The 2010 WNBA Finals was the championship

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

of the 2010 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) and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The champions of the Eastern Conference, the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real ...

, faced the champions of the Western Conference, the

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 ...

. The WNBA Finals were under a 2–2–1 rotation, with the Storm holding

home-court advantage In team sports, the term home advantage – also called home ground, home field, home-field advantage, home court, home-court advantage, defender's advantage or home-ice advantage – describes the benefit that the home team is said to gai ...

as they had a better regular season record (28–6) than the Dream (19–15). This was the 1st time the teams have met in the championship round. The Dream made their first ever appearance in the Finals while the Storm made their second appearance, after winning the 2004 championship series. This was the second straight year in which neither team advancing to the Finals had been there the previous season. Seattle had not won a playoff series since their Finals victory in 2004, when 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 ...

2–1.

Betty Lennox Betty Bernice Lennox (born December 4, 1976) is an American retired professional basketball player. She played for the Minnesota Lynx, Miami Sol, Cleveland Rockers, Seattle Storm, Atlanta Dream, Los Angeles Sparks and Tulsa Shock in the Women' ...

, who played with Atlanta after leaving the Storm (now with

L.A. Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

) was named series MVP in 2004. Only two players remain from the championship roster–all-stars

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 ...

and

Lauren Jackson Lauren Elizabeth Jackson (born 11 May 1981) is an Australian professional basketball player. The daughter of two national basketball team players, Jackson was awarded a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 1997, when she ...

. To advance to the Finals, the Storm defeated

Diana Taurasi Diana Lorena Taurasi (born June 11, 1982) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted by Phoenix first overall in the 2004 WNBA draft. Taurasi has w ...

and the defending champion

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league ...

2–0 in the Western Conference Finals. This was the first WNBA Finals appearance for both head coaches. Each coach had been with their respective team since the 2008 season. Seattle's

Brian Agler Brian Agler (born August 2, 1958) is an American women's professional basketball coach. He previously coached the Dallas Wings from 2019 to 2020. He also had previously been head coach of the Seattle Storm and the Los Angeles Sparks, each of whom ...

had been involved with the WNBA since 1999, when he was head coach of 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 ...

. Atlanta's

Marynell Meadors Marynell Meadors (born August 27, 1943) is an American women's basketball coach at the college and professional level. She most recently served as head coach and general manager of the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association a ...

was one of the league's original eight head coaches, leading the

Charlotte Sting The Charlotte Sting were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the league's eight original teams. The team folded on January 3, 2007. The Sting was originally the sister organization of ...

to a 15–13 record in their inaugural season. This was the first ever Finals series to feature the two most recent

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

award winners; Meadors won the award in 2009 and Agler won in 2010. This series featured 9 international players (most notably

) from 6 different backgrounds. Seattle's roster boasted five foreign-born players hailing from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Atlanta had four, representing

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

. This was a WNBA record for the championship series; eight international players were featured in the 1998 Finals. The series ended with the Storm beating the Dream in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

in a three-game sweep. This was only the second time in WNBA history that a team won the Finals three games to none (previously done by

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Background

2010 WNBA Playoffs

Regular season series

The Storm won the regular season series:

Atlanta Dream

The

finished the regular season with a 19–15 record. As the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Dream eliminated the No. 1 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 ...

in two games during the conference playoff semifinals. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Dream went on to eliminate the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was f ...

in two games. In reaching the Finals, the Dream became the second team in WNBA history to do so as a four seed; the

(coached by Liberty coach

Anne Donovan Anne Theresa Donovan (November 1, 1961 – June 13, 2018) was an American women's basketball player and coach. From 2013 to 2015, she was the head coach of the Connecticut Sun. In her playing career, Donovan won a national championship with Ol ...

) advanced to the

2001 WNBA Finals The 2001 WNBA Championship was the championship series of the 2001 WNBA season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Los Angeles Sparks, top-seeded champions of the Western Conference, defeated the Charlotte Sting, fourth-seeded cha ...

as a No. 4 seed. Also, the Dream became the second team in Eastern Conference history to reach the Finals after sweeping their opponents in the first two rounds, after the

did it in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Seattle Storm

The

finished the regular season as the Western Conference champion with a 28–6 record. As the No. 1 seed in the conference, the Storm eliminated the No. 4 seeded

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

in two games in the first round; the Sparks had eliminated the Storm from the playoffs in three of the previous five seasons. In the Western Conference Finals against the

, the Storm won Game 1 but trailed by as many as 19 points in Game 2. They rallied back and

made a 3-pointer with under three seconds left to win the series on Phoenix's home floor. This is the first time since their 2004 championship season in which the Storm were not eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Game summaries

All times listed below are

Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...

Game 1

made a tiebreaking jumper from the foul line with 2.6 seconds left and the Storm beat the Dream 79–77.

