 | |
| Dates | September 21 - October 20 |
|---|---|
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Los Angeles Sparks (Finals champion) |
| Higher seed finalist | Minnesota Lynx (Coach: Cheryl Reeve) |
| Lower seed finalist | Los Angeles Sparks (Coach: Brian Agler) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Attendance | 8,719 per game |
← 2015
2017 →
| |
| Standings | |
|---|---|
| Eastern Conference | Western Conference |
| 3rd New York Liberty | 1st Minnesota Lynx |
| 4th Chicago Sky | 2nd Los Angeles Sparks |
| 5th Indiana Fever | 7th Seattle Storm |
| 6th Atlanta Dream | 8th Phoenix Mercury |
The 2016 WNBA Playoffs is the postseason tournament of the WNBA's 2016 season.
The WNBA changed its playoff format in 2016.[1] Following the WNBA regular season, eight teams in the entire league qualified for the playoffs and were seeded one to eight.
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.
| Seed | Team | Record | Clinched | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoff berth | Bye to Semis | Top Record | |||
| 1 | Minnesota Lynx | 28–6 | July 25 | September 6 | September 12 |
| 2 | Los Angeles Sparks | 26–8 | July 25 | September 6 | — |
| 3 | New York Liberty | 21–13 | September 7 | — | — |
| 4 | Chicago Sky | 18–16 | September 10 | — | — |
| 5 | Indiana Fever | 17–17[a] | September 10 | — | — |
| 6 | Atlanta Dream | 17–17[a] | September 10 | — | — |
| 7 | Seattle Storm | 16–18[b] | September 11 | — | — |
| 8 | Phoenix Mercury | 16–18[b] | September 14 | — | — |
| First round: Single elimination (Sept. 21) | Second round: Single elimination (Sept. 24 and 25) | Semifinals: Best-of-five (Sept. 28 – Oct. 6) | WNBA Finals: Best-of-five (Oct. 9 – 20) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Minnesota Lynx | 113 | 96 | 82 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | New York Liberty | 94 | 8 | Phoenix Mercury | 95 | 86 | 67 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Indiana Fever | 78 | 8 | Phoenix Mercury | 101 | 1 | Minnesota Lynx | 76 | 79 | 75 | 85 | 76 | |||||||||||||
| 8 | Phoenix Mercury | 89 | 2 | Los Angeles Sparks | 78 | 60 | 92 | 79 | 77 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Los Angeles Sparks | 95 | 99 | 66 | 95 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Chicago Sky | 108 | 4 | Chicago Sky | 75 | 84 | 70 | 75 | |||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Atlanta Dream | 94 | 6 | Atlanta Dream | 98 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Seattle Storm | 85 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Teams re-seeded after second round and semi-finals.
September 21 |
| Phoenix Mercury 89, Indiana Fever78 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 18-18, 17-20, 24-19, 30-21 | ||
| Pts: Taurasi20 Rebs: Griner9 Asts: Taylor4 |
Pts: Coleman & Catchings13 Rebs: Catchings10 Asts: January9 | |
| Phoenix wins series 1-0 | ||
Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Indiana won 2–1 in the regular-season series | ||||||||||||||||||
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September 21 |
| Seattle Storm 85, Atlanta Dream 94 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 18–19, 27–18, 21–29, 19-28 | ||
| Pts: Loyd24 Rebs: Steward & Langhorne7 Asts: Bird7 |
Pts: McCoughtry37 Rebs: Williams16 Asts: McCoughtry & Clarendon7 | |
| Atlanta wins series 1-0 | ||
Hank McCamish Pavilion, Atlanta, Georgia |
| Seattle won 2–1 in the regular-season series | ||||||||||||||||||
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September 24 |
| Phoenix Mercury 101, New York Liberty94 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 25-25, 27–16, 16–26, 33-27 | ||
| Pts: Taurasi30 Rebs: Griner10 Asts: Griner5 |
Pts: Wright21 Rebs: Charles9 Asts: Wright & Charles5 | |
| Phoenix wins series 1-0 | ||
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY |
| New York won 2–1 in the regular-season series | ||||||||||||||||||
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September 25 |
| Atlanta Dream 98, Chicago Sky 108 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 25-37, 25–19, 20–31, 28-21 | ||
| Pts: Hayes30 Rebs: Williams9 Asts: McCoughtry9 |
Pts: Vandersloot21 Rebs: Breland16 Asts: Vandersloot13 | |
| Chicago wins series 1-0 | ||
Allstate Arena Rosemont, Illinois |
