Final week of WNBA regular season has playoff picture still muddled

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NEW YORK (AP) — With the WNBA entering the final week of the regular season, the playoff seedings are undecided.

The eight teams that will play in the postseason were decided a few weeks ago, but none of positions have been clinched yet.

Minnesota and Golden State are still vying for the top overall seed and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. Las Vegas is in the driver's seat for the No. 3 seed.

Then it really gets tight with only two games separating fourth-place Atlanta from eighth-place Dallas. The Wings, Liberty and Mystics all have the same record as of Monday.

Indiana is one game in front of them.

There are two key series this week that should have playoff intensity to them when Minnesota and Indiana play a home-and-home set on Tuesday and Thursday. New York and Atlanta will also play two times this week. Those two series will go a long way in determining postseason matchups.

“I think it’ll be good for both us and New York to get two games going into the playoffs, wherever it shakes out, where you’re already playing a playoff intensity and kind of playoff stakes,” Atlanta coach Karl Smekso said Monday morning after shootaround.

Golden State remained the No. 1 team in the power poll this week. Las Vegas and Minnesota were the next two. Atlanta, New York, Washington and Dallas followed the Lynx. Indiana was eighth. Los Angeles and Phoenix followed. Portland, Chicago, Toronto, Connecticut and Seattle rounded out the poll.

Lisa Leslie was honored by the Los Angeles Sparks franchise with a bronze statue outside their arena. She became the 16th person honored with a statue in Star Plaza in a ceremony that featured Magic Johnson, Candace Parker, Michael Cooper and others.

Leslie, who starred for the Sparks from 1997-2009, is the first Sparks player to be honored with a statue. The 11-foot statue with a 4 1/2 foot base depicts Leslie’s signature dunk, the first in WNBA history.

Olivia Miles passed Caitlin Clark's record for most points by a rookie when she scored her 770th point in the Minnesota Lynx's victory over Connecticut on Sunday. Miles came into the game tied with Clark and broke her record with a free throw early in the second quarter. Miles finished the game with 21 points and now has 790 on the season.

New York's Breanna Stewart was the AP player of the week. She averaged 25.5 points, nine rebounds and four assists to help the Liberty win their two games last week, including one at Minnesota. Other players receiving votes included Paige Bueckers of Dallas, Kiki Iriafen of Washington and Angel Reese of Atlanta.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball