With Rivals Week in the WNBA comes five intriguing games involving playoff-hopeful teams
Rivals Week continues in the WNBA as the regular season winds down, and teams continue to jockey for position to earn better playoff seeding and potentially a home court edge.
Entering the week, the Minnesota Lynx (27-7) sit alone at No. 1 in the league standings with a 27-7 record. They are only team that has clinched a playoff berth after sweeping the defending-champion Las Vegas Aces and Dallas Wings over the weekend.
The Aces (22-11) lost on Saturday and Sunday, in Minneapolis and Brooklyn, respectively, and are now in third place behind the Golden State Valkyries (23-9).
The Indiana Fever (20-12) responded from their 20-point collapse against the Aces on Thursday to defeat the Chicago Sky on Saturday and will head into the week sitting fourth overall.
The biggest surprise has been the ascension of the Washington Mystics (19-12), who have bolted from eighth place to fifth and roll into the week as the hottest team in the league on a seven-game win streak.
Rounding out the top eight spots, which will frame the playoff picture when the regular season ends next month, are the Atlanta Dream (19-12), New York Liberty (20-13) and Dallas (19-14).
This week’s action tips off with two games on Monday, but only one involving a playoff-bound team, as the Atlanta Dream host the expansion Toronto Tempo.
It’s not until Tuesday that we get the first of what could be five pivotal games in the standings.
Here’s a look at the five most important games this week (all times Eastern):
New York Liberty at Indiana Fever
Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN
The Liberty also moved their way away from the eighth spot, and will be one game in front of the Wings when they head into Indianapolis for a huge Eastern Conference showdown with plenty on the line. New York has won four straight, but the first three were against non-playoff teams Seattle and Phoenix (twice), and the fourth was Sunday against an Aces team that didn’t have A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray in the lineup. This will be the Liberty’s first real test since they went into Las Vegas on July 30 and lost 104-99. New York is a mediocre 9-8 on the road this season, and while it’s won three of its last four on the highway, it’s also lost seven of its last 11 away from Brooklyn. The Fever, who are 11-6 at home this season, are just 3-2 since All-Star Weekend, including 0-1 at home. That said, the Fever defeated the Liberty 108-88 in the last meeting, on July 18 in Indianapolis.
Washington Mystics at Las Vegas Aces
Tuesday, 10 p.m., League Pass
The Aces will have one day to recover after a five-game trip, but shouldn’t have room for excuses about not having enough time to recover after their “Big 3” took Sunday off to watch the 40-point loss in Brooklyn. Besides, the visiting Mystics also played on Sunday, with their home game against the Phoenix Mercury tipping 2.5 hours after the Aces and Liberty started. Washington has just two games on this trip, and both are in Sin City. The Mystics will undoubtedly be focused for both games, especially since their last trip was also two games in back-to-back fashion against the same team, when they split a pair against the Valkyries in San Francisco. It was their second game against Golden State that ignited the six-game win streak. The pressure will be on the Aces, who went 2-3 on the trip, and whose offense has dipped to 10th in the league in August, with 87.2 points per game, down from the league’s third-highest 91.7 in the 28 games prior.
Dallas Wings at Indiana Fever
Friday, 10 p.m., ION
The Paige Bueckers vs. Caitlin Clark narrative will never get old, but to bill this game that would be a disservice to the supporting casts in Dallas and Indiana. Before the Wings hit the road for two in Indianapolis on Friday and San Francisco on Sunday, they’ll host the Tempo on Wednesday. Seemingly, that game will be just as vital for the Wings, who have lost five of their last six. But this is the biggie, as the Wings are hoping the teams below them don’t go on a run to challenge them for the eighth spot. Just beneath them in ninth place is the Portland Fire, who enter the week on a two-game win streak. The Fever will come in after Tuesday’s game with New York, which could mean two things by the time this game comes around: they’ll be fired up with confidence after a win, or they’ll be fired up with vengeance on the brain after a loss. Either way, the Wings have to find an elixir for their offensive woes. During their six-game dilemma, dating back to July 29, they’re scoring just 82.8 points per game – third-lowest in the league. That’s trouble when you consider how well Indiana’s one-two punch in Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell has been scoring.
Minnesota Lynx at Las Vegas Aces
Saturday, 8 p.m., CBS
Following their back-to-back games with the upstart Mystics, the Aces will get a crack at revenge one week after losing in Minneapolis. The Lynx will be hungry to lock up homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, and will be playing just their second game of the week. The top-seeded cats will arrive after playing in Portland on Wednesday, and will have had two days off. Meanwhile, the champs will be playing their third game in five days, albeit all at home, and looking to stay relevant in the top-four playoff spot conversation. The problem for the Aces is how well the Lynx have been playing since July 8, going 12-1 with the second-highest scoring offense (97.2) and fourth-best scoring defense (88.8). Even further, since the return of Napheesa Collier, it’s looked like her and rookie Olivia Miles have been teammates for years, not months, combining for an average of 40.4 points, 11.4 rebounds and 10.0 assists per game.
Indiana Fever at Atlanta Dream
Sunday, 5 p.m., ESPN
Finally, closing out the week, it’ll be the Fever opening a critical five-game road trip in Atlanta, where they’ve lost 12 of 17. Of course, there’s been plenty of roster turnover since 2017, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Indiana struggles when it visits the A-T-L no matter who’s been on the roster. The last two times the Fever have visited Atlanta, it’s resulted in Dream wins, a 19-point shellacking last season and a 17-point spanking in June. As mentioned earlier, the Fever will be coming off two important home games against the Liberty and Wings, and the results of those games could very well dictate how things go against Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, Angel Reese and company. Nobody is ever safe in Atlanta, where the Dream have won 11 of 16 this season and rank third in the league with 93.0 PPG. That may not bode well for the Fever, who have allowed the league’s fifth-most road points since June 20 – the last time they were in Atlanta – a rather-high 93.1 PPG.
W.G. Ramirez is a veteran sports writer from Las Vegas and a Staff Writer at Ballislife.com. Follow him on X at @WillieGRamirez.
Editor’s Pick
The post WNBA Rivals Week: 5 Must See Games! appeared first on Ballislife.com.