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WNBA Playoffs 101: Format, Favorites, & All You Need to Know Going Into Playoff Season · Hoops for Hotties

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hi hot girls, welcome back to Hoops for Hotties.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host Mariah Rose, and today we are going to be talking about all things WMBA.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little bit early for this, but I'm going to be giving you a little bit of a WMBA playoff preview.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: A little WNBA on-the-court drama breakdown, if you will, because there has been so much talk about all of the things, including from myself, happening off the court with WBA players, whether that's players cheating on other players, whether that's Sophie Cunningham running her mouth, whether that's anything else going on, that we've all been a little bit divided as a fan base.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I think those of us that actually love the WNBA and actually like the basketball part do need to regroup and discuss the basketball happening.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that is what we're going to do today, with of course a twinge of off-the-court drama.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Duh.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Look how fly my shirt is also.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Coach gave this to me during WNBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago, and it's so fab.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: I had to wear it during my WNBA little episode.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So enjoy.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about how the WNBA playoffs actually work, okay?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's a little bit different from the playoffs in other sports.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Eight teams make the playoffs, and it's not based on conferences like in the MNBA.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Just the eight best records in the league go to the playoffs, regardless of geographic location.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's no buys, so nobody gets to skip around.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Seed number one gets rewarded for being number one by getting to play seed number eight, the lowest team, and then team number two plays team number seven, three, six, and four, five, which is usually the best one, at least in the first round.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Round one is best of three, which this is something I love so much about the WNBA, and they are so smart for doing it like this.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Round one is best of three.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: So every single series isn't a seven-game series, like in the MNBA.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like that early, you don't need seven games to be able to figure out who the better team is.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, please, money grab.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So round one is best of three.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Higher seeds get to host games one and three, and the lower seeds get to host game number two.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, whoever wins two games wins the whole thing.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of like rock, paper, scissors.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then in the semis, it's best three out of five.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so it's a five-game series, and the higher seeds get to host games one, two, and five, and then the lower seeds get to host games three and four, and then the finals are a seven-game series.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, same as the NBA.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: The higher seeds get to host games one, two, five, and seven, and the lower seeds get to host the rest.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: This only changed in 2025.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So last year was the first time the finals were a seven-game series, and I'm sure the gorels were exhausted.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: The higher seed always owns the last possible home game in every single round: game three, game five, game seven.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's the whole reason that seeding matters.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you go to a game seven, you're gonna want to play that game seven at your home with your trainers and your home turf, you feel me, with your fans in the stands.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's it's a huge benefit.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it matters if you're seed one or seed two, it matters if you're seed three or seed four.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like being high seeded is very beneficial in the playoffs.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: There is there is no reseeding.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Once the bracket is set, it is set.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So here are the dates.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: The league pauses September 4th through the 13th for the World Cup in Germany.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Good luck to my girls.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, go bring up the gold.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: USA.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Play resumes on September 17th, and the regular season ends on September 24th.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: The playoffs start on September 27th, and the finals are on NBC, USA, and Peacock.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And they are expected to start around October the 10th.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so mark your fucking calendars, girls.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's where things stand as of right now.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: As of right now, when I'm recording this video, these things could move and change.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: They change with the wind, but Minnesota is the number one team by kind of a lot, okay?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: The 31 and 8.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: The Golden State Valkyries are number two, Las Vegas is number three, Atlanta is number four, our first East team, number one in the East.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: But you see how that doesn't matter because we're fourth.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Then number five is the Indiana Fever, just behind, just a game behind Atlanta.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then the New York Liberty, and then Washington, and then Dallas, the Wings.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Portland is next at 15 and 22, seven back.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: The eight teams are basically locked.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing that is still moving is the order in which they're seated.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So these will probably be the teams that are in the playoffs.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about who won the finals last year and the year before.