Wings, Mystics fighting for playoff positions
The Washington Mystics recently clinched a playoff berth despite the absence of Elena Delle Donne. But there's good news: The All-Star forward is back for the homestretch, which includes Saturday's home game against a Dallas Wings team still pushing for a postseason slot. The Mystics (17-13) are in a dogfight with New York for the fourth playoff seed and a first-round bye. Their hopes took a blow on Friday in an eight-point loss to the Liberty. Washington is now 1 1/2 games out of the coveted fourth slot. Washington, which has four games left, and Dallas (14-17) meet for the third and final team this year as the WNBA's 2017 regular season nears its final week. "Well, clinched a playoff spot for us. That's the most exciting part of it," Mystics coach Mike Thibault said after Washington's 87-82 win over Indiana on Sunday. "You know you're probably going to get in anyway but to get that part of the journey over with is fun." Delle Donne scored 13 points in her first action since injuring her thumb on July 30 against Atlanta. The 2015 WNBA MVP averages 18.8 points per game. Delle Donne's injury followed Tayler Hill's season-ending knee surgery in July. Hill was second in scoring for Washington at the time of her injury. "People are going to be counting us out right now," Washington center Krystal Thomas said after Delle Donne's injury. The Mystics held their own with a 3-3 record during the time Delle Donne was out. Friday's Mystics-Liberty winner claimed the season series tiebreaker. Playing shorthanded on the road at Connecticut, Dallas fell 93-87 on Wednesday despite 19 points from Skylar Diggins-Smith and Allisha Gray's 18. Wings forward Glory Johnson sat out the contest with a one-game suspension imposed by the league for throwing a punch at Dream guard Matee Ajavon in Dallas' win over Atlanta on Aug. 19. Johnson is averaging 14.7 points and 9.1 rebounds. Washington won at Dallas 101-89 on June 6, but the Wings claimed the rematch on the road with an 87-83 victory less than two weeks later despite trailing by 13 points and Hill scoring 21. Dallas outscored Washington 28-17 in the fourth quarter. "We just focused on locking them down on defense," Johnson said after the win. "It's easy to switch and people don't try and get through screens and all that stuff. We said we weren't going to switch, we were going to lock down, play the best defense we can, get the rebound and go, and that's what we did." Johnson scored 27 points -- 16 in the third quarter -- on 10 of 15 shooting from the field. "Glory attacking the post was good for us," said Diggins-Smith, who had eight assists in the win. Diggins-Smith ranks in the top-10 in the league in scoring (18.2 ppg) and assists (5.8 rpg). |