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WNBA Finals

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The WNBA Finals is the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), 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.

File:WNBAtrophy.jpg
WNBA Championship Trophy

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. In 2005, the WNBA Finals adopted a best-of-five format.

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

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.

See also