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, Las Vegas beat Phoenix.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was like a whole drama.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you guys remembered with like physical play, et cetera, et cetera.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Throughout the playoffs last season, Nathisa Collier, after losing to Phoenix, gave like a really iconic speech about reffing and the WNBA, about the leadership in the WNBA, which led to this like whole revolution of the players getting paid what they deserve.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Asia Wilson won the finals MVP, and she this was the first WNBA finals ever played as a best of seven series.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then in 2024, the New York Liberty won their first championship in franchise history.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the story worth telling.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't been the same since.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Their coach ended up getting fired.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're 23 and 15, sitting at sixth place.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: They are two years removed from a title, and they're a middle seed.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: We have to go through the three seed just to reach the semis.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So the New York Liberty are just, they're not the same as they used to be.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Atlanta and Indiana.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: These are two teams that have very, very interesting history.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And not just because I live in Atlanta and I'm an Atlanta girl down, and I just so happen to be born in Indiana.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: I like I can't believe that shit.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: But because of the Indiana Fever and the Atlanta Dream and our little perceived rivalry, not only because Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese play for the Indiana Fever and the Atlanta Dream respectively, but because the Indiana Fever knocked us out of the playoffs last year without Caitlin Clark on the court.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Last September, these two teams played in the first round.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Atlanta was the higher seed at home, and Indiana won game three in Atlanta 87 to 85.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was there.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Aaliyah Boston hit the go-ahead layup with 7.4 seconds left.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even want to talk about it.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even want to talk about it.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was their first playoff series when in 10 years.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And they did it without Caitlin Clark.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: She hurt her groin on July 15th and was ruled out for the season, September 5th, and wasn't even on the active playoff roster.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: She played 13 games off 2025.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And Indiana was also missing Sophie Cunningham.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: You guys, Ari McDonald, Cindy Colson, they were missing a lot of players.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Bench mob.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you guys remember the bench mob era when Sophie Cunningham, Caitlin Clark, and them were like screaming and going nuts on the bench, and like they were being mean to their coaches, they were being mean to the rest.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like they were doing a lot.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: But like I, as much as you guys know that I disagree with Sophie Cunningham, never disagreed with the bench mob era because I would be doing the exact same fucking thing.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't, I don't think she was wrong for shit during the bench mob era.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was if I was out during the playoffs and my teammates were like going out there fighting for it, I would be like on the bench going crazy too.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so the story is Atlanta beat uh Indiana beat Atlanta in the playoffs with almost nobody available.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And this year, Caitlin Clark is healthy and would be in the postseason for the first time in two years.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Whether these two teams draw each other or not, that is the thing that is hanging over the East.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Their season series in 2026 is two and two.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Golden State is a second-year franchise sitting in second place.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't exist until 2025, and they're 26 and 11.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: They're a really good team.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: An expansion team is the two seed.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Toronto and Portland joined this year, and they're both under 500, as they should be.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: They're brand new teams, which is what most expansion teams normally look like.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: But Golden State has made some aggressive moves, and now it seems to have worked out for them.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's talk about why Minnesota is actually the answer.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Minnesota could be, they could be very well be champions actually this year.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: They're 31 and 8, best record in the league, and nobody's talking about them because all the noise is elsewhere.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Cheryl Reeve is the winningest coach in league history, and the part that's genuinely wild is Nafisa Collier, who finished second in MVP voting in both 2024 and 2025, had surgery on her right ankle in January and her left ankle in March.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: She missed the first 10 weeks of the season.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Minnesota built the best record in the WNBA without her.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: She came back on July 22nd, and Cheryl Reeves' line was that everyone kept asking about the trade deadline and accusations.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Nafisa Call Year was their acquisition.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: They made a move.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, something changed about our team.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: We got our best player back.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, also some bonus drama about Minnesota.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned earlier, Nafisa Call Year's 2025 exit interview went nuclear at Commissioner Kathy Ingelbert.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: She said she had she had heard from players around the league during her injury and hadn't gotten a single call or text from Kathy.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that is some drama that's still like hanging in the air.