The Storm and Mystics meet for Game 1 of the WNBA Finals Friday night at KeyArena. With the matchup between Mystics F Elena Delle Donne and Storm F Breanna Stewart at the forefront, the best-of-five series "could be the initial volley in the debate over who is the transformative player of the current WNBA generation." Both teams' "high level of offense" should provide a "more viewer-friendly experience than the slower-paced, defensive-heavy battles" between the Lynx and Sparks in the last two Finals. Stewart: “People who have been watching or who are just starting to watch are just realizing how exciting this league is” (N.Y. TIMES, 9/7). SB Nation goes with "7 Reasons We're So Excited To Watch The WNBA Finals."
Game 1 is on ESPNews, with Sunday's Game 2 on ABC and the remainder of the series on ESPN2. The Athletic's Richard Deitsch tweeted, "No sports media entity in history has covered/dedicated more resources to women's basketball than ESPN. But the WNBA Finals not getting an ESPN or ESPN2 slot for Game 1 truly sucks. And it will impact the viewership significantly if this series is short." ESPN producer Terri Foster-Brasby: "Can you imagine if a flagship show like @FirstTake took a quick second to have a conversation about how amazing the @WNBA postseason has been and that the #WNBAFinals are about to start and how many people would get to hear about our league? Even if for a sec? Yea me neither."
