Hello, hoopheads! Monday looked like it might just be another record-setting night for a little while, as both Toronto’s Marina “Buckets Without Borders” Mabrey and Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard hit multiple 3-pointers in the first four minutes, seemingly with their eyes set on reclaiming a share of the WNBA single-game 3-pointer record that they had each ceded to Kayla McBride on Sunday. Neither ultimately joined KMac in the 10 triples club, but they finished a combined 13-for-24 from deep, as Mabrey went 7-for-13 and Howard went 6-for-11 in a 107-95 win for her Dream (20-12) over the Tempo (10-22). While the single-game record didn’t fall again, Howard did become the fastest player to make 100 shots from deep in a WNBA season, doing so in her 31st game, while Mabrey tallied a sixth 30-point game this season. That broke a tie with Kelsey Mitchell for the second-most 30-burgers in 2026, trailing only A’ja Wilson’s 10. Atlanta pulled back into a tie for fourth in the standings with the win, once again deadlocked with the Indiana Fever while moving a half-game ahead of the New York Liberty (20-13) and Washington Mystics (19-12).
Tonight’s three-game slate features two matchups of playoff teams, although you’ll need League Pass to watch one of them unless you happen to be local to either Las Vegas or Washington, D.C. It should come as no surprise that the possible playoff preview on national television is the one featuring my beloved New York Liberty (20-13) visiting the Indiana Fever (20-12) (7:30 ET, ESPN), given that every Fever game this season is on national television (or a streaming service other than League Pass). If you remember as far back as three sentences ago, or if you read the records in bold in the last sentence, or if you read the title of this post, then you have probably already gathered that the Liberty have a chance to jump Indiana in the standings with a win tonight. It would also give them a 2-1 edge in the season series, but neither team can clinch the tiebreaker with a fourth meeting coming up at Barclays Center next Saturday. The first two games in the series were won by the home team, with the Liberty dominating the fourth quarter of an 83-75 win during Commissioner’s Cup play and Indiana dominating the whole second half of a 108-88 win on the Saturday before the All-Star break.
That loss at Indiana heading into the break was hopefully the low point of the season for the Libs, who fell to 13-12 while giving their third piss-poor effort during a four-game skid (they played their asses off in the five-point loss at Minnesota during that skid, but I digress). New York has gone 7-1 since then, and while there are certainly warts on this stretch — such as the absence of Paige Bueckers from the initial win at Dallas and all three of the Aces’ superstars on Sunday — the wins count all the same. The wart that concerns me the most tonight, by far, is that the Libs have been pretty shitty on defense despite winning games, allowing opponents to post offensive ratings of at least 105 points per 100 possessions according to Her Hoop Stats in six of eight games during this 7-1 stretch. Thankfully, the Liberty offense has been scorching hot, with ratings of at least 110 points per 100 possessions in seven of eight games during this stretch (not the seven wins). They’re almost certainly going to need to stay hot on that end if they have any chance of winning tonight.
Indiana has cooled off a bit on the offensive end since a WNBA-record six-game streak scoring 100+ points, starting with last Thursday's collapse and eventual 86-84 overtime loss to the Aces, which Indiana finished with an offensive rating of just 91.3 points per 100 possessions. That also snapped a streak of six straight games with ratings of at least 120 points per 100 possessions coinciding with the 100-point scoring streak. The Fever moved back in the right direction in Saturday’s 90-86 win over the Chicago Sky, putting up a rating of 109.8 points per 100 possessions. That also continued the trend of Indiana making the most of its games against losing/non-playoff teams, against whom the Fever are now 14-3 (.824) compared to a 6-9 (.400) mark against their eventual postseason peers. One person who’s been hot regardless of the opponent, outcome of the game, or anything else is Kelsey Mitchell, who can set a new WNBA record with a 17th straight 20-point game tonight. She currently shares the record with Wilson and Cynthia Cooper, at least if you use the correct parameters and include both playoff games and multi-season streaks. Mitchell scored 21 points in the first meeting with the Liberty and 33 in the second, so I would not bet against her breaking the record tonight (I’m not sure I’d even bet against it happening by halftime).
Tonight’s second matchup of playoff teams features a pair going in different directions, at least coming into the game. I’m not sure that’ll still be the case after the Washington Mystics (19-12) play a two-game set in Sin City against the Las Vegas Aces (22-11) (10:00 ET, local affiliates/League Pass), but as of now the league’s youngest team has won seven in a row while its current dynastic power has gone 5-5 in its last 10 games and 8-7 in its last 15 dating to the Commissioner’s Cup final. Even if you throw out the punt on Sunday in Brooklyn, and I think you should, there’s really no denying that the Aces have been treading water since a 15-5 (.750) start to the season. Among the champs’ losses during this stretch was their only previous meeting with the Mystics, which Washington stole by a 100-99 margin at home on the last night before the All-Star break thanks to a 29-21 edge in the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately for Washington, I think all of that probably works against it in this game, because if there’s one thing that 2025 taught us about the Aces, it’s that they’ll only tolerate mediocrity for so long before engaging never-lose-again mode. I’m half-kidding, of course — but only half, and I have no doubt that Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon will use both her team’s month-plus of middling results and the previous loss to the Mystics as fuel to light a fire. Wilson was also absurdly dominant in her one game against the Mystics’ acclaimed frontcourt so far, scoring 38 points on 12-for-16 from the field while adding 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Combine that with how annoyed she looked to be sitting out on Sunday and I think the Mystics can expect to see the GOAT at her absolute best tonight. Of course, it’s also fair to note that the Aces' struggles coincide with the toughest part of their schedule. These two games against the Mystics, with the second one coming up on Thursday, open a four-game homestand which also completes an eight-game stretch against playoff teams spanning 16 days. That wraps up next Tuesday against Atlanta, after which Las Vegas should have plenty of chances to find its groove, as it finishes up with seven straight games against non-playoff teams.
Washington’s win streak is the longest active in the WNBA and one shy of tying the longest in franchise history including postseason games, an eight-game run which came during the team’s lone championship season in 2019 (including the final six games of the regular season and two in the playoffs). The latest win, a 20-point thrashing of the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday, was the first double-digit win during the streak, which has seen the defensive-minded Mystic Babies largely winning with offense. Consider that they’ve had five offensive ratings of at least 110 points per 100 possessions during the seven-game streak, which is three more than they had in their first 24 games. That’s not to say that the defense has slipped, as four of seven opponents in the streak have had ratings under 100 points per 100 possessions and a fifth was under 105 (which is the new 100, as you surely know). What it is to say is that, given their youth and the rate of their evolution before my eyes over the last two seasons, I am willing to entertain the idea that the last seven games represent the offense starting to click and could be more indicative of what’s to come than their season-long mark of 99.8 points per 100 possessions (which ranks 14th at Her Hoop Stats).
The third game on tonight’s schedule could have had about as juicy and as straightforward of a hook as any game between two teams with a 24-41 combined record could ask for, as the Phoenix Mercury (12-22) visit the Los Angeles Sparks (12-19) (10:00 ET, NBA TV/local affiliates) in what should’ve been Kelsey Plum’s first game against the team that just traded her, except that she’s been ruled out with a calf injury suffered in Phoenix’s blowout loss at Washington. That dropped the Mercury to 0-3 since winning Plum’s Phoenix debut last Monday. The Sparks made a real run at a comeback win over the Golden State Valkyries on Sunday night which would’ve been their third in four games, but ultimately fell 84-78.