2017 WNBA Finals
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| Dates | September 24 – October 4 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MVP | Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota Lynx) | |||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Lynx: Seimone Augustus (2024) Lindsay Whalen (2022) | |||||||||
| Eastern finals | Los Angeles Sparks defeated Phoenix Mercury, 3–0 (Note: the semifinal rounds as of 2016 were not divided by conference) | |||||||||
| Western finals | Minnesota Lynx defeated Washington Mystics, 3–0 | |||||||||
The 2017 WNBA Finals, officially the WNBA Finals 2017 presented by Verizon for sponsorship reasons, was the best-of-five championship series for the 2017 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), tipping off on September 24.[1] It was a rematch of the previous year's finals matchup. The top-seeded Minnesota Lynx held home court advantage in the Finals, and won three games to two against the second-seeded Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks won a semifinal series against the Phoenix Mercury to determine one of the Finals berths; the first-seeded Lynx defeated the Washington Mystics to earn the other. Sylvia Fowles was named the 2017 WNBA Finals MVP.
Road to the Finals
Standings and playoffs
| # | Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota Lynx - (1) | 27 | 7 | .794 | – | 15–2 | 12–5 | 13–3 |
| 2 | Los Angeles Sparks - (2) | 26 | 8 | .765 | 1 | 16–1 | 10–7 | 12–4 |
| 3 | Phoenix Mercury - (5) | 18 | 16 | .529 | 9 | 9–8 | 9–8 | 7–9 |
| 4 | Dallas Wings - (7) | 16 | 18 | .471 | 11 | 10–7 | 6–11 | 7–9 |
| 5 | Seattle Storm - (8) | 15 | 19 | .441 | 12 | 10–7 | 5–12 | 8–8 |
| 6 | San Antonio Stars - e | 8 | 26 | .235 | 19 | 6–11 | 2–15 | 1–15 |
| # | Eastern Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Liberty - (3) | 22 | 12 | .647 | - | 13–4 | 9–8 | 10–6 |
| 2 | Connecticut Sun - (4) | 21 | 13 | .636 | 1 | 12–5 | 9–6 | 10–6 |
| 3 | Washington Mystics - (6) | 18 | 16 | .529 | 4 | 11–6 | 7–10 | 12-4 |
| 4 | Chicago Sky - e | 12 | 22 | .353 | 10 | 4–13 | 8–9 | 6–10 |
| 5 | Atlanta Dream - e | 12 | 22 | .353 | 10 | 9–8 | 3–14 | 5–11 |
| 6 | Indiana Fever - e | 9 | 25 | .265 | 13 | 6–11 | 3–14 | 4–12 |
| First round Single elimination (Sept. 6) | Second round Single elimination (Sept. 10) | Semifinals Best-of-5 (Sept. 12 – Sept. 17) | Best-of-5 (Sept. 24 – Oct. 4) | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | Los Angeles Sparks | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Connecticut Sun | 83 | 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 79 | 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 88 | 1 | Minnesota Lynx | 3 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Seattle Storm | 69 | 2 | Los Angeles Sparks | 2 | |||||||||||||
| 1 | Minnesota Lynx | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | New York Liberty | 68 | 6 | Washington Mystics | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 6 | Washington Mystics | 86 | 6 | Washington Mystics | 82 | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Dallas Wings | 76 | ||||||||||||||||
Note: Teams re-seeded after second round and semi-finals.
- Bold – Game or series winner
- Italic – Team with home-court advantage
Series summary
- All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4).
Game 1
September 24
3:30pm ET |
| Los Angeles Sparks 85, Minnesota Lynx 84 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 32–11, 11–22, 25–23, 17–28 | ||
| Pts: Gray 27 Rebs: Parker 12 Asts: Gray 6 |
Pts: Moore 27 Rebs: Fowles 13 Asts: Whalen 6 | |
| Los Angeles leads series 1-0 | ||
Game 2
September 26
8:00pm ET |
| Los Angeles Sparks 68, Minnesota Lynx 70 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 10–28, 16–17, 24–15, 18–10 | ||
| Pts: Parker 17 Rebs: Ogwumike 13 Asts: Parker 6 |
Pts: Whalen 14 Rebs: Fowles 17 Asts: Brunson, Whalen 3 | |
| Series tied 1-1 | ||
Game 3
September 29
9:00pm ET |
| Minnesota Lynx 64, Los Angeles Sparks 75 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 8–17, 18–15, 22–24, 16–19 | ||
| Pts: Moore 16 Rebs: Fowles 11 Asts: Jones 4 |
Pts: Ogwumike, Sims 16 Rebs: Ogwumike 10 Asts: Gray 7 | |
| Los Angeles leads series 2-1 | ||
Game 4
October 1
8:30pm ET |
| Minnesota Lynx 80, Los Angeles Sparks 69 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 21–16, 22–15, 18–13, 19–25 | ||
| Pts: Fowles 22 Rebs: Fowles 14 Asts: Whalen 8 |
Pts: Sims 18 Rebs: Ogwumike, Parker 8 Asts: Gray 9 | |
| Series tied 2-2 | ||
Game 5
October 4
8:00pm ET |
| Los Angeles Sparks 76, Minnesota Lynx 85 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 19–21, 16–20, 21–19, 20–25 | ||
| Pts: Parker 19 Rebs: Parker 15 Asts: Gray 8 |
Pts: Moore 18 Rebs: Fowles 20 Asts: Whalen 8 | |
| Minnesota wins series 3-2 | ||