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WNBA playoff matchups to watch<\/p>\n
USAT’s Meghan Hall and Sam Cardona-Norberg preview WNBA playoff matchups that they think will be the most entertaining watches.<\/p>\n
Sports Seriously<\/p>\n
Get ready for a pair of Game 3s in the WNBA quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
The Seattle Storm<\/a> overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat the Las Vegas Aces<\/a>, 86-83<\/a>, on Tuesday, Sept. 16 and force a Game 3 on Thursday, Sept. 18 in Las Vegas (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2). Skylar Diggins<\/a> led the Storm with 26 points while teammate Nneka Ogwumike<\/a> added 24.<\/p>\n “We had a really tough August and we saw a lot of close games that didn’t go our way,” Ogwumike said. “I think we were actually training a muscle that you need in the postseason. So, today was one of those days, where we’ve been in crunch time, and we were able to turn it around.”<\/p>\n The Indiana Fever<\/a>, meanwhile, are down five players \u2014 including All-Star guard Caitlin Clark<\/a> \u2014 to season-ending injuries but still managed to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n So, it’s not surprising, the Fever showed their now-patented resiliency by blowing out the Atlanta Dream<\/a>, 77-60<\/a>, in a win-or-go-home matchup at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n “This is a group whose confidence has never wavered,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “We’ve been in every kind of situation you can imagine and we have been able to put ourselves in position to win.”<\/p>\n Kelsey Mitchell (19), Aliyah Boston (15) and Natasha Howard (12) all scored in double figures for the Fever who will head back to Atlanta for the a decisive Game 3 on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).<\/p>\n Wednesday<\/a> will feature a pair of quarterfinal matchups. The Phoenix Mercury<\/a> face a must-win against the reigning champion New York Liberty<\/a> (8 p.m. ET, ESPN). The Golden State Valkyries<\/a> play host to the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx<\/a> (10 p.m. ET, ESPN), who will advance to the semifinals with a win.<\/p>\n The Fever and Storm highlight the winners, while a pair of Dream guards are on our list of losers on the second night of the 2025 WNBA playoffs:<\/p>\n WinnersFever G Kelsey Mitchell<\/p>\n When the Fever\u2019s season was on the line, veteran guard Kelsey Mitchell turned in another gem. Mitchell scored a game-high 19 points on Tuesday<\/a>, shooting 6-of-13 from the field (4-of-8 from 3). More importantly, the Fever built such a large lead in their wire-to-wire win that Kelsey was able to sit the entire fourth quarter, for which she said she\u2019s \u201cextremely grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n Mitchell has started every game this season and averaged 31.4 minutes in the regular season as the Fever navigated a series of season-ending injuries.<\/p>\n \u201cSitting down for the fourth quarter was one thing, but putting yourself in position to be able to do that is entirely different. Shout out to our group for staying resilient \u2026 to have a big enough stretch for me to sit down,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n Fever defense<\/p>\n The Dream had been one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league with 31.8% made in the regular season. The Fever held them to 1 of 10 from the field in the first half. The Dream finished 5 of 19 (26%) from 3-point range. Rhyne Howard, who led the WNBA in 3-pointers during the regular season with 3.1 per game, was 0-for-4 from 3 Tuesday night.<\/p>\n Storm C Dominique Malonga<\/p>\n Malonga is 19-years-old, but looked like a veteran Tuesday night. Malonga recorded her second consecutive double-double with 11 points and 10 points in Seattle’s Game 2 win<\/a>, including a go-ahead and-1 to give the Storm the lead with 31 seconds remaining. Malonga also had the impossible task of guarding Aces center A’ja Wilson and held the three-time MVP scoreless in the final seven minutes of the game. Malonga is the youngest player in the entire postseason and becomes the first teenager in league history to score a go-ahead or game-winner in the final minute of a playoff game.<\/p>\n Storm veterans Skylar Diggins, Nneka Ogwumike<\/p>\n Skylar Diggins and Nneka Ogwumike were held to 23 points in the Storm’s Game 1 blowout loss<\/a>, shooting 9-of-21 from the field. But Diggins and Ogwumike combined to score 50 of the Storm’s 86 points in their Game 2 win over the Aces and went 8-of-11 from beyond the arc. No shot was bigger than Diggins’ pull-up jumper with 4.7 seconds remaining to give the Storm a 86-83 lead.<\/p>\n Seattle Storm fans<\/p>\n After the Aces took a 14-point lead over the Storm, it looked like Seattle was on the verge of another first-round playoff sweep. The Aces have eliminated the Storm from the postseason two of the past four seasons. But the Storm executed their second-largest playoff comeback in franchise history to defeat the Aces and log the team’s first playoff win since 2022. The crowd at Climate Pledge Arena helped fuel the comeback. Skylar Diggins said, “We had a great home crowd on our back to feed off.”<\/p>\n LosersAces’ win streak<\/p>\n Las Vegas might not care about its franchise-best win streak \u2014 \u201cYou guys celebrate this (streak) more than we do,\u201d A\u2019ja Wilson said Sunday \u2014 but the Aces were one away from tying the longest win streak in WNBA history set by the 2001 Los Angeles Sparks (18). That’s not the only streak the Storm snapped on Tuesday with a Game 2 victory at home. Entering Tuesday, Las Vegas was 7-0 in first-round playoff games since Coach Becky Hammon took over as coach in 2022. Wilson was held scoreless in the final seven minutes of the game.<\/p>\n Aces’ 3-point shooting<\/p>\n The 3 ball was not falling for the Aces, who have been lights out from beyond the arc heading into Tuesday.\u00a0They shot 50.7% from the field and 14-of-29 from 3 in Game 1 on Sunday after setting a regular-season record wit 22 3-pointers in the regular-season finale on Sept. 11. But the Aces were 7-of-19 from the 3-point line on Tuesday. “It was trash garbage at the 3-point line,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said after the game.<\/p>\n Dream guards Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray<\/p>\n The Dream were one win from punching a ticket to the semifinals for the first time since 2018. After combining for 40 points in Game 1, Atlanta\u2019s dynamic duo of Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray were held to 19 combined points on Tuesday, collectively shooting 7-of-25 from the field and 1-of-8 from beyond the arc. The Dream shot 37.9% from the field as a team, 5-of-19 from the 3-point line (with three coming from Te-Hina Paopao in garbage minutes) and 50% from the free throw line. That marks back-to-back playoff games shooting under 40% from the field.<\/p>\n Two Fever fans<\/p>\n The Gainbridge Fieldhouse was electric during the Fever’s victory, but at least two spectators took things too far. A pair of Fever fans were escorted from their courtside seats in the fourth quarter after appearing to say something to Dream guard Allisha Gray. The incident happened with 6:10 remaining in the game with the Dream trailed the Fever 71-47. Gray alerted arena security of the fan’s behavior and looked visibly upset after the exchange. After the incident, Gray was comforted by teammate Rhyne Howard on the bench. It\u2019s not clear what was said and Gray wasn\u2019t available for postgame interviews.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dawg. An Indiana Fever fan just go kicked out the game after saying something to Allisha Gray during the Atlanta Dream vs Indiana Fever game in the playoffs \ud83d\ude2d pic.twitter.com\/Kr6M4FViGZ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 RashticReport (@RashticReport) September 17, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news \u2014 fast.\u00a0Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more<\/a>.<\/p>\n