Tamika Catchings leads Indiana Fever to 1st ever WNBA Championship

They were the best team in the Western Conference, featured some of the most exciting players in the game, and were gunning for their second straight title.

But no amounts of positive momentum for the Minnesota Lynx could prevent them from ‘Catching’ the ‘Fever’.

Indiana Fever hoists the WNBA Championship trophy after defeating the Minnesota Lynx in Game Four of the 2012 WNBA Finals

The 2012 WNBA Finals concluded with the Indiana Fever defeating the Minnesota Lynx 3-1 in the best-of-five series to win the WNBA title for the first time in franchise history. The Fever defeated the Lynx 87-78 in the clinching Game 4 to close out the series.

Averaging 24.8 points per game in the Finals, the Fever’s Tamika Catchings was named Finals MVP. This was a long-awaited title for the veteran star, who had won a national college championship, three Olympic gold medals, and had previously lost in the WNBA Finals back in 2009. This year, she made sure that she finally earned the 2012 gold too, closing out Game 4 with a game high 25 points.

Tamika Catchings #24 of the Indiana Fever, the Finals MVP.

Catchings, who was the WNBA’s 2011 regular season MVP, also plays for the Turkish basketball side Galatasaray.

The WNBA Playoffs format has only four teams in the post-season in each conference. To make it to the Finals, each team has to win two best-of-three series, before the best-of-five series in the finals. The Fever had defeated the New York Liberty and the Connecticut Sun – featuring the 2012 WNBA MVP Tina Charles – in the playoffs, before qualifying for the Finals. The Fever were able to defeat the Lynx in the Final despite the injury to their second-highest scorer Katie Douglas.

Led by big names like Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore, and Lindsay Whalen, the Lynx had plenty of star-power, which led them to their second-consecutive Finals appearance after defeating the Seattle Storm and the Los Angeles Sparks in the West, but it wasn’t enough to help them repeat as WNBA Champions.

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