Every 2009 WNBA playoff series, three ways: the season race carried on into the postseason, who beat their seeding, and the bracket.
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The same race these clubs ran all season, carried on through the postseason on one scale and on real dates.
Where each club finished the season against how far it went, ranked on record rather than seed.
Who played whom, round by round, which no line chart can say.
Phoenix Mercury won the 2009 title from a regular season record of 23-11. 8 teams reached the playoffs and the bracket ran 3 rounds. Every series below is taken from NBA.com's WNBA statistics; nothing on this page is estimated.
| Round | Won by | Result | Opponent | Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conf. semifinals | Phoenix Mercury | 2-1 in games | San Antonio Silver Stars | September 17 to September 21, 2009 |
| Conf. semifinals | Indiana Fever | 2-0 in games | Washington Mystics | September 17 to September 19, 2009 |
| Conf. semifinals | Los Angeles Sparks | 2-1 in games | Seattle Storm | September 16 to September 20, 2009 |
| Conf. semifinals | Detroit Shock | 2-0 in games | Atlanta Dream | September 16 to September 18, 2009 |
| Conf. finals | Phoenix Mercury | 2-1 in games | Los Angeles Sparks | September 23 to September 26, 2009 |
| Conf. finals | Indiana Fever | 2-1 in games | Detroit Shock | September 23 to September 26, 2009 |
| The Finals | Phoenix Mercury | 3-2 in games | Indiana Fever | September 29 to October 9, 2009 |
The left column ranks this field by regular season record, not by seed number: seeding rules differ by era, so this site uses records everywhere instead. The right column groups clubs by the round they went out in, which is not the same as the number of rounds they won, because a bye carries a club further without it winning anything. The figure beside a name is places moved between the two columns, and part of it is only where a club sat inside its band. Nothing here is a prediction. The data notes carry the whole method.