2012 WNBA season

The 2012 WNBA season was the 16th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. The regular season began on May 18 and concluded on September 23 and playoffs started on September 27 and concluded on October 21.^[2]

2012 WNBA season
League	Women's National Basketball Association
Sport	Basketball
Duration	May 18 – October 21, 2012
Number of games	34
Number of teams	12
Total attendance	1,520,112
Average attendance	7,452
TV partner(s)	ABC, ESPN, NBA TV
Top draft pick	Nneka Ogwumike
Picked by	Los Angeles Sparks
Season MVP	Tina Charles (Connecticut)
Eastern champions	Indiana Fever[1]
Eastern runners-up	Connecticut Sun
Western champions	Minnesota Lynx
Western runners-up	Los Angeles Sparks
Finals champions	Indiana Fever
Runners-up	Minnesota Lynx
Finals MVP	Tamika Catchings (Indiana)

2011–2012 WNBA offseason

• The new television deal with ESPN continued during the 2012 season (runs 2009–2016). For the first time ever, teams will be paid rights fees as part of this deal.
• On January 3, 2012, the Tulsa Shock named former Indiana assistant coach Gary Kloppenburg head coach.
• On January 5, 2012, the Los Angeles Sparks named former Atlanta assistant coach Carol Ross head coach.
• The Seattle Storm trade three time WNBA champion Swin Cash to the Chicago Sky.
• The New York Liberty played home games for the next two seasons at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, due to summer renovations at Madison Square Garden.

Draft

Main article: 2012 WNBA draft

The WNBA Draft lottery was held on November 10, 2011. The lottery teams were the Tulsa Shock, Minnesota Lynx (from Wash.), Chicago Sky and Los Angeles Sparks. The top pick was awarded to Los Angeles.

The 2012 WNBA Draft was held on April 16, 2012, in Bristol, Connecticut. Coverage of the first round was shown on ESPN (HD). Second and third round coverage was shown on ESPNU and NBA TV.

Regular season

Due to the 2012 Summer Olympics, there was no All-Star Game this season as the Olympiad caused a break from mid-July through August.^[3]

Standings

Eastern Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Connecticut Sun y	25	9	.735	–	12–5	13–4	18–4
Indiana Fever x	22	12	.647	3.0	13–4	9–8	15–7
Atlanta Dream x	19	15	.559	6.0	11–6	8–9	12–10
New York Liberty x	15	19	.441	10.0	9–8	6–11	10–12
Chicago Sky o	14	20	.412	11.0	7–10	7–10	8–14
Washington Mystics o	5	29	.147	20.0	4–13	1–16	3–19

Western Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Minnesota Lynx z	27	7	.794	–	16–1	11–6	17–5
Los Angeles Sparks x	24	10	.706	3.0	16–1	8–9	15–7
San Antonio Silver Stars x	21	13	.618	6.0	12–5	9–8	14–8
Seattle Storm x	16	18	.471	11.0	10–7	6–11	11–11
Tulsa Shock o	9	25	.265	18.0	6–11	3–14	5–17
Phoenix Mercury o	7	27	.206	20.0	3–14	4–13	4–18

Playoffs

Main article: 2012 WNBA playoffs

See also: 2012 WNBA Finals

Conference semifinals Best-of-3

Conference finals Best-of-3

WNBA Finals Best-of-5

E1

Connecticut

2

E4

New York

0

E1

Connecticut

1

Eastern Conference

E2

Indiana

2

E2

Indiana

2

E3

Atlanta

1

E2

Indiana

3

W1

Minnesota

1

W1

Minnesota

2

W4

Seattle

1

W1

Minnesota

2

Western Conference

W2

Los Angeles

0

W2

Los Angeles

2

W3

San Antonio

0

• Bold – Series winner
• Italic – Team with home-court advantage

Awards

Reference:^[4]

