ce with 34 not out.The margin of victory perhaps overst

The WNBA playoffs are here, and the players on six of the eight postseason teams now go into a bit of a college mindset. Its win-or-go-home time, with the league this season making a switch to single-elimination games for the first two rounds, followed by best-of-five series for the semifinals and finals.Minnesota and Los Angeles -- which automatically advance to the semifinals as the top two seeds -- also face an element of the NCAA tournament: They have a substantial wait before they play again (Sept. 28), similar to how a lot of college teams might go nearly two weeks between the end of league tournaments and the start of the Big Dance.The Lynx and Sparks will watch Wednesday as No. 5 seed Indiana hosts No. 8 Phoenix (ESPNEWS, 6 p.m. ET), followed by No. 7 Seattle at No. 6 Atlanta (8 p.m. ET, ESPNEWS). The winners face No. 3 New York (NBA TV/WatchESPN, 7 p.m. ET Saturday) and No. 4 Chicago (ESPN2, 1 p.m. ET Sunday), with the lowest surviving seed meeting the Liberty and the highest taking on the Sky.Minnesota is the definite favorite. The Lynx, who seek to tie the Houston Comets with four WNBA titles, finished with their best record in franchise history (28-6), and only three of those losses were to teams that are in the playoffs: Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Connecticut beat Minnesota twice, but the Suns season is over. Same for Washington, which also defeated the Lynx.It doesnt seem likely that Minnesota will lose three games in a series. But coach Cheryl Reeve remembers the 2012 WNBA Finals, when the Lynx appeared to be a very strong bet to repeat but were defeated in four games by Indiana.Reeve wont need to remind her core four of the championship that got away because Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen were all on that team. Sylvia Fowles joined the Lynx in late July last year, then was the WNBA Finals MVP in a five-game series victory over Indiana.Are the Sparks picking up momentum again?The Lynx are looking to become the leagues first back-to-back champions since Los Angeles repeated in 2001-02.But lets not forget that, before the Olympic break, the No. 2 seed Sparks appeared to be worthy challengers, and perhaps still are. In auto-racing lingo, they were leaking oil down the stretch, losing six of eight games once play resumed in late August. The question is: Did they fix the problem with their two victories to end the regular season?Los Angeles 90-85 win over Phoenix on Sept. 13 was important not just because it stopped the Sparks three-game losing skid but also because of the circumstances. In spite of their struggles, the Sparks already had secured the No. 2 seed, so the game really didnt matter. However, Phoenix at that time was still trying to nail down its playoff spot.And it appeared at one point that the Mercurys urgency was going to prolong the Sparks slide. But Los Angeles got an enormous lift off the bench from Chelsea Gray, who had a season-high 23 points. MVP candidate Nneka Ogwumike had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and the Sparks fire seemed to be rekindled.They finished with a 71-65 victory Friday over San Antonio. Ogwumike had another double-double (17 and 10). She finished the regular season averaging 19.7 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists and shooting 66.5 percent from the field.Now the Lynx and Sparks will focus on practice while the other six teams are whittled down to two. Its interesting that, in this first year of such a format, we have an idea of how the two top teams respond to a break. Well, sort of.The Lynx lost their first game back, at Connecticut, but then played well the rest of the way. But a big chunk of Minnesotas team really wasnt away from game competition during the break, with four of them playing for the United States in the Olympics (Augustus, Fowles, Moore and Whalen) and one playing for Spain (Anna Cruz, who did not play for the Lynx the first half of this season but was with them all last year).Only two Sparks players competed in Rio de Janeiro: Ana Dabovic for Serbia and Sandrine Gruda for France, the latter joining Los Angeles only after the Olympics. The Sparks starters and top reserves were all together during the break. Yet the Sparks chemistry seemed rusty when they returned to action. The good thing is they can look to that slow restart and try to prevent it from happening again.The sentimental favoriteThe legendary Tamika Catchings will retire when the season ends for Indiana. The Fever/Pacers organization and city of Indianapolis gave her