2017 WNBA Finals

{{Short description|Women's basketball championship series}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox WNBA Finals summary

| image =

| league = WNBA

| year = 2017

| champion = Minnesota Lynx

| champion_coach = Cheryl Reeve

| champion_games = 3

| runnerup = Los Angeles Sparks

| runnerup_coach = Brian Agler

| runnerup_games = 2

| date = September 24 – October 4

| MVP = {{flagicon|USA}} Sylvia Fowles
(Minnesota Lynx)

| HOFers = Lynx:
Seimone Augustus (2024)
Lindsay Whalen (2022)

| ECF result = Los Angeles Sparks defeated Phoenix Mercury, 3–0 (Note: the semifinal rounds as of 2016 were not divided by conference)

| WCF result = 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.[http://www.wnba.com/news/key-dates-2017/ 2017 WNBA season – Key Dates]. 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=

{{2017 WNBA Western Conference standings}}

{{2017 WNBA Eastern Conference standings}}

{{trim|{{#section-h:2017 WNBA Playoffs|Bracket}}}}

Series summary

:All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4).

=Game 1=

{{basketballbox

| bg = #eee

| date = September 24

| time = 3:30pm ET

| report = [https://www.wnba.com/game/20170924/LASMIN/ Game 1]

| team1 = Los Angeles Sparks

| score1 = 85

| score2 = 84

| team2 = Minnesota Lynx

| Q1 = 32–11 | Q2 = 11–22 | Q3 = 25–23 | Q4 = 17–28

| points1 = Gray 27

| points2 = Moore 27

| rebounds1 = Parker 12

| rebounds2 = Fowles 13

| assist1 = Gray 6

| assist2 = Whalen 6

| place = Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MN

| attendance = 11,823

| referee = Cheryl Flores, Kurt Walker, Jeff Wooten

| TV = ABC

| series = Los Angeles leads series 1-0

}}

=Game 2=

{{basketballbox

| bg = #eee

| date = September 26

| time = 8:00pm ET

| report = [https://www.wnba.com/game/20170926/LASMIN/ Game 2]

| team1 = Los Angeles Sparks

| score1 = 68

| score2 = 70

| team2 = Minnesota Lynx

| Q1 = 10–28 | Q2 = 16–17 | Q3 = 24–15 | Q4 = 18–10

| points1 = Parker 17

| points2 = Whalen 14

| rebounds1 = Ogwumike 13

| rebounds2 = Fowles 17

| assist1 = Parker 6

| assist2 = Brunson, Whalen 3

| place = Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MN

| attendance = 11,434

| referee = Maj Forsberg, Bryon Jarrett, Billy Smith

| TV = ESPN2

| series = Series tied 1-1

}}

=Game 3=

{{basketballbox

| bg = #eee

| date = September 29

| time = 9:00pm ET

| report = [https://www.wnba.com/game/20170929/MINLAS/ Game 3]

| team1 = Minnesota Lynx

| score1 = 64

| score2 = 75

| team2 = Los Angeles Sparks

| Q1 = 8–17 | Q2 = 18–15 | Q3 = 22–24 | Q4 = 16–19

| points1 = Moore 16

| points2 = Ogwumike, Sims 16

| rebounds1 = Fowles 11

| rebounds2 = Ogwumike 10

| assist1 = Jones 4

| assist2 = Gray 7

| place = Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA

| attendance = 13,500

| referee = Sue Blauch, Eric Brewton, Roy Gulbeyan

| TV = ESPN2

| series = Los Angeles leads series 2-1

}}

=Game 4=

{{basketballbox

| bg = #eee

| date = October 1

| time = 8:30pm ET

| report = [https://www.wnba.com/game/20171001/MINLAS/ Game 4]

| team1 = Minnesota Lynx

| score1 = 80

| score2 = 69

| team2 = Los Angeles Sparks

| Q1 = 21–16 | Q2 = 22–15 | Q3 = 18–13 | Q4 = 19–25

| points1 = Fowles 22

| points2 = Sims 18

| rebounds1 = Fowles 14

| rebounds2 = Ogwumike, Parker 8

| assist1 = Whalen 8

| assist2 = Gray 9

| place = Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA

| attendance = 13,500

| referee = Maj Forsberg, Billy Smith, Kurt Walker

| TV = ESPN

| series = Series tied 2-2

}}

=Game 5=

{{basketballbox

| bg = #eee

| date = October 4

| time = 8:00pm ET

| report = [https://www.wnba.com/game/20171004/LASMIN/ Game 5]

| team1 = Los Angeles Sparks

| score1 = 76

| score2 = 85

| team2 = Minnesota Lynx

| Q1 = 19–21 | Q2 = 16–20 | Q3 = 21–19 | Q4 = 20–25

| points1 = Parker 19

| points2 = Moore 18

| rebounds1 = Parker 15

| rebounds2 = Fowles 20

| assist1 = Gray 8

| assist2 = Whalen 8

| place = Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MN

| attendance = 14,632

| referee = Sue Blauch, Roy Gulbeyan, Byron Jarrett

| TV = ESPN

| series = Minnesota wins series 3-2

}}

References