New series format in early rounds a popular change

A’ja Wilson and the Aces will begin their quest for their first WNBA title a lot sooner than top seeds have done in previous few years.

The Aces clinched homecourt throughout the playoff on the regular season’s final day by earning the top seed in the WNBA postseason that begins Wednesday.

Before this year, the Aces would have a bye until the semifinals. The league changed the playoff format to best-of-three series in the quarterfinals instead of the single-elimination games in the opening two rounds it had been using since 2016.

“We’re not done yet. This is the beginning,” Wilson said after the Aces clinched the top seed Sunday. “The regular season was nice, but now it’s real. It doesn’t matter what number is by your name in the playoffs. It could be anybody’s night on any given day.

“It’s playoffs, either you want it or you don’t.”

The top four seeds — the Aces, Sky, Sun and Storm — will all host the first two games of their series with a potential decisive game three on the home court of the lower seed.

Breanna Stewart was happy that the league changed the playoff format.

“I think in the WNBA all teams are deserving of a series,” she said. “It’s a respect for the teams that make it. Striving for greatness throughout the whole season shouldn’t finish with one game on the line. We’re a professional league. It should be exciting and will be interesting with the 2-1 best of three.”

Stewart will try to help teammate Sue Bird head into retirement with a fifth championship. The fourth-seeded Storm have a tough first round matchup against the Mystics.

“This league continues to elevate the game and get better and better,” Stewart said. “Everybody knows there’s players on each team that can go off.”

Health status

The Wings played without Arike Ogunbowale (abdominal issue) the last few games and the Mercury’s Diana Taurasi was sidelined down the stretch with a quad injury. Both teams will be hard-pressed to advance without them in the lineup. The Mercury also could still be without guard Skylar Diggins-Smith, who missed the last couple of games because of personal reasons.

Back-to-back?

The Sky are trying to be come the first team to repeat as champions since the Sparks won consecutive titles in 2001 and 2002. The Sky host the Liberty in the opening round.

Exciting finish

The Liberty and Mercury didn’t secure postseason berths until the final day of the regular season. The Liberty knocked off the Dream, and the Mercury advanced when the Lynx lost to the Sun earlier in the day, ending the career of WNBA great Sylvia Fowles.

Under the radar

The Sun finished with the league’s thirdbest record, behind the Aces and the Sky.

The Sun closed out the season with eight wins in their final 10 games and and are seeking to capture the franchise’s first league title.*