The Guru’s WNBA Report: Playoff Openers See No. 8 New York Upset No. 1 Minnesota; No. 2 Golden State, No. 3 Las Vegas, No. 4 Atlanta Also Win; ‘Vegas’ Wilson Wins 3rd Straight AP Award

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

The Minnesota Lynx after dominating play the last two regular seasons and just missing a third are in danger of not finishing the job again, thanks to the 8th-seeded New York Liberty that clipped them in the finals in overtime in a penultimate Game 5 in overtime in Brooklyn in 2024 that brought the home team its first championship in an existence at the time that matched the 28-year history of the WNBA.

All four pairings in opening round action got under way Sunday and the first of the quartet offered a stunner with New York led by Breanna Stewart scoring 34 points with 12 rebounds, six assists, and pairs of steals and blocks as the Liberty won on the road over the top-seeded Lynx 91-25 before a Target Center crowd of 12,339 in Minneapolis.

The Liberty struggled down the stretch in a tight race for seeding finishing 26-18 while the Lynx were a league best 33-11.       

And while New York, which sent almost its whole roster to varying national teams to the World Cup in Berlin, Germany, during the earlier part of this month creating a break that made the Liberty look rusty in losing both home games to Atlanta at the end of the season, being eighth wasn’t so terrible since Minnesota is the one team that New York seems to give the Lynx fits.

In the other three games, second-year and two-seed Golden State (32-12), that was in the hunt for top seed until the final two games, won its first-ever playoff contest, routing seventh-seeded Dallas 104-80 continuing its lifetime sellout streak in its two seasons of 18,064 at the Chase Center in San Francisco that is also the home of the NBA Golden State Warriors.

A year ago, the Valkyries were routed in Game 1 in the opening round at Minnesota and then lost to the Lynx by a point.

The team’s success brought former Las Vegas assistant Natalie Nakase, the first Asian American mentor in the WNBA, coach of the year honors.

Dallas (27-17) finally turned things around this season after back-to-back acquisitions of No. 1 overall picks out of UConn in 2025 rookie of the year Paige Bueckers and teammate Azzi Fudd, the latter recently lost for the end of the season with an injury.

Golden State has the look of potentially beating big time ownership prediction of a title in five seasons when the team was officially introduced as the first of what is a line of expansion teams that saw Toronto and Portland added this season, Cleveland and Detroit, two former WNBA cities, activating in 2028 and 2029, and Philadelphia in 2030 bringing the membership total to 18 teams.

Next season, Houston, winner of the first four titles from 1997 to 2000, is back in the fold, acquiring the Connecticut Sun, whose last game after 24 seasons ended Thursday night at home.

But before anyone gets too excited, defending champion Las Vegas (31-13), winner of three of the last four trophies, showed in its first contest the third-seed Aces aren’t going to give the hardware away easy in thumping the Caitlin Clark-led sixth-seeded Indiana Fever 102-85 at home before a crowd of 10,207 at home at the Michelob ULTRA Arena as A’ja Wilson, on track to repeat as regular season MVP, which would be her fifth, scored 38 points with 16 rebounds and four blocked shots.

In the other game, fifth-seed Washington (28-16), the surprise team of the year in making the postseason, took an 11-point lead on four-seed Atlanta (30-14), but the Dream rallied for a 92-77 victory as Rhyne Howard scored 26 points with five steals and Angel Reese, the third-year pro who arrived in a trade with Chicago, had 13 points and 12 boards in her playoff debut before a crowd of 9,766 in the State Farm Arena, the game moved to the home of the NBA Hawks from its smaller venue played most of the season in the suburbs.

The opening round is a best-of-three affair so while Sunday’s winners look to close out and move on, the losers will attempt to force Game 3s as Tuesday’s games feature Minnesota at New York at the Barclays Center at 8:30 p.m. on USA Net/CNBC after Indiana at 6:30 p.m. at home in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis airs on Amazon Prime Video.

On Wednesday ESPN airs both games, Washington hosts Atlanta at 7 p.m. in its CareFirst Arena in the nation’s capital, followed by Golden State visiting Dallas at 9 p.m. at the College Park Center in suburban Arlington.

