2017 WNBA playoffs


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

Format

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. 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 hosts games 1, 2, and 5 while their opponent hosts games 3 and 4.

Tiebreak procedures

  1. Better winning percentage among all head-to-head games involving tied teams.
  2. Better winning percentage against teams within 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.

    Playoff qualifying

Bracket

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

First round

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

Dallas won 2–1 in the regular-season series

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

Phoenix won 2–1 in the regular-season series

Second round

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

Connecticut won 2–1 in the regular-season series

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

New York won 2–1 in the regular-season series

Semifinals

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

Minnesota won 3–0 in the regular-season series

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

Los Angeles won 3–0 in the regular-season series

WNBA Finals

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

Los Angeles won 2–1 in the regular-season series