{"id":60155,"date":"2025-08-05T12:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T12:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/60155\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T12:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T12:40:08","slug":"puzzling-wnba-scheduling-decision-looks-even-worse-after-string-of-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/60155\/","title":{"rendered":"Puzzling WNBA scheduling decision looks even worse after string of injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">The early WNBA schedule featured some exciting matchups, like the Liberty and Aces going at each other, Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark matching up, and the Valkyries\u2019 first-ever home game at Chase Center. However, a finals rematch between the Lynx and Liberty was conspicuously absent from the opening of the WNBA season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">In fact, the two teams weren\u2019t scheduled to meet until late July. On one hand, the wait raised fans\u2019 curiosity and anticipation to see the two top teams play. On the other hand, the wait was simply\u00a0too\u00a0long. The Lynx and Liberty should have met earlier in the season when players were still fresh and healthy, a fact that is supported by a recent string of injuries.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">New York is currently without Breanna Stewart, Kennedy Burke, and Nyara Sabally. Meanwhile, Minnesota <a href=\"https:\/\/highposthoops.com\/cheryl-reeve-explains-controversial-napheesa-collier-decision\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">just lost Napheesa Collier to an ankle injury<\/a> that is expected to keep her out for two weeks. That means Collier and Stewart, two of the brightest stars in the game, will very likely miss all three of the remaining games between the Lynx and Liberty.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fans won\u2019t get a chance to see the top teams in the league face off at full strength\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">For most of the season, it <a href=\"https:\/\/highposthoops.com\/liberty-lynx-domination-makes-2024-championship-rematch-almost-inevitable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">seemed inevitable that the Lynx and Liberty would meet in the finals again<\/a>. By now, the Liberty have taken a step back, opening the doors for other teams to make a push. Nevertheless, the Lynx and Liberty are two of the best teams in the league, and it is an absolute shame that fans won\u2019t get to see them face off at full strength. Even if it doesn\u2019t end up being a finals preview, it would have made for amazing basketball.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6u\">The first game offered good basketball. The Lynx secured a 100-93 win over the short-handed Liberty. Sabrina Ionescu and Napheesa Collier both put together big performances, but the game likely would have been much different if Stewart had been healthy and available.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6x\">The decision to schedule the first Lynx-Liberty game so late in the season deprived fans of a chance to watch great basketball and took an opportunity from Cheryl Reeves and Sandy Brondello to properly scout a potential finals opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"70\">The Liberty added Emma Meesseman and Natasha Cloud. The Lynx\u2019s frontcourt depth is much different with Jessica Shepard and Maria Kliundikova in the mix, and they just added DiJonai Carrington to the guard rotation. So, neither team is quite the same as it was last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The early WNBA schedule featured some exciting matchups, like the Liberty and Aces going at each other, Angel&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-60155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}