Three things to watch as the WNBA regular-season winds down

The GIST: The WNBA’s most-viewed season returned to the hardwood with last night’s five-game slate. The on-court action is thrilling as ever, but scoreboard watching is what’s en vogue as the postseason looms. Let’s discuss.

📋 Playoff teams vie for postseason positioning: Only 25 total regular-season games remain before the playoffs tip off on September 27th — and seeding is clear as mud. The league-best Minnesota Lynx are just two games ahead of the No. 2 Golden State Valkyries, while a mere two-and-a-half games separate seeds four through eight.

• Only six of those 25 remaining games feature playoff teams battling each other, so everyone will be watching the league-wide scoreboard to keep tabs on the competition.

👀 Here are a few storylines we’ll be following:

• 🏠 Which team will earn coveted homecourt advantage, especially since the first round is still (sadly) a three-game series. The Lynx, Valkyries, Las Vegas Aces, and Atlanta Dream would host if the regular season ended today.

• 🪽 How the Dallas Wings respond to their mounting injuries. The Wings were without Alanna Smith in last night’s 97–77 win over the LA Sparks, while Paige Bueckers dropped 19 points despite nursing some pesky patellar tendonitis.

• 🌎 The impact of the three-week international break. Every playoff team sent at least two players to the FIBA World Cup and the NY Liberty sent eight. As for those who didn’t go — like Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu and Lynx maestro Olivia Miles — will they be rusty? TBD.

☝️ One more thing: The Toronto Tempo (who will be without the sharpshooting Marina Mabrey for the rest of the season) host Kelsey Mitchell and the Indiana Fever tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET. The penultimate home game of the Tempo’s debut season is also “Her Health, Her Night” in support of Women’s College Hospital Foundation. Women supporting women is our love language.