2022 wnba playoffs thread

the regular season wraps up today, been enjoying the hell out of the lv aces whom i have adopted as my team due to former san antonio and becky hammon reasons

just watched the minny-ct game which was sylvia fowles last game. her and sue bird retiring, taurasi has gotta be close behind feels like the end of an era. seatlle still has stewart and loyd (and now tina charles) so i think theyll be fine, but minny just missed the offs for the first time in like 10 or 11 years.

you can check the standings and see that theres only 5 legit title contenders, but it really feels tight between them all. i like vegas this year to get their first title if hamby is healthy bc they have probably the best 5-player lineup with gray-plum-young-hamby-wilson. storm, mystics, sky all have recent championship experience to rely on tho.

also chelsea gray is my favorite player in the whole w. shes got derozan's 1-on-1 midrange game and lamelo's passing vision. just a joy to watch when she has the ball in her hands.

also she does shit like this

CLUTCH GAWDDDDD.@cgray209 // #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/UGZLzN4kZa

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) August 14, 2022

🥶🥶🥶@cgray209 // #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/hdpU3cxsPX

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) August 14, 2022

Natasha Howard hits a BIG TIME 3️⃣ to help secure a playoff berth for the Liberty 😤 pic.twitter.com/C4tS03n863

— espnW (@espnW) August 14, 2022

lots of fun games today, glad you started the thread

i had meant to start it earlier but adhd

Y’all know what time it is 🤩 Get them brackets together and let us know your playoff predictions 🔮 pic.twitter.com/NxlU1IRxDr

— WSLAM (@wslam) August 16, 2022

i think itll be chalk in the first round, but based on nothing other than the anecdotal evidence of watching a couple of their games, i like the way connecticut did things and i think theyll get to the finals past chicago. aces ftw.

i would tend to agree that the aces look dominant this season

i went up to fort worth last month and saw the wings play the sky. chicago is very good too. it was a great game.

super excited for the playoffs

liberty gonna fuck around and beat the sky?

liberty had their chance? some bad fouls late but there’s still time

not rly sure what theyre doing offensively rn. the high pick with dolson and ionescu was doing something earlier. i like dolson as a pick n pop stretch 5.

lol and just like that....

god damn sabrina's got the clutch gene

WHAT ON EARTH MARINE JOHANNES pic.twitter.com/lCN7CtTi5F

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) August 18, 2022

looooool on some jokic shit

that pass was wild

sky seem tired

there it is, nice

they all looked gassed af in the last few minutes, sabrina threw up a middy with like no lift in her legs and she still got it to fall bc shes the clutch god

yeah, sabrina’s ridiculous. this game is a nice start to the ‘offs.

i can’t imagine the mercury can hang with the aces if taurasi doesn’t play. i think the aces steamroll them, regardless

theyre scrapping early

chelsea gray's pickpocket game is elite

phx giving a'ja a lot of problems but the aces are so deep with offensive talent that it might not matter

god when the aces get rolling they pile it on

goodness gracious A'Ja Wilson pic.twitter.com/RoDU3nJDu6

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) August 18, 2022

ok, had the game on the next room while making dinner, and it’s way closer than i thought it would be.
only actually watched the last two min of play but the mercury seem scrappy

The #POINTGAWDDDDD in action!@cgray209 // @kstokes41 #RaiseTheStakes pic.twitter.com/CGuFrC9brI

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) August 18, 2022

she's a hooper

gray just killed it late. so good.

liberty have a lot of fun players

‘offs day 2. not sure what to expect from either game. i would expect the top seeds to advance ultimately, but after last night’s intrigue, i’m open to more chaos.

the sun have looked solid recently

holy shit, dallas wings player just heaved it from well beyond halfcourt at the 1Q buzzer and nailed it

SATOU AT THE BUZZER!! 😲 @satou_sabally

The @DallasWings are only down three as Sabally banks in a buzzer-beater to end the first quarter on @ESPNU pic.twitter.com/DPaVUDTgSs

— WNBA (@WNBA) August 19, 2022

highlight of the night for dallas bc theyve looked kinda listless all night

sitting down for mystics v storm. q1 nice so far.

there are sometimes where im like why dont the storm just dump it into stewart every time like she's 2000 era shaq

stewart is wrecking it and so is delle donne. i like this series. this is the game i was hoping for

