Don't bet against Diana: Takeaways from the first two rounds of the WNBA playoffs

Kristi Toliver of the Washington Mystics was without a doubt the star of the first two rounds. In the first game against Dallas, she had 16 points a five rebounds despite only shooting 1-for-9 from the three-point line, which is the place she typically makes the biggest impact.

Sunday against New York, she kicked it up a couple (hundred) notches, finishing the game with 32 points and a WNBA-record nine three-pointers. (Nine!) The team did a great job of feeding the hot hand and not doing anything dumb to disrupt momentum, but it was incredible how her outside shooting opened up the rest of the court for the team's other two big-time scoring threats, Elena Delle Donne (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Emma Meesseman (who actually had an unusually off game with just 5 points, 5 rebounds).

Defensively, center Krystal Thomas (11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks) and guard Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (4 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals) did a phenomenal job setting an aggressive tone and stifling the Liberty, who was clicking offensively in the first quarter. Tina Charles was held to 18 points and six rebounds, which isn't bad, but it's also not nearly enough to offset a night like Toliver had.

This was the gritty defense and pace-and-space offense that head coach Mike Thibault pictured when he traded for Delle Donne and acquired Toliver in free agency during the offseason. Due to injuries and international commitments, it's taken a while for Thibault's vision to fully develop, and there were a lot of question marks about the Mystics headed into the postseason, particularly since they finished the season losing four of their last five.

But Toliver, who won a championship last year with the Sparks, plays her best under the most pressure-filled situations, and having her firing on all cylinders could completely alter the Mystics' forecast. Washington will understandably be big underdogs against the Lynx, but if this Toliver shows up it's a whole new ballgame.

Don't bet against Diana Taurasi in elimination games

Taurasi became the all-time WNBA leading scorer this season, and it doesn't look like she's slowing down anytime soon. This past week, she showed the world that she's got her eyes set on a fourth title, as the legend is now 11-0 in elimination games in her career, which is an absolutely ridiculous statistic.

She had 14 points and three assists in the first round and topped that with 23 points and four assists in the upset over the Sun Sunday. Most importantly, she always came up with a momentum-changing shot when her team needed one the most. In the second quarter against the Sun, she almost singlehandedly kept the Mercury within striking distance, despite the fact the Sun was up 17 points early.

As Rebecca Lobo said multiple times during the broadcast, "If you have Diana Tauarasi on your team, you have a chance to win."

Of course, Lobo could have extended that to say that if you have Taurasi and Brittney Griner, you should probably always win. Griner missed a few weeks of the season with injury, which is the only reason she isn't the runaway MVP candidate right now considering she is playing the best basketball of her career. This postseason, she had 23 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks against Seattle and then 26 points and nine rebounds against the Sun. This came after she averaged 30 points the last three games of the season. Griner had some trouble against Sun All-Star Jonquel Jones early, but once the team started almost exclusively running the game through her in the post in the second half, the Mercury was practically unstoppable.

Credit has to be given to Mercury head coach Sandy Brondello for keeping this team focused and allowing it to maximize its potential when it matters the most. The Mercury has a staggering 10 new players this season, with Griner and Taurasi as the only holdovers from last year's squad. Now all the players are gelling at the right time, and with two superstars leading the way, the Mercury has a small chance to upset the indefatigable Sparks.

Single elimination is unforgiving, especially for young players 

Prior to 2016, the WNBA playoffs included two best-of-three rounds leading up to a best-of-five final, with no byes. Now, the semis and finals are both best-of-five, but the first two rounds essentially have become a shootout. So far, the format has been the most cruel to the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, who get first-round byes and then host a second-round game for a chance to make it to the semifinals. Three out of four of those teams have lost their second-round games, including both teams this year.

This can be blamed in part on the extreme parity in the league and in part because the lower-seeded team comes in riding a wave of momentum from its first-round triumph. Either way, it's a tough pill to swallow, to finish the season with a top-four record in the league and only get one shot at a playoff game.

In total, four playoff teams were sent home with only one 2017 postseason game under their belts. This felt particularly brutal for the Sun and Wings, two of the youngest and playoff-inexperienced teams in the league. Both exceeded expectations during the regular season, and both are home to some of the WNBA's brightest young stars: Skylar Diggins-Smith for the Wings and Jones for the Sun. Neither Diggins-Smith or Jones had ever played in a WNBA playoff game before, and it's disappointing that we weren't able to see if they could turn their teams' fortunes around with another opportunity.

Of course, playoff experience doesn't guarantee anything — just ask the Liberty and Storm, two teams that need to spend this offseason upgrading their supporting casts so their elite players aren't literally left to do it all. For now, the format is what it is, and the teams just have to adjust.