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| Dates | September 11–18 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MVP | Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas Aces) | |||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Coaches: Becky Hammon (2023, player) | |||||||||
| Eastern finals | Connecticut Sun defeated Chicago Sky 3–2 | |||||||||
| Western finals | Las Vegas Aces defeated Seattle Storm 3–1 | |||||||||
The 2022 WNBA Finals, officially the WNBA Finals 2022 presented by YouTube TV for sponsorship reasons, was the best-of-five championship series for the 2022 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The finals featured the first-seeded Las Vegas Aces facing off against the third-seeded Connecticut Sun.[1] The Aces defeated the Sun in 4 games, winning their first WNBA Championship. This was Las Vegas's third time making the finals, and the second time since moving to Vegas. They previously competed in the Finals in 2008 and 2020. This was Connecticut's fourth time making the finals. They previously competed in 2004, 2005, and 2019.[2]
The Aces won the finals three games to one to claim their first championship in franchise history. Head coach Becky Hammon became the first rookie head coach to win the WNBA Title. In the WNBA's Inaugural Finals, Van Chancellor was a rookie to the WNBA, but had coached in college for nineteen years before winning the WNBA title.[3] Alyssa Thomas recorded the first WNBA Finals triple-double in Game Three.[4] She recorded the second in Finals history in Game Four.[5] The Aces also became the first team to win both the WNBA Commissioner's Cup and the WNBA Finals in the same season.
- ^ Negley, Cassandra. "Yahoo Sports WNBA Finals 2022 preview: How the Aces-Sun stack up as first-time champion will be crowned". sports.yahoo.com. Yahoo Sports. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ PICKMAN, BEN. "WNBA Finals Preview: Everything to Know for Sun vs. Aces". si.com. SI. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ Voepel, MA (September 18, 2022). "Las Vegas Aces' Becky Hammon silences doubters, becomes first rookie coach to win WNBA title". ESPN. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ "Alyssa Thomas scores first triple-double in WNBA Finals history as Sun take Aces to Game 4". skysports.com. Associated Press. September 15, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
- ^ Ward, Zachary (September 19, 2022). "Sun fail to force a Game 5 despite second consecutive triple-double from Alyssa Thomas". SB Nation. Retrieved September 20, 2022.