JEWELL LOYD FOR THE LEAD!! 😬@seattlestorm lead 82-81 with 37.3 left in the game

📺 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/oFUyamWtTW

— WNBA (@WNBA) August 19, 2022

ice water

lloyd buried them. mystics had their chance but that last minute turnover really sealed it. good game

delle donne's midrange game is so good, like carmelo but without holding the ball so long

storm could not stop her at all, they must feel great escaping with the win. very enjoyable game

lets see if the liberty can pull off the series upset today and---

lol nope holy shit

😬😬😬 chicago just lapped the liberty towards the end of the 3q

big basket to avoid being doubled up through three quarters

forgot it was an early game. yikes at the score

going on a road trip to seattle with my little brother for game 2 tomorrow

awesome! that’s gonna be a great game to see in person

yeah I'm pretty stoked! first time leaving the province in quite a while

i was at a soccer game last night so missed the chelsea gray show, but aces are cooking

i didnt have much hope that the bottom 3 seeds would do much, but dallas is making connecticut sweat right now, huge first half lead

sun shits not falling at all. seems like a lot of missed bunnies.

lol, meant “shots”

oof game getting out of hand for the sun

i did not expect this.

sun made it interesting at the end.

alright sym, let us know all about it. sounds like a great home crowd today

selfishly hoping for a game 3, great matchup

i guess only one of these teams has breanna stewart. the mystics holding her to a few points in the first half but not able to get a meaningful lead was probably not sustainable.

yeah, storm’s d really stifled delle donne.

alright sym, let us know all about it. sounds like a great home crowd today

― sknybrg, Sunday, August 21, 2022 1:18 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

total blast, great vibes in the arena. Storm's 3 stars all went off, Sue Bird was locked in. Breanna Stewart was close to a triple double all game, and finished with 21/10/8, but the biggest impact was on the defensive end. You could really see live how she's impossible to drive on, with those long gangly arms and fast footspeed.

In the in-stadium post game interview, Sue Bird said that the team was motivated by getting notifications from Delta to check in for the flight to Washington tomorrow. Her message was "nobody check in, we're not going to Washington."

Pro basketball players probably shouldn't have to fly commercial...

we followed the game up by checking out Jamal Crawford's pro-am the Crawsover, the event that Lebron shut down yesterday. We got to see Jamal and Isiah Thomas playing instead. Great day of hoops.

excellent

yeah, sounds amazing

win-or-go-home time, and marine johannes is testing my loyalty to chelsea gray with back-to-back heat check pull-up 3's in transition

MAAAAAAARIIIIIIIIIIIIIINEEEEEE pic.twitter.com/JKJwKWgaht

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) August 24, 2022

i wish she'd shoot 10 a game

damn, sabrina

the liberty are a team of madness

the window opened for ny but the sky are putting the clamps down. still, thrilling game

yeah, sky defense was bananas, libs had no answer

dang, shut it down. it was fun while it lasted.

if ny is gonna make the leap as a team, ionescu is gonna have to cut down on the carelessness with the ball and theyre going to need to tighten up their transition d

(for next season obv)

yeah, turnovers are a killer for this team.

dallas gonna fuck around and pull off the upset tonight?

just got home and tuning in. Rooting upset.

i cannot in good conscience ever root for a dallas team of any kind

Haha. San Antone to the core

and it’s looking like the sun are gonna finish them off.

dewanna bonner is so cool

Haha. San Antone to the core

― sknybrg, Wednesday, August 24, 2022 9:33 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i put on for my city

yessir.

this win seemed inevitable

the top 5 in the league were just too good all season i think to get beat by the lower seeds in spite of the abbreviated nature of the first round

the semis should be great, its pretty much wide open at this point

yup, i’m ready for both matchups, esp aces v strom

just an hour awayyyyyyyyyy

storm came out ready to play

damn, storm stormin’

storm defense is stifling

wilson and plum have both been taking some less than ideal shots, though theyre starting to get a rhythm now

stokes getting a lot of minutes out there for aces but getting targeted on d and not providing any floor spacing on o. she held the ball behind the arc with nnot a soul covering her for like 5 seconds before someone came around for a dribble handoff.

