How the Washington Mystics spent their late-summer ‘vacation’

A late-summer vacation

The WNBA playoffs began on Wednesday and continued on Sunday afternoon, but the top-seeded Washington Mystics did not play in either set of single-elimination games. Armed with a double bye, Washington had to wait—both to find out who its opponent would be (the answer: Las Vegas!) and to finally take the court on Tuesday, September 17 for Game 1 of a best-of-five semifinal series.

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The Mystics’ regular-season finale was on Sunday, September 8, so they are in the middle of a nine-day layoff. It is their longest break of the season, surpassing the seven days they had off for the All-Star break. The team is using the time to rest, but also to improve certain aspects of its play and prepare for the semifinals. “It won’t be a week off or anything like that,” guard Ariel Atkins said after the regular-season finale. “… I don’t know if anybody’s [thinking] that, but it’s not happening.”

Let’s take a look at what Washington has been up to during its layoff and what the team’s mindset is heading into the playoffs.

The schedule for the week

Mystics head coach Mike Thibault began his postgame press conference on September 8 by saying, “I’m smiling because we got a couple days off.” Thibault gave his players Monday and Tuesday completely off after the regular-season finale, a 100-86 win over Chicago that improved the Mystics’ record to 26-8.

Point guard Natasha Cloud, who has played 25 or more minutes in 12 straight games and 34 or more in three of her past four, explained, “These next two days off are going to be super important for our recovery. Just … taking the time to recover, take care of our bodies, and get our minds right.” Atkins added that she was “extremely excited … to rest mentally, physically, [and] spiritually” ahead of the playoffs.

The Mystics reconvened on Wednesday for a shootaround, their first of three straight days of on-court work. Cloud explained after the Chicago game that the team’s goals for the week off were “remaining who we are, working on some things, adding some things just for playoff situations.” On Thursday, they scrimmaged their male practice players to simulate a game environment and “keep our rhythm,” according to Thibault. They then took Saturday off and planned to practice Sunday and Monday. “We’re going to need some fine-tuning,” Thibault explained after the game against Chicago. “We can’t afford to just sit around and wait.”

The Chicago game was Washington’s 11th straight without starting guard Kristi Toliver, who suffered a bone bruise against Indiana on August 8. Entering the layoff, Thibault said the team’s medical staff was taking Toliver’s recovery day by day, but he hoped she would be able to practice late in the week and potentially play in Game 1 of the semifinals. On Wednesday, The Athletic’s Lindsay Gibbs tweeted a video of Toliver running, passing, and shooting with her teammates, though there were no defenders and no contact. After Thursday’s scrimmage, The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace reported that Toliver played 20 minutes of half-court basketball and five minutes full-court. “Toliver said she hopes to contribute significantly in the postseason and that the only hurdle left is being able to practice five-on-five without too much pain afterward,” Wallace wrote. Neither Toliver nor Thibault promised then that she would be ready for Tuesday’s Game 1, but on Monday, Gibbs and  Wallace both tweeted that Toliver would probably play.

The Mystics also kept busy off the court throughout the week. Aerial Powers appeared on NBC Washington’s D.C. Sports Live and at iconic local restaurant Ben’s Chili Bowl, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough visited D.C. Fire and EMS, and Latoya Sanders celebrated her 33rd birthday. In addition, the team gave away gear at various locations throughout the city, and Shey Peddy got recognized while shopping at CVS:

Watching the other teams

With six of the seven other playoff teams in action during the Mystics’ layoff, the team was eager to find out who they would play in the semifinals and prepare a detailed scouting report. Thibault said on Sunday that the Mystics would send scouts to the first-round games “just to get a head start” and that he would “watch them with interest and take notes.” While Washington played each team three times in the regular season, including many of them in the past few weeks, the coaching staff was on the look-out for what adjustments each team would make in the playoffs. In addition, because the semifinals are a best-of-five series, the staff plans to give players more detailed information about their individual matchups than for single games. Otherwise, Thibault said, “it’s just kind of business as usual.”

