Playoff Scoreboard Watching

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Well...the Shock were able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and take down the Mercury tonight, the plucky Sting took out the Lynx so the M's can breathe a sigh of relief.

WNBA.com did have its playoff picture section up today but its momentarily gone - I hope a sign that they are updating it as the Phoenix game concluded. Sacramento and Phoenix each have 4 remaining games as of right now, and Sacramento is a game back. They are also technically a game and a half behind Minnesota for that 3rd spot - they trail the Lynx in two tie breakers right now so it actually is more of a two game lead for the Lynx.

National TV triple header tomorrow. Big game with BIGGER implications against the Sparks as the nightcap. Let's do this! (Hey, I'm REALLY trying to be optimistic but is hard....)

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Well, the playoff picture is still murky in the West, not nearly to the extent that it is in the East.

Seattle lost today to give LA home court advantage after LA rolled listless Sacramento. I don't know how earnestly LA will go after the Western contenders they will see this week (Phx, Minn, and Seattle).

I'm still not sure what WNBA.com did with it's playoff picture page. But the best I can figure is this is what we're hoping for the rest of the way.

(1) That Phoenix does not go better than 2-2 in their final four remaining games. We actually should prefer than they go 1-3 or 0-4. That gives the Monarchs the most wiggle room should they decide not to win all of their remaining 3 games. A .500 record over their final four games gives Phx a record of 18-16, which is the best record we can finish with.

(2)That Minnesota goes no better than 1-2 in their final 3. Its possible since they will play a proud Houston team and a LA team that shouldn't have much need to play its starters more than courtesy tune-up minutes over their final 3 games. And we NEED to beat Minny regardless.

(3) I think we also don't want Seattle to fall to 18-16 unless its a 3 way tie with us them and Phoenix for 2nd or 3rd place. I believe they clinch a spot with a win over their next 3, 2 wins and they clinch 2nd I think.

The Monarchs could finish 17-17 and still make it in if Phx only wins 1 of 4, and Minnesota loses all 3 of their remaining games. Their Minnesota tie breaker may be more perilous because it would also come down to the conference record tie breaker.

By the time the Monarchs play on Thursday, they should have a good idea of where they stand. (For as much as that has mattered to them up until this point).

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Welp, the Monarchs have a good shot at recontrolling their destiny now. 17-17 still looks like a playoff record thanks to the Minnesota loss to Houston today. We now need LA to continue to play inspired basketball and beat Minnesota on Friday, the Monarchs can split their home and home with Houston and MUST beat Minnesota on Sunday and they've clinched. If Seattle can take out Phoenix tomorrow, that's a good thing too.

 

[6th]

Thanks for the update, MBF. Go Monarchs!!!

 

[nancgo]

MBF, have you seen a schedule for the playoff dates? I thought they started on the 24th, but I haven't seen anything else. I just want to know when potential games will be played so I can make my own plans.....

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

I like that thinking Nancgo.....::fingers crossed::

I don't think I've seen one, but I thought Hoopmatron seemed to have a general sense of when the games were because she knew they conflicted with her plans. The 24th rings a bell for me for some reason. I'll dig around for it since things seem to be appearing and disappearing from WNBA.com every now and then.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

The 24th rung a bell because according to the ticket invoice literature - that's the first day of playoff games. So were the M's to make it - theyd play sometime over that weekend. We should have a sense of what the dates will be by this weekend.

They may be burning the midnight oil back in the Ivory Tower in NY on Sunday breaking ties so they may not be able to assign the TV slots until they know who is playing who and what time zone those games will be in. Because we could end up with a 3 way tie for the final 2 spots in the West. And heaven knows the entire Eastern conference is still eligible and most of them may still be until the last conference game on Sunday.

 

[6th]

Geez! Midnight oil is right. I think 6 of the 8 teams will come down to the final day of the regular season...maybe.

 

[ReinadelosReys]

By the time the Monarchs play on Thursday, they should have a good idea of where they stand. (For as much as that has mattered to them up until this point).

So, whats the verdict ...or is the jury still out?

 

[HoopMatron]

My quick and unofficial magic numbers as of last night's (Wednesday) games -- Monarchs magic number vs. Phoenix is 3 -- any combination of Monarchs wins and Mercury losses totalling three puts the Monarchs in the playoffs. This means the playoffs are completely within the power of the Monarchs to achieve -- they only have to win all three games.

