We're roughly two weeks into the WNBA playoffs, and have we had some fun basketball to take in.

The first round is done, and we're in the middle of two star-studded semifinals that could flip at a moment's notice.

The stakes are high: The Liberty are a game away from making their return to the Big Dance, while the Lynx responded with a crucial win on Tuesday night to tie the series with the Sun at a game apiece.

There's still plenty of basketball to be played, but let's take a quick look at some of the early winners and losers of the postseason.

Winner: Sabrina Ionescu

Sabrina Ionescu has reached a new level...and that should terrify everyone.

Entering the season, the 26-year-old had been one of the most dynamic guards in the WNBA. Not many players boasted her blend of pull-up shooting and playmaking chops.

If there was anything to poke at, it was her comfort inside the arc; finishing through contact was a chore at times, and there wasn't real consistency in the middle of the floor.

Fast-forward to this season, and it's hard not to be impressed with the refinement of Ionescu's game.

She's improved at playing and finishing through contact; she's more likely to dish it out with subtle shoulder chucks as she gets downhill. Her comfort with floaters pop off the screen, and serve as a useful counter for teams that try to corral her with traditional ball-screen coverages.

Add in her pacing and use of hesitations to read defenses, and she's gone from dynamic to darn-near impossible to deal with.

You could see that growth in the box score. She averaged a career-high 7.5 shots inside the arc during the regular season while converting 46.3 percent of them, a massive step up from last year's 38.3 percent on 4.9 attempts. Those numbers have improved in the postseason to 61.8 percent on 8.5 attempts.

It's a four-game sample on the postseason side, but that kind of interior efficiency while being defended by Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard and Jackie Young across those games is wildly impressive.

If this is the version of Ionescu that exists, I'm not quite sure what you do with the Liberty.

Loser: Brionna Jones

It's been one heck of a month for Brionna Jones.

The 28-year-old closed the regular season strong for the Connecticut Sun in September, averaging a team-best 17.2 points on nearly 63 percent shooting from the field. Her post work and pick-and-roll finishing were superb during that nine-game run.

Unfortunately for the Sun, she hasn't been able to replicate that in the postseason.

Through four games, Jones has scored 20 points—in total. She's 9-of-25 (36%) from the field, with more turnovers (seven) than assists (five). Battling against the Fever's Aliyah Boston in Round 1 and dueling against the Lynx's talented frontcourt isn't easy, but she's outright failed to make a significant impact offensively.

The Sun naturally need her scoring, but for her to provide plus-value, she needs to bring the scoring to the table. She is firmly in the do-your-job category defensively—the Sun have oscillated between playing her at the level of screens and hanging back in drop coverage.

Both the Fever and Lynx have dinged her with ball screens so far. The Lynx, in particular, have had success emptying a side before attacking Jones, forcing her (and the screen navigator ahead of her) to execute to perfection or risk giving up an opening.

The Sun have been able to win a round and steal home-court advantage from the Lynx in spite of this; both Veronica Burton and Olivia Nelson-Ododa deserve credit for their minutes as Connecticut has opted to use smaller combinations.

Ultimately, the Sun won't win a title getting this level of productivity from Jones. Maybe the return to Connecticut on Friday will ignite something in the All-Star.

Winner: 2nd-Half Aces

The Las Vegas Aces entered this postseason with history on the agenda, looking to become the first WNBA team since the Houston Comets (1997-00) to three-peat.

After losing a nail-biter to the Liberty on Tuesday, they're going to have to make even more history. To punch their ticket to the Finals, they need to become the first team in league history to overcome a 2-0 series deficit.

A theme has emerged through their first four playoff games: They've very much been a second-half team.

We've seen incredible shot-making (A'ja Wilson's 15-point third quarter in Game 1 against the Storm), the defense buckling down (holding the Storm to two points in the fourth quarter of Game 1), ball security improving (going from 11 first-half turnovers to two in the second half of Game 2 against the Liberty), or some combination of the three.

To put an actual number on it, the Aces have the league's best second-half rating at plus-11.0 in the postseason so far.

Naturally, they're going to need to be better earlier; head coach Becky Hammon specifically mentioned their second quarters (minus-13.0 in the postseason after posting a plus-13.0 in the regular season) as something that's really bothered her.

Loser: Minnesota's Rebounding

The Minnesota Lynx have been a phenomenal team this year.

They were in the hunt for the league's best defense, ultimately finishing second in defensive rating. Their offense was solid (102.8 offensive rating, 4th), but they broke the WNBA record for assist rate (76.4) that was set by Liberty last year (75.0).

If there's a weakness to poke at with this group, it's their fortitude on the glass.

This isn't a team that hunts offensive rebounds, instead opting to retreat to set up its transition defense. The bigger issue is the Lynx have struggled on the defensive glass; they ranked 11th in defensive rebound rate (68.2) during the regular season, and it's dipped slightly (68.1) in the postseason.

Winner: Leonie Fiebich

If "go big or go home" is the phrase, no team has taken that to heart quite like the New York Liberty.

Ahead of their playoff opener against the Atlanta Dream, they made the decision to move versatile rookie (and Sixth Player of the Year front-runner) Leonie Fiebich into the starting lineup ahead of the legendary Courtney Vandersloot.

It wasn't Fiebich's first rodeo in the starting lineup—she started 15 games during the regular season—but being tasked with starter duties in the postseason is a different deal.

Or at least it was supposed to be.

The 24-year-old didn't look out of place against the Dream in Game 1 (21 points on 7-of-8 shooting), and she hasn't looked out of place in the postseason overall.

