Higher seeds dominate in WNBA postseason openers

The GIST: Forget football, this past Sunday was for women’s hoops. All four best-of-three series tipped off yesterday, and the postseason premiere certainly did not disappoint.

No. 1 NY Liberty rout No. 8 Atlanta Dream: NY’s quest to hoist their first-ever championship got off to the perfect start: The seafoam superteam scored six straight buckets to start the game, never trailing in their 83–69 Game 1 win. All-Rookie Leonie Fiebich was on fire in her starting lineup debut, scoring a game-high 21 points. When you know you know.

• Can the Dream wake up from the nightmare, or will the Libs make quick work of their first-round opponent in tomorrow’s 7:30 p.m. ET Game 2?

No. 3 Connecticut Sun’s defense stymies AP Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark and No. 6 Indiana Fever: The Sun held Clark to just 11 points in their dominant 93–69 win, but it wasn’t just the Connecticut D shining bright — Marina Mabrey dropped a WNBA-record 27 points off the bench to complement vintage performances from Alyssa “triple-double” Thomas and DeWanna Bonner.

Napheesa Collier lifts No. 2 Minnesota Lynx past No. 7 Phoenix Mercury: Led by 30 points and 10 assists from Natasha Cloud, the Mercury made it interesting down the stretch, nearly overcoming a 23-point deficit. But AP Defensive Player of the Year Collier put the Lynx on her back, letting her offense do the talking as she tallied a career-high 38 points in the 102–95 Game 1 win.

M’VP A’ja Wilson lifts No. 4 Las Vegas Aces over No. 5 Seattle Storm: Buoyed by 21 points and five blocks from Wilson, the Aces really found their stride in the fourth quarter, outscoring Seattle by 12 points to weather the Storm 78–67. The end of games has been Seattle’s kryptonite all season long, and Game 1 was no different: The Storm didn’t hit a field goal in the entire fourth quarter. Oof.

• Game 2 tips off tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. ET, where the Aces can book a semifinal ticket while the Storm will hoop for a chance to extend the series to a deciding Game 3.