Sunday looked like a send-off; the schedule disagrees. Golden State thumped first-place Minnesota 80-66 and Atlanta handled Los Angeles 78-71 on Monday night, and five nights of games remain before the roster freeze begins August 31. [1] This paper filed Sunday's Fever blowout as a farewell, but the tracker's arithmetic says the league plays on through next weekend before pausing for the FIBA Women's World Cup in Berlin. [1]

The standings make that extra week matter. Minnesota sits 31-8 with a magic number of two for the top overall seed. Atlanta leads Indiana by half a game for fourth place and home court in the first round. Dallas needs one win to clinch the eighth berth, and it can get both the win and the clinch Tuesday night against Portland, the expansion side that is eliminated with a loss. [1]

If the season ended Monday, the bracket reads Minnesota-Dallas, Atlanta-Indiana, Golden State-Washington, Las Vegas-New York. Six teams are already locked in; six more are already golfing, including Chicago, which just lost by twenty-three to the team it chased all summer. [1]

Then the freeze swallows the board. Play stops August 31 and does not resume until September 17 while players report to national federations, and whatever a front office still needs — a signing, a repair, one more ballhandler — must happen before the doors close. [2] Rosters park where the calendar finds them this time. The last week decides who parks where.

-- AMARA OKONKWO, Lagos