Her defense on and off the ball has been superb. A player her size shouldn't be able to navigate screens the way she does. She's a switchable piece whenever the Liberty need her to be. When stashed on the weak side, she's able to put out fires—or create chaos in her own right—because of that length and her ability to read the floor.

Offensively, the German has played the role of gap-filler. She spaces and knocks down shots, smartly slides up or down the floor to create passing windows for drivers, and she maintains advantages with drive-and-kick sequences. Heck, Game 2 against the Aces saw her get busy—and draw fouls—on random post seals.

There's a reason the Liberty blew teams out of the water with Fiebich on the floor during the regular season. That has continued in the postseason, with her leading the WNBA in plus/minus (+64) in her 107 minutes of action.

Loser: Jewell Loyd

This is more of an "injuries suck" section than an actual indictment against Jewell Loyd as a player. She missed the final three games of the regular season tending to a knee issue and then looked like a lesser version of herself in the first round against the Aces.

In those games, the 30-year-old scored 15 total points with gnarly shooting splits inside (3-of-13, 23.1 percent) and outside the arc (2-of-6, 33.3%). The 19 shot attempts may stand out more than the 15 points; we've become so accustomed to her letting it fly that it was a bit startling to see her pass on some of her usual drive or shot windows.

To be clear, Loyd is one of the best guards in the league. With a full offseason to truly recover, she'll return to her usual All-Star/All-WNBA form.

However, her (understandably) lackluster performance was a big reason the Storm weren't able to push their series with the Aces to three games, despite both games being up for grabs in the fourth quarter.

Winner: Marina Mabrey-Alyssa Thomas Duo

Both Alyssa Thomas and Marina Mabrey are having strong postseason showings for the Connecticut Sun.

Thomas has displayed her usual brilliance on both ends of the floor. She's been more aggressive than usual, using her strength and craft to generate shots at the rim. The transition and half-court playmaking have popped; as of this writing, she leads the postseason in assists (42, 10.5 per game) by a wide margin.

Defensively, she's been a scheme-versatile wrecking ball. On any given possession, Thomas can blow up ball screens with timely traps, switch onto unsuspecting ball-handlers and pester them, or take away openings with her crisp rotations on the backline.

Mabrey has brought on her level of aggression, averaging nearly 20 points per game behind a ridiculous blend of three-point volume (10.3 attempts) and efficiency (39 percent).

The Sun have been intentional about moving the 28-year-old around the court; using her as an initiator, flying her off staggers, and spacing her on the weak side to attract attention and open the floor elsewhere.

Mabrey and Thomas have been electric together this postseason, particularly on the offensive end. Per Second Spectrum, no duo has operated in more ball screens (59) or dribble handoffs (18) together. The Sun have obliterated teams in the minutes they've shared the court together.

Loser: Atlanta Offense

The Atlanta Dream offense could never really find its footing this season.

You can attribute a good bit of that to injury. Rhyne Howard missed 10 games and ultimately didn't make the scoring leap that many expected heading into the season. Jordin Canada, the Dream's top offseason acquisition, missed half the regular season. Cheyenne Parker-Tyus also missed 15 games and ultimately missed the postseason altogether.

This was also a team that played noticeably slower than it did last season. There seemed to be an emphasis on execution over free-flow—an understandable-on-its-face decision that led to more clunkiness as players slid in and out of the lineup.

The Dream finished last in offensive rating (96.6) during the regular season, and they didn't fare much better (98.7) against the Liberty in the first round.

Winner: Aliyah Boston

The Fever had a successful season on the whole.

The star-studded backcourt of Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell rightfully got a chunk of the attention. Clark put together one of the greatest rookie seasons in WNBA history, while Mitchell had a career year en route to another All-Star appearance.

Let's talk about Aliyah Boston for a bit, though.

I'm not sure if an All-Star has had to alter their approach as drastically as the 22-year-old this season, stepping out of her comfort zones to help accommodate Clark (and her growing chemistry with Mitchell).

Boston was able to grow leaps and bounds as a short-roll decision-maker and playmaker while remaining a quality post threat. Defensively, she was asked to play higher up against ball screens and occasionally mix in switching.

She isn't quite an All-Defensive-level talent yet, but her growing comfort in multiple coverages should help her get there sooner than later.

While it was only a two-game stint in the postseason this time around, Boston shined. Across those games, she averaged 16.5 points, 15.0 rebounds (3.0 offensive rebounds) and 2.0 blocks while shooting nearly 58 percent from the floor.

The sky is truly the limit for Boston, and for the Fever as a whole.

Winner: Natasha Cloud

If #PlayoffTash wasn't already a thing, it sure needs to be after her two-game stint against the Minnesota Lynx.

Across those games, Natasha Cloud averaged 24.5 points (59.1 percent on 2s, 46.2 percent on 3s), 5.5 rebounds, 10.0 assists and a steal.

The Lynx, like many other teams, dared the 32-year-old to knock down jumpers, and she happily obliged. She got into the teeth of the defense on many occasions, either finishing at the basket herself or slinging darts across the lot for open shots. She carried this offensive load while defending Napheesa Collier on the other end.

Collier ultimately got the best of her, converting 60 percent of her shots with Cloud as the closest defender per Second Spectrum, but Cloud made life tough on her.

That was a theme for Cloud this season, defending bigger players and executing multiple coverages for a Phoenix Mercury group that was constantly searching for answers.

It felt like the only consistent answer they landed on was: "Natasha Cloud will make life difficult for opponents no matter what we ask her to do, or who we ask her to do it against."