The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: Connecticut Rally Spoils Phoenix Chase for Second Place; Minnesota Surge Overcomes Golden State

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

It is less than a week until the WNBA record 44-game record regular season concludes on Thursday, Sept. 11 but twists and turns continue to happen until the playoff pairings are set once the final results hit the history books.

The postseason begins three days later Sunday, Sept. 14 with all four games in the best-of-three first round action, reset to a 1-1-1 format, getting under way airing on ABC and ESPN.

Six of the eight teams in the field have been decided, while the magic number is down to No.1 for seventh place Indiana (22-20) and eighth-place Seattle (22-21), each needing either a win in the Fever’s final two games and Storm’s final game or a loss by 9th-place Los Angeles (19-22), which has three games left and sits two games behind the cutoff.

The rest in the 13-team league, in order, Washington (16-26), Connecticut (11-31), Chicago (10-31) and Dallas (9-30) have been eliminated and are reduced to being spoilers in various modes, which is what Connecticut pulled off in one of two games Saturday.

The Sun rallied to beat Phoenix 87-84 before a sellout crowd of 8,910, their sixth of the season, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, near New London.

The Mercury (27-15) had been in the hunt with Atlanta (28-14) and Las Vegas (27-14), all three tied twice this week, for second place.

Going into Sunday, Atlanta is alone in second, five behind Minnesota (33-9), which had wrapped up the No. 1 seed for home advantage if advancing in the best-of-five semifinals and record best-of-seven finals, which have been increased by two games.

Las Vegas is a half-game behind the Dream on a 13-game win streak, and Phoenix with the loss, drops to fourth two games in front of the fifth place and defending champion New York Liberty (25-17) and one behind Atlanta.

If the playoffs began right now instead of seven more days, the bracket would show the Mercury and New York in a 4-5 first-round matchup. Bad news No. 1 is being in that spot means the winner likely sees Minnesota, baring a major upset, in the semifinals instead of the finals.

Though the Mercury won the series 3-1 over the defending champs, who because of a slew of injuries fell from matching the No. 1 Lynx with a franchise record 9-0 start to being out of any home-court advantage opportunities, playing a healthy Liberty squad could be a much different dynamic.

Saturday’s other game saw sixth place Golden State stay within visiting Minnesota before the Lynx prevailed 78-72 in San Francisco at the Chase Center shared with the NBA Warriors where a record perfect season sellout out run (18,064) of 22 games occurred.

The host Valkyries, who set records of most wins by an expansion team and a guaranteed + .500 finish in an inaugural season, sit two games behind New York and a game in front of Indiana with two games left but lose the tiebreaker off a 1-3 series performance with New York.

Atlanta’s remaining games are two with Connecticut, one home Monday at 7:30 p.m. and one on the road Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Las Vegas, at this moment in a mathematical but unlikely reality threat to get tied by New York and lose the series tiebreaker, finishes hosting Chicago on Sunday (9 p.m., NBA TV) and Tuesday (10 p.m.), and then visiting Los Angeles (10 p.m.) on the last day of the season Thursday on NBA TV.

Phoenix hosts Los Angeles Tuesday at 10 p.m. on NBA TV and then finishes at Dallas Thursday at 9 p.m.

New York hosts Washington Tuesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN3 and then visits Dallas Thursday at 9 p.m. on NBA TV.

Moving down below, Golden State, whose franchise best five-game win streak was snapped Saturday, goes to Seattle Tuesday at 10 p.m. and to Minnesota Thursday at 8 p.m.

So, with a Valkyries’ lead of one over Indy and 1.5 over Seattle, they could swap seed positions pending what Indiana does with a finish of visiting Washington Sunday (3 p.m., NBA TV), and hosting Minnesota Tuesday 7:30 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+ and what Seattle does with a finish of Golden State in that Tuesday game.

Los Angeles hosts Dallas Sunday at 6 p.m. on NBA TV, which will also air the Sparks’ Tuesday game at Phoenix (10 p.m., NBA TV) and L.A. hosting Las Vegas Thursday.

“So, we got three games left,” said Sparks assistant Mike Neighbors, filling in for Lynne Roberts after Friday’s wipeout from host Atlanta that completed a 2-0 sweep of the Sparks in three days. “We knew we had a tough stretch. We had more games than anybody to play, and we had very little rest to do it.

“You see how these guys do fight. It’s not that we’re trying to implore them to keep fighting, it’s just to encourage and remember. We’ve had so many come from behind wins. It’s never over till it’s over with this group.”

Connecticut Rally Ends Phoenix Six-Game Win Streak

The Mercury are now in a tough spot trying to finish in second for the other semifinals home court advantage along with Minnesota after Connecticut rookie Leila Lacan scored six points in the last 30 seconds to put the Sun on the winning side.

