WNBA Finals

The WNBA Finals is the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), played under a best-of-three playoff format. The team winning the Eastern Conference Finals earns one of the two berths 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

1 History 1.1 WNBA Championship Game 1.2 WNBA Championship Series Best of 3 Games 1.3 Trivia 2 External links

History

The WNBA Finals were originally a single championship game to decide the WNBA champion. However, in 1998, after the addition of two teams and the realignment of the league into divisions of teams, the WNBA Finals were turned into a best-of-three games series.

WNBA Championship Game

• 1997 Houston Comets defeat New York Liberty, 65-61

WNBA Championship Series Best of 3 Games

Year	Championship Team	Margin	Opponent
1998	Houston Comets	2–1	Phoenix Mercury
1999	Houston Comets	2–1	New York Liberty
2000	Houston Comets	2–0	New York Liberty
2001	Los Angeles Sparks	2–0	Charlotte Sting
2002	Los Angeles Sparks	2–0	New York Liberty
2003	Detroit Shock	2–1	Los Angeles Sparks
2004	Seattle Storm	2–1	Connecticut Sun

Trivia

• The Houston Comets were both the first Eastern Conference team and the first Western Conference team to win a WNBA Championship. In 1998, they won the championship as an Eastern Conference team and in 1999, they won the championship as a Western Conference team.
• Anne Donovan was the first woman head coach to win a WNBA Finals series.
• The Detroit Shock were the first expansion team to make the WNBA Finals.

External links

• WNBA.com