A Chaotic Sprint to the Finish for the W.N.B.A. Season

Of the teams hoping to clinch one of the final playoff spots, the Dallas Wings are in the best shape. They hold a 16-16 record with four games remaining — all against teams that sit below them in the standings. Dallas could clinch a berth with a win in either of its two games this week against the Liberty, the first of which was scheduled for Monday night.

Below the Wings, though, the race is wide open. With three games left for each, the Atlanta Dream and Phoenix Mercury are tied at 14-19, though the Dream own the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Liberty are 13-19 with four games left, and the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks are hanging on at 13-20.

The Dream, the Mercury and the Liberty have all been without key players down the stretch. Atlanta guard Tiffany Hayes has missed three games with an ankle injury, while Phoenix announced Monday that Diana Taurasi would miss the rest of the regular season with a quad injury. For Saturday’s game with Phoenix, the Liberty had finally gotten healthy as Betnijah Laney returned to action two months after knee surgery, but forward Natasha Howard went down with an ankle injury.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/sports/basketball/wnba-playoff-race.html