The Mystics play the Lynx on Sunday night in their last regular season game.

Game Info

When: Sunday, August 19 at 7 p.m. ET

Where: Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota

How to watch: ESPN 2

Injuries

Mystics: Ariel Atkins (Hip Contusion, Questionable), Natasha Cloud (Ankle, Questionable)

Lynx: Danielle Robinson (Ankle, Out)

Pregame Notes

The Mystics are playing Sunday’s game looking to clinch the second seed in the playoffs and an automatic semifinals berth. They can do that with a win tonight AND if the Atlanta Dream lost to the Las Vegas Aces. The Dream vs. Aces game is at 6 p.m. ET. Washington will be at least the third seeded team in the playoffs but they still be the second seed.

If the Mystics are third, there is a chance they will host the Lynx next Thursday in the second round of the playoffs. Minnesota is locked in the seventh seed. They will play their first round game next Tuesday against the sixth seeded team, who could be the Sun, Mercury, or Sparks.

The Lynx don’t have anything to play for tomorrow except to give Lindsey Whalen a nice send off in her last regular season game. If the Lynx lose in the first round of the playoffs, Sunday will be her last home game of any kind. Whalen will retire after this season to focus full time on her position as the head coach of the University of Minnesota women’s basketball team this fall. Whalen also played college basketball at Minnesota.

Whalen may be best known with Lynx fans as a hometown player who spent much of her prime in Minneapolis. But Whalen was actually a relatively unheralded fourth overall draft pick in 2004 when she originally played for the Connecticut Sun from 2004-09.

While with the Sun, Whalen played for a head coach by the name of Michael Thibault and was part of two Eastern Conference championships there as their starting point. I hear that Michael Thibault’s done great things in the 14-15 years since coaching Whalen in a city that we call home. :)