Two games into the first round, and the WNBA playoffs have already produced one shocking result. The Minnesota Lynx, who held the league's best record for most of the season and entered as the No. 1 seed, are out. Swept. By the No. 8 seed.
New York finished the job Tuesday night, beating Minnesota 87-71 to complete a two-game sweep of the best-of-three series. It's the first time in WNBA history that a No. 1 seed has been eliminated in the first round without even forcing a decisive game.
Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones each scored 21 points in the clinching win, with Sabrina Ionescu adding 18. The Liberty's defense did most of the damage, though, holding a Lynx offense that had been the league's most consistent all year to just 71 points.
It wasn't a fluke either. New York had already beaten Minnesota by 12 points nine days earlier during the regular season, and Game 1 of this series followed almost the same script. Stewart put up 34 points and 12 rebounds in that opener, her third career 30-point playoff double-double.
For a team that stumbled into the playoffs as the eighth seed after an up-and-down regular season, the Liberty are suddenly looking like the team nobody wants to face. They're now the first squad to punch a ticket to the semifinals this postseason.
There's context worth adding here. The Lynx had shared or held the league's best record since late May and were chasing a fifth WNBA championship. Rookie guard Olivia Miles was unanimously named WNBA Rookie of the Year on Monday, just a day before her team's season ended.
None of that mattered once the series started. Minnesota is now 3-11 all-time in playoff games when trailing by 10 or more at halftime, and that stat held up again in the clincher. For a franchise with championship expectations, an opening-round sweep as the top seed is about as bad an outcome as there is.
The other Tuesday storyline came from Indiana, where Caitlin Clark made sure her team's season didn't end a game early. The Fever beat the defending champion Las Vegas Aces 99-89, evening their series at one game apiece and forcing a Game 3 back in Las Vegas on Thursday.
Clark's stat line was the kind that gets people talking. She finished with 27 points, 15 assists and seven rebounds, becoming the first player in WNBA history to record a points-and-assists double-double in a playoff half. Las Vegas had won Game 1 comfortably, 102-85, behind MVP frontrunner A'ja Wilson, but Clark and the Fever weren't ready to pack it in.
Photo: Photo: Getty Images
Wilson, for what it's worth, didn't have the cleanest night. She was hit with a technical foul during the game after an altercation with a fan, and made her frustration known publicly afterward, calling the fan's behavior "unacceptable."
While New York and Indiana were producing the headlines, the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries were also underway in their own best-of-three matchups. Atlanta opened with a 92-77 win over Washington in Game 1, and Golden State beat Dallas 104-80 in a game that set a franchise scoring record for the Valkyries, who reached the playoffs for just the second time since becoming a WNBA franchise.
Photo: Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Photo: Getty Images
Both of those series are still working their way through, without the same level of drama that hit the Lynx-Liberty and Aces-Fever matchups. That could change quickly, given how fast things have flipped in this year's bracket already.
Thursday's Game 3 between Indiana and Las Vegas is the one to watch. A Fever win would end the Aces' bid for a fourth title in five seasons and hand Clark her first trip past the first round. A Vegas win sends the defending champs through to face New York in the semifinals, which start October 4.
The WNBA Finals are set to begin October 17, running as a best-of-seven series for the second straight year, with a possible Game 7 landing on October 31 if it goes the distance. Given how the first week has gone, nobody in this bracket looks safe.
