How the Wings and Aces will battle for the last spot in the WNBA playoffs

[Carnac]

The Wings fired their coach on Sunday. The Aces forfeited a game earlier in August. Now the drama continues as the two teams play with a playoff spot on the line tonight. The Dallas Wings’ and Las Vegas Aces’ matchup could determine which team earns the final spot in the WNBA playoffs, which no fan could’ve ever predicted before the season’s tipoff.

With identical records and two games to play, Dallas, a team with two superstars including the league’s leading scorer, Liz Cambage, will host Las Vegas, a first-year franchise with three of the most promising young talents in the league. A win for Dallas will end a miserable drought and earn the team a chance at redemption. A loss makes things more complicated.

How’d the teams get here?
The Wings have had an ugly month that turned disastrous on Sunday. Their head coach, Fred Williams, had an altercation with the team’s CEO outside the locker room that resulted in the coach’s firing hours later. That nightmare came at the hands of the Wings eighth consecutive loss to the Washington Mystics, and a Tuesday night loss to the Connecticut Sun made nine in a row since July 19.

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[EricLA]

Dallas holds the tie breaker over LV having won the 1st two games, so if the teams end up tied, Dallas has the tie breaker and would be in. I wonder if the players now regret forfeiting that game. I think it was against Washington and they likely would have lost anyway, but at least if they had played, there was a chance. Forfeit = no chance...

 

[Carnac]

Dallas holds the tie breaker over LV having won the 1st two games, so if the teams end up tied, Dallas has the tie breaker and would be in. I wonder if the players now regret forfeiting that game. I think it was against Washington and they likely would have lost anyway, but at least if they had played, there was a chance. Forfeit = no chance...

I predicted this scenario 4-5 days ago. I agree they probably would have lost anyway. The "chance" you referred to is also known as a "puncher's chance". You are correct. That forfeit was against the Mystics. They split the two games they did play, each winning at home. The Mystics 75-70 in DC, the Aces 85-73 in Las Vegas. The Aces are 6-10 on the road.

I think the winner of tonight's game, plays next week. It's a toss up. The wings could come together for one last hoorah and refuse to lose, or they could fold like a cheap tent, and make it 10 straight losses, then wish the Aces well in post-season play in the post-game hand slap line. I wouldn't put any money on it. We don't know which Wings team will show up tonight, if Cambage will play, or what kind of mood she'll be in if she does.

What To Watch – Friday, Aug. 17, 2018

Edit - post game comment - Wings win 107-102 Cambage goes off for 43/13. Obviously, she felt good and came to play. It's very dis-heartening to score 102 points and still lose. I think the Aces win this game in Las Vegas.