The 2017 WNBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the WNBA's 2017 season.

2017 WNBA Playoffs
DatesSeptember 6 - October 4, 2017
Final positions
ChampionsMinnesota Lynx (Finals champion)
Higher seed finalistMinnesota Lynx (Coach: Cheryl Reeve)
Lower seed finalistLos Angeles Sparks (Coach: Brian Agler)
← 2016
2018 →

Format

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Following the WNBA regular season, eight teams in the entire league qualified for the playoffs and were seeded one to eight.[1] Regular season records determined the seedings of the teams. The team with the best record received seed one, the team with the next best record received seed two, and so on. The top two seeds get double byes, while the next two seeds get first-round byes.

These seedings were used to create a bracket that determines the match-ups throughout the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs consisted of two match-ups based on the seedings (5-8 and 6-7). The two winners advanced to the second round with a match-up between the number 3 seed and the lower of the advancing seeds and another match-up between the number 4 seed and the other first round winner. The winners of the first two rounds advanced to the semifinals, where the lower ranked seed of the winners faced the number 1 seed, while the other remaining team faced the number 2 seed.

The first two rounds are single elimination games played on the higher ranking seed's home court. The semifinals and WNBA Finals are best-of-five series played in a 2-2-1 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage (better record) hosts games 1, 2, and 5 while their opponent hosts games 3 and 4.

Tiebreak procedures

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  1. Better winning percentage among all head-to-head games involving tied teams.
  2. Better winning percentage against teams within conference (for Finals only: better record against teams in # the opposite conference).
  3. Better winning percentage against all teams with a .500 or better record at the end of the season.
  4. Better point differential in games involving tied teams.
  5. Coin toss (or draw of lots, if at least 3 teams are still tied after the first 4 tiebreakers fail).

Playoff qualifying

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Seed Team Record Clinched
Playoff berth Bye to Semis Top Record
1 Minnesota Lynx 27–7      
2 Los Angeles Sparks 26–8      
3 New York Liberty 22–12      
4 Connecticut Sun 21–13      
5 Phoenix Mercury 18–16      
6 Washington Mystics 18–16      
7 Dallas Wings 16–18      
8 Seattle Storm 15–19      

Playoffs and Finals

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Bracket

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First round:
Single elimination
(Sept. 6)
Second round:
Single elimination
(Sept. 10)
Semifinals:
Best-of-five
(Sept. 12 – Sept. 17)
WNBA Finals:
Best-of-five
(Sept. 24 – Oct. 4)
2Los Angeles Sparks798689
4Connecticut Sun835Phoenix Mercury667287
5Phoenix Mercury795Phoenix Mercury881Minnesota Lynx8470648085
8Seattle Storm692Los Angeles Sparks8568756976
1Minnesota Lynx1019381
3New York Liberty686Washington Mystics818370
6Washington Mystics866Washington Mystics82
7Dallas Wings76

Note: Teams re-seeded after second round and semi-finals.

First round

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

(6) Washington Mystics vs. (7) Dallas Wings

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September 6
8:00 PM
Dallas Wings 76, Washington Mystics 86
Scoring by quarter: 12-18, 22-16, 16-25, 26-27
Pts: Powers 21
Rebs: Johnson 14
Asts: four tied 3
Pts: Delle Donne 25
Rebs: Thomas 17
Asts: Meesseman 5
Washington wins series 1-0
Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
Attendance: 6,483
Referees: Tiara Cruse, Tim Greene, Tom Nunez

(5) Phoenix Mercury vs. (8) Seattle Storm

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September 6
10:00 PM
Seattle Storm 69, Phoenix Mercury 79
Scoring by quarter: 17–16, 14–16, 15–24, 23-23
Pts: Stewart 23
Rebs: Stewart 8
Asts: Bird 5
Pts: Griner 23
Rebs: Griner 11
Asts: three tied 3
Phoenix wins series 1-0
Wells Fargo Arena, Temple, AZ
Attendance: 5,764
Referees: Tiffany Bird, Eric Brewton, Cheryl Flores, Kurt Walker

Second round

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

(4) Connecticut Sun vs. (5) Phoenix Mercury

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September 10
3:00 PM
Phoenix Mercury 88, Connecticut Sun 83
Scoring by quarter: 18-29, 25–21, 25–18, 20-15
Pts: Griner 26
Rebs: Griner 9
Asts: Mitchell 5
Pts: A. Thomas 20
Rebs: Jones 15
Asts: J. Thomas 4
Phoenix wins series 1-0
Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT
Attendance: 8,420
Referees: Maj Forsberg, Roy Gulbeyan, Byron Jarrett

(3) New York Liberty vs. (6) Washington Mystics

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September 10
5:00 PM
Washington Mystics 82, New York Liberty 68
Scoring by quarter: 10-21, 25–20, 25–10, 22-17
Pts: Toliver 32
Rebs: Delle Donne 10
Asts: Ruffin-Pratt & Toliver 4
Pts: Charles 18
Rebs: Charles & Zellous 6
Asts: Hartley 5
Washington wins series 1-0
Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Attendance: 9,538
Referees: Sue Blauch, Billy Smith, Jeff Wooten