a wonderfully emotional tribute ceremony Sunday after the Fever vanquished Dallas.Catchings got some fantastic gifts, including a new Lexus, but the one she appeared most moved by was the $100,000 donation to her Catch the Stars charitable foundation.It might have been semi-excruciating for the very humble Catchings to sit for more than an hour listening to everyone -- local and state politicians, former coach Lin Dunn, current coach Stephanie White, teammate Briann January et al. -- extol her greatness. But she got through it needing just a few tissues, with a lot of smiles. You can be sure that her mind then immediately turned to the playoffs.We know that the Fever can catch fire in the postseason, having seen that many times (including last year, when they took the Lynx to a fifth game in the WNBA Finals). There have been moments this season, including in recent games, when Indiana has looked like a team that could go on a run.Catchings said consistency is the Fevers biggest X factor. Thats even more the case against the Mercury. Many people, including the leagues general managers, tabbed Phoenix as the 2016 WNBA favorite with Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor back after sitting out 2015.However, the Mercurys mojo has been more off than on for much of this season. They finished with the same record as mostly young Seattle (16-18), with the Storm getting the higher seed based on their regular-season 2-1 series edge.At times, the Mercury have looked like their usual selves, and thats what worries other teams because thats hard to beat. But Phoenix also has appeared disjointed and not on the same page too many times. The Mercury have to put it together now, though, or this season is over. And they will be saying goodbye to one of their signature players, too, as Taylor also will retire at seasons end.That brings a poignancy to Wednesdays game in Indianapolis because it will be a farewell to either Catchings or Taylor and these two are some of the leagues most exemplary role models and both came to the WNBA in the 2001 draft.Will Dream, Liberty and Sky be missing key players?The Dream also have had their up-and-down moments. But theyve gotten the usual star play from Angel McCoughtry, and a lift from two players they traded for: Elizabeth Williams and Layshia Clarendon. However, the Dream might be without their second-leading scorer, Tiffany Hayes, because she picked up her seventh technical foul of the year in the Dreams regular-season finale at Minnesota on Saturday. That means a one-game suspension -- unless the league reviews the call and opts to rescind it.Either way, though, the Dream will have their hands full with the Storm, led by an ageless-looking Sue Bird along with Breanna Stewart, a lock for Rookie of the Year, and Jewell Loyd, who took that award last year. Seattle won seven of 10 after the Olympic break, including a 91-82 victory Sept. 4 at Atlanta.Lastly, the Liberty and the Sky have a first-round bye, then play this weekend. And they both have injury issues.Center Kiah Stokes, whose defense off the bench has been so key for New York, hasnt played since Aug. 26. However, veteran guard Tanisha Wright, who was also injured Aug. 26 at San Antonio, played in the Libertys last two games. Once again the Liberty are built around MVP candidate Tina Charles, who finished tied for the league lead in scoring (21.5 PPG) and was the leading rebounder (9.9 RPG).The most significant injury any playoff team is dealing with is Chicago being without last seasons MVP, Elena Delle Donne, who, like Charles, averaged 21.5 PPG this year. But Delle Donne injured her thumb Sept. 7 and had surgery. Unless shes a miracle healer, shes done for the season. Yet the Sky regrouped without her and won three of their last five games, including an overtime thriller against Minnesota, 98-97, on Sept. 13.That game was important to the Sky to secure the No. 4 seed and meant nothing to Minnesota in terms of seeding. Yet the Lynx still battled to win it, which shows you how theyre wired.The Lynx arent going to get tripped up by any kind of complacency, even though theyve won three of the past five WNBA titles. Theyre still eager to win another, and theyre as dangerous as ever. 