The WNBA playoffs continued on Sunday, with the semifinals kicking off. Below, we’ll break down the updated bracket, the day’s scores and top highlights as the quest for a title has narrowed to four teams.
Indiana Fever 89, Las Vegas Aces 73
Minnesota Lynx 82, Phoenix Mercury 69
The Lynx continue to look like the top seed in the WNBA playoffs and the best team in the sport.
Minny is now 3-0 this postseason following Sunday’s 82-69 win. Courtney Williams did a little bit of everything for the Lynx (23 points, eight rebounds, seven assists), while Kayla McBride added 21 points.
Kahleah Copper (22 points) and Alyssa Thomas (18 points, seven assists) led the way for Phoenix.
Minnesota has now won four of the five meetings with the Mercury dating back to the regular season and overcame a seven-point deficit at halftime, overwhelming Phoenix in the second half.
Nobody would blamed the Fever for bowing out quietly in this postseason without superstar Caitlin Clark. A first-round upset of the Atlanta Dream already represented a successful season.
But Kelsey Mitchell and the Fever aren’t interested in your expectations.
The star guard absolutely smoked the Aces on Sunday, going for 34 points in her team’s 89-73 win.
There were plenty of reasons to expect the Aces to handle their business in Game 1. They were at home, they are the hottest team in the WNBA (15 straight wins to finish the regular season and 17 wins in their last 18 games including the postseason) and A’ja Wilson—the WNBA’s first four-time MVP—is tough to bet against.
Mitchell didn’t care about any of it. She was the best player on the court Sunday, shooting 12-of-23 from the field and 4-of-6 from three. The Fever shot well in general, hitting at a 50 percent clip (34-of-68) while hitting on 16 of their 17 free-throw attempts.
Wilson, meanwhile, had 16 points, 13 boards and four blocks but shot just 6-of-22 from the field.
The Fever still need to beat the Aces two more times to advance to the WNBA Finals, a tall task. But any thoughts that this would be a cakewalk for the Aces have quickly been extinguished.
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