History of WNBA Finals winner-take-all games: How Dream-Valkyries are making Game 7 history

History of WNBA Finals winner-take-all games: How Dream-Valkyries are making Game 7 history originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The best two words in sports are Game 7, as the old adage goes. For the first time in its history, the WNBA will be able to put that proposition to the test.

The WNBA Finals is headed to Game 7 after the Dream downed the Valkyries in an emotional — and highly contentious — Game 6. The league only recently transitioned to having its championship be decided through a best-of-seven series.

Still, neutrals will be hoping Saturday’s match lives up to some of its predecessors as an eye-catching winner-take-all tilt.

With that, here’s a look at the history of Game 7s (and other configurations of a winner-take-all finale) in the WNBA Finals.

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History of WNBA Finals Game 7s

Regardless of the result, Saturday’s matchup will make WNBA history as the first-ever Game 7 in league history.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been winner-take-all matches in past championship series. In fact, the WNBA Finals has been littered with do-or-die contests.

The league moved to a best-of-seven format in the title series last year. Before that, the WNBA Finals were contested over five games. The league initially installed a one-game championship before settling on a three-game arrangement in 1998. That format formally fell out of favor in 2005.

While most WNBA Finals have tended to avoid a winner-take-all finale, there has been more than a few that have taken hold of the spotlight over the years. In 2024, the Liberty bested the Lynx in overtime of Game 5, benefitting from Sabrina Ionescu’s game-tying triple at the end of regulation. With the win, New York claimed its first-ever WNBA title.

The 2016 iteration of the competition saw the Sparks down the Lynx. Los Angeles secured the victory via a last-second basket from Nneka Ogwumike.

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WNBA Finals winner-take-all games

With that, here’s a look back at all of the winner-take-all games in WNBA Finals history.

YearResult1997Comets 65, Liberty 511998Comets 80, Mercury 711999Comets 59, Liberty 472003Shock 83, Sparks 782004Storm 74, Sun 602006Shock 80, Monarchs 752007Mercury 108, Shock 922009Mercury 94, Fever 862015Lynx 69, Fever 522016Sparks 77, Lynx 762017Lynx 85, Sparks 762019Mystics 89, Sun 782024Liberty 67, Lynx 62

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