Rolllllll bounce 🛼 @cgray209

📺 @espn pic.twitter.com/AdY4PpGaK2

— WNBA (@WNBA) August 28, 2022

crossed up

6 minutes left in the game is a hell of a time to get your first lead of the game, but i'm glad the aces are making this a game. sue bird has been running an outlet pass clinic today.

gray!

midrange messiah

nail biter here

holy shit jewell loyd

that last missed 3 i thought for SURE was going in

damn. great ATO play, good look, just didnt fall.

yeah, it looked good

aces late turnovers we tough

that one wilson threw into young's back as she ran into the passing lane to gray, just brutal. that led to the first loyd 3.

what a great game. Also thought Plum was hitting that last one for sure.

Jewell and Plum both took some ill-advised long ones, but it looks great when it goes in...Stewart's been on such a heater, she's just good at everything

stewart isnt fair

yeah, stewart is a total cheat code

sky v sun very good so far.

sun defense very good

Candace Parker was just everywhere that game. 1 steal away from a 5 x 5 in 40 minutes, insane.

only half monitoring the game, sun seemed to make a run late but sky seem in control

what little i watched, parker seems to be having another monster game. so good

parker has been so good, that 3 ball and-1 was hella nice

a'ja looks much better tonight compared to game 1. im hoping that gray gets to drive the bus more, im not impressed with plum's decision-making right now.

going back to the end of regular season, aces-storm is one of the best matchups ive seen in basketball, every game is close

yeah, this series has be pumped. what a great matchup. i need a whiskey after this game

wilson’s and stewart’s stat lines amazing this game

A'ja Wilson: 33 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks

Breanna Stewart: 32 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 assists

caught most of the sun-sky game, kinda grimey like a 2000s pistons game

aces-storm winner is gonna win the title, just calling it now

aces are COOKING right now

rly need the acs to figure out how to run an offense when gray is sitting. plum is way more likely to play heroball and jackie young does not get enough run in those minutes.

chelsea gray

last year the sky run felt like it was all about the backcourt, this series has been candace parker dominating (even without shooting well this game)

chelsea gray just deciding not to miss shots this game I see

she has a true hooting pct. of 82.2% in the playoffs, im not even fuckin kidding

a'ja has been INCREDIBLE in this game, just so dominant when she can play down low and hit faceup j's

MANNN OH MANNN @_ajawilson22 is up to 20 PTS in the FIRST HALF 💪

📺 @ABC pic.twitter.com/0cTHciHpTF

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 4, 2022

look at this shit, this is tim duncan shit

that behind the back pass at the end of the half was a beauty (but no score)

did the stat say Sue Bird has 34 assists and 2 turnovers this playoffs?

sounds right

goddamn storm do not quit

maybe hamby is not healthy enough for big minutes but they really need a more formidable 4 than stokes, shes got good size but a v limited offensive game. she's left open so often and they cant capitalize.

i’m at a bbq and am only watching the play by play feed
this looks like an amazing game, damn

aces had a great first half, storm counterpunched in the 3rd, now its a dogfight like all their games are

goddamn how do you stop stewart on switches

williams has been soooo clutch holy fuck

oh my fucking god

oh my fucking GOD

ot, baby!

OH MY FUCKING GOD

this is one of the wildest games ive ever seen

Chelsea Gray has been unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/AZS0Z52Of6

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) September 4, 2022

CHELSEA GRAY FOR PRESIDENT

chelsea scored 11 in the OT i think??? what a player

what a fucking game

look at this shit, this is tim duncan shit

with sue bird in the role of steve nash

chelsea scored 11 in the OT i think??? what a player

― terence trent d'ilfer (m bison), Sunday, September 4, 2022 4:16 PM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it was 8 pts in like 50 seconds, just merciless

i think the wnba league pass app allows for rewatch, will def check this out in real time later today
i followed a but on twitter and folks were super amped as regulation ended. wild game

connecticut not going down without a fight, they look much sharper tonight

just a good ol fashined ass whooping tonight, chicago was never in it. we love a win-or-go-home game coming up thursday.

aces-storm try not to have a white knuckle thriller challenge

this was bananas

.@jewellloyd to beat the clock!! 🎯

What a start to this @LVAces/@seattlestorm matchup!

