Thus Endeth the Regular Season

We've ended the regular season, and the playoffs and championships should be decided by mid-October.

I'm going to give the last game of the season, Atlanta @ San Antonio, all of the attention that Atlanta seemed to give to it, which is slim to none.  The most interesting stats that come out of this game are the time played stats:

Jasmine Thomas - 32:06
Alex Bentley - 30:37
Courtney Clements - 29:29
Le'coe Willingham - 28:14
Ruth Riley - 24:13
Aneika Henry - 20:38
Erika de Souza - 13:59
Tiffany Hayes - 13:37
Angel McCoughtry - 7:08

Aside from Alex Bentley, this is almost the reverse order of the importance of each member of the Atlanta Dream to the organization.  I suspect that Thomas, Clements, and/or Willingham aren't going to be around next season.  Probably more than that.

I predicted in an earlier post that the Dream would finish 18-16.  Came close.  17-17, tied with Washington.  Actually, this is our (technically) worst season since 2008.

2008:  4-30
2009:  18-16
2010:  19-15
2011:  20-14
2012:  19-15
2013:  17-17

And even with all that, we still finished second in the Eastern Conference.  We have no clue yet as to when or if Erika de Souza is going to take off for the FIBA Americas tournament.  This sets up the following matches:

Chicago vs. Indiana:  With Katie Douglas back, Indiana is almost a different team.  However, they're still banged up.  Unless Chicago's inexperience gets the best of them/Lin Dunn gives a master class in coaching, Chicago will probably be good enough to advance.

Atlanta vs. Washington:  If Erika de Souza is out for all of these, it's 2 and out for Atlanta.  We can't win without post players.

We are 2-2 against the Mystics.  One win came when Lyttle was on the roster, so we're more like 1-2, and of those three games without Lyttle the Mystics stole a home game from us.

This one could go to three games.  Almost impossible to predict.  Expect that McCoughtry will put the team on her back and get us past the first round in Game 3 if it comes to that.  If we lose Game 1 at home, this could be reallly short, so whoever wins Game 1 should take the series.

Minnesota vs. Seattle:  Seattle didn't win a game against the Lynx all year, even during a bizarro scheduling fluke when they played three straight games against them.  Minnesota to advance.

Los Angeles vs. Phoenix:  Discount that last game of the regular season.  Sparks are 7-3 in their last 10, Mercury are 6-4.  The only one I won't predict.