2009 WNBA Playoffs explained

Year:	2009
WNBA Playoffs
Dates:	September 16  - October 9, 2009
Winners:	Phoenix Mercury (Finals Champion)
Attendance:	9,979 per game
Continental Cup Title:	East champion
Continental Cup Qualifiers:	Indiana Fever (Coach: Lin Dunn)
Continental Cup Title1:	West champion
Continental Cup Qualifiers1:	Phoenix Mercury (Coach: Corey Gaines)
Prev Season:	2008
Next Season:	2010

Standings
Eastern Conference	Western Conference
1st Indiana	1st Phoenix
2nd Atlanta	2nd Seattle
3rd Detroit	3rd Los Angeles
4th Washington	4th San Antonio

The 2009 WNBA Playoffs is the postseason for the Women's National Basketball Association's 2009 season.

Format

• The top 4 teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs.
  • All 4 teams are seeded based on their standings.
• For rounds one and two, the teams compete in a best-of-three format with Games 2 and 3 on the home court of the team with the higher seed.
• The series for the WNBA Finals is in a best-of-five format with Games 1, 2 and 5 on the home court of the team with the higher seed.

Playoff qualifying

Eastern ConferenceThe following teams clinched a playoff berth in the East:

1. Indiana Fever (22–12)
2. Atlanta Dream (18–16)
3. Detroit Shock (18–16)
4. Washington Mystics (16–18)

Western ConferenceThe following teams clinched a playoff berth in the West:

1. Phoenix Mercury (23–11)
2. Seattle Storm (20–14)
3. Los Angeles Sparks (18–16)
4. San Antonio Silver Stars (15–19)

Bracket

This was the outlook for the 2009 WNBA playoffs. Teams in italics had home court advantage. Teams in bold advanced to the next round. Numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's original playoffs seeding in their respective conferences. Numbers to the right of each team indicate the number of games the team won in that round.

Eastern Conference

First round

(2) Atlanta Dream vs. (3) Detroit Shock

Conference Finals: (1) Indiana Fever vs. (3) Detroit Shock

Western Conference

First round

(2) Seattle Storm vs. (3) Los Angeles Sparks

Conference Finals: (1) Phoenix Mercury vs. (3) Los Angeles Sparks

WNBA Finals: (1) Phoenix Mercury vs. (1) Indiana Fever

See main article: 2009 WNBA Finals.

• All times Eastern