Playoff Scenarios Heading Into Final Day of the Regular Season
The 2010 WNBA regular season comes to a close on Sunday and there are still plenty of playoff implications surrounding Sunday's four-game slate.
While we know the eight teams that have advanced to the postseason, we still have not determined a single first-round playoff matchup. So as you watch Sunday's games (all four are available on LiveAccess with the regular-season finale between Indiana and Minnesota also on NBA TV) keep an eye on the following playoff scenarios.
First, let's start with what we do know. Representing the Western Conference in the 2010 WNBA Playoffs are the Seattle Storm, Phoenix Mercury, San Antonio Silver Stars and Los Angeles Sparks. On the other side of the bracket, representing the Eastern Conference are the Washington Mystics, New York LIberty, Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream.
Now figuring out where these teams stand with less than 24 hours to play in the regular season is a bit more complicated. Hopefully the following will lend some clarity.
Eastern Conference
Playoff seeds that have been secured:No. 4 seed Atlanta Dream (19-4)
Playoff seeds to be determined: No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4, between Washington, New York and Indiana
To clinch Eastern Conference WASH clinches East Conference with a win OR losses by BOTH NY and IND.
NY clinches East Conference with a win AND a WASH loss.
IND clinches East Conference with a win AND losses by BOTH WASH and NY.
For East Seedings If WAS, NY and IND all win, there will be a three-way tie. Seedings would be #1. WAS, #2. NY and #3 IND because in head-to head among the three teams WAS will be 6-3, NY 4-5 and IND 3-5.
If WAS, NY and IND all lose, results will be same as above.
If WAS wins and NY and IND both lose, WAS will be #1 with IND and NY tied for 2nd. IND will have tie-breaker edge... While IND and NY would finish 2-2 head-to-head and each would be 13-9 vs. East Conf. IND will have a better record vs. teams at-or-above .500.
If WAS loses and NY and IND both win, WAS will be #3. NY and IND will be tied at #1. NY and IND will be 2-2 head-to-head but NY would win tie-breaker by virtue of better record vs. East Conf (14-8 to IND's 13-9).
Western Conference
Playoff seeds that have been secured: No. 1 seed: Seattle Storm (28-4)
No. 2 seed: Phoenix Mercury (15-18)
Playoff seeds to be determined: No. 3 and No. 4, between Los Angeles and San Antonio
For West Seeings: If SA wins, they will be #3, LA #4.
If SA loses and MIN loses, SA will be tied with LA at 13-21, but SA will be #3 and LA #4 by virtue of SA's 3-1 head-to-head record vs. LA.
If SA loses and MIN wins, SA, LA and MIN will be tied at 13-21. LA would finish #3, SA #4 by virtue of head-to-head record among the three teams...
Head to head:
LA: 4-0 vs. MIN; 1-3 vs. SA...TOTAL 5-3
SA: 2-3 vs. MIN; 3-1 vs. LA..TOTAL 5-4
MIN: 0-4 vs. LA; 3-2 vs. SA...TOTAL 3-6
While we know the eight teams that have advanced to the postseason, we still have not determined a single first-round playoff matchup. So as you watch Sunday's games (all four are available on LiveAccess with the regular-season finale between Indiana and Minnesota also on NBA TV) keep an eye on the following playoff scenarios.
First, let's start with what we do know. Representing the Western Conference in the 2010 WNBA Playoffs are the Seattle Storm, Phoenix Mercury, San Antonio Silver Stars and Los Angeles Sparks. On the other side of the bracket, representing the Eastern Conference are the Washington Mystics, New York LIberty, Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream.
Now figuring out where these teams stand with less than 24 hours to play in the regular season is a bit more complicated. Hopefully the following will lend some clarity.
Eastern Conference
Playoff seeds that have been secured:
Playoff seeds to be determined:
To clinch Eastern Conference
For East Seedings
Western Conference
Playoff seeds that have been secured:
Playoff seeds to be determined:
For West Seeings:
Head to head:
LA: 4-0 vs. MIN; 1-3 vs. SA...TOTAL 5-3
SA: 2-3 vs. MIN; 3-1 vs. LA..TOTAL 5-4
MIN: 0-4 vs. LA; 3-2 vs. SA...TOTAL 3-6