2001 Los Angeles Sparks season

2001 Los Angeles Sparks season
Coach	Michael Cooper
Arena	Staples Center
Attendance	9,278 per game
Results
Record	28–4 (.875)
Place	1st (Western)
Playoff finish	Won WNBA Finals
Media
Television	KCOP (UPN 13) Fox Sports Net West
← 2000 season 2002 season →

The 2001 WNBA season was the fifth season for the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks won their first WNBA Finals.

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2001 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	16	Camille Cooper	United States	Purdue
2	32	Nicole Levandusky	United States	Xavier
3	48	Kelley Siemon	United States	Notre Dame
4	64	Beth Record	United States	Syracuse

Transactions

Date	Transaction
April 20, 2001	Drafted Camille Cooper, Nicole Levandusky, Kelley Siemon and Beth Record in the 2001 WNBA Draft
April 30, 2001	Signed Kiesha Brown and Wendi Willits
May 9, 2001	Waived Beth Record
May 18, 2001	Waived E.C. Hill, Kiesha Brown and Paige Sauer
May 27, 2001	Suspended contract of Kelley Siemon
June 5, 2001	Traded Camille Cooper to the New York Liberty in exchange for a 2002 2nd Round Pick

Roster

2001 Los Angeles Sparks roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G/F 0 Byears, Latasha 5' 11" (1.8m) 206 lb (93kg) 1973-08-12 DePaul 4 G 21 Dixon, Tamecka 5' 9" (1.75m) 148 lb (67kg) 1975-12-14 Kansas 4 G 5 Figgs, Ukari 5' 9" (1.75m) 142 lb (64kg) 1977-03-31 Purdue 2 G 17 Grgin-Fonseca, Vedrana 6' 1" (1.85m) 160 lb (73kg) 1975-01-13 1 C 9 Leslie, Lisa 6' 5" (1.96m) 170 lb (77kg) 1972-07-07 USC 4 G 40 Levandusky, Nicole 5' 8" (1.73m) – 1979-05-17 Xavier R G 4 Mabika, Mwadi 5' 11" (1.8m) 165 lb (75kg) 1976-07-27 4 C 51 Mapp, Rhonda 6' 2" (1.88m) 190 lb (86kg) 1969-10-13 NC State 4 G 10 McCrimmon, Nicky 5' 8" (1.73m) 125 lb (57kg) 1972-03-22 USC 1 F 8 Milton-Jones, DeLisha 6' 1" (1.85m) 175 lb (79kg) 1974-09-11 Florida 2 G 20 Willits, Wendi 5' 7" (1.7m) – 1978-11-18 Arkansas R	Head coach Michael Cooper (New Mexico) Assistant coaches Glenn McDonald Legend (C) Team captain (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

