Instagram caption – “BIG BURKE-IN BAG KB” – post from Sept 20th, despite loss to Mercury and being eliminated from tournament. Photo courtesy of @nyliberty on Instagram
The WNBA season is coming to an end; however, this season finale is already packed with lots of excitement, upsets and changes. The first round of the playoffs began on Sunday, Sept. 14, consisting of a best of three series. The semifinals, which began Sunday, Sept. 21, are being played in a best of five series. For the first time in league history, the finals will be played in a best of seven series, previously played in a best of five format.
In the first round, the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx matched up against the No. 8 Golden State Valkyries, the No. 2 Las Vegas Aces faced off against the No. 7 Seattle Storm, the No. 3 Atlanta Dream matched up against the No. 6 Indiana Fever and the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury took on the No. 5 New York Liberty. The round started off calmly, with the top seeds performing well; however, the round ended with many surprising twists.
In the first-round, events quickly contrasted with last years’ playoffs tournament when the Phoenix Mercury knocked out the New York Liberty, the defending champions. Both teams battled all the way to the third game to secure a semifinal spot. Liberty secured the win in the first game of the series in overtime; however, the team faltered in the second game of the series and were defeated by 26 points. This marked their worst home playoff loss in franchise history and brought the series to a decisive third game.
In the third game of the series, both teams gave it their all, but Mercury was able to hold on to get a 79-73 win. Despite the loss, Liberty’s Breanna Stewart put up an elite performance scoring 30 points. However, two Mercury players also delivered elite performances giving the team the momentum to secure the win. Alyssa Thomas notched 20 points and Satou Sabally secured 23 points for Phoenix. Defensively, DeWanna Bonner locked in the win with eight rebounds off the bench. With her performance, Bonner passed Candace Parker for the most playoff rebounds, totaling 614 rebounds.
In another surprising twist, the New York Liberty decided to not renew the contract of its head coach, Sandy Brondello. Brondello had been with the franchise for four seasons and led them to winning the championship last season. Brondello also led the team to back-to-back finals appearances. This move was a surprise as the players seemed to give their support to the coach in the press conference following their first-round loss. Some speculate the decision could have been made due to the program being plagued by multiple injuries and a disappointing playoff run. The program is expected to go through more changes in the off-season as many key players’ contracts are expiring, including Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu and Natasha Cloud.
The Indiana Fever have delivered multiple surprising performances in the playoffs so far, despite dealing with multiple injuries, including star guard Caitlin Clark. In the first round, the Fever upset the Atlanta Dream. The Dream received the win in the first game of the series, 80-68. The Fever then snagged a 17-point win in game two to tie the series. The Fever were able to secure a close win and a spot in the semifinals in the third series 87-85. Guard Kelsey Mitchell led the team to the win with 24 points.
In game one of the semifinals, the Fever continued to astonish fans with a win over the No. 2 Aces, featuring the WNBA’s MVP A’ja Wilson. Mitchell once again led the team to the win with 34 points, the most in a WNBA semifinals debut. As a whole, the team played with aggression and largely controlled the pace of the game leading to its 89-73 win. The second game of the semifinal series took place on Wednesday, Sept. 23. The Aces were able to bounce back to win 90-68 and tie the series. Four-time MVP Wilson largely contributed to the win, bouncing back with 25 points. The next game of the series will take place on Friday, Sept. 26.
The WNBA finals is scheduled to start in October and is sure to include more excitement as the fight to the championship continues.
