As WNBA regular season comes down to final days, playoff picture is still muddled

The playoff picture in the WNBA is unclear with nine days remaining in the regular season. Minnesota has clinched home-court advantage throughout the postseason. Everything else is to be determined. Las Vegas, Atlanta and Phoenix are within a half-game of each other for the 2-3-4 seeds heading into Tuesday night. New York is two games behind the second-place Aces and Dream. Golden State is currently in sixth place, looking to become the first expansion team to make the postseason in its inaugural year. Indiana and Seattle are right behind the Valkyries, and Los Angeles still has a shot to make the playoffs. The WNBA postseason begins on Sept. 14, with all four matchups playing their opening games that day. The league switched its format this season. Every postseason team is guaranteed at least one home playoff game, so the best-of-three series will shift to the lower seeded team for Game 2. A decisive third game, if necessary, will be hosted by the better seed. Washington, Dallas, Connecticut and Chicago have been eliminated from the postseason race. They are jockeying for lottery position, although only Dallas and Washington actually own the rights to their picks. Chicago's first-rounder belongs to Minnesota, and Connecticut's goes to the Sky. If Los Angeles misses the playoffs, its draft selection goes to Seattle. Dallas has clinched the best chance to win the lottery for a second straight year based on its overall record for the past two seasons. Power poll rankings Minnesota remained the No. 1 team in the poll, with Las Vegas right behind the Lynx. Atlanta, Phoenix and New York round out the top five. Golden State moved up a spot to sixth, with Indiana and Seattle following the Valkyries. Los Angeles was ninth and Connecticut 10th. Washington, Chicago and Dallas closed out the poll. Sidelined Caitlin Caitlin Clark is still recovering from a right groin injury and will miss her 19th straight game on Tuesday when the Fever face the Phoenix Mercury. She has done some drills in pregame warmups. "I want to see her in practice, you know, live in practice," Indiana coach Stephanie White said last week. "I want to see her continue to work to not just build endurance, but to be able to handle contact 94 feet, as it's going to be in-game. And to be able to do that and sustain from an endurance standpoint. That's going to take multiple practices to make sure that there's no regression." Player of the week Alyssa Thomas of Phoenix was the AP player of the week. She averaged 13.7 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to help the Mercury go 3-0 last week. Other players receiving votes included Rhyne Howard of Atlanta, A'ja Wilson of Las Vegas and Aliyah Boston of Indiana. Game of the week Minnesota at Las Vegas, Thursday. The last time these two teams met, the Lynx came away with a record 53-point road victory. The Aces haven't lost since, rattling off 12 consecutive victories. It's a matchup of the top two teams in the standings.