NEW YORK — Natasha Howard scored 18 points and hit a big 3-pointer in the final minute as New York defeated Atlanta 87-83 on Sunday, sending the Liberty to the WNBA playoffs and eliminating the Dream.
With New York leading 80-79 in a back-and-forth fourth quarter, Howard hit a 24-footer to put the Liberty up by four with 55 seconds remaining. The Dream extended their ensuing possession by collecting a couple of offensive rebounds before Aari McDonald made a driving layup with 26 seconds left. Sabrina Ionescu and Howard both made two free throws to help New York close out the victory.
The Liberty (16-20) wound up as the seventh seed when Phoenix lost to Chicago, dropping the Mercury to the No. 8 spot. New York will open the playoffs at No. 2 Chicago.
Atlanta (14-22) lost its fourth in a row and sixth in its last eight games.
ACES 109, STORM 100: Chelsea Gray had 33 points, seven rebounds and nine assists and Las Vegas wrapped up the Commissioner’s Cup for the best regular-season record, defeating visiting Seattle.
Kelsey Plum, who had 23 points for the Aces, scored seven points in the final minute. Her 3-pointer with 58 seconds left put Las Vegas up by six, and she added two more field goals as the Aces (26-10) clinched the top seed in the playoffs.
The Aces’ opening-round opponent will be Phoenix. That best-of-three series starts Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Seattle was already assured of the No. 4 seed and will open the playoffs at home against No. 5 Washington on Thursday.
SUN 90, LYNX 83: Alyssa Thomas scored 16 points, and her key bucket and rebound helped Connecticut hold off visiting Minnesota in the final WNBA game for Lynx legend Sylvia Fowles.
Fowles, the 2017 league MVP and four-time defensive player of the year, got her league-best 192nd career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
She is the only player to lead two franchises (Minnesota and Chicago) in career rebounding, and she’s the only WNBA player to reach 6,000 rebounds (6,006 total). Fowles checked out of the game for the last time to a long standing ovation, and hugged her coaches and teammates.
Natisha Hiedeman and Brionna Jones each scored 15 points each for Connecticut.
Lindsay Allen, who entered with a scoring average of 4.3 points per game, made 6 of 7 3-pointers and led the Lynx with 26 points.
Connecticut was already assured of the No. 3 playoff spot and will open at home against No. 6 Dallas on Thursday.
SKY 82, MERCURY 67: Azura Stevens scored 17 points and Chicago wrapped up the regular season with a victory at Phoenix.
Allie Quigley added 14 points for the defending WNBA champion Sky (26-10), who open a best-of-three first-round series Wednesday against New York.
Phoenix (15-21) played without Diana Taurasi, who missed the game because of a quadriceps injury.
MYSTICS 95, FEVER 83: Elena Delle Donne scored 22 points and Washington defeated visiting Indiana.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.