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The WNBA scrapped its single-elimination opening-rounds playoff format Thursday, reconfiguring its postseason operation with 3 rounds of bid play utilizing a best-of-three-, best-of-five-, and best-of-five-games format.
Since 2016, the league’s playoffs consisted of 4 rounds, starting with 2 single-elimination rounds that went connected arsenic the apical 2 seeds received double-byes into the semifinals.
The caller playoff format, which was agreed upon by the league’s committee of governors, is intended to springiness the apical 8 teams a accordant commencement to their playoff runs, doing distant with immoderate of the winner-take-all early-round anxiousness that the erstwhile format wrought.
“In my playing experience, erstwhile the archetypal circular was 5 games, you’d person astatine slightest 3 chances to effort to triumph a game, to support the bid going,” said the Sparks’ Derek Fisher successful 2019, during his archetypal twelvemonth coaching the WNBA aft an 18-year NBA career.
“The lone clip that it’s truly single-elimination mentality (in the NBA playoffs) is erstwhile it’s an elimination crippled for 1 squad oregon the other. It’ll beryllium my archetypal clip successful this presumption and I’m looking guardant to the situation of it, immoderate emotions and anxiousness and everything that is there.”
The league took banal of each of that, Commissioner Cathy Englebert said successful a quality release, and decided it would amended service the league if the apical teams didn’t commencement the postseason connected the sidelines, waiting to compete.
“We person been evaluating antithetic playoff formats implicit the past 12 months, and the caller playoff format being announced contiguous volition alteration fans to prosecute with each of the league’s champion teams and apical stars close from the commencement of the postseason with each 8 title contenders instantly progressive successful exciting, first-round action,” Engelbert said.
“Following important discussions with our Competition Committee and a Playoff subcommittee we formed past year, it was wide that portion the anterior format’s single-elimination games created a win-and-advance level of excitement to the commencement of the postseason, the caller best-of-three bid format volition supply added opportunities to make and showcase rivalries with each playoff-eligible teams participating.”
Going forward, 8 of the WNBA’s 12 teams with the highest winning percentages implicit a 36-game docket – careless of league – volition suffice for the playoffs and beryllium seeded based connected their record. All 8 playoff teams volition enactment successful first-round, bracket-style play consisting of 4 best-of-three series.
No longer volition determination beryllium re-seeding erstwhile the postseason begins: In 1 bracket, first-round play volition pit the No. 1 effect against the No. 8 effect portion the No. 4 effect volition look the No. 5 effect successful best-of-three series, with the winners advancing to a best-of-five semifinals bid against 1 another. In the different bracket, it volition beryllium No. 3 versus No. 6 effect and No. 2 versus No. 7 seed, with the winners moving connected to look 1 different successful the different best-of-five semifinals series.
The winners of those semifinals bid volition past conscionable successful the WNBA Finals, which besides volition beryllium a best-of-five series.
First-round bid volition diagnostic a 2-1 format successful which the higher effect volition big Games 1 and 2 and the little effect volition big the if-necessary Game 3.
The Sparks didn’t marque the postseason past season, but doubly successful the past 4 years, their play ended connected single-elimination second-round games.
Lexie Brown, a defender connected past season’s WNBA champion Chicago Sky, tweeted her enactment for the shift: “Thank God. That azygous elimination was tough.”
Thank God. That azygous elimination was pugnacious 😭 https://t.co/xFrR3Lunid
— Lexie Brown (@Lexiebrown) November 18, 2021
🚨 New #WNBA Playoff Format 🚨
Read the afloat merchandise ▶ https://t.co/urmPJGtgs8 pic.twitter.com/chIRkpCA3H
— WNBA (@WNBA) November 18, 2021
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