NEW YORK (AP) — It's fitting that many of the opening round playoff series are going the distance after the balanced regular season the WNBA had.

There will be three decisive Game 3s over the next two days. That's the first time that's happened since 2015. Last season all four opening round series were sweeps.

“You look at the standings this year how close it was, usually in the past it was clear cut who the top three were,” Phoenix forward Alyssa Thomas said after the Mercury routed New York on Wednesday night. “This year there was so much movement and it came down to the wire who was going to be the eight in the playoffs. Credit to how the league is growing and how balanced teams are. It continues to get better.”

The WNBA changed its playoff format this season giving each team at le

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