Even with a loss to the Minnesota Lynx last night, the Seattle Storm clinched home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs because the Los Angeles Sparks fell to the San Antonio Silver Stars. At the same time, the Storm’s loss and a win by the Phoenix Mercury ensured Phoenix the top overall seed regardless of the outcome of Thursday’s matchup between the two teams at KeyArena, which remains a potential playoff preview.

From the Storm’s perspective, the remaining drama is in terms of a first-round opponent. L.A., Minnesota and San Antonio all still have a shot at the third seed in the West. Both the Sparks and Silver Stars control their own destiny because the two teams face each other again Tuesday at the STAPLES Center. A win would draw San Antonio even in the standings and give the Silver Stars the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Meanwhile, the Lynx will get their own chance at the Sparks on Friday, though they need a lot of help–in addition to winning out, Minnesota needs L.A. to lose at least one of its other two games and San Antonio to lose twice.

As the host in the first round, the Storm will be out on the road to play Game 1 either Wednesday, Sept. 16 or Thursday, Sept. 17. Game 2 will be played at KeyArena either Friday, Sept. 18 or Saturday, Sept. 19. Stay tuned for tickets to that game going on sale. If necessary, the Storm would also host Game 3 on either Sunday, Sept. 20 or Monday, Sept. 21.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 6th, 2009 at 8:12 pm and is filed under playoff picture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.