The WNBA Playoffs are finally here, and the Dallas Wings secured the fourth seed, their highest finish since moving to DFW in 2016.
Dallas will take on the fifth-seeded Atlanta Dream in the first round, a best-of-three series.
Game one will be tonight at 8:30, followed by game two on Tuesday at 8:00, both at the College Park Center in Arlington.
If necessary, game three will be next Friday in Atlanta at a time that is TBD.
The Wings dominated the season series with the Dream going 3-0, including a 94-77 win in Atlanta to close out the regular season last Sunday.
Dallas also took down the Dream 85-78 to open the regular season way back on May 20th.
Despite the Wings being a reasonably young team, nine of the ten players on the active roster have playoff experience, with the one that doesn’t being rookie Maddy Siegrist.
On Friday night, Wings forward Natasha Howard will become just the second player in WNBA history to play a postseason game with five different franchises. Howard has been a dominant force in her first season with Dallas, averaging 16.5 points and 8 rebounds per game.
As a team, Dallas finished the regular season first in rebounds per game (38.7), second-chance points per game (14.8), and points in the paint (42.3). There is no doubt that one of the keys to this series will be if the Wings can establish their dominant post presence.
Another key will be the Wings getting their two stars going. Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally both finished in the top ten in the WNBA in points per game this season, but if the Wings want any chance of winning this series, they need to be led by their two superstars.
My Prediction
Overall, I think this is going to be a really good series, just like the four and five matchup typically is. In the regular season, Dallas definitely distanced themselves from the Dream with the 3-0 head-to-head record and the far better record overall.
Don’t be surprised if tensions flare a little bit in this one, as there were 11 technical fouls in the three games where the two teams matched up in the regular season, not to mention the fact that these two are fresh off playing each other less than a week ago.
Ultimately, the Wings will take this series in three games and move on to the semi-finals.
Dallas has far more talent than the Dream and really is the much better team, and that should win out here.
However, don’t be surprised if this ends up being the best series of the first round.
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