The 2018 WNBA Finals was the best-of-five championship series for the 2018 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). It featured the top-seeded

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 ...

and the three-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 ...

. The series began on September 7, 2018 and ended on September 12, 2018. After winning the first two games at home, the Storm went on the road and completed the 3–0 series sweep. It was the franchise's first title in eight years and third overall.

Road to the Finals

Standings

Playoffs

Summary

The Mystics' regular home of

Capital One Arena Capital One Arena is an indoor arena in Washington, D.C. Located in the Penn Quarter neighborhood, the arena sits atop the Gallery Place (WMATA station), Gallery Place rapid transit station of the Washington Metro. It has been largely considered ...

was not available during the 2018 postseason due to renovations. The team had played its previous home playoff games at Charles Smith Center on the campus of

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

in Washington's

Foggy Bottom Foggy Bottom is one of the oldest late 18th- and 19th-century neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., located west of the White House and downtown Washington, in the Northwest quadrant. It is bounded roughly by 17th Street NW to the east, Rock Cr ...

neighborhood, but that venue would also be unavailable for the Finals due to scheduling issues. The team then moved its home Finals games to

EagleBank Arena EagleBank Arena (originally the Patriot Center) is a 10,000-seat arena in the eastern United States, on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb southwest of Washington, D.C. Opened in 1985, it is the home of Patr ...

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

near

Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...

Game 1

In Game 1 of the WNBA Finals,

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 ...

came up big, leading the Storm in points and rebounds. Loyd scored 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting and regular season 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 ...

added 20 points in a 13 point Storm win. The Storm went on a 16–4 run during the second quarter and never looked back. Seattle lead by as many as 27 in the third quarter.

Game 2

Game 2 of the finals was a back and forth affair. In the first quarter, the Storm started quickly and held a 9 point lead. However, the Mystics came on strong in the second quarter and took a 4 point lead into halftime. The Storm cut the lead to 3 at the end of the third quarter and eventually prevailed in the final period. Seattle was now one win short of its third WNBA title. Since the WNBA Finals went to a best-of-five format in 2005, no team has gone down 0–2 and forced a game five.

Game 3

In Game 3, Seattle dominated the first half, particularly in the second quarter. By halftime, the Storm held a 17 point lead. Washington showed life in the third quarter, pulling to within five points, but Seattle quickly responded with an 8–0 run to reclaim control. From there, the Storm put the finishing touches on their third title as Finals MVP

finished with a series-high 30 points while

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 ...

managed 10 assists. Bird became the only player to have been a member of all three of the Storm's championship teams.

Team rosters

References

External links

WNBA Playoffs Home
{{NBA on ABC 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 ...

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 ...

Seattle Storm Washington Mystics