because we were still getting stops until about the middle of the fourth quarter.”

The Fever still had a chance until the drought caused by the Aces’ defensive stand.

“We know how important defense is for us, that's something that we've been really dialed into, something we've been focused on,” Smith said. “Defense is like our core focus. When our defense is on, our offense is 10 times better.”

In the offseason as Indiana tried to build around Clark, Smith was dealt to Dallas but then ended up with the Aces.

The Guru’s WNBA Playoffs Roundup: Las Vegas Cruises Over Indiana While Phoenix Erases 20-Point Deficit to No. 1 Minnesota to Each Tie the Best-of-Five Semis 1-1

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

On Tuesday in the WNBA best-of-five semifinals, both Game 2 sites saw their respective series go even up 1-1 as 2-seed Las Vegas at home looked like the powerhouse that ran off 17 straight wins through the first round opener in a 90-68 victory against 6-seed Indiana before a crowd of 10,516 in Michelob ULTRA Arena while over in the Midwest 4-seed Phoenix pulled the stunning rally act on the road overcoming a 20-point deficit to beat top-seed Minnesota 89-83 in overtime before a crowd of 10,824 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

“When the pressure starts to escalate, I know they know how to cook under pressure,” said Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said of her team’s recovery from Sunday’s upset loss. “So, I just trust them. I'm fiery over there. I'm Italian. I can't help it, but they're cool under pressure.”

Earlier Tuesday after defending champion New York, seeded fifth, failed to make it out of the first round losing to Phoenix Friday on the road in decisive Game 3, Liberty management fired coach Sandy Brondello.

Back in the semifinals, for now, the two under-seeds will have home court advantage the next two games on Friday and Sunday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis beginning with Game 3 at 7.30 p.m. Friday night and followed by Phoenix at 9:30 p.m. in PHX Arena, both on ESPN2.

Whoever wins those two contests will be in position to advance to the expanded best-of-seven Finals by completing 2-0 sweeps on Sunday afternoon and night.

Lynx Suffer Rare Massive Meltdown Losing to Mercury

Coming into the first round Minnesota had outpaced the league all season finishing at 34-10 and four games in front of the second-place duo of Las Vegas and Atlanta.

The Lynx were the only team to advance to the semifinals with a 2-0 sweep, though it went down to the very end before defeating the expansion Golden State Valkyries 75-74 on the road.

On Sunday Minnesota had recovered from a lackluster first half to stymie Phoenix 82-69 and roared into the third period Tuesday building a 59-39 lead with with 5:45 left in the quarter before the Mercury began chipping away.

Kathryn Westbeld’s 3-pointer shaved the deficit to eight points at 62-54 heading into the final ten minutes in an arena in which Phoenix had not won in ten earlier attempts.

The surge continued with Satou Sabally scoring 11 of her 24 points for Phoenix in the fourth quarter and she was 5-11 on 3-point attempts in the game while Maryland alum Alyssa Thomas out of Harrisburg, whose entire WNBA career had been with the Connecticut Sun before this season, finished with 19 points 13 assists.

The comeback was greased in the third period with four unforced turnovers committed by the Lynx.

“They ripped the game from us,” said Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, the former La Salle standout from South Jersey.

Down three with four seconds left in regulation after Sami Whitcomb missed an attempted shot from the top of the key to force overtime the Mercury on the ensuing offensive board gave her another chance from the wing and she sank it to send the game in overtime after MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier’s jumper was short.

“And they still trust me to make that shot,” said Whitcomb, who finished with 13 points.

Thomas’ and-one play with 3:32 left in regulation brought Phoenix to finish erasing a span of 33:28 in which Minnesota held the lead.

“We’re confident in us, and we've been battling all season long,” Sabally said. “You Can't give up a basketball game if you're down.”

The rally was third longest in playoffs history.

“A lot of teams would have packed it in,” said Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts, who along with Reeve and Las Vegas’ Hammon are the only coaches left on the same teams from the 2024 season following the dismissal of Seattle’s Noelle Quinn and New York’s Brondello in the last two days while Stephanie White switched from Connecticut to Indiana in the offseason.

Collier matched Sabally’s 24 points for the Lynx, the loss ruining her 29th birthday, while Kayla McBride scored 21 and Courtney Williams collected 20 points with nine assists, but the Minnesota bench was outscored by a lopsided total 25-3.

“You have to play like that to get back in the game, and that's exactly what they did,” Collier said of the Mercury change in attitude after the break.

The Lynx might have won in regulation had they not been charged with a 5-second inbound violation with 46 seconds left.

Thomas then scored for Phoenix to cut it to one and the Lynx got it back to three on a pair of free throws before Whitcomb’s shot to tie the game.

Ace’s Wilson Leads Attack on Fever

In Las Vegas, the Aces’ A’ja Wilson, the WNBA’s first four-time MVP, easily finishing ahead of Collier and Thomas, scored 25 points with nine boards and a personal playoff best five steals.

Going into August, Las Vegas was struggling to stay within the eight-team cutoff for the playoffs in the 13-team league, a span ending with a WNBA all-time worst 53-point home loss 111-58 to Minnesota before the 17-game win streak began the next day.

“I think Game 2, we just decided to come to work,” Wilson said. “When we do that and we play the right way, good things happen. I don't necessarily think (the opener) was a wake-up call. I told my team was embarrassed less than the 53-point loss. No one panicked.”

NaLyssa Smith, a past Fever player, shot 7-9 from the field and scored 18 points for the Aces, Jackie Young collected 13 points, Jewell Loyd and Dana Evans each scored 10, and Chelsea Gray dealt 10 assists.

Indiana’s Odyssey Sims scored 18, while Lexie Hull scored 15, Kelsey Mitchell was held to 13 points after scoring 34 in Sunday’s upset and Aliyah Boston limited to 10.

“The reality is they came in, and they were physical, and they dictated,” Indiana's White said. “We were on our heels, and we were passive, and we were reactive to everything. Twenty-eight points off of turnovers, 14 points off of offensive rebounds. They are too good.

“We can't spot them 42,” White said.

 “They've been world champions (‘22 and ‘23) for a reason. They have a mentality they know exactly how to compete at this stage at this level. We've got to be able to respond, and we've got to be able to rise to that challenge.”

The Fever entered the playoffs with five players, led by 2024 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark, out with season-ending injuries and a sixth in concussion protocol.

Clark was ruled out just before the playoffs but only played 13 games all season and hadn’t played since July 14 dealing with a right groin pull.

She was injury free her stellar collegiate career at Iowa and WNBA rookie season.

Hull was doubtful for Tuesday night due to a back injury and wore a brace when seated on the bench.

“I'm feeling sore still,” she said. “Part of the playoffs, I think, for everyone. End of the season, everyone's a little fatigued, everyone's a little sore.”