The French newcomer joined Connecticut at midseason from which the Sun, holding the worst record in franchise history, began improving down the stretch.

“We fouled too much, they got to the free throw line 34 times,” said Phoenix first-year coach Nate Tibbetts. “I feel like we were trending in the right direction as far as keeping teams off the line.

“This afternoon was not the (time). They came out ready to play and we were kind of behind from the start.

“We’ll talk as a staff and front office as to how we want to manage the last two games. We played today and they just played better than us. These 1 o’clock games for West Coast teams have been tough. I feel Connecticut may be like 3-0 in these games. I’m not a huge fan of these games, even when we’re playing great.

“If you’re going to do it, West Coast teams should be out here longer than just a day or two, but it is what it is, they played well, they played better than us today and they won the game.

“I was happy how we competed the last three quarters.”

Lacan put the home team in front 83-81 with 27.8 seconds remaining in regulation and then increased the advantage by two more points connecting from the line with 9.7 seconds left.

Satou Sabally hit a shot from distance for the visitors and then Lacan answered with two more from the line with 3.7 left to clinch the win.

Besides not extending the win streak, the outcome put a dimmer on Alyssa Thomas, the Maryland graduate out of Harrisburg, playing against her former team and reclaiming the WNBA single season assist record.

Thomas, who has a bunch of triple doubles in her career, many achieved before this season with the Sun, had another near achievement with 14 points, 10 boards, and eight assists.

Marina Mabrey scored scored 23 for the winners, Lacan finished with 14, and Tina Charles scored 22 with 10 boards, while rookie Aneesah Morrow out of DePaul in her native Chicago and LSU scored nine with 13 boards.

 North Philadelphia’s Kahleah Copper out of Rutgers scored 18 for Phoenix while Sami Whitcomb had 13 points and Sabally scored 11.

Neither team built a double figure lead in the game that had 18 lead changes.

Minnesota Turns Aside Golden State’s Upset Bid

Natisha Hiedeman equaled her career best with 24 points and the league-leading Lynx went ahead at the end of the third period off a big 16-0 surge over what had been a small lead in the contest to head into the final period ahead 55-52.

With 45 seconds left Veronica Burton converted an old fashioned three-point play as Golden State, which upset New York last Monday, moved within a basket at 74-72.

Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier, in a three-way MVP race with the reigning one in A’ja Wilson out of South Carolina with Las Vegas, and Phoenix’s Thomas, came right back to connect for two from the baseline and then Kayla McBride finished it, after the Lynx forced a turnover, with a pair of foul shots.

“I thought we were a little more diligent about playing Lynx basketball, making quicker decisions, playing off our defense,” said Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, the former La Salle star out of South Jersey, about the scoring eruption at the end of the third. “You can point to that when we’re having success.

“A combination of that and little better execution after we had a halftime conversation, and then Natisha Hiedeman, she was a one-person show there for a while.

“I said before the game, (Golden State) has a very strong identity as to what they do. They lead the league in categories, defensively. It’s a classic case of when you defend, you give yourself a chance to win every game you play in,” Reeve continued.

“But I’m proud of us. I thought our defense was pretty good, too, on a tough shooting night.”

The game was played on a night two former Lynx greats in Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles were inducted to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame here in Springfield, Mass., along with former Seattle star Sue Bird, the first time three WNBA players were part of the same class.

Bird and Moore also starred separately on NCAA champions at UConn.

Back in the Bay Area on the other side of the continent, Collier scored 20 while Alanna Smith rested, enabling Nebraska grad Jessica Shepard to start and she responded scoring 12 points with 13 boards for a double double, and Courtney Williams added 14 points.

Three Valkyries players scored 15 points in Janelle Salaun, Illana Rupert and Kaila Charles while Burton scored 14.

“I thought (connectivity) was pretty good, defensively, today,” said Golden State coach Natalie Nakase. “I just thought we weren’t making the right reads. I think our passing was crisper. We took quality shots. I just wasn’t happy with the defense in the third quarter.

“It’s a positive we get to play them again in a couple of days and we get some rest, so that’s a positive, too.”

The home team was up 36-31 at the half.

The total sellout all season enabled Golden State to set a WNBA attendance record at 18,064.

“We have the best fans in the world,” Nakase said. "They are extremely loud. And I know our fans will travel.”

Because of a commitment made long before Golden State was born as the WNBA first expansion franchise since Atlanta, the team in Game 2 of the first round is being moved to San Jose State.

“Our fans are in the Bay Area, (the game) is still in the Bay Area. We like things that are a little different. I know our fans will travel. And it’s exciting. A new arena. We’re still home. We still get to sleep in our own beds.”