WNBA: Solar and Lynx sweep opponents, advance to semifinals

One other pair of WNBA playoff video games passed off on Wednesday, and the outcomes had been the identical: each high seeds beat their opponents and cruised to the semifinals.

This time, the No. 3-seed Connecticut Solar defeated the No. 6-seed Indiana Fever 87-81, and the No. 2-seed Minnesota Lynx took care of the No. 7-seed Phoenix Mercury 101-88. The 2 profitable groups will now face one another within the semifinals.

Right here is the recap on how each high seeds took care of enterprise at dwelling.

Sundown on Fever season

The Fever went on runs, gave a valiant effort and Caitlin Clark actually confirmed up, scoring 25 factors together with 9 assists. Nevertheless, it wasn’t sufficient in opposition to probably the greatest groups within the WNBA within the Solar.

Marina Mabrey was spectacular as soon as once more, scoring 17 factors on 6-for-18 capturing. Alyssa Thomas was dependable as ever, taking part in all 40 minutes and contributing a double-double with 19 factors and 13 rebounds.

Connecticut managed the vast majority of the sport, however Indiana did make a push late, even taking the lead due to a Clark 3-pointer with 4 minutes left within the fourth. Sadly for the Fever trustworthy, the Solar took management from then on, outscoring Indiana 17-10 the remainder of the way in which. Dangerous turnovers and missed photographs damage the Fever, and Mabrey hit a dagger 3-pointer with 46 seconds left to all however finish the competition. Newly-minted Most Improved Participant DiJonai Carrington and DeWanna Bonner went on to hit their free throws and shut the door on the Fever season for good.

Whereas the Fever had a historic season that we’ll be speaking about for years to come back, the toxicity and racism gamers needed to cope with can’t be ignored. All through the sport, disturbing photographs had been being shared on-line of racist shirts being worn, whereas followers in attendance additionally had been commenting on the hateful rhetoric being spewed.

You may suppose these had been only a few dangerous apples or uncommon cases, however sadly, that does not appear to have been the case. After the sport, Thomas was adamant that the hateful rhetoric was uncalled for and demanded that the WNBA take motion.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has stumbled when confronted about this toxicity that has more and more surrounded the league and its gamers. Nonetheless, the W’s official account on X did launch a press release that appeared to handle these issues after the conclusion of the sport.

Hopefully, statements like this would be the starting of the league taking proactive measures to denounce racism and guarantee participant security. The very last thing any of us desires to see is a participant getting damage merely for current and doing their job to the most effective of their skill.

Was this Diana Taurasi’s final recreation?

The Lynx steamrolled the Mercury with Napheessa Collier working the equipment, scoring 42 factors on the night time. That is a WNBA playoff report for these holding monitor at dwelling. Phoenix had a stable begin, however halfway by the second quarter, Minnesota took management. Within the third, they expanded their result in double figures and by no means seemed again.

Minus Collier’s domination, the lasting second of this recreation was what could be the ultimate time we see Diana Taurasi taking part in skilled basketball. There have been loud rumblings that that is it for her, and she or he gave a heartfelt speech after her closing regular-season recreation on the Footprint Middle. If that is it, she might not have gone out a champion, however she did go away a legend. Lynx followers made positive to present her a standing ovation as she walked off the court docket after fouling out.

Boring first spherical?

Whereas we had some unbelievable moments within the opening spherical, we additionally had all sweeps, with no lower-seeded groups profitable a recreation. The place is the strain? How intriguing is the competitors when the ultimate result’s so predictable? Sure, that is higher than single-elimination video games, however solely marginally so.

The most important problem is that there is not parity within the WNBA. The hole between the most effective and the remaining remains to be large. Till we get extra enlargement and expertise spreads out, this may not go away. A best-of-five format could be barely higher, as would give all groups dwelling video games, however you’d doubtless nonetheless have the highest seeds dominating and decrease seeds struggling to get one dwelling victory.

For now, we flip the web page and give attention to the semifinals, which can doubtless be rather more aggressive. The groups are evenly matched, and all 4 groups have legitimate circumstances to win not solely their collection but in addition the championship.