The Washington Mystics will have to stay patient for two more days.
The host Dream (14-25) defeated the banged-up Chicago Sky, 86-70, to move into the No. 8 spot. Atlanta controls its postseason fate and will clinch a playoff spot with a win in its finale Thursday. (A Sky win Tuesday would have eliminated the Dream.)
The Mystics and Sky are both 13-26. Washington holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Chicago, but Washington and Atlanta split the season series. The Mystics need all three teams to end up with the same record to come out on top of a three-way tiebreaker and make the postseason.
On Thursday, the season ends with the Mystics hosting the Indiana Fever, the Dream visiting New York, and the Sky playing at the Connecticut Sun. A Washington win combined with an Atlanta loss and a Chicago win would send the Mystics to the playoffs. Whichever team advances will face New York (32-7) in the best-of-three first round; the Liberty clinched the WNBA’s best record with Tuesday’s win.
The playoffs have taken center stage in recent weeks, but the watch for lottery picks hasn’t been far behind. The Mystics, who started the season 0-12, will have at least one: They hold the rights to the Dream’s first-round pick as well as their own.
“We’ve got one more shot to represent ourselves and play the way that we have shown over the course of the year,” Mystics Coach Eric Thibault said, describing his postgame message to the team. “We’ve shown really good resilience over the course of the season, and we have a chance to show it one more time, to play a lot better than we’re playing. Everybody’s got to get out of their own heads a little bit.”
Ariel Atkins scored a game-high 22 points Tuesday, but no other Mystics player reached double figures. Brittney Sykes (eight points, five rebounds) suffered a left toe injury in the third quarter, when she seemed to get her feet tangled up with a defender. She went to the locker room for a bit before returning to the bench but never reentered the game. Thibault said the coaches decided to keep her out because the game was lopsided. The Mystics will wait to see how her toe reacts Wednesday.
The Mystics were without Aaliyah Edwards for the second consecutive game because of a right ankle injury. Thibault said she’s working to strengthen the joint to be able to cut and move laterally. He guessed she was days away from returning but didn’t know how many days that might be.
With Edwards and Shakira Austin (left ankle) out — Austin will miss the rest of the season — Emily Engstler moved into the starting lineup and led the team with eight rebounds.
“I didn’t think we did much of what we’re trying to do generally in the game, to be honest with you,” Thibault said. “I didn’t think [the Liberty] felt us defensively until the end of the first quarter, early second quarter. The ball got there too easily, and our help was late. When you do that against them, then you’re scrambling and giving up threes. They’re the best team in the league in the standings, and they were clearly on a mission to get the top seed.”
Five Liberty players reached double figures, with Breanna Stewart leading the way with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Leonie Fiebich added 13 points off the bench.
The Liberty turned 17 Washington turnovers into 25 points, and the game was never in doubt after New York used a 14-2 run to grab an early advantage. The Mystics shot just 37.7 percent and were outrebounded by 16.
Atkins explained what needs to happen Thursday against Caitlin Clark’s Fever with a playoff spot potentially within reach.
“To play like us,” she said. “To move the ball. To find each other in our strong spots so that we can build confidence on the offensive end. Defensively, we can talk a lot better [than we did] tonight. Tonight, we just didn’t feel like ourselves.”
