The Sky barely secured a playoff berth with one game left in the regular season.
They deserve credit for narrowly edging out the Sparks for the tiebreaker advantage with their one-point victory against Los Angeles last week. While they admonished those who predicted they’d finish on the outside looking in, there’s no negating that their 2023 season was far from successful.
They had to fight desperately to clinch the last playoff spot only a year removed from earning the No. 2 seed. Their reward for clinching the eighth seed is a matchup against the Aces or Liberty, teams that poached some of their best players in free agency.
It’s most likely that the Sky will face the Aces in the best-of-three first-round series. But with one more slate of regular-season games Sunday, there’s a chance the Liberty can edge them out.
The Aces’ magic number is one. All they need to do is beat the Mercury on Sunday or have the Liberty lose to the Mystics to clinch the top seed. If the Aces lose and the Liberty win, they’ll end the season tied for the best record in the league, forcing a tiebreaker. After splitting their head-to-head matchups, the WNBA’s second tiebreaker would be implemented: the team with a better record against teams with a .500 record or better.
Regardless of who comes away with the No. 1 seed, the Sky will have to dig deep to avoid getting swept.
“We play better when we have something to prove,” guard Dana Evans said after the Sky’s 92-87 victory Friday against the Lynx, “when we have a little chip on our shoulder.”
Both teams present huge challenges for the Sky, starting with their respective MVP candidates: the Aces’ A’ja Wilson and the Liberty’s Breanna Stewart.
The Aces, who swept the Sky during the regular season, did so by dictating the pace and dominating in the paint in the three games. They averaged 98 points against the Sky, six more than they averaged in 39 games this season.
Sky star Kahleah Copper scored a career-high 37 points in the team’s best performance against the Aces on July 25, and it still lost by 12. The Aces will be without Candace Parker, whom they signed away from the Sky in free agency, as she continues to rehab after surgery to repair a fracture in her left foot. The team hasn’t provided a timetable for her return.
The Liberty, meanwhile, are a different team than the one the Sky beat 86-82 in June. In their most recent meeting, an 86-69 Liberty romp, Stewart and former Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot had double-doubles.
The Aces and Liberty also have deep squads. Beyond Wilson and Stewart, the firepower stretches into the benches. The Liberty have former Sky center Stefanie Dolson, a constant threat from three-point range. The Aces rely more heavily on their starters, who are all in the top 20 in the league in scoring, but have gotten a huge boost from sixth player of the year front-runner Alysha Clark off the bench.
The Sky will need perfection from Copper and significant production from her supporting cast to even have a shot to force a Game 3 in Chicago.
“There’s always more to get done,” Copper said. “One thing I reflect on with my career is just to enjoy and relish the moment. This was a tough season. It was hard, very hard. For me to be able to rally the troops through everything and make the playoffs is an accomplishment that I’m going to relish in.”