After the regular-season finale, both Atkins and forward Emma Meesseman said they expected to watch the first- and second-round games, either on their own or with their teammates. When asked whether she watches more as a fan or as a scout, Atkins said, “it’s kind of hard not to kind of scout,” but the game moves too fast for her to glean specific plays in real time, so her observations are mostly limited to other teams’ personnel. Thibault added, “Our players are fans just like everybody else. So they’ll watch games.”

A true home-court advantage

As the top seed, the Mystics will have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. That mattered a lot to the Mystics, especially since this is their first season in the new, 4,200-seat Entertainment and Sports Arena (ESA). When asked why the Mystics were motivated to win the regular-season finale despite having already secured the No. 1 seed, forward Elena Delle Donne pointed in part to the fans: “The crowd was electric … so we wanted to play for them. And they showed out. It’s like they were preparing for playoffs too.”

Atkins also picked up on the playoff atmosphere inside ESA: “They’re getting ready for playoffs is what it felt like. They were loud, always energetic, always in it. I can even hear them trying to call out defenses for us sometimes.” At one point during a stoppage in play, as fans were dancing to the music, Meesseman said she got chills seeing them so animated and unified.

In the semifinals, Thibault expects the fans to be even louder, and the team is excited for the effect that might have on the court. Cloud explained, “To be able to have an actual home court advantage is everything. Teams don’t want to come in here and play, and that’s the best thing that we can have going into a playoff situation.” Meesseman added, “We have amazing fans. They’ve helped us to [win] numerous games, so I’m sure they’re going to be [like] an … extra player during the playoffs.” The Mystics had a 14-2 record this season at ESA, with their last loss there coming on July 13. That loss was to Las Vegas, though Washington was without Delle Donne in that game, and Las Vegas will have to play at an extremely high level again to get a win on the road.

No added pressure, but some added motivation

That home-court advantage is part of the reason why the Mystics are the overwhelming favorites to win the title, according to Her Hoop Stats’ Calvin Wetzel. But they are not feeling any added pressure as the top seed. “That’s what we played for,” Thibault said before the Chicago game. “We got what we played for. I slept better the other night.”

Heading into their layoff, Delle Donne said the Mystics were “super confident” in their ability to win a championship. “We won’t be happy if we come away short. So that’s tough to have a really great season like this and know that if we don’t get a championship, we won’t be happy. [But] that shows that our goals are super lofty and everybody’s ready.” Meesseman added, “We are where we want to be … as for pressure, I think that people have been talking about this all year, so I don’t think that’s going to change.”

At the same time, the players recognize how different the playoffs can be from the regular season and are not taking anything for granted. Delle Donne called the playoffs “a brand-new season,” and Cloud explained, “We did our job, we got our double bye, we finished first in the league, but that doesn’t mean shit at this point. … It’s anyone’s at this point. We understand how hard it is to get to the final series. … Let’s take it one game at a time.”

Mid-week, Cloud also found a fresh source of motivation in the league’s end-of-year awards. Along with Atkins, Cloud was named to the WNBA All-Defensive Second Team on Wednesday, but she felt that she deserved a spot on the first team and that Sanders also deserved recognition. “It’s a constant snubbing of us here in D.C.,” she told The Washington Post. “It’s a big slap in my face, so, playoffs, I’m in a different beast mode.” Cloud has already set new career highs in scoring, assists, blocks, and steals a year after being the runner-up for WNBA Most Improved Player, so her pledge to take her game up a notch is ambitious. However, Cloud has made a career out of beating the odds, going from a second-round draft pick to a consistent starter and the Mystics’ career assists leader.

Waiting at the starting line

The Mystics have focused all season on “running it back,” a reference to how they lost in the WNBA Finals last year and want to rewrite the story this year. From that perspective, then, this nine-day layoff seems like waiting at the starting line of a race you’ve spent a year preparing for. The Mystics are pleased to be the race favorites and to be competing at home, but despite breaking numerous WNBA records during the regular season, they hope their best is yet to come. As Atkins put it heading into the layoff, “We’re excited, we’re thankful, we’re happy. But we’re not done.”

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