Hello, hoopheads! Saturday’s WNBA games didn’t quite live up to the excitement of Friday’s twin upsets, which made the 11th-to-last WNBA gameday of the regular season the first one to feature multiple losses by playoff teams against non-playoff teams. Bestie and I did witness something almost as rare in 2026, however, as we attended an entirely stress-free win by my beloved-but-mostly-Berlin-bound New York Liberty (24-16) for, if memory serves, the first time since they opened the season by thumping the Connecticut Sun. It was the Chicago Sky (15-25) who got blown out on this occasion, and the 85-66 margin probably doesn’t even reflect the degree to which the Libs controlled the game on a rare day when they struggled to finish inside the arc. They made just 37.2% of their 2-point attempts, compared to 54.5% for the season, which slid from second to fourth during the 16-for-43 effort. I was still pretty thrilled to see them keep going at the rim, and to the line 22 times as a result, after ranting on Friday about their apparent inability to recognize that those things are their bread and butter. New York finished the game attempting 3-pointers on 35.5% of its scoring attempts, improving to 18-7 (.720) when no more than 40% of its scoring attempts come from deep, compared to a 6-11 (.353) record when more than 40% of its scoring attempts are 3-pointers. Only two other teams have played more than 11 games this season in which more than 40% of their scoring attempts were from deep: Purple Kryptonite aka the Golden State Valkyries, who are 16-7 (.696) in their league-leading 23 such games and 10-4 (.714) the rest of the time, and the Portland Fire, who are 8-10 (.444) when at least 40% of their scoring attempts are triples and 8-13 (.381) the rest of the time. I’m not saying the Liberty need to abandon the 3-point line, where they’re making 35% for the season and sit in the top third of the league, but hopefully yesterday was a reminder to them that the whole offense, including the 3-point shooting, looks a lot better when it’s committed to getting into the paint. I’m not exactly the first person to notice this trend in basketball.
Today’s four-game slate, the last one before the WNBA breaks until September 17 for the FIBA World Cup, tips off with one of just seven remaining regular-season games between playoff teams, as the Minnesota Lynx (31-8) visit the Atlanta Dream (25-14) (3:00 ET, NBA TV/local affiliates), who are coming off of a costly loss on Friday and thus really need to win this game. That will be a pretty tall task given the opponent, of course, but a loss would leave Atlanta, which was in the thick of the race for the No. 3 seed entering Friday, a game behind No. 4 seed Indiana (26-14) and two games behind No. 3 seed Las Vegas (27-13), both of which have the head-to-head tiebreakers over the Dream. Perhaps worse yet, a loss would send Atlanta into the break only a game ahead of my beloved Libs, who lead the series 1-0 and host the Dream for the final two games of the regular season, and would be highly likely to leapfrog Atlanta with a sweep of the remaining meetings. Washington (24-16) and Dallas (23-16) are also right there with New York and could also punish Atlanta for even a split in Brooklyn if they finish strong (Dallas notably doesn’t play another playoff team). Atlanta does have a win at Minnesota this season, but it came in the season opener and thanks to a furious comeback from a 19-point deficit. The Lynx got their lick back before May was over, handing Atlanta a 15-point loss when it returned to Minneapolis a few weeks later. Neither of those games featured Napheesa Collier playing for the Lynx, of course, and I think it’s safe to say that as good as Olivia Miles was on May 27, she is significantly better on August 30 (actually a scary thought).
The Lynx are playing for the first time since taking a 14-point loss at the hands of Purple Kryptonite six days ago, their most lopsided loss of the season and second one by a double-digit margin. The other one came when Liberty beat the Lynx by 13 points in Brooklyn on July 3. The loss to Golden State snapped a six-game Lynx win streak, their third win streak of at least that length this season, and was their first loss to a playoff team since that loss to the Liberty last month. Minnesota had won seven straight against playoff teams since then, but unlike most teams, it will have the opportunity to rack up a few more wins over playoff teams after the World Cup, as three of its final four games are against them. I would imagine Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve doesn’t mind coming up against a bunch of teams with more at stake than hers down the stretch, both because it reflects Minnesota already having the top seed in the playoffs locked up and because it means her opponents should theoretically be bringing playoff-level intensity. The two teams directly behind Minnesota, Golden State and Las Vegas, won’t face a single playoff team after the World Cup, and while that might be beneficial to their attempts to lock down the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds, I don’t think it’s ideal for a team to be playing its first game with that level of intensity in a month or longer when it opens a best-of-3 first-round series.
Like Minnesota, Atlanta is also coming off of its second-most lopsided loss of the season, an 18-point home shellacking at the hands of the Portland Fire, who posted an eye-popping offensive rating of 132.9 points per 100 possessions according to Her Hoop Stats. That was the third-largest loss by a playoff team against a non-playoff team this season, behind only the Phoenix Mercury’s unforgettable 33-point humiliation of Las Vegas in a season-opening Finals rematch (without question the high point of Phoenix’s season, but I digress) and the Fire’s 19-point win at Washington last month to avenge an earlier collapse and eventual quadruple-overtime loss to the Mystics. It also snapped a 10-game Dream win streak against non-playoff teams, which dated to another loss to Portland in July, but Atlanta hasn’t fared as well against playoff teams despite its last such game being a win at Las Vegas 12 days ago. That win snapped a three-game skid against playoff teams, and if not for a one-point win at Dallas after another furious late comeback (the Dream’s signature move this season), that would’ve been eight straight losses to playoff teams. The Dream will get a couple of home tune-ups against non-playoff teams before their double-dip finale in Brooklyn, but the outlook will be a whole lot better heading into the final four games if they can find a way to win this one.
Two other playoff teams are in action today, starting with the Golden State Valkyries (28-11) visiting the Portland Fire (16-23) (7:00 ET) (local affiliates/League Pass) for their seventh game in 14 days. Purple Kryptonite has at least had two days off since finishing a back-to-back by being the Liberty’s funhouse mirror on Thursday and turning them into the ugliest version of themselves in a whatever-to-something-much-less ass-whipping that I don’t feel like looking up the score of, because it was fucking miserable. I still love the Valks, though, as well as the best point guard in the league Veronica Valkyrie (Burton). Golden State is a-whole-bunch-and-very-few against everyone but Minnesota and Las Vegas this season — okay, fine, I’ll stop being a brat, it’s 27-5 (.844) — and there’s no reason at all to think that the Valks won’t keep on rolling towards the No. 2 seed. The last game before the FIBA break sees the Connecticut Sun (10-29) visit the Dallas Wings (23-16) (8:30 ET, local affiliates/League Pass), who won’t face another playoff team in the regular season, but will be going into the break as the No. 8 seed regardless of today’s result. With a win, Dallas would pull into a three-way tie for the final three spots with New York and Washington, which would see the Liberty get the No. 6 seed and Washington the No. 7 seed, at least for now. With a loss, Dallas would be alone in 8th place. The Wings are looking for a fourth straight win overall, which would match the number of times they won in their previous 11 games. Last but not least, the Los Angeles Sparks (14-25) visit the Seattle Storm (8-31) (5:00 ET, local affiliates/League Pass). I have no doubt that the always classy Storm will prepare a fitting sendoff for retiring future Hall of Famer and visionary WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike, who will be playing for the last time in Seattle, where she spent the last two seasons while orchestrating the mass free-agency which gave her union unprecedented leverage to demand the transformational CBA it ultimately got. Madam Prez and the Sparks are coming off of an upset of Washington on Friday behind a 16-6 game-ending run, but will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season.