WNBA playoffs 2025: Semifinals preview and predictions
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Michael Voepel
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Alexa Philippou
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Alexa Philippou
ESPN
- Covers women’s college basketball and the WNBA
- Previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant
- Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati Enquirer
Two games. A pair of game-winning shots in the final 12 seconds. Have you caught your breath yet?
In the first game of Thursday’s WNBA playoffs, Aliyah Boston hit the go-ahead shot with 7.4 seconds left to help the Indiana Fever win their first playoff series in 10 years and advance to the semifinals. A couple of hours later, Jackie Young scored on a putback with 12.4 seconds remaining to help the Las Vegas Aces return to the semifinals.
And now they’ll meet on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC) in Game 1 of a best-of-five series.
On the other side of the bracket, the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx await the winner of Friday’s New York Liberty-Phoenix Mercury Game 3.
Before the next round opens, we break down each matchup and predict which teams will reach the WNBA Finals.
Regular-season series: Indiana went 2-1 against Las Vegas
June 22: Aces 89, Fever 81 (at Las Vegas)
July 3: Fever 81 Aces 54 (at Indiana)
July 24: Fever 80, Aces 70 (at Indiana)
First round: After dropping Game 1 in Atlanta, Indiana routed the Dream at home to force Game 3. Despite trailing for almost 30 minutes, the Fever pulled out a win in a decisive Game 3.
Las Vegas won handily in its first game at home, then dropped a close Game 2 when the Storm outscored the Aces 25-14 in the fourth quarter. On Thursday, the Aces won a back-and-forth fourth quarter to hold off Seattle to win their three-game series.
What we’re hearing about the Aces
Becky…
