The 2025 WNBA playoffs are underway. The month-long sprint to crown a new champion began on Sunday with a quadruple-header featuring Game 1 of all four first-round series.

The Liberty, built around Stewart’s firepower, suddenly looked like a ship without its captain. Teammates rushed to her side, medics scrambled onto the hardwood, and the broadcast cut to stunned commentators searching for words. Was this the cruelest ending imaginable for a franchise still chasing its first WNBA championship? Fans immediately feared the worst: a season-ending injury that could erase months of brilliance in a heartbeat.

As Liberty Nation reeled, elsewhere the playoffs devolved into absolute carnage. The Minnesota Lynx staged what analysts are already calling a massacre, steamrolling their opponents in a blowout so brutal it left benches emptied and fans begging for mercy. In Vegas, meanwhile, the defending champion Aces went nuclear, raining down threes and running up the score like a video game set to “impossible.” It was chaos, pure and simple — the kind of night where legends are born and dynasties destroyed.

But the true horror wasn’t on the scoreboard. It was in the whispers that grew louder as the night wore on: accusations that referees had their thumbs — and maybe their whole arms — on the scale. Social media erupted with slow-motion clips, side-by-side comparisons, and furious threads accusing officials of rigging the Finals. “This isn’t basketball, it’s theatre,” one fan raged. “You can practically see the script!” Hashtags like #RiggedFinals and #WNBAConspiracy shot to the top of trending lists, while calls for investigations grew louder.

Even coaches, usually measured in their post-game fury, couldn’t hold back. One screamed in a press conference that the calls were “unreal” and accused the league of turning playoff basketball into a circus. Players hinted at the same in veiled Instagram posts, with emojis of clowns and money bags stoking the fire. Was the trophy already decided behind closed doors? Or is this just the madness of a postseason where every whistle feels like life or death?

 

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The Minnesota Lynx, Las Vegas Aces, Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty all jumped out to 1-0 leads. The Liberty were the only lower seed to win on the road.

Here are Sunday’s results:

Game 1: Lynx 101, Valkyries 72 (Lynx lead 1-0)
Game 1: Dream 80, Fever 68  (Dream lead 1-0)
Game 1: Liberty 76, Mercury 69 — OT (Liberty lead 1-0)
Game 1: Aces 102, Storm 77 (Aces lead 1-0)

Now that all four games have wrapped up, let’s take a closer look at the action with the winners and losers from these pivotal Game 1 matchups. As a reminder, first-round series in the WNBA playoffs are best-of-three, which means every team that lost on Sunday is now on the brink of elimination.

Winner: Lynx

The Lynx are the title favorites, so simply winning Game 1 in the first round against the No. 8 seed wasn’t particularly notable. But putting up 101 points against one of the league’s top defenses to record the largest playoff win in franchise history? Well, that’s another story.

After shaking off a sleepy start, the Lynx were pretty much perfect over the final three quarters. For the game, they held the Valkyries to 33.9% shooting and forced 16 turnovers, which they turned into 16 points on the other end. Offensively, the Lynx had five players in double figures, led by Napheesa Collier with 20, shot 51.5% and assisted on 25 of their 35 field goals.

The Lynx were the best team in the league by a wide margin during the regular season, and their dominant victory on Sunday afternoon was a clear statement that they plan to maintain those standards in the postseason. — Jack Maloney

Winner: Aces’ defense

A’ja Wilson and the Aces certainly made a statement in Game 1. They set the tone early and entered halftime with a 45-25 advantage, which was the largest halftime lead in their franchise playoff history. Meanwhile, the Storm’s 25 points were tied for the fewest points after two quarters in their postseason history.

Things did not get any better for Seattle after the break. Although Seattle was able to score more points, the Aces never took their foot off the gas. As a team, Las Vegas had 10 steals and six blocks and scored 21 points off Seattle’s 13 turnovers. Wilson, a three-time MVP and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, had a lot to do with her team’s dominance. The Storm’s bigs were simply no match for her as she put up 29 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks. — Isabel Gonzalez

Loser: Fever’s offense without Caitlin Clark

The Fever only got 13 games from Caitlin Clark this season, and while their offense was noticeably worse without her — 108.6 offensive rating with Clark on, 104.4 offensive rating with Clark off — Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston ensured that it didn’t fall off a cliff.

The playoffs are a different beast, however, and the Fever felt Clark’s absence more than ever on Sunday. While Mitchell got loose for 27 points on 9 of 18 from the field, the rest of the team combined for just 41 points on 13 of 45 shooting (28.8%). Odyssey Sims, who chipped in 10 points, was the only player besides Mitchell in double figures.

