The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: Defending Champion New York Backs into Playoffs After Losing at Golden State as Indiana Falls at Phoenix

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

In the latest episode of As the WNBA Playoff Pursuits Turn, in Tuesday’s two-game card, defending champion New York (24-17) became the fifth team to make the eight-team field, getting there after losing 66-58 at expansion Golden State (22-18) in San Francisco, by turning on the taillights and backing in courtesy of Indiana (21-20) in Tuesday’s other game losing 85-79 at Phoenix (26-14).

Let’s go to the standings and see the chaos these results created with nine days left in the record 44-game season that ends on Sept. 11 a week from Thursday when the pairings are set.

Safe and secure at the very top is Minnesota (32-8) six games above the closest pursuers with the top seed claimed and offering, if not eliminated, home advantage all the way through the best-of-three first-round that is in a revised 1-1-1 format, the best-of-five semifinals, and, with an increase two-games, a record best-of-seven finals.

The postseason will begin Sunday, Sept. 14, with all four games on either ABC or ESPN.

The win by Phoenix, the fifth straight, brought the Mercury into a three-way second-place tie with Las Vegas, which has won 12 straight, and Atlanta.

The trio sit 2.5 games ahead of New York and chasing second place with a prize of the other home advantage in the semifinals, if not eliminated, while third and fourth place offer home advantage in the opening round, with third place in the bracket avoiding a potential semifinals match with Minnesota.

The Liberty, who next are at Seattle (22-20) Friday (10 p.m., ION), with three games left are mathematically alive in the second-place chase but are on the wrong end of series tie-breaking results with Atlanta and Phoenix.

New York is 1.5 in front of sixth place Golden State; the new daily leader of a four-for-three battle for the remaining playoff tickets with a top -to-bottom spread of 2.5 games from the Valkyries to Los Angeles, which is a game outside of the playoff cutoff and is at Atlanta Wednesday (7.30 p.m., League Pass) and Friday (7:30 p.m., ION).

The rest of the squads of Washington, Connecticut, Chicago, and Dallas, in the 13-team league, have been eliminated, but only Dallas hasn’t traded its rights in the draft lottery that sets up the overall No. 1 pick in April when Portland and Toronto become the next expansion teams to become active.

Wednesday’s other game has Connecticut at Chicago (8 p.m., League Pass).

Three more new teams – Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029), and Philadelphia (2030) – will grow the league to 18 franchises.

Golden State on the Cusp of History After Beating New York

The Valkyries, who have sold out a record all 18,064 seats every night in the Chase Center they share with the NBA Warriors, for one record, in their first win in the four-game series with New York, outscored the Liberty 26-8 in the second quarter and led by as many as 24 in the third period already owning an expansion win record and they will be the first to finish .500 or better.

The magic number to be the first expansion team in the playoffs is two, which could come as early as Thursday with a Los Angeles loss Wednesday and a home win Thursday (10 p.m., League Pass).

If not getting there with that combination, Sparks losses both games at Atlanta, if the Valkyries lose Thursday, will do it by Friday, as will a Golden State win and the Sparks losing Friday after winning Wednesday.

This only addresses the Golden State-L.A. comparison, the Sparks could still squeeze in at the finish pending how Indiana and Seattle cimplete their schedules.

England’s Temi Fagbenle out of London, who played at Harvard and Southern Cal, and with Indiana and Minnesota in the WNBA, led the home team with 16 points, shooting 7-10 from the field, reserve Kate Martin, out of Iowa and picked from Las Vegas in the expansion draft, scored 11, while Kaila Charles and Janelle Salaun each scored 10 points.

“This one, the last one, and the game before,” Golden State coach Natalie Nakase answered when asked if Tuesday’s win was one of her favorite defensive efforts on the season. “I think we're continuing to climb. I think our communication has been elite. When we're communicating, executing the game plan, we're pretty dangerous.

“That was a very tough team, very talented, so there was no room for mistakes tonight.”

