Five questions heading into the WNBA Playoffs

1. Can Minnesota run the table?

A year ago, the Seattle Storm raced through the regular season to a league-best 28-6 record, a full six games ahead of its closest competitor. Sound familiar?

This year the Minnesota Lynx were head and shoulders above the competition in the regular season, finishing with a franchise-best 27-7 record, and � just like Seattle � a full six games ahead of the field.

A year ago, the Storm were able to keep it going, posting a perfect 7-0 record in the playoffs to capture the 2010 WNBA title. Can the Lynx also replicate the success they had in the regular season in the playoffs?

2. Is there a clear cut favorite?

Based on our first question, you�d be forgiven for assuming the favorite to win the 2011 WNBA title would be the Lynx. And while they would get the default nod based on their regular season dominance, many experts see this as a wide-open field this year.

Sure, Minnesota was by far the best team over the past three months, but things get a little less clear-cut when you shrink the timeframe a bit and look at how teams played in the final month of the regular season.

Atlanta Dream
Overall record: 20-14 (.588)
Last month: 10-3 (.769)

Atlanta started the season horribly, posting a 3-9 record as they played with a hobbled Angel McCoughtry and without the services of Sancho Lyttle in June. But since July, only the Lynx have posted a better record than the Dream.

Seattle Storm
Overall record: 21-13 (.618)
Last month: 9-3 (.750)

How about the defending champs from Seattle? They lost reigning MVP Lauren Jackson for 20 games in the middle of the season with a hip injury. During her absence, the team stayed in the hunt and boosted by her return finished as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

Of course, not all teams are trending upward. While Indiana clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Fever limped into the playoffs, losing six of their last nine games to close the season. Phoenix had a chance to grab the No. 2 seed and steal home-court advantage in its series with the Storm, but lost three of their last five games heading into the postseason.

But with the Fever and Mercury coming to play with Tamika Catchings and Diana Taurasi, respectively, you can never count those teams out. Especially in a short series like the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals.

3. Who is healthy?

While some teams received a shot in the arm from players returning from injury late in the season � specifically Lauren Jackson in Seattle and Danielle Adams in San Antonio � there are others that have been hit with the injury bug at the worst time possible.

The Indiana-New York matchup could prove to be a battle of attrition, with a number of key players not quite 100 percent as they enter the postseason. For New York, All-Star Cappie Pondexter has been battling a sprained ankle for nearly a month, and her performance down the stretch has suffered a bit in turn. She�s only posted one 20+ point game since the injury and averaged just 11.5 points in her last five games of the regular season, down from her season average of 17.4.

For the Fever, there are a trio of players to keep an eye on, starting with Tamika Catchings, who was held out of the Fever�s final game to rest a strained knee that has been bugging her for a while. Then there are ankle sprains to Erin Phillips and Shavonte Zellous, with Phillips ready to go and Zellous still to be determined. Remember this is a team already without starting point guard Briann January, who went down with a torn ACL earlier in the season.

While ankle sprains are the popular injury in Indiana, it was back spasms that affected the Phoenix Mercury down the stretch with stars Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor both missing games with the ailment. Taylor last played on Sept. 3 but is expected to be in the lineup Thursday night in Seattle.

A team that hasn�t had to deal with injuries this season is the Lynx, who have used the same starting lineup in 33 out of 34 games this season, which is a far cry from years past for the Lynx.

4. Will there be any upsets?

Last year, the Atlanta Dream made the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the East and swept their way past the Mystics in the first round and the Liberty in the conference finals to advance to the Finals in just their third year of existence.

Will there be another run to the Finals by a lower seeded team? Well, Atlanta may try to make a repeat performance, this time as the No. 3 seed in the East. They face the Connecticut Sun in the first round with Games 1 and 3 to be played at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. However, the teams split their season series, with each team picking up a win on the other team�s floor.

In the West�s 2-3 matchup, the Mercury face the Storm in a rivalry dominated by Seattle over the past two years (winning 10 of the last 11 meetings). To make matters worse, the Mercury have to take a game on Seattle�s home court at KeyArena, where the Storm have lost just two games in the past two years.

Seattle and Connecticut finished the regular season tied for the best home record in the league at 15-2. Will that advantage hold up in the first round, or will they open the door for a potential first round upset?

5. Who will have the best postseason debut?

One of the most intriguing things to watch is how players � particularly young players � respond to the pressure of the postseason. Pay special attention to the Danielles in San Antonio � Adams and Robinson � both rookies set to play in their first WNBA playoff game on the road tomorrow against the top-seeded Lynx.

You would think Maya Moore would be right at home in the postseason, considering she spent nearly as much time in the NCAA Tournament as she did in her dorm room at UConn.