Clark’s ability to create shots for her teammates is largely unmatched, and without her it’s a real grind for the Fever to find good looks against a tough Dream defense. — Jack Maloney

Breanna Stewart Archives - The IX Basketball

Winner: Natasha Cloud

The Liberty gave up two first-round picks to get Natashsa Cloud in the offseason, and while that may have been a steep price for a player who has never made an All-Star Game, it’s hard to imagine where this Liberty team would be without her. Cloud’s defense, playmaking and energy, both on and off the court, have been immense, especially given the Liberty’s injury problems.

In Game 1 against the Mercury — who traded Cloud to the Connecticut Sun this offseason before she was re-routed to New York — Cloud put together not only her best game yet for the Liberty, but one of the best performances of her career. All night long, she delivered on both ends of the floor.

Cloud finished with 23 points — 10 of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime — six rebounds, five assists and four steals on 9 of 12 from the field, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range. She played 39 of a possible 45 minutes, and the Liberty were plus-11 when she was on the court. — Jack Maloney

Loser: Mercury’s overtime performance

The Liberty versus Mercury game was far from pretty, but it was dramatic — at least in regulation. Alyssa Thomas had a chance to win it for Phoenix with two seconds left on the clock, but her layup attempt was unsuccessful and we got five more minutes of basketball. Unfortunately, that’s also when the excitement died.

The Mercury’s offense disappeared with poor shot selection, and they didn’t make a field goal until there were fewer than two minutes remaining. Meanwhile, the Liberty rose to the occasion and outscored their opponents 11-4 in the extra period — despite Breanna Stewart exiting with a knee injury. Phoenix had a good opportunity to win at home but instead fell down 1-0 in this best-of-three first-round series and is now facing elimination. — Isabel Gonzalez

Winner: Naz Hillmon

Hillmon was one of the top candidates for Sixth Player of the Year this season, and on Sunday she proved she can be just as impactful in the playoffs. Hillmon added 3-point shooting to her game during the offseason and it has certainly paid off. She hit two of them in Game 1 against the Fever while registering 16 points and nine rebounds, along with three assists, one steal and three blocks. She was particularly effective in the second half, which helped the Dream pull away from the Fever. — Isabel Gonzalez

Loser: Liberty’s health situation

The Liberty got off to a 9-0 start this season, but went 18-17 the rest of the way because they could not keep their key players on the court together. Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Nyara Sabally missed significant time, while Sabrina Ionescu, Leonie Fiebich, Kennedy Burke and Isabelle Harrison all missed at least seven games.

Breanna Stewart injury: Liberty star has MCL sprain in left knee, plans to play in Game 2 vs. Mercury
Jack Maloney

Breanna Stewart injury: Liberty star has MCL sprain in left knee, plans to play in Game 2 vs. Mercury

Their Big Three of Stewart, Ionescu and Jones only started and finished 13 of 44 games together; the Liberty won all 13. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to add another tally to either column on Sunday. Even though they escaped with an overtime win, Stewart left with an apparent left knee injury with two minutes to play in the extra frame.

Liberty coach Sandy Brondello did not provide an update on Stewart after the game, and it’s unclear if she’ll miss any time. The last thing the Liberty need right now is another injury to their best player. Stewart, who underwent a minor procedure on her right meniscus prior to the season, missed a month late in the campaign with a right knee bone bruise. — Jack Maloney

Breaking news has rocked the WNBA to its core — and the fallout could change the entire postseason forever. In a jaw-dropping twist, Breanna Stewart, the Liberty’s superstar MVP, went down in a heap after what looked like a freak ankle snap late in the playoff clash. Fans gasped in unison as the arena fell silent. Three seconds — that’s all it took for New York’s glittering season to teeter on the brink of death.

For Stewart and the Liberty, though, the controversy felt like background noise compared to the immediate crisis: how do you replace a once-in-a-generation superstar in the middle of a championship run? Some fans were already declaring the season “dead on arrival” without her, while others clung to hope that her injury wasn’t as catastrophic as it looked. Either way, the psychological blow was undeniable — the Liberty’s dream season now hangs by a thread thinner than tape on a swollen ankle.

Around the league, rivals smelled blood. The Lynx looked hungrier than ever, ready to pounce on a weakened New York. The Aces, already stacked with weapons, began eyeing another championship banner. And fans, even as they mourned Stewart’s fall, couldn’t resist speculating on what comes next: who will rise, who will crumble, and who will be carried out of the playoffs in a body bag rather than with a trophy in hand.

If playoff basketball is supposed to be war, then this round has turned into full-blown apocalypse. Stewart’s injury, the Lynx massacre, the Aces’ nuclear explosion, and the looming shadow of officiating scandals — it’s all colliding into one of the most unhinged postseasons in WNBA history. Whether you believe the games are scripted or simply spiralling out of control, one thing is clear: the league may never be the same after this.