What we learned from the Game 1s of the first round of the WNBA playoffs

On Sunday, all eight WNBA teams vying for the 2025 championship played Game 1 of their first-round series.

We got a blowout with the No. 1 -seed Minnesota Lynx beating the No. 8-seed Golden State Valkyries 101-72, and a tight contest with the No. 5-seed New York Liberty defeating the No. 4-seed Phoenix Mercury 76-69 in overtime. In the other two games, the No. 2-seed Las Vegas Aces dominated the No. 7-seed Seattle Storm 102-77, and the No. 3-seed Atlanta Dream protected homecourt, winning against the No. 6-seed Indiana Fever 80-68.

Here are the three key takeaways from these Game 1 results:

Even in the first round, it’s easy for favorites to slip up and end up in trouble. While three of the four home teams came out on top, things could’ve gone the other way.

Against the league-best Lynx, the Valkyries led by as many as 10 points in the first half and didn’t truly go away until the third quarter.

The Liberty-Mercury matchup was an interesting one since Phoenix is the top seed, but with New York being the champions, many viewed them as the favorites. Even so, that game went into overtime, and the result could’ve gone either way.

Mistakes at this level can prove to be costly and could alter a season. While the top three seeds took care of business, early scares should remind them that the difference between a win and a loss at this point of the season is very small.

The top contenders dominated

After one game in the first round, the best proved why they are best.

The Aces won by 25 points against the Storm to extend their win streak to 17 games and counting. The score still didn’t signify just how dominant Las Vegas was. They had five players in double figures, never trailed and beat Seattle in every statistical category possible.

If Seattle doesn’t have a completely different performance in Game 2, they’ll be done.

The Dream certainly made it seem like the Fever’s valiant effort to get into the playoffs was the last kind of victory they’ll celebrate this year. Indiana had no answer for Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard, who each scored 20 points. Kelsey Mitchell did her best to help the Fever, but her 27-point performance wasn’t enough.

Minnesota sleptwalked through most of the first half, but once they woke up, they handled Golden State with ease. They can just reach a level the Valkyries couldn’t handle. Inside the paint, Napheesa Collier was able to get whatever she wanted. She ended the night with 20 points. The Lynx defense also suffocated the Valkyries. In the second quarter, Golden State scored just 12 points and only 14 in the final frame.

With the stakes rising in the playoffs, the intensity increases.

Players are sharper, the pressure is on and everything is magnified. This leads to emotions coming out in extreme ways, and plays that would be non-issues suddenly turn into a scene. If you are here for the drama, spice and everyone being not so nice, then Sunday delivered.

The Fever got agitated with the officiating, earning two technicals in quick succession, and the Valkyries went beyond frustration, with head coach Natalie Nakase mentioning wanting to get a “fair fight” in her postgame presser.

On the court, we got some sparks when the Storm’s Nneka Ogwumike tossed the ball into the back the Aces’ Jewell Loyd, who was on the floor. The moment got intense, but afterwards Nneka made it clear it was an accident.

It may have been an innocent mistake, but the game was a blowout, and Loyd is a former Seattle player who requested a trade away from the team, so tensions are already high in this kind of game.

While the most important aspect of every game is the actual basketball, the passions will continue to rise and that’s a compelling part of the game as well. We’ll get some viral moments, iconic shots and some pushing and shoving on the road to crowning the WNBA champion of 2025. So long as it doesn’t cross the imaginary line from intense to dirty, we can all enjoy it as we see who is willing to test the limits of what is allowed.

Now that all Game 1s are done each series will move to the lower seeds’ cities. Let’s see which losing teams are able to even things up and force a Game 3.