| Atlanta won 2–1 in the regular-season series | ||||||||||||||||||
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September 28 |
| Phoenix Mercury 95, Minnesota Lynx 113 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 23–24, 15-31, 34-36, 23–22 | ||
| Pts: Taurasi25 Rebs: Taylor5 Asts: Dupree & Harding5 |
Pts: Moore31 Rebs: Fowles10 Asts: Augustus & Whalen7 | |
Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota |
September 30 |
| Phoenix Mercury 86, Minnesota Lynx 96 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 24–35, 23-20, 18–22, 21–19 | ||
| Pts: Taurasi31 Rebs: Harrison9 Asts: Taylor5 |
Pts: Moore26 Rebs: Brunson11 Asts: Moore5 | |
Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota |
October 2 |
| Minnesota Lynx 82, Phoenix Mercury67 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 18–23, 21–15, 26–15, 17–14 | ||
| Pts: Moore20 Rebs: Brunson9 Asts: Whalen5 |
Pts: Taurasi & Bonner12 Rebs: Griner & Harrison7 Asts: Xargay5 | |
| Minnesota wins series 3-0 | ||
Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, AZ |
| Minnesota won 3–0 in the regular-season series | ||||||||||||||||||
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September 28 |
| Chicago Sky 75, Los Angeles Sparks 95 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 20–22, 15-30, 26-23, 14-20 | ||
| Pts: Faulkner13 Rebs: Breland7 Asts: Vandersloot5 |
Pts: Parker30 Rebs: Ogwumike10 Asts: Ogwumike6 | |
Walter Pyramid, Long Beach, CA |
September 30 |
| Chicago Sky 84, Los Angeles Sparks 99 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 27–28, 15-29, 17-21, 25–21 | ||
| Pts: Dos Santos15 Rebs: Breland9 Asts: Quigley5 |
Pts: Parker, Lavender20 Rebs: Parker12 Asts: Parker8 | |
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA |
October 2 |
| Los Angeles Sparks 66, Chicago Sky 70 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 23–14, 16–16, 8–19, 19–21 | ||
| Pts: Ogwumike22 Rebs: Parker15 Asts: Parker6 |
Pts: Vandersloot17 Rebs: Boyette11 Asts: Faulkner & Vandersloot5 | |
Allstate Arena Rosemont, Illinois |
October 4 |
| Los Angeles Sparks 95, Chicago Sky75 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 23–11, 32–20, 14–28, 26–16 | ||
| Pts: Parker29 Rebs: Ogwumike9 Asts: Gray7 |
Pts: Pondexter19 Rebs: Boyette10 Asts: Young6 | |
| Los Angeles wins series 3-1 | ||
Allstate Arena Rosemont, Illinois |
| Los Angeles won 3–0 in the regular-season series | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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October 9 |
| Los Angeles Sparks 78, Minnesota Lynx76 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 21–18, 13–18, 22–24, 22–16 | ||
| Pts: Toliver & Ogwumike19 Rebs: Parker & Ogwumike9 Asts: Gray4 |
Pts: three tied18 Rebs: Fowles13 Asts: Whalen6 | |
Target Center, Minneapolis, MN |
October 11 |
| Los Angeles Sparks 60, Minnesota Lynx 79 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 14–18, 11–21, 21–15, 14–25 | ||
| Pts: Ogwumike14 Rebs: Ogwumike12 Asts: three tied3 |
Pts: Moore21 Rebs: Fowles15 Asts: Fowles4 | |
Target Center, Minneapolis, MN |
October 14 |
| Minnesota Lynx 75, Los Angeles Sparks 92 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 17–32, 23–16, 18–22, 17–22 | ||
| Pts: Fowles, Brunson14 Rebs: Moore7 Asts: Moore5 |
Pts: Parker24 Rebs: Parker, Ogwumike9 Asts: Beard7 | |
Galen Center, Los Angeles, CA |
October 16 |
| Minnesota Lynx 85, Los Angeles Sparks79 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 22–20, 24–20, 19–19, 20–20 | ||
| Pts: Moore31 Rebs: Fowles13 Asts: Augustus, Moore5 |
Pts: Gray20 Rebs: Ogwumike8 Asts: Beard4 | |
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA |
October 20 |
| Los Angeles Sparks 77, Minnesota Lynx76 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 17–18, 11–16, 26–21, 23–21 | ||
| Pts: Parker28 Rebs: Parker, Ogwumike12 Asts: Beard6 |
Pts: Moore23 Rebs: Brunson, Fowles9 Asts: Moore11 | |
| Los Angeles wins series 3–2 | ||
Target Center, Minneapolis, MN |
| Minnesota won 2–1 in the regular-season series | ||||||||||||||||||
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2016 WNBA season by team
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| Eastern |
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| Western |
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