WNBA Playoff Chase
WNBA Playoff Seeding Race Resumes as Teams Battle for Final Playoff Positions
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Key Points
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Sabrina Ionescu said the Liberty cannot treat the final four games as an excuse-filled stretch, despite having more players away at the World Cup and dealing with fatigue and travel: “Every team is dealing with it.”
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Indiana’s final week begins with games against eliminated Toronto and Washington before a decisive home-and-away series against Minnesota on Sept. 22 and Sept. 24.
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Indiana leads the league in scoring at 97 points per game and has a plus-6.1 average scoring margin; the Fever also scored at least 100 points in three consecutive games before the break.
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Under the WNBA’s 1-1-1 first-round format, the No. 4 seed hosts Game 1 and a potential Game 3, while the No. 5 seed hosts only Game 2—raising the stakes of the Atlanta-Indiana seeding battle.
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Atlanta’s Angel Reese is averaging 16.1 points and a league-leading 12.4 rebounds, and she set a WNBA record with 26 rebounds in a late-August victory over the Los Angeles Sparks.
The WNBA resumes play Thursday after a nearly three-week break for the women's FIBA World Cup, with playoff seeding still wide open and each team playing four crucial final games. ADN reports that Minnesota needs just two wins to secure the No. 1 seed, but surging Golden State lurks within two games with the tiebreaker advantage. Over 50 players competed in the World Cup, leaving rosters depleted and teams scrambling to regain rhythm in a compressed final week.
The race for playoff home-court advantage intensifies down the stretch. Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Indiana are battling for positions 2-4, with Atlanta and Indiana deadlocked at 26-14. According to Chicago Tribune, if standings hold, Clark and Boston's Fever would face Angel Reese and the Dream in the first round—a matchup featuring five of the league's brightest young stars.
Minnesota Faces Golden State Challenge for Top Seed
Minnesota stands at the precipice of clinching the No. 1 seed with just two wins needed over the final four games. Yet Golden State's hot streak has put the Lynx on alert. According to KSL, the Warriors sit within two games of Minnesota and control the tiebreaker, giving them a genuine path to the top spot if they win out and Minnesota stumbles. The margin between excellence and disappointment has never been thinner.
Napheesa Collier told WGN Radio that the World Cup break, though demanding, helped her regain form after recovering from ankle surgeries. The three-week pause gave injured players rare time to heal, but it also broke momentum for teams hitting their stride. Minnesota must shake off rust while fending off a Warriors team that arguably enters the stretch refreshed and hungry.
Indiana's Fever Hold Scoring Edge Heading Into Final Week
Indiana enters the stretch as the league's most explosive offense, averaging 97 points per game with a plus-6.1 scoring margin. River Bender highlights that the Fever scored at least 100 points in three straight games before the break, showcasing the firepower that Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell bring nightly. In a late August win over Connecticut, Clark and Mitchell each dropped 34 points in a dominant 111-91 victory that proved the Fever's ceiling.
Indiana's path to a higher seed runs directly through Minnesota. The Fever face eliminated Toronto and Washington early in the stretch, then clash with the Lynx in back-to-back games on September 22 and 24. Two wins against the league's best would cement playoff positioning and psychologically boost Indiana heading into the postseason. Every possession matters when separation is measured in half-games.
Atlanta-Indiana Tiebreaker Puts Reese and the Dream at Crossroads
Atlanta and Indiana sit locked at 26-14, with the Dream holding the tiebreaker and the fourth seed in the 1-1-1 first-round format. This structure matters enormously: the No. 4 seed hosts Games 1 and 3, while the No. 5 seed hosts only Game 2. A single game separates hosting majority possession from splitting neutral ground. Angel Reese is carrying Atlanta's offensive load, averaging 16.1 points and a league-leading 12.4 rebounds per game.
Reese set a WNBA record with 26 rebounds in a late-August win over Los Angeles, cementing her status as an elite rebounder and all-around force. ADN reports that if Atlanta holds the fourth seed and Indiana finishes fifth, the Dream and Fever would meet in a thrilling first-round series featuring Clark, Boston, Reese, Aliyah Gray, and Rhyne Howard—five of the league's most dynamic young talents. The intrigue alone justifies every remaining minute.
Liberty and Other Teams Navigate Fatigue From World Cup Exodus
With over 50 players competing in the World Cup, several teams returned severely depleted. Sabrina Ionescu of the Liberty emphasized that every franchise faces identical challenges. WGN Radio quotes Ionescu saying, 'Every team is dealing with it,' warning her squad not to use World Cup travel and fatigue as excuses during the final stretch. The compressed schedule and extended absence create a level playing field, but mental toughness separates contenders from pretenders.
Teams must reintegrate star players who logged heavy minutes overseas while keeping non-traveling players sharp after weeks of minimal action. The challenge is holistic: managing jet lag, rebuilding chemistry, and staying focused on playoff positioning simultaneously. Four games decide everything, and there is no time for rust or letdowns. The WNBA's final week will sort which teams adapted best to chaos.
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