Games 3, if necessary, return to Sunday hosts on Thursday and Friday.

The best of five semifinals opens Sunday at the higher seeded hosts with the Minnesota/New York winner facing the Atlanta/Washington winner while the Dallas/Golden State winner faces the Las Vegas/Indiana winner.

A year ago, the finals expanded to a best-of-seven format but was not needed with Las Vegas in four games sweeping Phoenix, which was a surprise qualifier.

This year’s finals get under way Oct. 17, a Saturday, on NBC, and could last until Oct. 31, one day before the collegiate season begins in Rome with the men and women of Notre Dame and Villanova facing each other, the latter, nearby in the Vatican, being the alma mater of Pope Leo XIV, a native of Chicago.

It’s the first time since the early days if the league ESPN will not air the finals, a result of the mega dollar deals struck in the current TV deals with the WNBA.

New York Thumps Minnesota

The visiting New York leader Breanna Stewart and Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier, the 2024 defensive player of the year, are the best of friends, each out of the UConn powerhouse, co-founders of the Unrivaled League loaded with WNBA players in the winer, and recent teammates on the USA Gold Medal-winning FIBA Cup, which Stewart had a major role in the triumph by the Americans.

But all that was parked Sunday as Stewart made a shambles of Collier guarding her.

“She’s a walking mismatch,” jested Liberty teammate Sabrina Ionescu, who contributed 13 points. “You can always rely on her. She’s everywhere. She keeps up poised out there and her versatility, her ability to score from really anywhere on the court just helps.”

Stewart was 11-for-18 from the field.

“We did a solid job in the first half and then we just fouled, fouled, fouled,” said Minnesota’s Cheryl Reeve, who’s attempt to break a tie for a record fifth crown has yet to occur. “We can’t give her 12 free throws. Fouling at the end of the shot clock is just not smart.”

Reeve, who was inducted to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn., in June, and will be eligible for a similar honor next year at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., guided USA to its record eighth straight Olympic title at the Paris Games in 2024 and hails from South Jersey in suburban Philadelphia and starred at La Salle, a member of the City’s Big Five.

The Liberty were hot from outside shooting 13-for-25 from beyond the arc, and Stewart missed the franchise postseason scoring mark by two points. She’s second in WNBA history for postseason scoring average, having also won titles with the Seattle Storm, and four NCAA crowns with UConn, earning four MVP Final Four honors.

Leonie Fiebich was 4-for-5 from distance finishing with 16 points for the winners.

“We knew the shots that we were going to get,” Stewart, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., said. “We had a few days to really practice that and be intentional, and whenever we were able to draw two — kick it to the open person and shoot it with confidence.”

The Liberty and Minnesota each had a jump of a day on the rest of the league knowing their matchup would be against each other while the rest of the seeds were still undetermined heading into the final day of the regular season on Thursday.

Reserve Nia Brodie scored 16 to lead the Lynx, while Kayla McBride scored 14, but took a while to heat up, missing her first five shots from deep. Collier and Natasha Howard, each fouled out and Olivia Miles, the prohibitive favorite for rookie of the year, was limited to 11 points, shooting 3-for-12 with just one assist.

“I thought we even struggled in the first half even though we had a lead,” Reeve said. “It was a little too much grinding. I think there’s some easier things we can do.”

In 2024 Minnesota was on the brink of elimination in Game 4 but forced the finals to go the limit back to Brooklyn and the finish was controversial, Reeve upset with officiating at the close of the game.

Though the momentum has swung to the Liberty, Stewart cautioned, “This doesn’t mean relax. When you’re a lower seed, you want to steal one.

“And doing that today, we kind of harped on it. This team is exceptionally talented. And on Tuesday they’re going to through everything they got at us. And we’re going to be ready for it.

“We did this in Phoenix last year and then we got smoked on our home court.”

Firstd-year Liberty coach Chris DeMarco praised the team’s defense in the second half. “We were locked in; I could hear us talking. We covered for each other. I just loved our aggressiveness; we came out strong in the second half.”