Semifinals

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

(1) Minnesota Lynx vs. (6) Washington Mystics

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September 12
8:00 PM
Washington Mystics 81, Minnesota Lynx 101
Scoring by quarter: 18–26, 20-27, 18-31, 25–17
Pts: Delle Donne 17
Rebs: Delle Donne 6
Asts: Toliver 6
Pts: Augustus 24
Rebs: Fowles 7
Asts: Moore 4
Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MN
Attendance: 7,834
Referees: JB DeRosa, Maj Forsberg, Billy Smith
September 14
8:00 PM
Washington Mystics 83, Minnesota Lynx 93
Scoring by quarter: 29–19, 18-26, 17–24, 19–24
Pts: Delle Donne & Toliver 25
Rebs: Thomas 7
Asts: Toliver 6
Pts: Fowles 25
Rebs: Brunson 10
Asts: Whalen 7
Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MN
Attendance: 9,033
Referees: Sue Blauch, Roy Gulbeyan, Vladimir Voyard-Tadal
September 17
3:00 PM
Minnesota Lynx 81, Washington Mystics 70
Scoring by quarter: 18–16, 20–23, 21–14, 22–17
Pts: Moore 21
Rebs: Fowles 14
Asts: Moore & Whalen 5
Pts: Delle Donne 15
Rebs: Delle Donne 8
Asts: Toliver 5
Minnesota wins series 3-0
Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
Attendance: 7,950
Referees: Cheryl Flores, Kurt Walker, Jeff Wooten

(2) Los Angeles Sparks vs. (5) Phoenix Mercury

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September 12
10:00 PM
Phoenix Mercury 66, Los Angeles Sparks 79
Scoring by quarter: 23–19, 19-23, 6-14, 18-23
Pts: Mitchell 19
Rebs: Little 11
Asts: Mitchell 4
Pts: Ogwumike 19
Rebs: Ogwumike 9
Asts: Gray 6
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Attendance: 7,963
Referees: Tiffany Bird, Jeff Smith, Kurt Walker
September 14
10:00 PM
Phoenix Mercury 72, Los Angeles Sparks 86
Scoring by quarter: 19–22, 16-21, 20-18, 17–25
Pts: Taurasi 21
Rebs: Mitchell 6
Asts: Taurasi 4
Pts: Parker 24
Rebs: Parker 13
Asts: Gray & Parker 6
Walter Pyramid, Long Beach, CA
Attendance: 4,023
Referees: Maj Forsberg, Byron Jarrett, Thomas Nunez
September 17
5:00 PM
Los Angeles Sparks 89, Phoenix Mercury 87
Scoring by quarter: 21–25, 24–13, 18–24, 26–25
Pts: Sims 22
Rebs: Ogwumike 12
Asts: Parker 11
Pts: Taurasi 22
Rebs: Griner & Little 8
Asts: Mitchell & Taurasi 5
Los Angeles wins series 3-0
Talking Stick Resort Arena Phoenix, AZ
Attendance: 12,043
Referees: Sue Blauch, Eric Brewton, Billy Smith

Finals

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

(1) Minnesota Lynx vs. (2) Los Angeles Sparks

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September 24
3:30pm ET
Los Angeles Sparks 85, Minnesota Lynx 84
Scoring by quarter: 32–11, 11–22, 25–23, 17–28
Pts: Gray 27
Rebs: Parker 12
Asts: Gray 6
Pts: Moore 27
Rebs: Fowles 13
Asts: Whalen 6
Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MN
Attendance: 11,823
Referees: Cheryl Flores, Kurt Walker, Jeff Wooten
September 26
8:00pm ET
Los Angeles Sparks 68, Minnesota Lynx 70
Scoring by quarter: 10–28, 16–17, 24–15, 18–10
Pts: Parker 17
Rebs: Ogwumike 13
Asts: Parker 6
Pts: Whalen 14
Rebs: Fowles 17
Asts: Brunson, Whalen 3
Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MN
Attendance: 11,434
Referees: Maj Forsberg, Bryon Jarrett, Billy Smith
September 29
9:00pm ET
Minnesota Lynx 64, Los Angeles Sparks 75
Scoring by quarter: 8–17, 18–15, 22–24, 16–19
Pts: Moore 16
Rebs: Fowles 11
Asts: Jones 4
Pts: Ogwumike, Sims 16
Rebs: Ogwumike 10
Asts: Gray 7
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Attendance: 13,500
Referees: Sue Blauch, Eric Brewton, Roy Gulbeyan
October 1
8:30pm ET
Minnesota Lynx 80, Los Angeles Sparks 69
Scoring by quarter: 21–16, 22–15, 18–13, 19–25
Pts: Fowles 22
Rebs: Fowles 14
Asts: Whalen 8
Pts: Sims 18
Rebs: Ogwumike, Parker 8
Asts: Gray 9
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Attendance: 13,500
Referees: Maj Forsberg, Billy Smith, Kurt Walker
October 4
8:00pm ET
Los Angeles Sparks 76, Minnesota Lynx 85
Scoring by quarter: 19–21, 16–20, 21–19, 20–25
Pts: Parker 19
Rebs: Parker 15
Asts: Gray 8
Pts: Moore 18
Rebs: Fowles 20
Asts: Whalen 8
Minnesota wins series 3-2
Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MN
Attendance: 14,632
Referees: Sue Blauch, Roy Gulbeyan, Byron Jarrett

References

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  1. ^ "WNBA Playoff Picture 2017". WNBA.com. Retrieved 2021-03-06.