The Minnesota Lynx and LA Sparks have the best rivalry in the WNBA, and have faced each other in the past two WNBA Finals, each winning a title at the expense of the other. They have two of the biggest stars and best players in the league in Maya Moore and Candace Parker ... plus each has other MVPs on the roster. It’s a huge showdown every time they play.
The WNBA playoff format is amazing and tragic
We have that and more in Tuesday’s NBA newsletter.
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And on Tuesday, they are playing an elimination game in the first round of the WNBA playoffs against each other (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
This is the WNBA’s bizarre playoff format at its finest and at its worst. Lynx vs. Sparks is the biggest possible matchup in any round, so getting it for just one game feels both exciting and like a theft. We need five games of this, not 40 minutes!
But the Lynx got off to an awful start this season, and LA finished flat while teams like the Mystics and Sun went on hot streaks. So here we are with the league’s Nos. 6 and 7 seeds.
The other elimination first round game on Tuesday —Dallas Wings vs. Phoenix Mercury (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN 2) — is pretty incredible, too. The individual matchups, Diana Taurasi vs. Skylar Diggins-Smith and Britney Griner vs. Liz Cambage, have huge potential.
The WNBA reseeds teams after each round, but the Connecticut Sun and Washington Mystics await the winners in single elimination on Thursday. The best-of-five semifinals pitting those second round winners against the Seattle Storm and Atlanta Dream begin Sunday.
Is it kind of crazy that the top two seeds don’t have to play any single-elimination rounds while everyone else has to win one or two? Yes. Does it increase the stakes to incredible heights in those early rounds? Absolutely.
Pish posh
Via Mark Deeks, an Englishman is very mad that a manager at a steakhouse near Gloucester commented that his attire — a pristine Kobe Lakers jersey and, uh, cargo shorts? — wasn’t smart-casual per its dress code, but he could eat there anyway as the restaurant wasn’t busy. There’s so much to experience in this story, including blood sugar discussion, tattoo talk, and a gratuitous Premier Inn insult. I didn’t know exactly what Premier Inn represents, but after reading this angry English Lakers fan’s quotes, I understand everything.
Come on, people: don’t wear your Kobe jerseys to nice steakhouses. At least spring for a LeBron Lakers jersey.
Links galore
Jackie MacMullan, greatest basketball writer ever, begins a series on mental health in the NBA, looking at Kevin Love stepping into the spotlight. Read this.
Kemba Walker is loyal to the Hornets. Will the Hornets be loyal to him?
I wrote about the rookie extension candidates from the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft. They grow up so fast!
Ricky O’Donnell says Zion Williamson is college basketball’s next megastar. After years of Vines and Twitter videos and YouTube highlight reels, I can’t believe this is finally happening.
The Raptors have hired friend-of-Kawhi and rising coaching prospect Jeremy Castleberry away from the Spurs.
This Matt Ellentuck torch on how Liz Cambage would change the WNBA is setting everything it touches on fire. Cambage is a dragon in human form. Here’s Tamryn Spruill on what Cambage leaving the WNBA again would say about women’s sports in America.
The Nuggets are relying on basketball intelligence to excel. In unrelated (?) news, Michael Porter thinks Vince Carter is in his 50s.
Get your “I’m Trying, Jennifer” T-shirt. Speaking of C.J. McCollum, I wrote that instead of chiding him for 2016, NBA players who want Kevin Durant to leave the Warriors need to question his future legacy.
And finally: NBA rookies dancing to Carly Rae Jepsen is just a huge Venn diagram of my deepest interests.
Be excellent to each other.
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