WNBA Finals Game 5 a chance to celebrate, make history

The WNBA will close its 20th season tonight celebrating a new champion, a sign of the history the league is making every day.

At halftime of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals in Minneapolis last weekend, the WNBA’s history and present collided. Really, the 20-year existence for the sometimes fledgling league is a collision of the past and the present. The league is still very much making history.

All-time greats like Lisa Leslie, Yolanda Griffith, Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper and Becky Hammon all stood at midcourt to accept rings commemorating their selection as some of the top 20 players in the WNBA’s 20-year history. They paved the way.

But so too were the other women standing on the court. Playing in THAT game.

Seimone Augustus. Lindsay Whalen. Maya Moore. Candace Parker.

They too were recognized. And then they all helped put on a show that first game, ending in Alana Beard’s buzzer-beating jumper to deliver the Los Angeles Sparks home court and a 1-0 series lead.

Tonight, the WNBA Finals come to an epic conclusion — a decisive Game 5 — with history on the line and to be made in one of the biggest WNBA Finals in the league’s history.

The Minnesota Lynx are seeking their fourth championship in six years. With Maya Moore anchoring the offense and a loaded cast featuring Augustus, Whalen and Sylvia Fowles, they come at opponents with an overwhelming barrage of talent.

It is no coincidence this core has had so much success. These are all future Hall of Famers and some of the greatest players in WNBA history.

The WNBA has had its share of dynasties over the last 20 years. The Lynx can lay claim as the best of them all with a win tonight at home.

The Sparks stand in their way.

Thanks to a brilliant decision from the WNBA to do away with conference seeding in the playoffs, the Sparks got rewarded for having the second-best record and avoided their intra-conference rivals from Minnesota until the Finals.

And this sets the stage for Candace Parker to become one of the most decorated players in the basketball history. For all the success Parker has had at Tennessee and with Team USA, a WNBA championship is the last thing she needs to add to her illustrious resume.

Despite the Sparks’ strong record, they are a team of grinders and workers, not full of the same kind of star power on the other end or the dynastic possibilities.

Nneka Ogwumike emerged this season as a perfect low-post foil, leading Los Angeles in scoring with 18.6 points per game to go with 9.0 rebounds per game in the playoffs. Her size, along with Parker’s versatility, make it tough to get into the interior of the Sparks’ defense.

The series itself has been a work of art, the kind of back-and-forth struggle that a championship match deserves. The Sparks won Game 1 on a buzzer beater, the Lynx answered and then the Sparks answered. Of course, the Lynx answered again.

The series has delivered. And Game 5 will have all the pressure and anticipation deserving of a championship game.

This game will make history and echo through the next 20 years of WNBA history.

People have been noticing, certainly more than they had before.

The WNBA Finals is drawing larger ratings than it did last year — up four percent from last year, and Game 1 was the highest rated WNBA game on ESPN’s family of networks since 1998.

The league is in a great place, a growing place, as it enters its third decade and makes an identity of its own.

It is hard not to buy what the league is selling entering this decisive game.

These are the greatest players in WNBA history. These are two of the greatest teams in league history. This is the potential establishment of a dynasty, the greatest in the sport’s history at the professional level. This is the culmination of an all-time great career.

Something is going to give as the WNBA closes its 20th year as one of its greatest.