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2026 WNBA playoffs bracket, schedule: Lynx on the brink of elimination Tuesday night after Game 1 upset
Confirmed
In Short: The 2026 WNBA playoffs kicked off with a quadruple-header of Game 1s on Sunday, and the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx were stunned by the No. 8 New York Liberty in a rematch of the 2024 WNBA Finals.
In the afternoon, the Lynx were defeated by the Liberty, 91-75, in a game that saw Breanna Stewart dominate with a 34-point, 12-rebound performance.
Stewart's run of dominance continued against the Lynx, marking her third career 30-point playoff double-double.
The Liberty's victory was a statement win, as they had been looking to steal a game against the top-seeded Lynx since the end of the regular season.
The series now shifts to New York for an elimination game, with the Liberty on the verge of becoming the first eighth seed to take down a top overall seed.
Lynx guard Olivia Miles, the unanimous 2026 WNBA Rookie of the Year, struggled in the game, finishing with 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve noted that the team's offensive struggles were partly self-inflicted, with missed shots leading to the Liberty getting out ahead.
Reeve emphasized the need for Napheesa Collier to play more assertively and move more in the upcoming game.
The Lynx, who have been a strong road team with a 17-4 record, will need to improve their performance to avoid being on the wrong side of history.
The playoffs feature exciting matchups, including the potential for a final between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, and the Golden State Valkyries' home-court advantage.
What this adds
The Lynx's Game 1 loss to the Liberty marks a significant upset, as the Liberty were the eighth seed and the Lynx were the top seed.
The series now shifts to New York for an elimination game, with the Liberty on the verge of becoming the first eighth seed to take down a top overall seed.
Background
The Minnesota Lynx face elimination after a stunning Game 1 loss to the New York Liberty in the 2026 WNBA playoffs.
The series now shifts to New York for an elimination game, with the Liberty on the verge of becoming the first eighth seed to take down a top overall seed.
What's confirmed
- 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.
- Multiple regular-season records fell this year, from Caitlin Clark becoming the first player in WNBA history with a 40-point, 10-assist game, to Angel Reese breaking the single-game rebounding record with 26 to Kelsey Mitchell passing A'ja Wilson's single-season points record.
- It was all too easy for Stewart, who paced her team from the start and served a dagger that essentially secured Game 1.
- The Liberty made their intentions clear at the end of the regular season: steal a game against the No.
- The three-game series now shifts to New York for an elimination game with the Liberty on the verge of being the first WNBA eighth seed to take down a top overall seed.
- The feat looked too tall to climb, but on Sunday, Chris DeMarco had Breanna Stewart — and Cheryl Reeve’s Lynx team didn’t.
- WIth the shot clock winding down, Stewart curled around the three-point line, received a pass from Sabrina Ionesu and rose above Lynx star Napheesa Collier for a fadeway jumper.
What's still developing
- 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.
- The high seeds will host the decider game, if necessary.
- She was looking for chances to impact the game rather than taking control -- which is how she'd helped keep the Lynx at the top of the regular-season standings while Collier recovered from injury -- and ultimately finished with 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting.
- If Miles isn't the Miles she has been all season in her phenomenal rookie campaign, the Lynx could go home much earlier than anyone anticipated. -- Myron Medcalf How the game was won : The A'ja Wilson takeover set the tone on both ends of the floor from the start, and the rest of the Aces followed along.
- ESPN experts Myron Medcalf, Kareem Copeland, Michael Voepel and Kendra Andrews dissect how each game was won as well as keys for the rest of the first round of the playoffs and beyond.
- Nine days after beating the Lynx by 12 points in Minneapolis, the Liberty did it again, more dominantly.
- She never took her foot off the gas, overwhelming the Lynx on straight line drives that accounted for easy finishes and shots at the free throw line.
- And after a 91-75 loss to the Liberty in Game 1 of this years best-of-three first round, the Lynx are heading to Brooklyn with their season on the line once again.
- When the Lynx were winning four titles in seven years through the 2010s, “there were probably, maybe two teams, at the most, that you felt like had a legitimate chance to win a championship,” Reeve said before Sunday’s game.
- Analytically, the gap between the Lynx (as of late) and the Liberty is narrower than seeding suggests.
- “We’ve kind of harped on it,” Stewart said postgame on Sunday.