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: The girls got what they wanted, but it's always important to remember that that occurred.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of Minnesota, Olivia Miles is genuinely having one of the best rookie seasons ever, and not nearly enough people are paying attention to it.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: She was the number two pick in the 2026 draft behind AZ Fudd, who's out for the rest of the season with an injury, which breaks my fucking heart for her because she's dealt with injuries in such a heartbreaking way.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: But good for Dallas that they they'll probably make the playoffs as well.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but she was the number two pick in the 2026 draft.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: She went to Notre Dame for four years and then transferred to TCU for her final season.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And she's 23 years old from New Jersey.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: She's averaging 20 points, six assists, and 4.6 rebounds, and 40% from three.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: She broke Caitlin Clark's record for the most threes in the game with eight, which Caitlin Clark actually scored eight threes.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: What was that last night?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like she just scored eight threes.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess they're tied now, but that's fucking crazy that Olivia Miles is a rookie doing that.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: If that puts it into perspective, you she's like shooting like Caitlin Clark.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: She's the fastest player in WNBA history to 500 points and 150 assists.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: She hit 700 points and 200 assists in 36 games.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Caitlin Clark took 37.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you, as you can see, this like project trajectory of her being like very similar to Caitlin in that way, numbers-wise, like accomplishing shit.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Please don't cover me.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Don't cover me, please.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: She was an all-star starter as a rookie.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: She's the first rookie in Lynx history to win rookie of the month three straight motherfucking times.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: She was basically rookie of the month for a whole quarter, right?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Look at me being a businesswoman.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: She hit her career high, 33 points against Phoenix on July 13th.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: And people compare her game, if you're an MBA and N NBA fan, to Lucas.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: She's not in the rookie of the year conversation.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: She's in the MVP conversation.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Her own coach said that she deserves it.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And she did the heaviest lifting while the actual franchise player was rehabbing two ankles.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Maya Moore won Rookie of the Year and a championship in the same season.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And Olivia Miles is chasing that very same thing.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And she'd be doing it having carried the team alone for 10 weeks.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously there's other talented players, but come the fuck on.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: This rookie is like driving the bus.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Vegas is a little bit wobbly though.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: They're the defending champions, but Becky Hammond got ejected in the second quarter against Atlanta on August 18th after screaming at an official and having to be restrained by her own assistance.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's talk predictions, okay?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: As of right now, I think Minnesota is obviously the team to beat, and I'm kind of outside of Atlanta.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've Atlanta down always want Atlanta to win.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I hope Angel Reese goes crazy, breaks every record she could possibly break, and is insane in the playoffs.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: I hope we beat Indiana.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: I really hope, I really hope we get Indiana in the first round and get to beat them.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like that, I would really enjoy.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: But they scare me.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not even gonna lie.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: They're so fucking good.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: They're so fucking good.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you've got Kelsey Mitchell, Indiana's other guard besides Caitlin Clark, that people really need to be paying attention to, who's averaging 24 points, outscoring Caitlin Clark on her own team average wise.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Caitlin has been bawling recently and just set a WNBA record with 21 straight games of 20 plus.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: She was left off of team at USA, left out of MVP talk.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: She scored 27 points in game one and 24 in game three of last year's series against Atlanta.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: She is a bucket.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: The question is: can anyone beat Minnesota in a five or seven game series?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Does Atlanta get out of round one, whoever it's against?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: And does Golden State in year two of existing reach the semis or even the WNBA finals?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: I am going to be watching very closely for all of this, but that is the WNBA tee I have for you today.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you are actually watching the games if you're gonna comment on off the court shit, like men declaring for the WNBA draft and pretending to be trans and all of this fucking drama.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's important to remember that the real important stuff is happening on the court.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to Hoops for Hoddies on YouTube.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure to follow Hoops for Hoddies on social media.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: It makes all the difference and helps me keep the lights on in this bitch.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And if you enjoyed watching this, but you like to listen on the go, I also post all these episodes on all audio platforms as a podcast wherever you get your podcast, honey.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I love you, I mean it, and I'll see you next Thursday.
• 13:25
  unknown: Bye.