📺 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/1hQvRJoEWn

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 7, 2022

that was a crazy shot

stewart is on fire tonight, yeesh

.@breannastewart has NOT missed from the three-point line! 😮

📺 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/mXumLuHWq0

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 7, 2022

not fair

26pts at the half. that last baseline jumper? fucking insane

26 point half my god. but the aces aren't missing any chances either

the fadeaway over a'ja, right? dirk-esque.

storm came out CAWLD as hell for this second half

yeah, aces need to take advantage here

god this whole series is a prizefight

yeah, what a series

holy shit

CHELS

gray, killer

Chelsea Gray is the first player in WNBA history with 30 points and 10 assists in a playoff game

via @ESPNStatsInfo

— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) September 7, 2022

her end of game play has been so damn good

Chelsea Gray has averaged 23.8 points on 76% true-shooting in these playoffs

NO professional basketball player, NBA OR WNBA, has EVER scored that well in ANY postseasonhttps://t.co/4viDj3ZsyZ

— Em🌹🏳️‍🌈 (@em_adler) September 7, 2022

goat!

Let's take this one step further. Here are Chelsea Gray's averages for the entire playoffs:

24.0 points
4.3 rebounds
7.7 assists
1.2 steals
74.7% eFG%

And here are the players who have ever had that stat line for even ONE GAME https://t.co/keoeohk6pd pic.twitter.com/k57w9g6fU7

— Calvin Wetzel (@cwetzel31) September 7, 2022

A’ja gets the mvp

well earned

chicago crowd seems a little too chill for a win-or-go home game

nm candace parker got em back in it

just got home. looks like this could be a good one

sky are starting to cook

i dont see how the sun can get enough offense rolling to come back

yeah, sky matching sun on defense.

getting spicy

we love 2 see it

huh, common foul.

sun aren’t dead yet

huh, common foul.

sun aren’t dead yet

wow, what a turnaround. that pass was quite a throw

well well well if it isnt me being wrong af

i think itll be chalk in the first round, but based on nothing other than the anecdotal evidence of watching a couple of their games, i like the way connecticut did things and i think theyll get to the finals past chicago. aces ftw.

― terence trent d'ilfer (m bison), Wednesday, August 17, 2022 6:54 PM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

well well well if isnt me actually being right af

yeah, the bonner copper skirmish killed the sky’s flow

haha! the oracle nailed it

they have great size! bonner is all arms and she's like the sf???

i wanna get bold and predict an aces sweep tbh

yeah, their d certainly outmuscled the sky and had them shook. sloot’s pass off the backboard was desperation. my wife gasped when it happened

also: do it! call the sweep

aces in 3

game 1 on abc rn!!!

sold out crowd in vegas, energy is all the way up already

aces looking good af

grey!
nice start.
i’m under my kitchen sink doing plumbing, but I could hear the crowd was amped.
sounded like an english premier league crowd

i want becky to fine plum $100 for every pullup 3 in the first half of the shot clock she takes

sun's size advantage is a problem rn for vegas

tons of offensive boards, trouble getting their offense cooking in the 2nd bc the lanes are treacherous, etc

suns with the bullyball on offense, and long and tough d.

i wonder if hammon is going to go deeper into her bench. rupert got a couple of minutes but got the hook pretty quickly. plaisance and hamby are right there, too, but hamby has been slowly coming back from injury. they've had such a short bench thats v guard heavy, just wilson and stokes getting any meaningful time.

its tough bc the sun have thomas (6'2"), bonner (6'4"), and jonquel jones (6'6") out at the same time, bonner is guarding jackie young or the guards who are all 6' and under. stokes isnt providing any floor spacing for lv, wilson wants to drive the lane, its just too congested with sun defenders.

stuff i dont like:
*stokes getting picked on on offense (her defender abandons her to double the ballhandler) and d (her getting switched on an allowing a layup line to form)
*jackie young being gunshy from 3 even though she's shooting literally 69% from 3 in the playoffs

hamby checked in and good things started to happen, hmmmm

btw jonquel jones has been outstanding in this game for ct

as phenmonal as gray and wilson have been theyre gonna need someone else to provide buckets. plum especially (currently 0-8)

or not LMAO just let gray and wilson take all the shots, problem solved!

aces turning up the energy in the 4th, love to see it

damn, alyssa thomas

aces 1 - sun 0

excellent finish. aces clamp down and keep the sweep on schedule

game 2 underway, aces doing aces things

grey crossovers are lethal

sun look flat

riquna williams has missed a few open 3's, theyve gotta get some production from her. plum has been good tonight tho!

