***The Official 2025 WNBA Playoffs Thread***

[hermes]

phee starting to assert herself

[hermes]

tech on thomas for elbowing natisha in the mouth

[hermes]

so flagrant the basket wouldn't have counted but a tech, the basket stands. interesting

[hermes]

good defense that quarter

[hermes]

can we stop hitting natisha in the face?

[hermes]

good minutes from maria

[hermes]

bridget!

[hermes]

great time to have a 12-0 run

[Green Chile]

Court kicking ass

[hermes]

lynx win!

great second half

[BlacJacMac]

2nd game in a row that the Mercury have looked gassed down the stretch.

Lynx depth and conditioning has been a super power this year. They win a lot of games late in the 4th.

[mattg]

WNBA totally needs to revamp it's entire regular season and playoffs. Season just feels laughably short and small. And it makes no sense for so many teams to make the "playoffs" with so few teams in the league as a whole and then on top of it the 3 game series in the 1st round is just high variance, dumb, AND anticlimactic. They should scrap the idea of playoffs entirely and just do a tournament with all teams in the league double elimination style, because 8 of 13 teams making the "playoffs" is by far the dumbest playoff setup in any major sport.

[Green Chile]

WNBA totally needs to revamp it's entire regular season and playoffs. Season just feels laughably short and small. And it makes no sense for so many teams to make the "playoffs" with so few teams in the league as a whole and then on top of it the 3 game series in the 1st round is just high variance, dumb, AND anticlimactic. They should scrap the idea of playoffs entirely and just do a tournament with all teams in the league double elimination style, because 8 of 13 teams making the "playoffs" is by far the dumbest playoff setup in any major sport.

Next year it'll be 8 of 15, putting it on par with most other pro sports leagues.

You could make the case that it should have been 6 teams all these years with 12, then 13 teams (also on pay with other leagues), and I'd be fine with that. But I'm not sure it matters all that much.

I disagree about the number of regular season games.

I actually think 40 was the perfect number.

Now, that's assuming the league wants to stay with putting the season between the NCAA tourney and the start of the NBA (and not too far into football season). I assume it'll stay that way because this is the NBA's league. Extending the calendar time frame is a good discussion, but it's moot because the NBA owns the league. Not changing.

Assuming that calendar time frame, 40 is the perfect number, IMO.
This year, cramming 44 games between early May and early September was just too much.
Not enough time between games, and the injuries showed.

I worry they are going to expand past 44 games, which would be a big mistake. Not enough rest, and from the fan's perspective, the W is the only pro league, outside of the NFL, where the regular season still matters.

It would be a huge mistake to give up that advantage. But the NBA is calling the shots, so I'm sure they will.

This is going to be very unpopular, but I wish they'd have kept the Finals at 5 games.

5 games is just a better series for basketball than 7 (I know that's a very unpopular opinion).
5 games is better for the players and the fans.

7 games is better for the pocketbooks of the league and networks, so I know that's where it's always heading, but for the fans and players, 5 is ideal, imo.

Particularly if you aren't going to drag out a 7 game series the way they do in the NBA.

[hermes]

around 40 is a good amount of games. anymore and the individual games all mean less. if the calendar isn't going to be lengthened more games shouldn't be added, we're probably at too many already - injuries were a major story this year.

there is no reason to care about any particular baseball game because there are a gazillion of them. nba's season is too long as well.

i don't have have a horse in 5 vs 7 games on the finals. they did make good decisions on home/road games in the first round of the playoffs this time. not sure if making the first round 5 games would be good

[Green Chile]

around 40 is a good amount of games. anymore and the individual games all mean less. if the calendar isn't going to be lengthened more games shouldn't be added, we're probably at too many already - injuries were a major story this year.

there is no reason to care about any particular baseball game because there are a gazillion of them. nba's season is too long as well.

i don't have have a horse in 5 vs 7 games on the finals. they did make good decisions on home/road games in the first round of the playoffs this time. not sure if making the first round 5 games would be good

Agreed.

I wouldn't be opposed to 5 games in the 1st round, but only with a 40 game regular season (which probably will never happen again).

Probably doesn't matter much.. 1st round upsets are pretty rare even with just 3 games (although 1-1-1 could change that).

[hermes]

courtney appears to be feeling it

[hermes]

i'm alright with phoenix shooting long jumpers, not making many right now and it keeps them out of the paint

[BlacJacMac]

It took Cheryl one half to solve AT.

Lynx dominating the 2nd quarter.

[hermes]

phee is asserting herself

[cupcakesnake]

What is Phoenix supposed to do against this. Minnesota is too consistent on both ends. Opponents lag for any amount of time on either end, and Minnesota just runs up the lead.