Sports – FiveThirtyEight — WNBA Playoffs RSS




A’ja Wilson Was Benched In College. Now She’s An MVP.

It took a benching to turn A’ja Wilson into the basketball player she is today. The WNBA’s newly named Most Valuable Player was in her freshman year at South Carolina, in 2014, and her Hall of Fame coach didn’t like what she was seeing. “Her first game, she played terribly. I didn’t feel like she […]

Continue reading



The Aces Don’t Need Threes To Win

The past decade of professional basketball featured an overwhelming buffet of stylistic changes built on one simple premise: Three is greater than two. At all levels, coaches and players discovered the ramifications of a mathematical truth we all learn as toddlers. By taking a step back on long jumpers, they can score more points and […]

Continue reading



It’s Win Or Go Home This Week In The WNBA Playoffs

After a laser-fast WNBA regular season, the 2020 playoffs have arrived. The stakes are high, and almost cruel, this week: single-elimination doubleheaders Tuesday and Thursday ahead of the best-of-five semifinal series, which begin this weekend. On Tuesday night, the sixth-seeded Chicago Sky face the seventh-seeded Connecticut Sun. Then the five seed, the Phoenix Mercury, take […]

Continue reading



The Mystics Kept Their Cool And Finally Captured A Title

Game 5 of the WNBA Finals was defined by a battle of injured stars and a flurry of controversial calls. But the Washington Mystics were unfazed in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter as they pulled away to secure an 89-78 victory over the Connecticut Sun. For the first time in franchise history, […]

Continue reading