#POINTGAWDDDDD 🤭@cgray209 // #RaiseTheStakes pic.twitter.com/LdDS9ST6XY

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) September 14, 2022

shimmy butler

a'ja brimming w confidence rn

alyssa thomas is rly impressive, her ability to guard everyone and her physicality make her a matchup nightmare

goddamnit chelsea pls dont be injured

back to the locker room, damn

she was able to get a bucket right after so i hope its just a minor tweak

yeah, that ankle seems to be holding. nice drive there

hahaha she did the "too short" thing

i am running out of the words for Chelsea Gray. pic.twitter.com/sEDN2lrylt

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) September 14, 2022

after this play

haha, nice

sun got close a couple of times but they never felt like they were stringing together enough solid offensive possessions to get into a flow

aces of to a great start. gray just did some great work in the lane

the sun are absolutely hounding gray and denying her space. bonner is giving her issues with her length.

sun acting like they dont wanna watch a title celebration tonight

what a quarter from the sun. 80% from the floor, wow. aces taking and missing a lot of jumpers

if aces can narrow this to single digits by half, they might have a shot tonight

can't get over alyssa thomas' shot form

it's shawn marion-like how I never think it will work but it usually goes in

thats all-wnba second team alyssa thomas for you

her shot is completely wild. will actually use her off hand to set it on her shooting hand then hoist

trying to make a run here.

3 ball keeping lv in this

kelseyyyyyyyyyy

ive never seen someone use a eurostep to heave at the halftime buzzer like that

plum!

if aces can narrow this to single digits by half, they might have a shot tonight

― terence trent d'ilfer (m bison), Thursday, September 15, 2022 8:35 PM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

down 11 after that wild shot, not bad

what a shot. wife let out a yelp when it went in

chelsea gray is just unconscious

ive never seen anything like what she's doing as a shooter except from steph

aces d is just swiss cheesed up tonight

suns just slicing and dicing the aces’ d.

if aces can narrow this to single digits by half, they might have a shot tonight

― terence trent d'ilfer (m bison), Thursday, September 15, 2022 8:35 PM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

down 11 after that wild shot, not bad

― terence trent d'ilfer (m bison), Thursday, September 15, 2022 8:56 PM (thirty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's a 6-point game with a minute left in the third

that last aces possession, so frustrating

idk how much composure the sun will show nor how much defensive resolve the aces have got, but yayyy meaningful 4th quarters in the finals

but, damn, they can make this happen

or maybe not ha

alyssa thomas first ever finals triple double

thomas ballin’ tonight

game starting to get out of hand

they tried to make a run, but "no dice"

boooooo

more finals!

couple hours away! really intrigued to see how hammon counteracts the D adjustments from game 3. putting bonner on gray really limited her ability to get to her spots, not to mention the hard double team trap they were doing to force turnovers. gotta think more a'ja pick n rolls to generate switches or space has to be more frequent this afternoon.

s'on

plum's been...rough

i say as she drains a corner 3

ok, just sitting down to watch. how are coach’s adjustments coming? sounded like the sun were cold at the beginning, but started to make shots

alyssa thomas is that gal is how i break it down

aces a lot more active defensively, forcing the issue rather than reacting to the sun's scheme

scrappy.

gray responding to the doubles well

Genuinely wondering if the new playoff format is impacting Finals totals given how dead legged both teams look and how many bunnies they're missing.

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) September 18, 2022

this game is grimy, sun's style

so many missed shots for both teams. bonner gassed at the end of the 2nd.

chelsea vs. the world

Oh my @cgray209 😵

📺 @espn pic.twitter.com/8YyFoz5dvd

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 18, 2022

that play was ridiculous. she is a joy to watch

this is gonna be a hell of a 10 minutes

jesus that kelsey plum flagrant was brutal, aces were starting to assert some control and it was a 5-point swing on that play

aces have overall player a better game, just missing shots and making some really costly errors. hoping they can right the ship these last few mins

riquna williams is CLOSING this game

williams big shots. whew

WEWWWWWWWWWW ACESSSSSSS

CHELSEA FUCKING GRAY BABYYYYYYYY

beautiful game, awesome series