September 29 WNBA and NBA Playoffs Open Thread

Hello everyone! There is playoff basketball tonight that you can watch ahead of Presidential debates. So let’s get to it.

Sun and Aces fight for WNBA Finals berth tonight

The Connecticut Sun and Las Vegas Aces will play Game 5 of their semifinals series tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET. You can watch the game on ESPN2. The winner of the series will play the Seattle Storm in the WNBA Finals.

This game is featuring a battle between a team the Mystics have a growing rivalry with (the Aces) AND the team the Mystics defeated last year in the WNBA Finals (the Sun). I think the Aces will be the bigger rival going forward, but others believe the Sun fit the bill better. I wrote about this in two pieces earlier this summer.

While WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson hasn’t won a title yet with the Aces, the franchise made the Finals once in franchise history in 2008 with a squad led by Becky Hammon, Sophia Young and Ann Wauters as the San Antonio Silver Stars. The Sun will look to make their fourth WNBA Finals appearance in franchise history and second straight overall.

It’s hard for me to root for either team in this series, but I think the Aces will pull through here. That said, I’ve really admired Alyssa Thomas’ performance in this series as she battles shoulder and labrum injuries.

Who do you think will win the NBA Finals?

If you are signed up for NBA Reacts (f/k/a FanPulse), you would have received an email about a poll over whether the Los Angeles Lakers or Miami Heat would win the Finals. There is also a poll on who would be the winner of the Bill Russell Finals MVP award.

The results of the poll will come up later this week and I will share them here. But in the meantime, feel free to use this space to also discuss the Finals match between the team LeBron James played for and the team LeBron James once won two championships with last decade.

Thanks, and enjoy the basketball everyone.