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With the 2025 WNBA playoffs in full effect, you can watch the semifinals of the post-season with Sling TV.

For Game 2, the No. 4-seed Phoenix Mercury take on the No. 1-seed Minnesota Lynx at Target Center in Minneapolis on Tuesday, Sept. 23. In the semifinals, the Lynx lead 1-0, but the Mercury could tie it up 1-1, or Minnesota could extend its lead 2-0 in the best-of-five series.

When Does Phoenix Mercury vs. Minnesota Lynx Game Start?

Phoenix Mercury vs. Minnesota Lynx game broadcasts live, with tipoff at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.

Where to Watch Phoenix Mercury vs. Minnesota Lynx Online

Phoenix Mercury vs. Minnesota Lynx game broadcasts on ESPN, and it’s also livestreams on Sling Orange. Keep reading for more details on how cord-cutters can watch the Mercury-Lynx game online with Sling TV.

How to Watch Phoenix Mercury vs. Minnesota Lynx With Sling TV

A subscription to Sling Orange, which comes with ESPN, gets you access to live TV from popular cable channels.

You can watch cable networks, including ESPN2, ESPN3, Disney Channel, Freeform, MotorTrend, A&E, AMC, BBC America, BET, CNN, Comedy Central, Food Network, Fuse, HGTV, History Channel, IFC, Lifetime, Nick Jr., QVC, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, Vice and many others.

Please note: Prices and channel availability depends on your local TV market. You can learn more about Sling TV here.

Which Celebrities Are Making Appearances During Mercury vs. Lynx?

It’s likely there would be a number of celebrities and recording artists — such as Minnesota Lynx fans Justin Vernon, Common, Justin Jefferson, Jesse Ventura, Kevin Garnett and others — in attendance during Tuesday night’s game. Tune in to Sling TV to find out who’s sitting courtside on celebrity row.

Starting at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT, Phoenix Mercury vs. Minnesota Lynx broadcast on ESPN, while it’s also available to livestream on Sling TV on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

Want more? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.

On the heels of releasing his The Last Wun album, Gunna has confirmed plans for a joint project with Offset, which he says is currently “in the works.”

Gunna revealed that the collab album with Offset was on the way during his Apple Music Live celebration in Los Angeles on Monday night (Sept. 22), which found him in conversation with Ebro Darden, who teased the idea of a project with the Migos alum.

“Definitely,” Gunna said. “Yes, it’s in the works. But I, like, we spacing it out. You know, he dropped his album, I dropped my album. I was on his, he was on mine. And I feel like that was sprinkles and breadcrumbs for us to give you that meal soon.”

There had been rumors circulating about an Offset-Gunna joint album last year, as Set teased tracks featuring them trading bars on Instagram Live in October. He also hinted at cooking the joint project in an X interaction with a fan in February. The “Prada Dem” duo even hit the stage in Atlanta in June for the Hot 107.9 Birthday Bash at State Farm Arena.

They continued to work while exchanging features on their 2025 solo albums, as Set appeared on The Last Wun‘s “At My Purest” and Gunna returned the favor on Kiari‘s “Different Species.”

The duo has joined forces on numerous occasions in the past, while teaming up for “Prada Dem,” “Style Rare,” “Beat the Case” and “Wild Wild West.”

Gunna’s The Last Wun album serves as his sixth solo LP, and the project debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 80,000 total album-equivalent units earned.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit claiming Mary J. Blige’s enduring 1992 hit “Real Love” features a legendary 1973 funk sample without a license, ruling simply that “the songs do not sound the same.”

The case, filed last year against Universal Music Group (UMG) by Tuff City Records, claimed Blige’s track illegally borrowed from “Impeach the President” by the Honey Drippers — an iconic piece of hip-hop source material that’s been sampled or interpolated by Run-DMC, Dr. Dre, Doja Cat and many others.

During the litigation, UMG effectively conceded that Blige’s song had copied material from “Impeach.” But in a ruling Tuesday (Sept. 23), Judge Dale Ho says that it doesn’t matter — since the two final songs are so different that an ordinary listener would not even be able to recognize the sample.

“‘Impeach the President’ is a protest song from the 1970s that fits squarely within the soul/funk genre,” the judge writes. “‘Real Love,’ by contrast, is a hip-hop soul song about heartbreak, not politics.”

The earlier song is “sung by a group of men performed in a call-and-response style, and prominently features horns and guitar,” Judge Ho writes, while “Real Love” is instead “sung by a woman, and is driven by piano and drums.”

“The songs do not sound the same,” the judge wrote, before later adding that the songs also don’t share any similarities in melodies or lyrics.

Representatives for both UMG and Tuff City did not immediately return requests for comment on the ruling. The lawsuit did not name Blige herself as a defendant nor accuse her of any wrongdoing.

