San Antonio lost its past two games and Los Angeles lost to Tulsa on Tuesday, keeping the door cracked for Seattle to make a WNBA-record 11th playoff appearance. The Storm (10-20) has four games remaining and is 3.5-games behind the Stars (13-16) and Sparks (13-16) for one of the final two playoff spots in the West.
Seattle owns the tiebreaker against San Antonio, winning the regular-season series 3-1. The Storm has one more game remaining in LA, but is already down 0-4 in the regular-season series to drop that possible head-to-head tiebreaker.
But do you really want the Storm to advance? Naturally, no player wants to be on the first roster since 2004 not to advance to the postseason. It would be a first in G Tanisha Wright’s career, drafted with the No. 12 overall pick in 2005. PG Sue Bird has only not made it to the postseason once in her 13-year WNBA career and that was in 2003.
This season has been rough. It’s the common word used among the team after dragging through a seven-game losing streak. Attendance is dismal. And the truth is, Seattle has lost in the postseason opening-round eight times. Not a glamorous feat compared to Atlanta, which has at least advanced to the WNBA Finals three times but never won. Minnesota has also advanced to the WNBA Finals three times, winning two championships.
Will anything be gained from a possible Seattle opening-round loss to Phoenix (24-4) or Minnesota (23-6) this season? Or would the Storm benefit more from being in the draft lottery? UConn star Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is the projected No. 1 pick for the 2015 WNBA draft.
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