Golden State Blasts Dallas

Cecilia Zandalasini scored 22 for the Valkyries and Gabby Williams poured in 22 more against the Wings to go in front in the series, holding a dominating lead at the half.

Bueckers had 21 for the Wings, shooting 9-for-10 from the field with six rebounds, stalling the Dallas finishing momentum of the regular season with a 7-1 stretch record.

Villanova all-time scorer Maddy Siegrist, the third overall pick in 2023 by the Wings, in her playoff debut started, played 21 minutes, shooting 4-for-9 from the field, 1-2 from deep with three boards, scoring 11 points.

After the Valkyries were activated and with their success last season, the crowd which has packed the Chase Center every game has caused the atmosphere to be labelled “Ballhalla.”

“Ballhalla’s” part of us, Nakase said of the crowd.

It’s the most points ever scored by Golden State in its short history.

Tiffany Hayes, who came out of retirement to join the team, scored 21 off the bench and Veronica Burton added 10 points. Zanalasini was 7-for-11 from the field and connected on four shots from deep.

It was the Valkyries’ first true home playoff game, a year ago, an event, the Laver Cup tennis showcase in the Chase Center that was scheduled long before the franchise was awarded forced Golden State to play its game 50 miles away in the NHL San Jose Sharks’ SAP Center.

As to the grounding of the Wings, Nakase said, “When we’re awake, we’re ferocious on defense.

The Valkyries are 4-0 on Dallas this season and also finished 7-1 narrowly missing upending Minnesota for the top seed when they fell to Phoenix last week in overtime.

“We didn’t get stops and they got whatever they wanted offensively,” Bueckers said. “A 37-point quarter is insane work,so it was just not sticking to our game plan, not locking in defensively. It starts with me, so I gotta be better, I know that.”

 

Said the Valkyries’ Williams, “Yeah, obviously we wanted to start well and set the tone for the rest of the series. I think what was great about tonight was watching every single person contribute and seeing everyone get going.”

Wilson Leads Las Vegas

Former South Carolina star A’ja Wilson matched her playoff high while shooting 15-for-19 from the field.

“She understands the stakes fully,” said Aces coach Becky Hammon. “She was a clinic tonight. She was, I mean, it was all over. She was all over the court, every way.

“Defensive end, offensive end, blocks, steals, boards, scoring, I mean, there was nothing she couldn’t do tonight.”

Noted Las Vegas point guard Chelsea Gray of her teammate on having that kind of performance the best thing to do is “get out of the way. It’s a blessing to be able to see this every single day. I say this all the time, you can’t wait till a person retires to appreciate greatness.

“You’ve got to appreciate it while it’s happening.”

Jackie Young double doubled for the winners with 21 points and 10 assists, Gray had 14 and eight assists, and Jewell Lloyd scored 10.

Gray is second in career playoff assists with 397, eclipsing Chicago’s Courtney Vandersloot (390) for second in league history.

Indiana’s Aliyah Boston, another product of Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks program, had 18 points for Indiana (28-15), which was 2-1 against the Aces in the regular season, while Caitlin Clark, who missed the playoffs her second season a year ago, had 15 points and 10 assists, while Kelsey Mitchell, recently unhooked from her WNBA-record 27 straight 20+ games was held to 12 points on 4-for-16 from the field, her second straight below the 20-point plateau after the record.

“Give Vegas credit,” said Indiana coach Stephanie White. “They’re defending champions for a reason. They understand the moment. They understand the playoffs require a different level of intensity and urgency, and they came with it.”

To not to White’s liking were the 28 points the home team got off 17 Fever turnovers, while Clark graded her side with an “F” for defense, and offensively, they were the cause of their breakdowns.

“I thought our actions were sloppy,” Clark said. “I thought what we were running wasn’t great and nobody got an easy open look.”

Observed Wilson, “I think we just showed up to work, and that’s what we need to do moving forward.”

The 62 points in the first half were a point short of the playoff record they got off Phoenix in 2022.

Wilson is the first in league history in the postseason to have multiple 30 points, 15 rebounds games, and leads with 11 games of 30-point, ahead of New York’s Stewart, who reached nine on Sunday.