The ruling highlights a crucial distinction in music law: While the direct sampling of a copyrighted sound recording requires a license, no matter how insignificant the use, the borrowing of elements from a copyrighted musical composition is not as clear-cut.

That quirky legal rubric is why UMG’s recorded music unit (UMG Recordings, Inc.) reached a separate settlement with Tuff City regarding the use of the “Impeach” sample on the “Real Love” sound recording before the current lawsuit was even filed, but seemingly balked at paying for the composition.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Judge Ho ruled that under the legal framework for musical compositions, Blige’s song was not similar enough to infringe the earlier track: “Overall the musical motifs are extremely dissimilar, and the overall musical impression of each song is also different,” the judge writes.

“Real Love” spent 31 weeks on the Hot 100 in 1992 and reached a peak of No. 7 on the chart. It has remained one of Blige’s most enduring hits, with more than 120 million spins on Spotify and a movie adaptation released by Lifetime in 2023.

Tuff City sued UMG over the track in April 2024, claiming it had warned the company about the uncleared sample, but that the label had done nothing about it: “Defendant has repeatedly refused to engage plaintiff in substantive negotiations to rectify the foregoing, let alone agreed to compensate plaintiff for the past infringement or on an ongoing basis.”

Tuff City, which owns a large catalog of old songs, is no stranger to copyright litigation — filing cases over tracks by Jay-Z, Beastie Boys, Christina Aguilera, Frank Ocean, with claims that they featured unlicensed samples or interpolations. The company had even already sued over “Impeach the President” before the current suit, claiming in a 1991 complaint that it had been illegally sampled on the LL Cool J tracks “Around the Way Girl” and “Six Minutes of Pleasure.”

Behold, a new offering. As thousands of Sleep Token‘s New York Worshippers sauntered their way into Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Monday night (Sept. 22), it was striking how diverse many of Vessel and Co.’s loyalest followers were.

There were the truly devout: those doused in ethereal black cloaks, fishnets, lace, masks and sparkling jewelry (I watched as one especially pious fan was forced to exit and re-enter the metal detector four times, handing off more and more gold jewels to the security guard as she went). Then there were the tattooed 30-somethings, the gothic couples decorated in matching black lipstick and jet-black hair, the fans in button-up shirts and shined shoes who had clearly just come from work, and the Gen X husbands-and-wives with their angsty teen children, eager to see what all the hubbub was about. If I were the deity Sleep, I’d have been pleased with how many vastly different people had gathered to worship in my name.

Sleep Token’s packed, sold-out Barclays Center gig came as no surprise, considering the astronomical few years the anonymous rockers have had. Their last album, Take Me Back to Eden, hit No. 16 on the Billboard 200 back in 2023 — an impressive feat, considering all eyes were on Hip-Hop for its 50th birthday. Their fourth and latest album, Even in Arcadia, which was released in May via RCA Records, then hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200. All 10 of its tracks also appeared in the lower half of the Billboard Hot 100, cementing the fantastical group as crossover hitmakers. That diversified appeal was evident in the fans’ varied Sleep Token introduction stories.

After Thornhill’s rockin’ opening set brought the venue to life, I listened as two Worshippers swapped Token tales. One of them had stumbled upon Sleep Token at a music festival a few years ago and had been hooked on the band’s teachings ever since, while the other had flown to New York from rural Texas just to be at the evening’s show. It was his first time ever in New York. After an hour of gabbing, the curtain finally descended, and the opening chords of “Look to Windward” began to twinkle in. As frontman Vessel’s vocals filled Barclay’s halls, the veteran simply said to the novice: “Enjoy the ritual!”

The ritual was electric. Aided by the Espera vocal trio, Sleep Token’s songs filled the stadium with ease as Vessel screamed and crooned his way through the band’s biggest hits—from “The Offering” to “Caramel” to “The Summoning.” The guitars and drums chugged along in tandem, as each band member casually wandered across the surprisingly detailed set, which included rocky levels, spitfire lasers, and even a fully functional waterfall.

Vessel also hit plenty of what have become his signature hop-skip dance moves, his vogue-inspired posturing, and even gave IV a full-blown back massage while the guitarist shredded his way through his “The Summoning” guitar solo. The lighthearted juxtaposition of Vessel’s stage presence with the moody and solemn nature of Sleep Token’s music served as a good reminder that, even apart from all the lore, this is just a really solid rock band with songs that pack a heavy punch when performed live.

Vessel never addressed the audience, and there was no “thank you, New York” as the band departed, but the fans — who screamed out every syllable and moshed through the biggest drops — didn’t seem to mind. The songs carried a bigger emotional meaning for Sleep Token’s fans, and in classic Token fashion, the band presented itself as merely a delivery system for them.