WNBA Finals

WNBA Finals logo

The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the official sponsor.

The series is played between the winners of the playoff semifinals. At the conclusion of the championship round, the winner of the WNBA Finals is presented the championship trophy. The WNBA Finals has been played at the conclusion of every WNBA season in history, the first being held in 1997.

Since 2005, the winner of the WNBA Finals has been determined through a 2–2–1 format. The first, second, and fifth games of the series are played at the arena of the team who earned home court advantage by having the better record during the regular season.

Contents

• 
  1 History
  


• 
  2 Highlights
  


• 
  3 Finals appearances
  


• 
  4 Records
  


• 
  5 See also
  


• 
  6 References
  


• 
  7 External links
  

History

Further information: WNBA Playoffs

See also: List of WNBA franchise post-season droughts

The WNBA Finals were originally a single championship game to decide the WNBA champion. However, in 1998, after the addition of two teams, the WNBA Finals were turned into a best-of-three games series. In 2005, the WNBA Finals adopted a best-of-five format. This finale series was known as the WNBA Championship from 1997 to 2001, before changing to reflect its NBA counterpart. In 2016, the WNBA changed to its current playoff format seeding teams #1 thru #8 regardless of conference making it possible for two Eastern Conference or two Western Conference teams to meet in the Finals.

Year	Winner	Result	Loser	Finals MVP
1997	Houston Comets [a]	65–51	New York Liberty	Cynthia Cooper
1998	Houston Comets	2–1	Phoenix Mercury[b]	Cynthia Cooper
1999	Houston Comets	2–1	New York Liberty	Cynthia Cooper
2000	Houston Comets	2–0	New York Liberty	Cynthia Cooper
2001	Los Angeles Sparks	2–0	Charlotte Sting	Lisa Leslie
2002	Los Angeles Sparks	2–0	New York Liberty	Lisa Leslie
2003	Detroit Shock	2–1	Los Angeles Sparks	Ruth Riley
2004	Seattle Storm	2–1	Connecticut Sun	Betty Lennox
2005	Sacramento Monarchs	3–1	Connecticut Sun	Yolanda Griffith
2006	Detroit Shock	3–2	Sacramento Monarchs	Deanna Nolan
2007	Phoenix Mercury	3–2	Detroit Shock	Cappie Pondexter
2008	Detroit Shock	3–0	San Antonio Silver Stars	Katie Smith
2009	Phoenix Mercury	3–2	Indiana Fever	Diana Taurasi
2010	Seattle Storm	3–0	Atlanta Dream	Lauren Jackson
2011	Minnesota Lynx	3–0	Atlanta Dream	Seimone Augustus
2012	Indiana Fever	3–1	Minnesota Lynx	Tamika Catchings
2013	Minnesota Lynx	3–0	Atlanta Dream	Maya Moore
2014	Phoenix Mercury	3–0	Chicago Sky	Diana Taurasi
2015	Minnesota Lynx	3–2	Indiana Fever	Sylvia Fowles
2016	Los Angeles Sparks[c]	3–2	Minnesota Lynx	Candace Parker
2017	Minnesota Lynx[d]	3–2	Los Angeles Sparks	Sylvia Fowles
2018	Seattle Storm	3–0	Washington Mystics	Breanna Stewart

1. 
   ^ Due to the WNBA's playoff structure in 1997, two Eastern Conference teams met in the championship game
   


2. 
   ^ Due to the WNBA's playoff structure in 1998, two Western Conference teams met in the championship series
   


3. 
   ^ Due to the WNBA's playoff structure in 2016, two Western Conference teams met in the Finals.
   


4. 
   ^ Due to the WNBA's playoff structure in 2017, two Western Conference teams met in the Finals.
   

Highlights

• In 2001, the #4 seed Charlotte Sting was the lowest seed to make the WNBA Finals.


• The 2003 Finals was best known for rekindling a heated rivalry between the two teams' head coaches, Los Angeles Sparks head coach Michael Cooper and former Detroit Shock head coach Bill Laimbeer. Both coaches were fierce NBA competitors who played in the NBA Finals against each other in 1988 and 1989.


• 2006 marked the first time that a #1 seed did not participate in the WNBA Finals. Detroit and Sacramento were both #2 seeds.


• The New York Liberty have the most Finals appearances (4) without winning a championship.


• The Minnesota Lynx are the 6th team to win multiple championships (following Houston, Los Angeles, Detroit, Phoenix and Seattle, respectively).


• 2006 marked the first time that the team with the best point-differential in the regular-season did not win the WNBA Finals or even advance to the WNBA finals. The Connecticut Sun had the best point differential in '06 but was ousted by the Shock in the Eastern Conference Finals.


• The Detroit Shock hosted the three largest crowds in Finals History (22,076 in Game 3 of 2003 WNBA Finals, 19,671 in Game 5 of 2006 WNBA Finals and 22,076 in Game 5 of the 2007 WNBA Finals)


• Only three Eastern Conference franchises have won the WNBA Finals: the 1997 Houston Comets (who moved to the Western Conference the following year); the Detroit Shock (who are now in the Western Conference first as Tulsa, now as Dallas) and the Indiana Fever in 2012.


• The 2007 game-five win by the Phoenix Mercury marked the first time in WNBA history that a team won the Finals while playing on their opponent's home court.


