Beginning with the league’s 26th season, the eight teams with the highest winning percentage regardless of conference will be seeded based on their record and compete in bracket-style play with no team receiving a bye to start the postseason.
During the WNBA Finals, Breanna Stewart put the discussion on whether or not the league needs to adopt a new playoff format simply.
“From a players perspective we all would like the single-elimination format to be gone,” Stewart said ahead of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. “Ya, it’s the format for college but this isn’t college.”
Stewart's sentiments were shared by coaches and fans and after the 2021 playoffs that was highlighted by the fifth and sixth seed advancing to the Finals, the league responded.
Thursday afternoon the WNBA announced its Board of Governors approved a new playoff format that will include three rounds of series play. Beginning with the league’s 26th season, the eight teams with the highest winning percentage regardless of conference will be seeded based on their record and compete in bracket-style play with no team receiving a bye to start the postseason.
The playoff rounds will decrease from four to three, eliminating the single-elimination games in rounds one and two.
Instead, the first round will feature matchups between the No. 1 seed versus the No. 8 seed and the No. 4 seed versus the No. 5 seed in a best-of-three series. The opposite side of the bracket will feature the No. 3 seed versus the No. 6 seed and the No. 2 seed will meet the No. 7 seed. These first-round games will be played in a 2-1 format with the higher seed hosting the first two games and the lower hosting a third if necessary.
The winners of those four first-round series matchups will advance to the semifinals which will remain a best-of-five series. The WNBA Finals will also remain a best-of-five series. Neither the semifinals or finals will see a change of format either (2-2-1) with the higher seed hosting Game 1, 2 and 5 and the lower seed hosting Game 3 and 4.
“Following significant discussions with our Competition Committee and a Playoff subcommittee we formed last year, it was clear that while the prior format’s single-elimination games created a win-and-advance level of excitement to the start of the postseason, the new best-of-three series format will provide added opportunities to create and showcase rivalries with all playoff-eligible teams participating,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/3nwyUlW
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