To get into third place in the conference (not really a good position, IMO, since the Storm would be the first round opponents for the playoffs), the Monarchs need to win out the season and have the Lynx lose out the season. This might not be as difficult as it sounds, since the Lynx face the Sparks and the Monarchs on the road to complete their season.

Hope this clears up the muddied waters. Just don't ask me to figure out the Eastern conference!

HoopMatron the hopeful

 

[ReinadelosReys]

Oh, ok so let me make sure I got this right:

PHX has lost again. The M's win out and by virtue of winning the season series vs. PHX they get in the playoffs?

 

[HoopMatron]

Oh, ok so let me make sure I got this right:

PHX has lost again. The M's win out and by virtue of winning the season series vs. PHX they get in the playoffs?

Yep. With their victory tonight over the Comets, the Monarchs are still in contention. If they wind up with the same record as the Mercury, the Monarchs win the tie-breaker.

This is going to be a very interesting three days!

HoopMatron (still hopeful)

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Much moreso with a Minnesota loss against LA.....

 

[Mad D]

still hope.. right?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Much more so after another Phoenix loss, I reckon; we should be in if we split our next two, but we should probably beat Minnesota, just to make sure...

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

We eliminate Phx with a win in either game this weekend because the best record Phoenix can finish with is 17-17. The Minnesota game on Sunday can remain meaningful even if we were to win on Saturday and clinch a spot. It would be the game that determines 3rd place. But that only comes into play if the Monarchs win on Saturday. We could even lose both and get in if Phoenix loses. (Not the recommended course of action however - that would be even too circuitous a route for this M's team).

Phoenix could force a must win if the Monarchs lose to Houston by their beating Houston on Sunday. They would be just into the 2nd half of their game as our game at ARCO tips off. I like pennant race drama and all...but I really dont want to care what happens in Phoenix...I mean, seriously, I dont.

We'd need to beat Minny and Houston to clinch 3rd on the 3rd tiebreaker calculation re: winning percentage against teams .500 or better in the West. It would be helpful to us (but not really sure, I haven't done the math this far) if Phoenix does not win their game against Houston. Because Phoenix finishing at .500 I believe gives Sacramento and Minnesota the same record against West teams .500 or better - that would cause them to have to revert to the 4th tie breaker and I don't know where we stand on that one.

It's simple, win one and you're in. I'd rather them beat Houston tomorrow and end the clinching suspense. Then beat Minnesota to for the 2nd year in a row end up with a miraculous 3rd place finish after I'd written them off the playoff scene altogether.

I don't care who we see in the first round, as far as I'm concerned, the Monarchs should have split their season series with the Storm, by at the very least winning that game they had in hand before they faded in waning minutes of the 2nd half back in May. They probably could have won that game they played against them at ARCO coming off that first long road trip in July. We haven't played like we had a clue against LA in a while. But you're probably going to have to go through them both to get to the Finals, so BRING UM BOTH ON!


I'm chuckling to myself to see if these two things come into play - Coach Whisnant said during the preseason that he thought an 18-16 record would get them into the playoffs the way he saw the parity in the league shaping up on paper. After the Olympic break, coach Whiz said he thought the team would finish 6-3 in the nine games they had remaining and that that would be good enough to secure their spot. They will have taken the scenic route to fulfill his prophecies but I'll be damned if I don't consider the man Nostradamus if that's how things play out.

Let's win out....hell yeah...!!!

 

[ReinadelosReys]

It is indeed funny how things turn out. "Win today and your in" just seems a little odd right now considering all the number crunching taking place just a few days ago. I want them to win today, but I also would love to see the drama Sunday....but then again, lets not gamble.

 

[nancgo]

Just a couple of things before the drama continues....I received my playoff tickets today...And of course, they just say Game A, B, or C, with dates and times TBA...sheez.....just pick a dang date!!!

And I think it's interesting that the teams that have their superstars injured, namely Washington and Minnesota, are doing relatively well without them. Especially Washington....although they weren't doing that well with Chamique playing anyway. Alana Beard has just been doing so well...I just hope Minnesota doesn't play well here on Sunday.....

So....Go team!!!! I want to use those tickets!!!!!

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I hope that the M's come to play tomorrow; almost as much as I want us to beat LA, I want revenge on Seattle and Anne Donnovan's pack of thugs.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Whaaa???? Pack of thugs?? Whaaa??? Did I miss something????