With two games left in the season, the Lynx are in a four-way tie for the final two spots in the eight-team WNBA playoffs.

After beating Phoenix on Wednesday, the Lynx, Mercury, Atlanta and New York all have 14-20 records with two games to play.

Los Angeles is 13-22 and still has an outside shot at qualifying. Only the Indiana Fever, who have lost 16 games in a row, are eliminated from the race.

The Lynx end their regular season with games against fourth-place Seattle on Friday at Target Center and at noon Sunday at third-place Connecticut.

So what happens if there's a tie? And what's up with the league's latest change to the playoff format?

If two teams are tied, here's the sequence.

  • Better record in head-to-head games.
  • Better winning percentage against all teams with .500 or better record at the end of the season.
  • Better point differential in games net result of total points scored less total points allowed head-to-head.
  • Better point differential net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents.

The sequence would also play out if more than two teams are tied, but the Lynx would come out on top in any head-to-head accounting.

That's because they won the season series 4-0 from Phoenix and 2-1 from the other three teams, So they would be no worse than 6-1 in a three-way tie and 8-2 if four teams end up tied for the two spots.

New playoff format
WNBA.com, Star Tribune

The WNBA has done away with the one-game playoffs that have started recent postseasons. Last year, Chicago knocked off the higher-seeded Lynx in a first-round game and went on to win the league title.

This year, the first round will be a best-of-three series, followed by best-of-five in the semifinals and finals. Because the Lynx can finish no higher than seventh, the only way for them to have home-court advantage would be if they faced the No. 8 seed for the title — an improbable scenario.

Chicago and Las Vegas are battling for the league title and the No. 1 seed. The Lynx are 1-2 against Chicago and 1-3 against Las Vegas.