‘Playoff mode’ has been activated for Washington Mystics

After a whole week off for the reason that final sport, the Washington Mystics got here into Thursday night time’s sport towards the Dallas Wings with an abundance of relaxation. Within the pregame press convention, head coach Mike Thibault talked about how he gave the group some a lot wanted time to unwind earlier than getting ready for the Dallas sport.

So on an evening the place he was additionally named an assistant coach for the 2022 U.S. girls’s nationwide group, Coach Thibault was all enterprise earlier than Thursday’s sport.

Even with out Delle Donne, the group seemed very refreshed as key bench contributions from Tianna Hawkins and Rui Machida helped propel Washington to an 87-77 victory. After the sport, Hawkins expressed how the bench is at all times able to contribute when referred to as upon.

“Earlier than each sport I inform the bench mobs to be prepared when your title is named… You’ve obtained a sub coming, so there’s no motive to depart the rest on the courtroom. “

Like Elizabeth Williams within the earlier sport, Tianna Hawkins made her presence felt on the defensive finish whereas additionally pouring in some a lot wanted scoring in restricted minutes. She was a sport excessive plus-13. When Hawkins was on the ground on Thursday, the Mystics anchored a jaw-dropping 68.0 defensive score. Bodily protection is one thing Coach Thibault emphasised as one thing he needed to see in his group previous to the beginning of the sport, and Tianna Hawkins responded in an enormous approach.

Washington jumped proper out the gate capturing the lights out. Alysha Clark made two early threes that really set the tone for the remainder of the night time. She completed with 13 factors on 5 of seven capturing, together with going 3 for 3 on three level makes an attempt. Washington led 56-36 at halftime, anchored by aggressive but disciplined first half protection.

The third quarter was an identical story, with the protection being opportunistic and the offense discovering high quality photographs. The end result was helpful for all, the Mystics had all starters rating in double figures, which is simply the second time that has occurred this season. Natasha Cloud used the phrase “everyone eats”, paying homage to the 2018 Washington Wizards who additionally used the phrase in comparable vogue.

Cloud definitely is aware of a factor or two about getting teammates concerned within the scoring festivities. She is main the WNBA in assists and dished out a team-high seven assists within the win. With Thursday’s efficiency she has now assisted at the least 5+ assists in 24 video games this season.

With this victory, the Washington Mystics are actually tied with the Seattle Storm for fourth place within the standings. The following two video games are towards Seattle, which not solely means they’ve implications on playoff seeding, however this might additionally sign a future first spherical playoff matchup. Natasha Cloud is not any stranger to those moments. She shared the mindset of the group heading into the ultimate stretch of the common season.

Coach Thibault expressed the identical sentiment. Acknowledging that this isn’t the identical Seattle group Washington confronted earlier within the yr.

With the group getting per week off, they not too long ago ramped up the depth at follow. It’s secure to say “playoff mode” has been activated. Myisha Hines-Allen spoke with the media on Tuesday about how the group has been ramping up into playoff type.

“Yesterday we had a get-back-into-it day, so right now we knew it was going to be exhausting. Plenty of 5-on-5 basketball… That is like playoff basketball, we’re on the point of begin the playoffs; excessive depth, able to get after it.”