2011 WNBA Playoff Schedule: Western Conference Semifinals Set After Seattle Storm Clinch Second

by Nate Parham on Sep 10, 2011 9:01 AM EDT in WNBA Playoffs 2011

With their 85-70 win over the Phoenix Mercury, the Seattle Storm clinched second place in the Western Conference and home court advantage in the first round of the 2011 WNBA Playoffs.

And with that, the Western Conference playoff schedule is set.

The schedule is available at WNBA.com (click here). Below are the scores of the relevant regular season meetings for each series (with links to the stats via Lynx Data, with efficiency, Four Factors, plus/minus, and miscellaneous stats).

Minnesota Lynx (1) vs. San Antonio Silver Stars (4)

Regular season series: 4-0 Lynx

First game: Friday, September 16 at 8 p.m. CST (NBA TV) in Minnesota

Date	Location	Score	Note
July 31	San Antonio	70-69 Lynx	Adams injured
August 4	Minnesota	62-60 Lynx	Adams injured
August 26	Minnesota	85-75 Lynx	Adams' first game back
August 28	San Antonio	72-61 Lynx

Seattle Storm (2) vs. Phoenix Mercury (3)

Regular season series: 3-1 Storm

First game: Thursday, September 15 at 7 p.m. (ESPN2) in Seattle

Date	Location	Score	Note
June 4	Seattle	78-71 Storm	Regular season opener
July 26	Phoenix	83-77 Storm	Lauren Jackson out
August 16	Phoenix	81-79 Mercury	Jackson, Tanisha Wright out First meeting post-Kara Braxton trade
September 9	Seattle	85-70 Storm (box)	Penny Taylor out

Quick summary:

In both situations, you could argue that the regular season games could actually be disregarded:

Adams was out for the first two games against the Lynx and the Silver Stars were close. Adams' first game back was in Minnesota. What could the Silver Stars do at full strength over three games?
On the other hand, those close games were earlier in the season. Is it possible that the Lynx are just better now explaining the larger margins later?
The Mercury have a similar caveat working in their favor: the first two games were before trading Kara Braxton. Last night's game was without Penny Taylor. Would Taylor have made up a 15 point difference last night?
But of course, with last night's win, the Storm have now beaten the Mercury on 10 of the last 11 meetings between the two teams dating back to about this time in 2009. That one Storm loss was a) in Phoenix and b) without two starters. The Mercury still haven't won in KeyArena since 2009. The Storm just seem to have the Mercury's number. So with home court advantage at full health, are the Storm almost assured of advancing to the Western Conference Finals?

So a few questions for you all: Which lower seed has the best chance of "stealing" a win on the road? Can either lower seed advance?

Feel free to drop your insights and links in the comments.

For more on the Western Conference Playoff race, visit SBN Seattle's storystream.

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