Playoff Picture: Aug. 31

After the Storm's loss today in Connecticut, here's how things look in the Western Conference.

Team           W   L    GB  Storm  Conf   H/A  500+
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San Antonio   19  10   0     1-2    8-10  3/2   5/0
Seattle       18  10   0.5         12-5   2/4   3/3
Los Angeles   17  12   2.0   1-1    9-7   3/2   4/1
Sacramento    16  13   3.0   3-0    7-8   2/3   4/1
Minnesota     14  13   4.0   2-0    8-7   2/5   3/4
Houston       14  14   4.5   2-1    9-8   4/2   4/2
Phoenix       12  16   6.5   3-1    4-12  3/3   5/1

After briefly taking over first in the West by percentage points with San Antonio's loss last night to Los Angeles, the Storm drops a half-game off the pace with the loss. Los Angeles has now moved within 1.5 games of the Storm for home-court advantage in the first round, while Sacramento got a big head-to-head win over Houston, which has dropped into sixth place.

The Storm's magic number to clinch against Houston dropped to two, but is still three against both Minnesota and Sacramento and overall.

The good news is, though the Storm could not pull out a tight game in Mohegan Sun, if the team plays like this the next two games, that should translate into victories. Even without Lindsay Whalen, Connecticut is a very dangerous team. Right now, the Sun has to be considered the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference and maybe even to win it all.

The only other game scheduled today features two East teams, so the playoff picture won't change until tomorrow, when Minnesota visits L.A. in a big game in the West standings.