New York was again without Sabrina Ionescu, who hurt a toe last week at practice before the loss at Atlanta on the foot that was injured just before in the home loss to Chicago.

Saint Joseph’s graduate Natasha Cloud, wearing a face mask from a fracture in her nose, and two-time MVP Breanna Stewart each scored 19 points.

Stewart missed 13 games with a bone bruise in her right knee during the Liberty’s drop from second challenging Minnesota, having taken a 9-0 best-ever franchise start after wining their first title the previous October beating the Lynx 3-2 in series play.

“We’re in the playoffs, still lost a game,” said New York coach Sandy Brondello. “Liked the second half, didn’t like the first half as much.

“It’s been a tough season for us having so many injuries with people, just trying to work it out on the fly, not getting the chemistry we need … we have to use the next games to see what works best. Knowledge is power and that will help us as we move forward.

“We need to play better, obviously, and then we need to build some confidence over these next few games, and I trust the team with our full team back, I think no one would really want to meet us in that first round.”

“It’s the story of basically our season right now,” Stewart said of the second quarter. “When we have to take the ball out of the net, we struggle a little bit.

“We gave up 26 points, and our spacing was a little bit bad. And I thought sometimes we had good looks, and we just missed, but to put ourselves in a hole like that it's unacceptable.

“This is disappointing collectively. Like yeah, there can be bright spots and whatever, but we have three games left and we're not where we need to be and it's frustrating and it's tough, I know that our team is going to continue to show up every day and fight for where we want to be, so we have another road game in Seattle and when we get there we’ll get better.”

Thomas Leads Phoenix Over Indiana

Reigning rookie of the year Caitlin Clarke, who has only played in 13 games for the Fever because of several muscle injuries, missed her 19th straight with a groin pull, while on the other side Alyssa Thomas, the former Maryland star out of Harrisburg,  just missed adding to her triple-double collection, scoring 23 points, with 9 rebounds, and 9 assists to lead the Mercury to continue striving for the best available spot in the playoffs.

DeWanna Bonner off the bench added 19 points for Phoenix. Additionally, Satou Sabally added 13 points, North Philadelphia's Kahleah Copper scored 11, Sami Whitcomb dealt 7 assists, and Natasha Mack grabbed 10 rebounds.

“They kinda give ‘AT some space, they kind of back off the ball when she has it, (Indiana) coach (Stephanie) White has coached ‘AT (at Connecticut), so she has a system or plan in place in her mind,” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said of how Thomas has thrived statistically this season after previously playing her whole WNBA career with the Sun. “So ‘AT kind of reads them and the game plan when we play them is to go score the basketball.

“I was proud if our group tonight,” Tibbetts said of coming out of Saturday’s win over the Liberty. “The New York game was huge, we had a little let down tonight, obviously lndiana's playing for something like we are, and a win is a win, just our approach, New York till now wasn’t at the level I was hoping for, but that’s basketball.

“You have to go through this, we got more coming on the road, so there’s teams we’re playing now that are out of it. We have to go after it. We have to be ready.”

The Mercury’s remaining four games include three already eliminated in Washington, Connecticut, and Dallas, as well the other being Los Angeles, which is barely still alive to try to make postseason.

Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell scored 29, including five makes from deep. Lexi Hull added 18 points, and Aliyah Boston scored 11 with eight rebounds and seven assists.

“Turnovers hurt us, “White said. “I think there were three in a row that led to (3-pointers) and our lack of attention to details, defensively. I thought the defense in the second half was outstanding, but it’s gotta be for 40 minutes, it’s got to be all five (players) and not two or three or another two or three that don’t.

 “When you're playing great teams, you don't gotta be perfect, but you've got to be pretty damn close.”

Indiana’s finish will be playing Chicago at home Friday, at Washington, and then hosting Minnesota, giving the Fever a scheduling over Los Angeles the rest of the way if the favorites in each game prevail.