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India 455 (Kohli 167, Pujara 119) and 204 (Kohli 81, Broad 4-33) beat England 255 (Stokes 70, Bairstow 53, Ashwin 5-67) and 158 (Cook 54) by 246 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIndias bowlers required just 38.1 overs to wrap up a 246-run victory on the final day of the second Test in Visakhapatnam, as Englands resolve - fatally weakened by the loss of two wickets late on the fourth evening - was finally cracked with nothing but pride left to play for. The damage had been done in a frantic morning session in which they slumped from 87 for 2 to 142 for 7, and the tail succumbed meekly after lunch, with only Jonny Bairstow showing any real resistance with 34 not out.The margin of victory perhaps overstated the gulf between the sides - the key difference, in every sense, was Indias captain and Man of the Match Virat Kohli, whose aggregate of 248 runs single-handedly accounted for the deficit in Englands balance. But, having fought so hard for so long, especially in the second half of the contest, the speed of their final-day demise was dispiriting for England, with the third Test in Mohali looming large next week.Contrary to all pre-match predictions, the pitch still wasnt spinning dramatically by the final day, but it was skidding through at a hustling pace to match Indias turbo-charged over-rate - they bowled 33.4 in the morning session, including an extraordinary ten in the first half-hour alone as Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin tied England in knots at a rate of knots.The devastating dismissal of Alastair Cook, in the last over of the fourth day, had left England fearing the worst when play resumed, and there was an inevitability about the identity of the first victim of the morning. Ben Ducketts rich strokeplay and inventive attitude will doubtless serve him well as his England career progresses, but in this situation - and particularly against his nemesis, Ashwin - those attributes had roughly the same value as an INR 500 note.Sure enough, having withstood 15 deliveries without opening his account, Duckett dropped to one knee in a bid to hit his way out of a corner, but succeeded only in gloving a sweep onto his thigh pad and into the gloves of the wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. As he trooped disconsolately off the pitch, Duckett might as well have walked straight onto the England bench. His record against Ashwin alone in this series made grim reading - 40 balls, 15 runs, three wickets. Hell be back, but perhaps not in Mohali next week. Moeen Ali was the nnext to go, his technique against the spinners looking solid right up until the moment Jadeja got one to grip in the rough outside off, and accelerate onto his inside edge for Kohli to complete a lobbed catch at leg gully.dddddddddddd From 75 for 0 after 50 overs, England were now in freefall at 101 for 4 after 74 - the flip-side of their siege mentality being that India were now camping as many as five close catchers under every new batsmans nose.Such close attention didnt bother Ben Stokes at first. He had been so solid in defence in the first innings, and continued his tried-and-trusted methods in a 33-ball stay. But, when India turned to the second new ball - and in the process, gave Jadejas fingers a rest after 25 overs on the trot had left him with the outstanding figures of 34-14-35-2 - the lankier offspin of Jayant Yadav conjured the ball of the match.A faster, flatter offbreak from around the wicket drifted as Stokes played back, then spat past his edge to clip the outside of his off stump. Stokes nodded his appreciation as the bowler hurtled past in celebration, and when Root was nailed by Mohammed Shami nine balls later, the teams might as well have shaken hands there and then.Root had once again been Englands most accomplished technician on the day. But, having survived an early reprieve when Kohli spilled a sharp chance at leg slip, he was pinned on the crease by a zippy nipbacker from Shami and sent on his way for 25 from 107 balls.There was time for one more breakthrough before lunch, as Adil Rashid top-edged an attempted ramp over the slips, to give Shami his second wicket of the innings, and the denouement came in a resigned procession after the resumption.Zafar Ansari completed a match every bit as ignominious as Ducketts when Ashwin skidded a flat offbreak into his off stump for a duck, before Jayant produced a carbon copy of Englands demise in the first innings, trapping Stuart Broad and James Anderson with consecutive lbws. Anderson completed his comeback Test with a king pair, remarkably the first by an England batsman for 110 years.That wasnt the sort of history that Cooks men had targeted at the start of the tour, but with three matches to come and some clear signs of life amid the ruins of todays effort, there will be chances to atone in the coming weeks. But a few correct calls at the toss would be a start. ' ' '