Playoff Picture: Sept. 2

The standings in the Western Conference after L.A.'s come-from-behind blowout victory over Minnesota last night:

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   18  12   1.5   1-1   10-7   2/2   3/1
Sacramento    16  13   3.0   3-0    7-8   2/3   4/1
Houston       14  14   4.5   2-1    9-8   4/2   4/2
Minnesota     14  14   4.5   2-0    8-8   2/4   2/4
Phoenix       12  16   6.5   3-1    4-12  3/3   5/1

The outcome reduced the Storm's magic number to two to effectively clinch a playoff spot. That could happen as soon as Wednesday if the Storm wins tonight in Atlanta, New York defeats Houston and Minnesota loses tomorrow at Phoenix. That would allow the Storm to individually clinch against the Comets, Lynx and Mercury, and I'm not seeing any possible multi-team tie that would leave the Storm out of the playoffs.

With their win, the Sparks have climbed within one game of the Storm. Really, however, how both teams play over the next week and a half takes a backseat to their nationally-televised season finale Sept. 14 at the STAPLES Center. That game will determine the head-to-head tiebreaker, the two teams having split the first two meetings. With a win in that game, the Storm would need at most two other wins the rest of the way to guarantee no worse than second in the West. If the Sparks win, however, the Storm would need to have a better record the rest of the season than L.A. to avoid a tie and win out.

WNBA.com's Playoff Picture