2013 WNBA Finals

Result

Finals MVP: Maya Moore

Games

Finals context

Minnesota's second championship in three seasons came against an Atlanta Dream team making its third Finals appearance in as many losses, this time in a clean sweep that left little doubt about the gap between the two rosters. Minnesota, at 26-8, held a commanding regular-season edge over Atlanta's 17-17 mark, and it showed from the opening tip: the Lynx routed the Dream 84-59 in Game 1 at home, with Maya Moore scoring 23 points and Monica Wright adding 20 off the bench, while Angel McCoughtry's 17 points for Atlanta were not nearly enough offensive support. Minnesota was even more dominant in Game 2, winning 88-63 as Seimone Augustus led with 20 points and all five Lynx starters reached double figures, a testament to the team's collective depth; McCoughtry fouled out in the fourth quarter, unable to find any rhythm against Minnesota's defense. The series shifted to Atlanta for Game 3, where the Dream showed more fight, trailing by eight after the first quarter and cutting the deficit to three by halftime, but Minnesota's balanced attack again proved too strong, closing out an 86-77 win and the sweep. Maya Moore was named Finals MVP, cementing her rapid ascent from 2011 Rookie of the Year to championship centerpiece in just her third professional season; her ability to score efficiently while also facilitating for a deep supporting cast made her the most complete offensive weapon on the floor across all three games. This title represented a rematch of the 2011 Finals, which Minnesota had also swept, and it underscored the growing gap between the two franchises even as Atlanta continued reaching the championship round on the strength of McCoughtry's individual brilliance; the Dream, playing without injured forward Sancho Lyttle, simply lacked the roster depth to compete with a Minnesota team whose core of Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Augustus, and Rebekkah Brunson remained fully intact from the 2011 champions. For Atlanta, this marked a third Finals defeat (2010, 2011, 2013), and the Dream have not returned to the championship round since, leaving the franchise still in search of its first title as of this writing. For Minnesota, the sweep affirmed the Lynx's status as the league's premier dynasty of the decade, with titles now in 2011 and 2013 and two more (2015, 2017) still to come; coach Cheryl Reeve's system, emphasizing suffocating team defense and a deep, versatile rotation, had by this point established a template that other contenders spent years trying to replicate without success. The 88-63 margin in Game 2 remains among the most lopsided victories in Finals history, a measure of just how thoroughly Minnesota controlled this particular championship round from start to finish.

Sources

• Wikipedia — 2013 WNBA Finals
• Basketball-Reference.com — WNBA Playoffs