The Minnesota Lynx and the Los Angeles Sparks have met in each of the last two WNBA Finals, with the two franchises each walking away with one championship. This time around, the two storied teams will face each other in a single-elimination game in the first round of the WNBA playoffs.
The Sparks will host the playoff game on Tuesday evening as the No. 6 seed, with the defending champion Lynx coming in as the No. 7 seed in this year’s playoff bracket.
Staggered Bracket Entry: Win or Go Home
The WNBA playoffs use a staggered entry system, with the top two seeds earning a bye to the semifinals, and the next two best teams being seeded into the second elimination round. While the semifinal and final rounds are best-of-five affairs, the first two elimination rounds come down to a single game, meaning anything is possible and a single mistake could end the season.
That makes the rivalry matchup between Minnesota and Los Angeles even more intense. According to BetOnline.ag, the Sparks are a 6.5-point favorite for their home game Tuesday night, but coach Brian Agler knows better than to take the defending champions lightly.
“Minnesota is a good team,” Agler told the Associated Press. “They have two of the elite offensive players in the league, one inside and one outside, they have veteran savviness, tough minded championship pedigree and we have played them enough, over 20 times in three years, so we know each other pretty well.”
In the other first round elimination game, the No. 5 seed Phoenix Mercury will take on the Dallas Wings, who overcame a nine-game losing stream late in the season to grab the last playoff spot with a win over the Las Vegas Aces on Friday. Phoenix is a six-point favorite heading into Tuesday’s contest.
The winner of the Phoenix vs. Dallas game will travel to take on the third-seeded Washington Mystics on Thursday, while the No. 4 seed Connecticut Sun will host the winner of the Minnesota/Los Angeles matchup.
Storm, Dream Earn Byes to Semifinals
The semifinal series begin on Sunday, with the Atlanta Dream and the top-seeded Seattle Storm awaiting their opponents. Teams will be reseeded after the second round, meaning the Storm – who finished with a league-best 26-8 regular season record – will play the lower seed that makes it out of the elimination rounds.
According to WNBA President Lisa Borders, the unlikely early round matchups and the emergence of Seattle as an elite team show that the playoffs are wide open this year.
“There is a whole lot of parity in the league,” Borders told the AP. “Clearly anyone can beat anyone on any given day. We are thrilled with the unpredictability.”
That sentiment is borne out in the WNBA Championship odds. While William Hill has the Storm listed as an 11/8 favorite, and Atlanta (4/1) is the clear second choice, most of the teams in the elimination rounds are also given a fair chance of going all the way. The remaining teams are all listed with odds of between 7/1 and 9/1, with the exception of the Wings (28/1), who remain the one true longshot in the WNBA playoffs.