• In 2008 the San Antonio Silver Stars became the first team in the history of the WNBA Finals to be swept in a five-game series losing to the Detroit Shock.


• The 2009 Finals series saw around a 60% increase in viewership from the previous season's series.


• The 2011 WNBA Finals was the first coached by two women.


• In 2014, the Chicago Sky became the first team to appear in the WNBA Finals with a sub-.500 record.


• In 2016, the Los Angeles Sparks won by one point despite a later announcement by the WNBA that officials missed an earlier shot-clock violation at 1:14, which should not have counted.^[1]
  

Finals appearances

See also: List of WNBA franchise post-season droughts

Statistics below refer to series wins and losses, not individual game wins and losses.
Teams in red have folded and can no longer reach the WNBA Finals.

Finals	Team	Wins	Losses	Pct.	Years Won	Years Lost
6	Minnesota Lynx	4	2	.667	2011, 2013, 2015, 2017	2012, 2016
5	Los Angeles Sparks	3	2	.600	2001, 2002, 2016	2003, 2017
4	Houston Comets 2	4	0	1.000	1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
4	Detroit Shock 3	3	1	.750	2003, 2006, 2008	2007
4	Phoenix Mercury	3	1	.750	2007, 2009, 2014	1998
4	New York Liberty	0	4	.000		1997, 1999, 2000, 2002
3	Seattle Storm	3	0	1.000	2004, 2010, 2018
3	Indiana Fever	1	2	.333	2012	2009, 2015
3	Atlanta Dream	0	3	.000		2010, 2011, 2013
2	Sacramento Monarchs 4	1	1	.500	2005	2006
2	Connecticut Sun	0	2	.000		2004, 2005
1	Charlotte Sting 1	0	1	.000		2001
1	Chicago Sky	0	1	.000		2014
1	San Antonio Silver Stars5	0	1	.000		2008
1	Washington Mystics	0	1	.000		2018

• 
  ¹Folded following 2006 season
  


• 
  ²Folded following 2008 season
  


• 
  ³Relocated to Tulsa following 2009 season & Dallas following 2015 season
  


• 
  ⁴Folded following 2009 season
  


• 
  ⁵Relocated to Las Vegas following 2017 season
  

Records

This table shows a list of records through the history of the WNBA Finals.

Finals records
Milestone	Player	Team	Date	Information
Points, individual	Angel McCoughtry	Atlanta Dream	October 5, 2011	38 points
Rebounds, individual	Sylvia Fowles	Minnesota Lynx	October, 4, 2017	20 rebounds
Assists, individual	Nikki Teasley Diana Taurasi	Los Angeles Sparks Phoenix Mercury	August 29, 2002 September 7, 2014	11 assists
Steals, individual	Kristin Haynie	Sacramento Monarchs	August 30, 2006	5 steals
Blocks, individual	Brittney Griner	Phoenix Mercury	September 7, 2014	8 blocks
Points, team	N/A	Phoenix Mercury	September 29, 2009	120 points vs. Indiana (OT)
Rebounds, team	N/A	Detroit Shock	September 8, 2007	50 rebounds vs. Phoenix
Assists, team	N/A	Los Angeles Sparks	September 1, 2001	24 assists vs. Charlotte
Steals, team	N/A	Connecticut Sun	October 8, 2004	15 steals vs. Seattle
Blocks, team	N/A	Minnesota Lynx	October 2, 2011	11 blocks vs. Atlanta
Career wins, coach	Van Chancellor Cheryl Reeve	Houston Comets Minnesota Lynx	1997-2000 2011-2017	4 wins
Margin of victory	N/A	Phoenix Mercury	September 9, 2014	29-point win (97-68) over Chicago
Attendance, one game	N/A	Detroit Shock	September 16, 2003 September 16, 2007	22,076

See also

• WNBA Playoffs


• Category:Women's National Basketball Association seasons


• WNBA Coach of the Year


• WNBA Finals MVP


• WNBA MVP


• WNBA Defensive Player of the Year


• WNBA Most Improved Player


• WNBA Rookie of the Year


• Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award

References

1. 
   ^ WNBA Ogwunikes' shot should not have counted October 21, 2016
   

External links

• WNBA.com

v t e WNBA Finals
Playoffs Finals MVP Broadcasters Droughts
1990s	1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
WNBA Championship prior to 2002

v t e Women's National Basketball Association (2018)
Teams	East Atlanta Dream Chicago Sky Connecticut Sun Indiana Fever New York Liberty Washington Mystics West Dallas Wings Las Vegas Aces Los Angeles Sparks Minnesota Lynx Phoenix Mercury Seattle Storm
Annual events	Draft All-Star Game Playoffs Finals
Statistics	Career scoring Career rebounding Career assists Career steals Career blocks Career turnovers Season: Scoring leaders Rebounding leaders Assists leaders Steals leaders Blocks leaders Turnovers leaders
Other	Arenas Attendance Awards Coaches Defunct teams Expansion draft history LiveAccess MVP NBA Media (NBA TV, WNBA on ESPN, Current broadcasters, Finals broadcasters) Players (Current rosters, Foreign players) Rookie of the Year Seasons Teams (All-Decade Team, Top 15 Team, Top 20 Team)

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