White noted the difference in experience as a contributor to the way it played out for the Fever.

“Certainly, there’s no substitute for experience,” White said. “Some got it a year ago. But oftentimes, you have to be humbled first, right? Like I mean, that’s life, right? You don’t always learn from the successes.

“You learn from being humbled. We know we felt the difference in the intensity level. That doesn’t always mean that we weren’t playing hard or we weren’t competing hard. Sometimes, it’s how you execute. So it’s mostly in details. Because I thought our team competed.”

Atlanta Rallies on Washington

For a while the Mystics, with the youngest roster in the league, appeared they would excel above the expectation, holding a three-point lead at the half, as they did to earn a playoff berth.

But then Rhyne Howard and Angel Reese rallied the Dream in the second half.

Atlanta got 27 points off 22 turnovers by Washington and set a team playoff record with 16 steals, just under the 18 Indiana grabbed in 2009.

“I think we were just playing with a lot of nerves,” Atlanta’s DeWanna Bonner, the recent beneficiary of a release from Phoenix to enable her to pursue a championship the Mercury couldn’t deliver this season in not making the playoffs.

“I think the second half, (Dream coach) Karl (Smesko) settled us down,” Bonner explained.

Allisha Gray added 22 for the Dream, and Jordin Canada scored 10 with 11 assists.

Washington’s Sonia Citron scored 25, sister second-year pro Kiki Iriafen had 15 points and 14 boards, nine on the offensive end, and Shakira Austin had 12 points and 16 rebounds.

“In the first half we did a good job of just making everything hard for them and then in that third quarter we just let some of our discipline slip,” Citron said.

Like Stewart with New York, Smesko isn’t ready to say the Dream are moving on.

“This is just round one,” he said. “We feel good about how we set the tone for the first game, but there is a lot more work to be done and I think everyone in our locker room is aware of that.”

This is Washington’s first postseason appearance since 2023, but last won a playoff game in 2019, which was the championship over Connecticut.

“Playoffs are the biggest stage,” Iriafen said. “This is the stage we want to be on. It was our first time being here, not that that’s an excuse, but now we know what it looks like.

“We have a taste for it. We’ll be better prepared for our game on Wednesday.”

Associated Press Awards

The AP Sunday afternoon announced its postseason WNBA awards from its 17-member panel which determines in-season rankings and weekly honors (I’m not one).

The WNBA has a larger national media panel for awards that will be announced during the playoffs.

For the third straight year Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson is its national player of the year, a record for the the honors that were launched in 2016.

She received 15 of the 17 votes for first place ahead of Minnesota’s Olivia Miles and Indiana’s Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell.

Overall, Wilson has four AP awards, snapping a tie with three also held by Breanna Stewart.

Atlanta’s Angel Reese replaced Wilson as defensive player of the year, the latter gained that honor three of the previous four seasons.

No surprise, Minnesota’s Miles was unanimous as rookie of the year, drafted in April second overall behind Azzi Fudd of Dallas. The Central New Jersey native passed Caitlin Clark’s rookie record for points.

AP’s All-rookie team was Miles, Dallas’ Azzi Fudd, Chicago’s Sydney Taylor, Seattle’s Flau’jae Johnson, New York’s Pauline Astier and Toronto’s Kiki Rice.

The AP All-WNBA first team included Wilson, Clark, Mitchell, Miles and Stewart, while Reese, Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard, Dallas’ Bueckers, Las Vegas’ Jackie Young and Golden State’s Gabby Wilson made the second team.

Minnesota’s Chery Reeve was coach of the year for the third time, while Golden State’s Natalie Nakase, and Washington’s Sydney Johnson also received votes.

Clark, who missed most of last season, earned comeback of the year, an award the WNBA does not issue. Washington’s Georgia Amoore and Chicago’s Courtney Vandersloot also drew votes.

Dallas’ Jessica Shepard was most improved player, ahead of Washington’s Shakira Austin and Seattle’s Dominique Malonga, while Golden State reserve Janelle Salaun was Sixth Woman ahead of Marine Johannes with New York.