On Sunday, the playoffs officially began with a quadruple-header of Game 1s. And while the games weren't necessarily nail-biters, the performances were once again revelatory. In the afternoon, the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx were stunned by the No. 8 New York Liberty in a rematch of the 2024 WNBA Finals, then the No. 3 Las Vegas Aces began their title defense by crushing the No. 6 Indiana Fever. In the evening, the No. 4 Atlanta Dream held off the No. 5 Washington Mystics thanks to a spark by veteran DeWanna Bonner, who just joined the team last month, and the No. 2 Golden State Valkyries looked like true contenders by routing the No. 7 Dallas Wings.
The first round is just a best-of-three series, and so suddenly Miles and the top-seeded Lynx and Clark and the Fever are one game from elimination. Every team now hits the road, since the lower seed hosts the second game. The high seeds will host the decider game, if necessary. After that, the second round is best-of-five and the Finals will be a best-of-seven series for just the second time in league history.
Here's how you can follow the rest of playoffs.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.