The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: Indiana Tops Washington to Clinch Playoffs; Las Vegas Wins 14th Straight; Los Angeles Beats Dallas to Stay in the Hunt

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

It’s down to 2-for-1 to complete the eight-member WNBA playoff field, whose pairings will be set Thursday when the record 44-game regular season comes to its conclusion.

Three games were played Sunday, and injury-riddled Indiana (23-20) became the seventh owner of a postseason ticket by winning 84-65 over 10th-place Washington (16-27) before a crowd of 11,183 at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore.

For the second time this season the Mystics moved from their smaller CareFirst Arena in Southeast Washington to host the Fever, expecting the draw of reigning rookie of the year Caitlin Clark.

But the former Iowa star, who missed the first one with a quad injury, was not in uniform Sunday, having been out of action since July 15 with a right groin pull and on Friday, she announced she would not return joining four other Fever players who have suffered season-ending injuries.

Credit the team for dealing with adversity in returning to the playoffs.

A huge crowd, even with knowledge Clark was done, showed anyhow to get her autograph.

Washington, which has lost nine straight games, has had 43 consecutive sellouts over the last three seasons.

Meanwhile Las Vegas (28-14) before a home crowd of 17,306 at T-Mobile Arena easily won 80-66 over 12th place Chicago (10-32) for the Aces’ 14th straight win to move back into a second-place tie with Atlanta (28-14) five games behind top-seed Minnesota (33-9) and one game in front of fourth-place Phoenix (27-15).

The Mercury are two games in front of defending champion New York (25-17), which is locked into fifth two games ahead of 6th place Golden State (23-19), the first expansion team to ever qualify for the playoffs.

The Valkyries are a half-game in front of Indiana, which is in front of the last two teams chasing the last playoff spot.

Los Angeles (20-22), which is ninth and 1.5 behind 8th-place Seattle (22-21), stayed alive in Sunday’s other game winning 91-77 over last-place Dallas (9-34) at home before a crowd of 13,868 in Crypto.com Arena.

Seattle can grab the last ticket by winning its final game Tuesday hosting Golden State at 10 p.m.

Should the Valkyries win, Los Angeles still needs to win at Phoenix Tuesday at 10 p.m. and hosting Las Vegas Thursday at 10 p.m. on NBA TV.

The playoffs begin Sunday on ABC and ESPN with all four games in the best-of-three first round series that has been revised to a 1-1-1 format. The semifinals are still a best of five 2–2-1 structure while the finals have been increased by two games to a best-of-seven 2-2-1-1-1 arrangement.

Seeding for 2-4 is still open as is 6-8.

Looking Ahead

The week’s schedule is as follows by teams in the playoff mix:

Atlanta: vs. Connecticut, 7:30 p.m. Monday; at Connecticut, 7 p.m., Wednesday.

Las Vegas: vs. Chicago, 10 p.m., Tuesday; at Los Angeles, 10 p.m. (NBA TV) Thursday.

Phoenix: vs. Los Angeles, 10 p.m. (NBA TV) Tuesday; at Dallas, 8 p.m. Thursday.

New York: vs. Washington, 7 p.m. (ESPN3) Tuesday; at Chicago, 8 p.m. (NBA TV) Thursday.

Golden State: at Seattle, 10 p.m., Tuesday; at Minnesota, 8 p.m., Thursday.

 Indiana: vs. Minnesota, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+) Tuesday.

Seattle: vs. Golden State, 10 p.m., Tuesday.

Los Angeles: at Phoenix, 10 p.m. (NBA TV) Tuesday; vs. Las Vegas, 10 p.m. (NBA TV) Thurs.

Minnesota: at Indiana, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+) Tues.; vs. Golden St., 8 p.m., Thu.

Howard Leads Indiana Over Washington Back to the Playoffs

Natasha Howard scored 17 as Indiana avoided being spoiled by 10th place Washington in an easy 94-65 win to clinch one of the last two open playoff tickets.

Aliyah Boston added 12 points with 11 boards and five assists, while Ariel Powers collected 15 points and Temple grad Shey Peddy scored 13.

Rookie Sonia Citron scored 17 points and set the Mystics’ single season scoring record with 644 points, passing former standout Brittney Sykes’ 636 collected two seasons ago.

Rookie Kiki Iriafen scored 11 as did Shakira Austin, while Collegeville native Lucy Olsen out of Villanova and Iowa played 15 minutes and scored four points.

The game was close in most of the first half, but Peddy’s shot from deep put the Fever up 37-34 and they led the rest of the way.

Indiana capitalized by scoring 27 points out of 21 Washington turnovers.

Looking ahead, at least the Fever know who’s available. At this hour, they likely will draw Atlanta or Las Vegas in the first round, though if they finish eighth, it will be Minnesota.

“I don't know if something mentally changes outside of there's clarity,” said Indiana coach Stephanie White. “We know we're continuing to move forward with this group, who's earned the right to be in the position that they're in.”

Wilson Sets Record and Las Vegas’ Longest Win Streak Reaches 14

A’ja Wilson had 31 points and 11 boards as the Aces easily beat Chicago to stay in the hunt for second seed, with which they’re tied with Atlanta.

Wilson, the reigning MVP, keeps making the case to retain the honor in a discussion that has included Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier and Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas.

The win streak is fourth longest in WNBA history tied with the 2021 Connecticut Sun behind 18 straight by the 2001 champion Los Angeles.

It was the third straight 30+ game for Wilson, who now has a record 13 of them this season.

Wilson, who has three MVP awards overall, has 10 30-point double doubles this season.

“Not only is she the best player, she’s the best person to be around, easy to love, never a problem,” said Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon of Wilson.

Jackie Young scored 20 with nine assists for the Aces.

Chicago’s Rachel Banham and Michaela Onyenwere each scored 12 points and second year pro Kamilla Cardoso had 10 points and 15 rebounds.

The Sky’s Angel Reese was banned by the organization in the first half “for comments detrimental to the team,” but never played due to back issues.

Back problems also sidelined Ariel Atkins.

Los Angeles Stays Alive by Beating Dallas

The Sparks avoided elimination by reeling off a 14-0 run against the Wings at the outset of the fourth quarter.

Julie Allemand had a career-high of 21 points for Los Angeles while Rae Burrell scored 11 of her 13 points during the scoring eruption.

Allemand was a perfect 5-5 from the field and three from deep along with a personal best five steals.

“I'm just trying to read the game every time,” Allemand said. “I don't care about shooting most of the time... I'm trying to just read the game and today I had more chances than usual, so I took it, and it was in.

“So, when it's like this, it's just amazing because then you keep going and you feel good, you feel confident on the court, and that's how I felt today.

“I just care about the win today. That was the most important. And when we play as a team, I really enjoy it. That's really what matters to me.”

Dearica Hamby scored 15 points, while the balanced attack showed Azura Stevens with 13 points and 11 boards, Kelsey Plum with 12 points and Rickea Jackson with 11 points.

Dallas went up briefly 55-54 with 4:26 left in the third but Allemand’s shot from distance put the Sparks ahead by two at the buzzer.

Overall No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers scored 18 for the Wings with seven assists and six rebounds while Myisha Hines-Allen scored 15 with 13 rebounds for her best board work on the season.

She also dealt seven assists. Villanova grad Maddy Siegrist scored 13 points.

“Tonight, should be a confidence booster,” said Los Angeles coach Lynne Roberts. “Other than the start of the third quarter, I thought we did a good job, Rae played some good minutes and was so active defensively.

“Julie was unbelievable. Truly unbelievable,” Roberts said.