The 2020 WNBA Finals, officially ''WNBA Finals 2020 presented by

YouTube TV YouTube TV is an American streaming television service operated by YouTube, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. Announced on February 28, 2017, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor offers a selection of live linear channel f ...

'' for sponsorship reasons, was the best-of-five championship series for the 2020 season of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA). The Finals feature the top seeded

Las Vegas Aces The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conferenc ...

facing off against the second seed

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

. Despite losing both regular season meetings against Las Vegas, the Storm dominated the series, sweeping the Aces in three straight games. Led by Finals MVP

Breanna Stewart Breanna Mackenzie Stewart (born Baldwin; born August 27, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In high school, Stewart was the National Gatorade Player o ...

, Seattle won all three games by double-digits, claiming their second title in three years and fourth in franchise history.

Road to the Finals

Changes due to COVID-19

The Finals were less affected than the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

for the WNBA. Format and seeding remained the same as it has in recent years. However, the teams continued to play at the

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a board ...

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

, thereby eliminating any home court advantages teams might have had in a normal playoffs. Dates for the playoffs remained largely the same as a normal season. No fans were allowed in the arena during the playoffs.

Standings

Playoffs

Summary

This finals was the fourth time in the five years since the WNBA switched playoff formats in 2016 that two teams from the same conference met in the WNBA Finals. In

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and

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, two teams from the Western Conference met and in

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two teams from the Eastern Conference met. This Finals is also the fourth time that the top two seeds have made it to the finals since the WNBA switched playoff formats in 2016. The lone non-top two seed to make the finals was the third seeded

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was founded pri ...

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. The

qualified for the finals after finishing first in the regular season standings, which earned them a double-bye into the semifinals. In the semifinals, they defeated the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

in five games. The

qualified for the finals after finishing second in the regular season standings, which earned them a double-bye into the semifinals. In the semifinals, they defeated the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team won the WNBA title in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Founded pr ...

in a three-game sweep. The Aces won the regular season series 2–0.

Game 1

Game one started tense, with the first quarter finishing 23–21 in favor of the Storm. The Storm extended their lead via a big second quarter, which they won by fifteen points. Seattle took an eighteen point lead into halftime. The Aces came out of halftime strong, winning the third quarter by fifteen points and cut the overall lead to three. However, the Storm won the fourth quarter by eleven points to take the game by thirteen overall. They take a one game lead in the best-of-five series. The Storm were led by

who recorded thirty seven points and fifteen rebounds.

Jewell Loyd Jewell Loyd (born October 5, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for CB Avenida, Perfumerias Avenida of Spain's Liga Femenina de Baloncesto and the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was draft ...

also contributed 28 points.

Sue Bird Suzanne Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who played her entire career with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association ( WNBA) Bird was drafted by the Storm first over ...

set a

WNBA Finals The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...

single game record for assists in a game with sixteen. The Storm's bench contributed fifteen total points. The Aces were led by

Angel McCoughtry Angel Lajuane McCoughtry (born September 10, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. McCoughtry comple ...

with twenty points.

A'ja Wilson A'ja Riyadh Wilson (born August 8, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Wilson played for the South Carolina Gamecocks in college, and helped lead the Ga ...

added nineteen and three other players scored in double digits. The Aces' bench scored sixteen points.

Game 2

Game two started with the Storm winning the first quarter by seven points. The Aces made a small comeback and won the second quarter by one point. Therefore, the Storm took a lead of six points into half time. The Storm won the third quarter by a point and the fourth quarter by six points to win the game by thirteen points overall. The Storm won the first two games by the same thirteen point margin to take a 2–0 lead in the series. Five Storm players scored in double digits, including three who scored at least twenty points.

was the leading scorer with twenty-two points, and she was closely followed by

Alysha Clark Alysha Angelica Clark (born July 7, 1987) is an American-Israeli professional basketball player for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted in the second round of the 2010 WNBA draft by the S ...

and Natasha Howard, who both scored twenty-one.

Jordin Canada Jordin Elizabeth Canada (born August 11, 1995) is an American professional basketball player with the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was selected by the Seattle Storm with the 5th overall pick in the ...

also added ten from the bench.

recorded back-to-back double digit assist games, with sixteen in Game one and ten in this game. The Aces had four total players score in double digits. They were led by

with twenty and both

and

Emma Cannon Emma Cannon (born June 1, 1989) is an American basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the WNBA and for Elitzur Ramla of the Israeli League, previously played for the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, Connecticut Sun, Phoenix Mercury, and Indiana Feve ...

scored seventeen.

Game 3

Similar to the first two games, game three started off close, with Seattle clinging to a 23-21 lead at the end of the first quarter. However, the Storm dominated the rest of the way, outscoring the Aces 69-38 through the remaining 30 minutes. The 33 point margin of victory was by far the most lopsided of the series after Seattle had won the first two games by 13 points each.

WNBA Finals MVP The Women's National Basketball Association Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season. During the first four years of the league, the Houston Come ...

fittingly lead the Storm in points once again with 26.

added 19 points and a team-high 9 rebounds while

managed 15 points off the bench.

and Natasha Howard each pulled down seven rebounds and combined for 15 points.

added seven assists on the way to her fourth WNBA title, all with the Storm.

led the Aces in scoring and passing with 18 points and four assists. Jackie Young added 11 points for Las Vegas while

Carolyn Swords Carolyn Swords (born July 19, 1989) is an American former basketball player. She previously played for PF Umbertide in Italy and the Sydney Uni Flames in Australia. WNBA Swords was selected the second round of the 2011 WNBA Draft (15th overa ...

led the Aces in rebounds with 10.

Team Rosters

References

External links

WNBA Playoffs Home
{{Las Vegas Aces Women's National Basketball Association Finals

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Seattle Storm Las Vegas Aces