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WNBA Games Tonight: Wings-Liberty Is the One to Watch

Two games on tonight's slate. Here's the tipoff times, exact channels, and why each one matters.

Dallas Wings at New York Liberty: the best game of the night

Dallas Wings (13-8) at New York Liberty (13-8). Tipoff 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. National TV: ESPN, also streaming on the ESPN app, fubo, and DIRECTV Stream.

This is a legitimate playoff-positioning game dressed up as a Tuesday night matchup. New York sits first in the East at 13-8; Dallas sits fourth in the West at 13-8. Neither team can afford to look past the other.

The individual matchup is the hook. Paige Bueckers is averaging 20.3 points on 52.2 percent shooting in her second season and just became the first WNBA player since Katie Smith in 2003 to score 20-plus points on 50-plus percent shooting in five straight games, per ESPN's data feed cited by CBS Sports. Breanna Stewart is coming off a 36-point game against Minnesota last Friday and is averaging 20.1 points and 8.5 rebounds on the season. Dallas has had success sending extra bodies at Stewart early: she scored 16 of her points in the first quarter of that Friday game, and the Wings will likely try to load up on her from the opening possession again.

New York will be short-handed. Satou Sabally is out with a concussion (targeted return July 11), which pushes more defensive and rebounding responsibility onto Stewart and Jonquel Jones (15.1 points, 9.0 rebounds). Leonie Fiebich is a game-time decision with a foot issue. For Dallas, Jessica Shepard (14.2 points, 11.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists) has given Bueckers a reliable second option, and the Wings arrive having won three of their last five, including a win over Toronto on Sunday.

Chicago Sky at Phoenix Mercury: a team in freefall visits a team on a heater

Chicago Sky (6-14) at Phoenix Mercury (8-13). Tipoff 10:00 PM ET / 7:00 PM PT at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix. No national broadcast tonight: the game streams on WNBA League Pass (also available via Amazon Prime Video's League Pass channel add-on). Locally, it airs on WCIU "The U" in Chicago and on AZFamily in Phoenix.

Phoenix has won three straight, keyed by Kahleah Copper's 30-point outburst in a blowout win over Seattle last Thursday. Chicago has lost eight of its last ten and is coming apart at the seams: guard Skylar Diggins lost her starting job despite leading the team with 19 points in Friday's overtime loss at Las Vegas, and coach Tyler Marsh spent part of his pregame availability addressing locker-room frustration directly, telling reporters "none of us are complacent at where we're at... frustration is high, but we're all on the same page," per CBS Sports.

Injuries compound Chicago's problems: leading scorer Rickea Jackson is out for the season with a torn ACL suffered May 17, and DiJonai Carrington is out with a foot injury. Phoenix is also thin in the backcourt: Sami Whitcomb (knee) and Natasha Mack (foot) are both out, and Jovana Nogic left the team mid-season for visa reasons tied to her contract in Russia. That opening has gone to Lexi Held, who set a career high with five 3-pointers in the win over Seattle.

Last night

Sources: ESPN WNBA schedule and injury reports, CBS Sports gametrackers, Basketball-Reference standings, team broadcast schedules.