dell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opene

Were about to see what we didnt get two years ago, but would have enjoyed: a best-of-five series between Minnesota and Phoenix in the WNBA playoffs.The No. 8 seed Mercury continued their pay-no-attention-to-the-regular-season run with a 101-94 victory over No. 3 seed New York on Saturday. Phoenix ended Tamika Catchings career with an 89-78 win at Indiana on Wednesday, and did the same to Swin Cash by beating the Liberty.This single-elimination stuff seems to agree with the Mercury, whose 16-18 regular-season record currently has little relevance. But the format abruptly changes now to a best-of-five series. There in the semifinals waits the No. 1 seed and defending champion Lynx, who were 28-6 this season and are a bit peevish because they feel like theyve been forgotten in the past week of one-and-dones.That is part of the nature of the new playoff system, though: The top two teams -- Minnesota and Los Angeles -- wait for a week and a half to play. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve took to Twitter on Saturday to express her irritation and disappointment in current media coverage of her team, and you totally can understand her point. This setup takes the focus off the best teams for quite a while to start the postseason.The interesting thing is, the Lynx and the Mercury were likely part of the impetus to change the system, at least in terms of no longer having the playoffs divided by conference. Starting this year, its just the top eight teams.That was not the case in 2014, and it led to an anti-climactic WNBA Finals. Phoenix beat Minnesota 2-1 back then in the best-of-three Western Conference finals, which pitted the top two teams in the league that season by far.The Mercury were 29-5 and played defense as well as they did offense, which made them almost unbeatable. The Lynx, who were 25-9, were the only team that really had a shot to upset them. Just one other team in the league even had a winning record that season: 19-15 Atlanta, which was upset in the Eastern Conference semifinals by 15-19 Chicago.So the West finals felt like the peak of the 2014 playoffs. The Mercury were dominant in the opener in Phoenix, 85-71. The Lynx fought back with an 82-77 win in Minneapolis. In the decisive third game back in Phoenix, the Lynx were in striking distance in the third quarter, but were buried in the fourth, falling 96-78.In the WNBA Finals, Phoenix swept Chicago, taking the first two games by 21 and 29 points, and the last game -- even without an injured Brittney Griner -- by five. The Mercury would have been favored to defeat Minnesota in the WNBA Finals, too, but that matchup would have been a lot more compelling.This year, were not getting a WNBA Finals meeting between the Lynx and Mercury, but we are getting a longer series. However, Minnesota would like to make it as short as possible, and if it goes the way the regular season did, that will be the case. The Lynx won all three meetings, with those games in the early part of the summer.The teams met in their season opener, May 14 in Minnesota, with the Lynx prevailing 95-76. On May 25 at Phoenix, the Lynx won 85-78. That loss dropped the Mercury to 0-4.Their third meeting was June 7 at Minnesota, and was a little closer -- 89-81 -- but by then we knew that this season was not going to be what was expected from Phoenix. The Mercury didnt even secure their playoff berth until just before their second-to-last game of the regular season on Sept. 15, when Washington lost to Atlanta. Then, knowing they were in the postseason, the Mercury seemed to relax a little and just play. They beat Seattle 86-62 that night in Phoenix as the Mercury fans honored Penny Taylor, who will retire at seasons end, in what might have been her final?home game. Then the Mercury closed out the regular season with an 81-65 victory at San Antonio.Two playoffs wins mean the Phoenix fans will get to see Taylor at least once more at home: Sunday, Oct. 2 in Game 3 of their series with the Lynx. The first two games will be at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, which will also be the Lynxs home facility all of next season because of refurbishments to Target Center.So while the Mercury might have taken a meandering path to this showdown with the Lynx, they still got there.A star-studded series? You better believe it. Between them, the teams have 11 players who competed in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and six who are former No. 1 draft picks. Two players are past MVPs: Diana Taurasi for Phoenix in 2009, and Maya Moore for Minnesota in 2014.The Lynx and the Mercury each have three WNBA championships, so if either wins this season, they will tie the now-defunct Houston Comets for the most in league history.Of course, winning this series doesnt guarantee that for either, because then theres another five-game series to go. That will be against the winner of Los Angeles vs. Chicago or Atlanta, with the latter two meeting in Rosemont, Illinois, on Sunday (ESPN2, 1 p.m. ET).For the Lynx, this all might be rather irritating: They earned the top seed, so theoretically should have the easiest path to the WNBA Finals. Phoenix is not looking like a No. 8 seed. But thats how this has played out, and for WNBA fans, it should be a whole lot of fun.Air Max Uk . Goals from Jerome Boateng, Franck Ribery and Thomas Mueller extended Bayerns unbeaten run to a record 37 matches. "This record is incredible," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. Wholesale Air Max Uk . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. http://www.cheapukairmax.com/ . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game. Cheap Air Max Free Shipping .Y. -- Jayna Hefford scored the winning goal Friday as Canada survived a scare with a 4-3 win over Sweden at the Four Nations womens hockey tournament. Cheap Authentic Air Max . -- Arizona raced out to a big lead and did not back off, hitting the accelerator instead.AKRON, Ohio -- Jimond Ivey had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, Josh Williams hit four 3-pointers and scored 15 points, and Akron beat Coppin State 87-63 on Wednesday night.Akron won its 22nd straight game at Rhodes Arena to move within four of tying the arena record.Williams made four of his first six shots and Akron built a 24-16 lead with nine minutes left in the first half. The Zips extended it to 42-25 with two minutes to play on Iveys breakaway dunk. The duo combined to score 25 points by halftime as the Zips held a 44-29 lead.ddddddddddddIsaiah Johnson added 14 points for Akron (7-2), which made 12 of 26 3-pointers (46 percent). Antino Jackson and Tavian Dunn-Martin added 12 points apiece.Keith Shivers led Coppin State (0-11) with 13 points and Dejuan Clayton added 12 points. The Eagles were just 5 of 10 from the free-throw line compared to Akrons 25 attempts. ' ' '