2008 WNBA season | |
---|---|
League | Women's National Basketball Association |
Sport | Basketball |
Duration | May 17 – October 5, 2008 |
Number of games | 34 |
Number of teams | 14 |
Total attendance | 1,887,706 |
Average attendance | 7,932 |
TV partner(s) | ABC, ESPN, NBA TV |
2008 WNBA Draft | |
Top draft pick | Candace Parker |
Picked by | Los Angeles Sparks |
Regular season | |
Season MVP | Candace Parker (Los Angeles) |
Playoffs | |
Eastern champions | Detroit Shock |
Eastern runners-up | New York Liberty |
Western champions | San Antonio Silver Stars |
Western runners-up | Los Angeles Sparks |
Finals | |
Champions | Detroit Shock |
Runners-up | San Antonio Silver Stars |
Finals MVP | Katie Smith (Detroit) |
The 2008 WNBA season was the 12th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. It was the first WNBA season with a franchise in Atlanta as the Dream were announced in late 2007.
No WNBA All-Star Game was held due to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The regular season began with a televised (ABC) meeting between the defending champion Phoenix Mercury and the Los Angeles Sparks in Phoenix, Arizona, on May 17.
Atlanta held their expansion draft on February 6, 2008, when they selected one player from each of the thirteen teams in the league.
Some of the players chosen were:
The Dream were then free to make trades with other teams in the league.
On October 23, 2007, the WNBA draft lottery was held. The Los Angeles Sparks received the first pick. The Chicago Sky was awarded the number two pick, followed by the Minnesota Lynx at number three, the Atlanta Dream at number four, the Houston Comets at number five and the Washington Mystics at number six.
The 2008 WNBA draft was held on April 9 in Tampa, Florida. Coverage of the first round was shown on ESPN2. Second and third round coverage was shown on NBA TV.
The top draft picks were as follows:
Eastern Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Detroit Shock x | 22 | 12 | .647 | – | 14–3 | 8–9 | 16–4 |
Connecticut Sun x | 21 | 13 | .618 | 1.0 | 13–4 | 8–9 | 13–7 |
New York Liberty x | 19 | 15 | .559 | 3.0 | 11–6 | 8–9 | 11–9 |
Indiana Fever x | 17 | 17 | .500 | 5.0 | 11–6 | 6–11 | 12–8 |
Chicago Sky o | 12 | 22 | .353 | 10.0 | 8–9 | 4–13 | 10–10 |
Washington Mystics o | 10 | 24 | .294 | 12.0 | 6–11 | 4–13 | 6–14 |
Atlanta Dream o | 4 | 30 | .118 | 18.0 | 1–16 | 3–14 | 2–18 |
Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
San Antonio Silver Stars x | 24 | 10 | .706 | – | 15–2 | 9–8 | 10–10 |
Seattle Storm x | 22 | 12 | .647 | 2.0 | 16–1 | 6–11 | 13–7 |
Los Angeles Sparks x | 20 | 14 | .588 | 4.0 | 12–5 | 8–9 | 12–8 |
Sacramento Monarchs x | 18 | 16 | .529 | 6.0 | 5–12 | 13–4 | 9–11 |
Houston Comets o | 17 | 17 | .500 | 7.0 | 13–4 | 4–13 | 10–10 |
Minnesota Lynx o | 16 | 18 | .471 | 8.0 | 10–7 | 6–11 | 8–12 |
Phoenix Mercury o | 16 | 18 | .471 | 8.0 | 9–8 | 7–10 | 8–12 |
Note: Teams with an "X" clinched playoff spots.
There was no WNBA All-Star Game due to the break July 28 through August 27 for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This marks the first time since the game was started in the 1999 season that there was no All-Star contest.
Category | Player | Team | Statistic |
---|---|---|---|
Points per game | Diana Taurasi | Phoenix Mercury | 24.1 |
Rebounds per game | Candace Parker | Los Angeles Sparks | 9.5 |
Assists per game | Lindsay Whalen | Connecticut Sun | 5.4 |
Steals per game | Alexis Hornbuckle | Detroit Shock | 2.3 |
Blocks per game | Lisa Leslie | Los Angeles Sparks | 2.9 |
Field goal percentage | Sancho Lyttle | Houston Comets | .582 |
Three-point FG percentage | Edwige Lawson-Wade Lisa Willis | San Antonio Silver Stars New York Liberty | .468 |
Free throw percentage | Becky Hammon | San Antonio Silver Stars | .937 |
Points per game | Team stat | Phoenix Mercury | 88.53 |
Fewest points allowed | Team stat | Seattle Storm | 70.77 |
Field goal percentage | Team stat | San Antonio Silver Stars | .433 |
This was the outlook for the 2008 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.
First round | Conference Finals | WNBA Finals | ||||||||||||
1 | Detroit | 2 | ||||||||||||
4 | Indiana | 1 | ||||||||||||
1 | Detroit | 2 | ||||||||||||
Eastern Conference | ||||||||||||||
3 | New York | 1 | ||||||||||||
2 | Connecticut | 1 | ||||||||||||
3 | New York | 2 | ||||||||||||
1 | Detroit | 3 | ||||||||||||
1 | San Antonio | 0 | ||||||||||||
1 | San Antonio | 2 | ||||||||||||
4 | Sacramento | 1 | ||||||||||||
1 | San Antonio | 2 | ||||||||||||
Western Conference | ||||||||||||||
3 | Los Angeles | 1 | ||||||||||||
2 | Seattle | 1 | ||||||||||||
3 | Los Angeles | 2 |
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