The primary spherical of the 2025 WNBA playoffs continues Wednesday evening, and the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx will attempt to change into the primary two groups to succeed in the second spherical. They’ve 1-0 leads in opposition to the Phoenix Mercury and Golden State Valkyries, respectively, and can attempt to shut out the best-of-three sequence in Sport 2.
The Seattle Storm and Indiana Fever saved their seasons alive with Sport 2 dwelling wins on Tuesday evening. The Storm snapped the Las Vegas Aces’ 17-game successful streak with a comeback victory. The seventh-seeded Storm used a powerful fourth quarter to power a decisive Sport 3, getting a mixed 50 factors from Skylar Diggins and Nneka Ogwumike.
The Fever, in the meantime, staved off elimination in opposition to the Atlanta Dream. The Fever received at dwelling to maintain their injury-plagued season going, forcing a decisive Sport 3 again in Atlanta on Thursday evening.
The perfect-of-three first spherical will wrap up on Friday or earlier, and the best-of-five semifinals will start on Sunday (Sept. 21).
The Lynx entered the playoffs because the No. 1 seed after being the WNBA’s most dominant staff all through the 44-game common season. The Lynx, searching for the fifth championship in staff historical past and their first since 2017, can have home-court benefit all through the playoffs.
Under is a have a look at the first-round matchups and the complete schedule for the 2025 playoffs.
WNBA playoff bracket
Keytron Jordan, CBS Sports activities
Listed here are the 4 first-round matchups and seeding:
- No. 1 Lynx vs. No. 8 Valkyries
- No. 2 Aces vs. No. 7 Storm
- No. 3 Dream vs. No. 6 Fever
- No. 4 Mercury vs. No. 5 Liberty
Groups will play a best-of-three sequence within the first spherical, a best-of-five sequence within the semifinals, and — in a brand new change this yr — a best-of-seven affair within the Finals.
In 2024, the primary spherical had a 2-1 format, which meant the upper seed acquired the primary two video games at dwelling, whereas the decrease seed solely acquired to host in the event that they made it to Sport 3. This yr will probably be a 1-1-1 format, with Video games 1 and three hosted by the upper seed whereas the decrease seed hosts Sport 2.
All video games on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 are streaming on fubo (Attempt without spending a dime).
First-round schedule, scores (best-of-three)
All instances Jap
Sunday, Sept. 14
Tuesday, Sept. 16
Wednesday, Sept. 17
- Sport 2: No. 4 Mercury at No. 5 Liberty, 8:00 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
- Sport 2: No. 1 Lynx at No. 8 Valkyries, 10:00 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Thursday, Sept. 18
- Sport 3: No. 6 Fever at No. 3 Dream, 7:30 p.m. — ESPN2/fubo
- Sport 3: No. 7 Storm at No. 2 Aces, 9:30 p.m. — ESPN2/fubo
Friday, Sept. 19
- *Sport 3: No. 8 Valkyries at No. 1 Lynx, TBD — ESPN2/fubo
- *Sport 3: No. 5 Liberty at No. 4 Mercury, TBD — ESPN2/fubo
Semifinals schedule (best-of-five)
Sunday, Sept. 21
Tuesday, Sept. 23
Friday, Sept. 26
Sunday, Sept. 28
Tuesday, Sept. 30
- *Sport 5: TBD vs. TBD, TBD
- *Sport 5: TBD vs. TBD, TBD
Finals schedule (best-of-seven)
Friday, Oct. 3
- Sport 1, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Sunday, Oct. 5
- Sport 2, 3 p.m. — ABC/fubo
Wednesday, Oct. 8
- Sport 3, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Friday, Oct. 10
- Sport 4, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Sunday, Oct. 12
- *Sport 5, 3 p.m. — ABC/fubo
Wednesday, Oct. 15
- *Sport 6, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Friday, Oct. 17
- *Sport 7, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
* If crucial
