Following the WNBA regular season, the top eight teams in the overall league standings, without regard to conference alignment, qualified for the playoffs and were seeded from one to eight.
[3] [note 1]New York earned the eight seed by virtue of winning the first tiebreaker over Washington and Los Angeles.
[4] With their 12–20 record, the Liberty had the worst regular season winning percentage of any playoff team in WNBA history.
The Wings only had two players score in double figures, Arike Ogunbowale led the way with 22 while Satou Sabally added 12 points.
The Mercury had four players score double digits: Skylar Diggins-Smith lead with 22 points, Sophie Cunningham made 6 three-pointers on her way to 21 total points, Brittney Griner scored 16, and Turner's 12 rounded out the double-digit scorers.
The Liberty also had four players score double digits: Betnijah Laney led with 25 points, while Natasha Howard, Sabrina Ionescu, and Rebecca Allen added 16, 14, and 11 respectively.
However, the tide changed when they scored only nine points in the second quarter and the Storm took a three-point lead into halftime.
The Storm had four of their five starters score in double figures, with Katie Lou Samuelson leading the way with 18.
The Sun also begin the series on nine days of rest, with their last game of the regular season being on September 19, a 20 point win over the Atlanta Dream.
However, Connecticut had a strong second quarter where they won 24–16 to take a six point lead into halftime.
Looking to close out the series, the Sky started the game well, winning the first quarter by eight points, 32–26.
The Sky had four players score in double figures, led by Courtney Vandersloot with 19 points.
Other double digit scorers were Natisha Hiedeman who scored 16 off the bench and Jasmine Thomas with 11 points.
The Las Vegas Aces entered the series as the number two seed after finishing the season with a 9–2 mark after the Olympic break.
Game one was a high-scoring affair that saw the Mercury take a quick nine-point lead after the first quarter of play.
However, Las Vegas came back with a strong second quarter, which they won by twelve points, to take a three-point lead into halftime.
The Aces had four players score in double digits, led by Riquna Williams with 26 points.
The Mercury had all five starters score in double figures, led by Brittney Griner with 24 points.
The Mercury got off to a hot start in Game 2 of the series, winning the first quarter by seventeen points, 37–20.
Brittney Griner added 25, Skylar Diggins-Smith notched 17, while Kia Nurse and Shey Peddy both contributed 11 points.
Kelsey Plum led the team with 25 points, Riquna Williams scored 17, Liz Cambage added 13, A'ja Wilson scored 12, and Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray rounded out the double digit scorers with 10 points each.
The Mercury had three players score in double figures, led by Brianna Turner with 23 points.
The Aces had four players score in double figures and were led by Chelsea Gray with 22 points.
Skylar Diggins-Smith and Diana Taurasi led the way with 14 points, Brittney Griner and Shey Peddy both scored 13.
The deciding game of the series started off with the visiting team, Phoenix, winning the first quarter by six points, 20–14.
Behind a home crowd of over 9,500 fans, the Aces came back in the second quarter and won by four points, 28–24.
The Aces came out of the break strong and won the third quarter by ten points, 24–14, and took an eight-point lead into the final period of play.
The Aces' eight-point lead turned into a three-point deficit and they could not convert in the final minutes and were eliminated from the playoffs.
Diana Taurasi added 24, Shey Peddy scored 15, and Skylar Diggins-Smith contributed 14 points.
The Aces also had four players score in double digits and were led by Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray with 22 points.