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With the 2022 WNBA regular season two-thirds complete, five teams have established themselves as postseason shoe-ins and, in some cases, clear championship contenders. But the jostling between the six others vying for the final three playoff spots — the Atlanta Dream, Los Angeles Sparks, Dallas Wings, Phoenix Mercury, New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx — is where the league’s highest-stakes competition lies over the next four weeks.
That became more clear Tuesday night, when Minnesota’s double-overtime win over the Mercury and losses by the Sparks, Dream, Liberty and Wings allowed the Lynx to pull within 1.5 games of a playoff spot. Now, those six teams are all within 1.5 games of one another in the WNBA standings with between 11 and 13 contests remaining to secure a postseason berth.
The regular season wraps up Aug. 14, with the first round of the playoffs — under a new format this season — opening Aug. 17 with four best-of-three series to determine the semifinalists.
Which teams are most likely to reach the WNBA playoffs?
Through Tuesday’s games, the Wings (70.0%), Mercury (55.0%) and Sparks (54.7%) were projected to make the postseason, according to ESPN’s BPI.
The Dream (54.2%) weren’t too far behind Los Angeles, and the Lynx (48.3%) weren’t too far off, either. But the Liberty had by far the worst prospects of any team currently in contention at 17.8%.
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Source : espn
