WNBA Finals

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The WNBA Finals is the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), held in early September and played under a best-of-five playoff format. The team winning the Eastern Conference Finals earns one of the two seeds in the championship round, with the other going to the team that wins the Western Conference Finals. This event has been played at the conclusion of every WNBA playoffs, the first being held in 1997.

Contents

[edit] History

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.

WNBA Championship Series
Year Champions Format Result Opponent Finals MVP
1997 Houston Comets 1 game 65–51 New York Liberty Cynthia Cooper
1998 Houston Comets 2-of-3 2–1 Phoenix Mercury Cynthia Cooper
1999 Houston Comets 2-of-3 2–1 New York Liberty Cynthia Cooper
2000 Houston Comets 2-of-3 2–0 New York Liberty Cynthia Cooper
2001 Los Angeles Sparks 2-of-3 2–0 Charlotte Sting Lisa Leslie
2002 Los Angeles Sparks 2-of-3 2–0 New York Liberty Lisa Leslie
2003 Detroit Shock 2-of-3 2–1 Los Angeles Sparks Ruth Riley
2004 Seattle Storm 2-of-3 2–1 Connecticut Sun Betty Lennox
2005 Sacramento Monarchs 3-of-5 3–1 Connecticut Sun Yolanda Griffith
2006 Detroit Shock 3-of-5 3–2 Sacramento Monarchs Deanna Nolan
2007 Phoenix Mercury 3-of-5 3–2 Detroit Shock Cappie Pondexter

[edit] Highlights

  • 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 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.
  • In 2001, the #4 seed Charlotte Sting was the lowest seed ever to make the WNBA Finals.
  • 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 one.
  • The Detroit Shock are the 3rd team to win multiple championships (following Houston and Los Angeles respectively). However, they are the first team to win non-consecutive championships.
  • 2006 marked the first time that the team with the best point-differential in the regular-season didn't win 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 two largest crowds in Finals History (22,076 in Game 3 of 2003 WNBA Finals and 19,671 in Game 5 of 2006 WNBA Finals)

[edit] Finals appearances

The statistics below refer to series wins and losses, not individual games won and lost.

Num Team W L PCT
4 Houston Comets 4 0 1.000
4 New York Liberty 0 4 .000
3 Detroit Shock 2 1 .667
3 Los Angeles Sparks 2 1 .667
2 Phoenix Mercury 1 1 .500
2 Sacramento Monarchs 1 1 .500
2 Connecticut Sun 0 2 .000
1 Seattle Storm 1 0 1.000
1 Charlotte Sting* 0 1 .000

*Dissolved following 2006 season

[edit] Active franchises with no Finals appearances

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
NBA Finals
Broadcasters • O'Brien Trophy • Most Valuable Player Award • Brown Trophy • Greatest Game Ever Played • WNBA Finals • List of champions
1940s 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Languages