One and Sun: Sky stumble into 1st round
Single-elimination format means there’s no margin for error for Vandersloot-led squad
A pandemic-shortened WNBA season full of ups and downs has come down to this for the Sky: a single-elimination playoff round Tuesday against the seventh-seeded Connecticut Sun, who reached the postseason despite an 0-5 start.
There is no margin for error early in the WNBA postseason. The league switched to the single-elimination format for the first two rounds of the playoffs in 2016.
Los Angeles and Minnesota earned byes into the second round by finishing third and fourth and await the winners of Tuesday night’s games.
Entering this season, the playoffs weren’t a goal, they were an expectation for the Sky, who caught the WNBA by surprise with a 10-4 record early — their best start to a season since 2013.
The good feelings didn’t last long, though, with the Sky (12-10) stumbling into the postseason by losing six of their last eight games.
Bogged down by injuries and the departures of Azura Stevens (season-ending knee injury) and Diamond DeShields (personal reasons), the Sky unraveled during the stretch, finishing sixth in the playoff standings.
A bright spot has been Courtney Vandersloot. She became the fifth player in WNBA history to reach 1,900 assists, joining Ticha Penicheiro, Sue Bird, Lindsay Whalen and Diana Taurasi. Vandersloot finished with 219 assists to set a season record for assists per game. She also became the first WNBA player to average 10 assists in a season Monday, when a video review credited her with an assist that was incorrectly given to her wife, Allie Quigley, in a game Aug. 4.
The Sun have had their share of injuries. Their backcourt of Jasmine Thomas (foot) and Briann January (hand) was bothered by injuries down the stretch. For Connecticut to make a run in the postseason, the pair must be healthy.
Washington needed a victory in its last game, beating Atlanta, to give the Mystics the final spot in the playoffs and a chance to repeat as WNBA champions — a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since Los Angeles did it in 2001 and 2002.
“The work we’ve done the last few weeks when most teams would’ve quit has paid off,” Mystics coach Mike Thibault said. “It’s a great testament to how they’ve hung in.”
The Mystics, who lost 12 of 13 games during a stretch, have made the playoffs four years in a row and in seven of the last eight years. This might’ve been their most improbable appearance over that stretch because the team was missing four starters from last season’s championship run, including Elena Delle Donne.