The Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury are locked into their playoff positions, so they’ll use the regular-season finale as a postseason tune-up when they meet Thursday in Phoenix.
The Storm (24-15) have secured the No. 5 seed in the playoffs and will visit either the Las Vegas Aces or the Connecticut Sun on Sunday to kick off the first round. The Aces are the current No. 4 but can switch spots with third-seeded Connecticut with a win and a Sun loss Thursday, as they hold the season series tiebreaker.
The Mercury (19-20) will be the No. 7 seed in the eight-team playoff bracket and open against the second-seeded Minnesota Lynx. Even if Phoenix were to finish in a tie with the sixth-seeded Indiana Fever at 20-20, the Fever swept their season series.
In a possible playoff preview Tuesday night, the Storm attempted to rally before falling 85-72 to the visiting Aces.
Seattle was down 18 midway through the second quarter but charged back to take its first and only lead of the night at 65-64 when Skylar Diggins-Smith hit a pull-up jumper with 8:26 to play. The Aces outscored the Storm 21-7 from there, ending Seattle’s four-game winning streak.
“We have to be sharper in our zone execution,” Storm coach Noelle Quinn said. “It is very clear that teams are going to continue to do it to us.”
Diggins-Smith had 17 points, nine assists and three steals, and Nneka Ogwumike tallied 19 points, but the Storm played their second straight game without leading scorer Jewell Loyd (knee) and Ezi Magbegor (concussion).
“We have to be healthy in order to combat a lot of what (the Aces) have,” Quinn said.
Phoenix can carry a three-game winning streak into the playoffs if it defeats Seattle. The home team has won each of their previous three meetings this season.
The Mercury beat the last-place Los Angeles Sparks 85-81 on Tuesday in a game that saw Brittney Griner and Sparks rookie Rickea Jackson ejected in the second quarter after an altercation.
Griner still netted 14 points in her 14 minutes of action. Sophie Cunningham scored 14, Natasha Cloud had 13 points and 12 assists and Diana Taurasi added 13 points. Leading scorer Kahleah Copper (back) missed her third straight game.
“You can approach it where these games don’t count as far as standings and positioning for us, but we are a team that has only been around each other for a couple of months,” Taurasi said. “… There is still an opportunity to get better every single night. That’s what we are trying to do before going into the playoffs.”
–Field Level Media