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 complet ...

had a last-second try for the Dream, but her long 3-pointer from the left side did not connect. League MVP

had 26 points and eight rebounds for Seattle. Bird finished with 14 points and

Camille Little Camille Little (born January 18, 1985) is a former American professional basketball player for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She began her WNBA career with the San Antonio Silver Stars in 2007. She played college basketball ...

had 18 points and 11 rebounds. McCoughtry and

Iziane Castro Marques Iziane "Izi" Castro Marques (born March 13, 1982) is a retired Brazilian professional basketball player. Castro Marques played for the Brazil women's national basketball team and played for the Miami Sol, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm, Atlanta ...

had 19 points apiece for Atlanta.

Sancho Lyttle Sancho Lyttle (born September 20, 1983) is a Vincentian-Spanish former professional basketball player for the WNBA. Combining the WNBA and the European season, she has won six domestic leagues and four Euroleague titles with four teams in thre ...

added 10 points and 14 rebounds. Jackson made a 3-pointer late in the third quarter to give Seattle the lead for good at 52–49 and the Storm led by six going into the fourth quarter. Atlanta trailed by nine in the fourth before rallying, tying it at 77 on Castro Marques' old-fashioned three-point play with a minute left. Each team had to deal with foul trouble for one of its star players. Seattle forward

Swin Cash Swintayla Marie "Swin" Cash Canal (born September 22, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who played professionally for 15 seasons in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She currently serves as vice preside ...

picked up two in the first minute of the game and was whistled for her third foul before the half-way mark of the first quarter. McCoughtry had three early fouls and sat out the second quarter; she later missed much of the third quarter after knocking heads with Seattle's Jana Vesela.

Game 2

League MVP

scored 26 points,

added 19 and the

moved one step closer to the title with an 87–84 win over the

in Game 2 of the finals. Seattle improved to 21–0 at home this season and is hoping it won't need another game at

KeyArena Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of Downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was or ...

. The Storm had plenty of reasons to be pleased after winning two rough and ragged games in Seattle.

, who kept Atlanta close with 21 points Tuesday night, might have broken her nose for the second time in two months after a first-quarter collision kept her on the bench for a chunk of the second quarter with an ice bag on her nose.

, the Dream's leading scorer, wore a Band-Aid over her left eye, the result of a collision in Game 1 that required stitches. McCoughtry was off in Game 2, making just seven of 23 shots on her way to 21 points. She tried to salvage the shaky performance, scoring five quick points in the final 30 seconds to help Atlanta close to 87–84. Cash missed two free throws with 2.2 seconds left but Atlanta could not get off a potential tying shot. "I just missed some shots. You're going to have bad days," McCoughtry said. "I had good looks. Usually I knock them down. I just didn't knock them down today. I just gotta stay more focused."

Game 3

After losing in the first round of the playoffs five straight years following their first title,

and the

are champions again. "I guess now I can be honest," Bird said. "Losing in the first round has been terrible. It's something I took personally and something a lot of us took personally. I judge myself by winning, so to not win in five years really, really hurt." The Storm made up for the long gap between titles by dominating the 2010 season. Seattle was 28-6 during the regular season - tying the league record for wins - before sweeping each of its three postseason series. Bird and Jackson are the only players remaining from the Storm's 2004 title team. "I think the roads have been completely different," said Jackson of the two championships. "After the last six years, it definitely has taken a long time to get here." Jackson, who had 26 points in each of the Storm's first two wins in the series, had 15 points and nine rebounds and was selected MVP of the finals.

scored 18 points to lead a balanced offense as Seattle overcame 35 points by Atlanta's

. The Dream star, who set a WNBA playoff record with 42 points in the Eastern Conference finals clinching win over the New York Liberty, tried to rally Atlanta with nine points in the final 2:30. But McCoughtry and Coco Miller missed 3-pointers in the final 6 seconds, setting off a celebration by Seattle's players. The Dream rallied in the final minute after trailing 82–70. McCoughtry's three-point play with 46 seconds remaining cut Seattle's lead to 85–80. Seattle's

Tanisha Wright Tanisha Lovely Wright (born November 29, 1983) is an American basketball coach and former player. Wright is currently the head coach of the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA. She began her coaching career as an assistant coach at Charlotte. As a player, W ...

missed two free throws and McCoughtry was fouled by Cash while missing a 3. McCoughtry made two of three free throws to cut the lead to three points with 31 seconds remaining. Bird dribbled away the shot clock before missing a shot to set up a basket by Atlanta's

with 6.9 seconds left. McCoughtry immediately fouled

, who made two free throws to give Seattle an 87–84 lead. McCoughtry missed a 3-pointer but the rebound went to Atlanta before Coco Miller also missed a last-second 3. "I think we have grown up quite a bit this season," said Atlanta coach

. "Maybe another minute on the clock might have made a difference in the outcome of this game and the same thing with the two games in Seattle."

Awards

*2010 WNBA Champions:

* Finals MVP:

(Seattle)

Rosters

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References

{{NBA on ABC

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 ...

Women's National Basketball Association Finals

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Seattle Storm Atlanta Dream Sports competitions in Atlanta Sports competitions in Seattle WNBA