3 winners and 2 losers from a surprising week in the WNBA

The best team in the WNBA had their worst week yet, while the worst team had their best. That’s where we’re at in this year’s WNBA season, which only has a few weeks left to play.

Here are the winners and losers from the WNBA this past week, featuring good times in San Antonio, a bad few days in Minnesota, and an excellent day for dancing.

The Stars were a dreadful 3-21 on the final day of July, drifting aimlessly through a lost season with little to show for it, not even from their thrilling rookie Kelsey Plum who barely played. That’s how you lose a locker room and why fans stop showing up. You can be bad, but you have to give them something.

How about four wins in five games? San Antonio is 4-1 this month, taking advantage of a soft schedule but also knocking off the 16-10 Washington Mystics. It has been a mix of opportunity and improved play, and much of that stems from increased playing time for Plum.

The Stars are 5-0 when Plum plays 30-plus minutes, and while she missed that number this week, she did receive 25 and 28 minutes in San Antonio’s two games. In a win against Atlanta, Plum scored 10 points and dropped six assists, and in a loss to Chicago, recorded eight points and eight assists. It didn’t have to be fancy — just simple, effective passing like this.

There have been questions about Plum’s fit from the moment she was drafted, but as it turns out, the solution is simple: just let her live.

The WNBA’s best team is still doing fine — their league-best 21-4 record shows that clearly. But after losing twice in the opening two months of the season, they’ve now dropped two games in a week. Last Sunday, they lost a two-point game against the Indiana Fever, and on Friday, it was a six-point defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Sparks. They still easily have the league’s best record, and with only nine games remaining, they should retain that without any problems. But if you were waiting for the Lynx to show signs of weaknesses, this week brought it.

One big reason for Minnesota struggling is the absence of Lindsay Whalen, their starting point guard who underwent hand surgery at the start of the month. She’s still out indefinitely, and while she’s only the Lynx’s fifth-leading scorer, her steady hand on the offense is missed. Whalen averages 4.1 assists per game, best on the team.

The Lynx will hopefully see Whalen return before the playoffs begin in early September. Minnesota is good enough that they might be OK without her, but the last week hasn’t been a good indication for that being true.

In a showdown with the Lynx, the Sparks — second-best team in the WNBA — won soundly. Their 80-74 victory on Friday was spurred by Chelsea Gray’s 23 points and Maya Moore recording a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double.

The Lynx are still favorites and they were missing Whalen, but it’s a big win for Los Angeles regardless.

Here’s the thing: Bieber is left-handed. There’s no excuse for this one!

A roof leak caused a delay, and there’s only one way to pass the time ...

The Minnesota Lynx (21-4), Los Angeles Sparks (19-8), and Connecticut Sun (17-9) are all locked into the playoffs.

The Washington Mystics, New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, and Dallas Wings hold the No. 4 through No. 7 seeds in the postseason if the season ended today.

The Chicago Sky and Seattle Storm are tied at 11-16 for the No. 8 seed, while the Atlanta Dream are 1.5 games back and the Indiana Fever are 2.5 games back.

San Antonio, even after their winning streak, is five games out of the eighth seed (with five games left to play).