Individual

Award		Winner	Team	Position	Votes/Statistic
Most Valuable Player (MVP)		Tina Charles	Connecticut Sun	Center	25 out of 41[5]
Finals MVP		Tamika Catchings	Indiana Fever	Forward
Rookie of the Year		Nneka Ogwumike	Los Angeles Sparks	Forward	Unanimous
Most Improved Player		Kristi Toliver	Los Angeles Sparks	Guard	24 out of 41
Defensive Player of the Year		Tamika Catchings	Indiana Fever	Forward	19 out of 41
Sixth Woman of the Year		Renee Montgomery	Connecticut Sun	Guard	23 out of 41
Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award		Kara Lawson	Connecticut Sun	Guard	18 out of 41
Peak Performers	Scoring	Angel McCoughtry	Atlanta Dream	Guard/Forward	21.4 PPG
	Rebounding	Tina Charles	Connecticut Sun	Center	10.5 RPG
	Assists	Lindsay Whalen	Minnesota Lynx	Guard	5.4 APG
Coach of the Year		Carol Ross	Los Angeles Sparks	Coach	15 out of 41

Team

Award		Guard	Guard	Forward	Forward	Center
All-WNBA	First Team	Cappie Pondexter	Seimone Augustus	Candace Parker	Tamika Catchings	Tina Charles
	Second Team	Kristi Toliver	Lindsay Whalen	Maya Moore	Sophia Young	Sylvia Fowles
All-Defensive	First Team	Briann January	Alana Beard	Tamika Catchings	Sancho Lyttle	Sylvia Fowles
	Second Team	Danielle Robinson	Armintie Price	Sophia Young	Candace Parker	Tina Charles
All-Rookie Team		Samantha Prahalis	Riquna Williams	Tiffany Hayes	Nneka Ogwumike	Glory Johnson

Players of the Week

Week ending	Eastern Conference		Western Conference
	Player	Team	Player	Team
May 27	Tamika Catchings	Indiana Fever	Candace Parker	Los Angeles Sparks
June 3	Epiphanny Prince (2)	Chicago Sky	DeWanna Bonner	Phoenix Mercury
June 10			Nneka Ogwumike	Los Angeles Sparks
June 17	Tina Charles	Connecticut Sun	Candace Parker (3)
June 24	Tamika Catchings (2)	Indiana Fever
July 1	Angel McCoughtry	Atlanta Dream	Sophia Young	San Antonio Silver Stars
July 8	Tina Charles (3)	Connecticut Sun	Becky Hammon
July 15			Candace Parker (4)	Los Angeles Sparks
August 20	Tamika Catchings (3)	Indiana Fever	Maya Moore	Minnesota Lynx
August 26	Sancho Lyttle	Atlanta Dream	Kristi Toliver	Los Angeles Sparks
September 2	Tamika Catchings (4)	Indiana Fever	DeWanna Bonner (2)	Phoenix Mercury
September 9	Lindsey Harding	Atlanta Dream	Maya Moore (2)	Minnesota Lynx
September 16	Cappie Pondexter	New York Liberty	Nneka Ogwumike (2)	Los Angeles Sparks
September 23	Tina Charles (4)	Connecticut Sun	Candace Parker (5)

Players of the Month

Month	Eastern Conference		Western Conference
	Player	Team	Player	Team
May	Sylvia Fowles	Chicago Sky	Candace Parker (3)	Los Angeles Sparks
June	Tina Charles (2)	Connecticut Sun
July
August	Tamika Catchings	Indiana Fever	Kristi Toliver	Los Angeles Sparks
September	Cappie Pondexter	New York Liberty	Candace Parker (4)	Los Angeles Sparks

Rookies of the Month

Month	Player	Team
May	Nneka Ogwumike	Los Angeles Sparks
June	Samantha Prahalis	Phoenix Mercury
July	Nneka Ogwumike (4)	Los Angeles Sparks
August
September

Coaches

Eastern Conference

• Atlanta Dream: Marynell Meadors and Fred Williams
• Chicago Sky: Pokey Chatman
• Connecticut Sun: Mike Thibault
• Indiana Fever: Lin Dunn
• New York Liberty: John Whisenant
• Washington Mystics: Trudi Lacey

Western Conference

• Los Angeles Sparks: Carol Ross
• Minnesota Lynx: Cheryl Reeve
• Phoenix Mercury: Corey Gaines
• San Antonio Silver Stars: Dan Hughes
• Seattle Storm: Brian Agler
• Tulsa Shock: Gary Kloppenburg

See also

• WNBA
• WNBA draft
• WNBA All-Star Game
• WNBA Playoffs
• WNBA Finals