2001 game log Total: 28–4 (Home: 16–0; Road: 12–4)
May: 1–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 1–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 28 @ Houston W 66–63 Byears Leslie (15) Latasha Byears (10) Lisa Leslie (4) Compaq Center 1–0
June : 9–3 (Home: 4–0; Road: 5–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 2 June 1 @ Orlando W 68–62 Tamecka Dixon (21) Lisa Leslie (12) Mwadi Mabika (8) TD Waterhouse Centre 2–0 3 June 2 @ Charlotte W 76–67 Lisa Leslie (20) Lisa Leslie (9) Tamecka Dixon (4) Charlotte Coliseum 3–0 4 June 5 Cleveland W 58–50 Lisa Leslie (23) Lisa Leslie (8) Tamecka Dixon (6) Staples Center 4–0 5 June 9 @ Minnesota W 62–60 Lisa Leslie (17) Lisa Leslie (16) Dixon Mabika (4) Target Center 5–0 6 June 14 Orlando W 84–68 Tamecka Dixon (18) DeLisha Milton-Jones (7) Figgs Mabika (5) Staples Center 6–0 7 June 16 @ Seattle W 73–60 Lisa Leslie (22) Lisa Leslie (11) Dixon McCrimmon (6) KeyArena 7–0 8 June 17 Portland W 90–75 Dixon Leslie (13) Mwadi Mabika (9) Figgs Milton-Jones (4) Staples Center 8–0 9 June 19 Charlotte W 73–69 Lisa Leslie (19) Lisa Leslie (13) Dixon Figgs (5) Staples Center 9–0 10 June 21 @ Houston L 65–69 Lisa Leslie (17) Lisa Leslie (14) Tamecka Dixon (8) Compaq Center 9–1 11 June 22 @ Cleveland L 70–74 Lisa Leslie (21) Byears Dixon Leslie Milton-Jones (4) DeLisha Milton-Jones (3) Gund Arena 9–2 12 June 24 @ New York L 69–82 Lisa Leslie (26) Lisa Leslie (11) Dixon Leslie Mabika McCrimmon Milton-Jones (2) Madison Square Garden 9–3 13 June 26 @ Detroit W 98–89 (OT) Lisa Leslie (28) Lisa Leslie (11) Lisa Leslie (3) The Palace of Auburn Hills 10–3
July : 12–0 (Home: 7–0; Road: 5–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 14 July 1 Miami W 86–60 DeLisha Milton-Jones (19) Latasha Byears (11) Tamecka Dixon (6) Staples Center 11–3 15 July 3 Utah W 84–71 Lisa Leslie (18) Latasha Byears (7) Tamecka Dixon (7) Staples Center 12–3 16 July 5 Phoenix W 73–50 Lisa Leslie (23) Lisa Leslie (15) Figgs Leslie (5) Staples Center 13–3 17 July 8 Minnesota W 100–95 (OT) Lisa Leslie (32) Lisa Leslie (13) Ukari Figgs (9) Staples Center 14–3 18 July 10 @ Utah W 79–67 Mwadi Mabika (19) Lisa Leslie (8) Lisa Leslie (5) Delta Center 15–3 19 July 11 @ Phoenix W 75–61 Ukari Figgs (16) DeLisha Milton-Jones (11) Ukari Figgs (6) America West Arena 16–3 20 July 14 @ Washington W 62–50 Lisa Leslie (18) Lisa Leslie (12) Ukari Figgs (8) MCI Center 17–3 21 July 19 @ Sacramento W 83–68 Lisa Leslie (23) Lisa Leslie (14) Dixon Figgs Leslie McCrimmon (4) ARCO Arena 18–3 22 July 21 Seattle W 85–79 Lisa Leslie (19) DeLisha Milton-Jones (7) Tamecka Dixon (7) Staples Center 19–3 23 July 25 Sacramento W 80–78 Mwadi Mabika (18) Latasha Byears (16) Ukari Figgs (8) Staples Center 20–3 24 July 28 @ Portland W 88–83 Lisa Leslie (31) Lisa Leslie (11) Mwadi Mabika (6) Rose Garden 21–3 25 July 28 Minnesota W 78–69 Lisa Leslie (28) Lisa Leslie (8) Ukari Figgs (5) Staples Center 22–3
August : 6–1 (Home: 5–0; Road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 26 August 2 Sacramento W 67–62 Lisa Leslie (23) Leslie Mabika (9) Mwadi Mabika (6) Staples Center 23–3 27 August 4 Seattle W 79–60 Lisa Leslie (22) Lisa Leslie (13) Ukari Figgs (9) Staples Center 24–3 28 August 6 Indiana W 81–66 Lisa Leslie (23) Lisa Leslie (13) Leslie McCrimmon (7) Staples Center 25–3 29 August 8 Phoenix W 79–67 Lisa Leslie (24) Byears Leslie Mabika (6) Mwadi Mabika (8) Staples Center 26–3 30 August 11 Houston W 65–54 Mwadi Mabika (22) Latasha Byears (17) Ukari Figgs (6) Staples Center 27–3 31 August 13 @ Utah L 78–80 (OT) Tamecka Dixon (24) Lisa Leslie (10) Tamecka Dixon (6) Delta Center 27–4 32 August 14 @ Portland W 67–58 Mwadi Mabika (21) Lisa Leslie (10) Nicky McCrimmon (5) Rose Garden 28–4
2001 season schedule

Playoffs

2001 playoff game log
First round vs. Houston Comets Won Series: 2–0 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 18 @ Houston W 64–59 Lisa Leslie (19) Lisa Leslie (11) Ukari Figgs (4) Compaq Center 1–0 2 August 20 Houston W 70–58 Lisa Leslie (28) Lisa Leslie (18) Ukari Figgs (9) Staples Center 2–0
Conference Finals vs. Sacramento Monarchs Won Series: 2–1 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 25 @ Sacramento W 74–73 Mabika Milton-Jones (15) Lisa Leslie (10) Dixon Figgs (6) ARCO Arena 1–0 2 August 26 Sacramento L 60–80 Lisa Leslie (13) Mwadi Mabika (11) Ukari Figgs (6) Staples Center 1–1 3 August 27 Sacramento W 93–62 Lisa Leslie (35) Lisa Leslie (16) Ukari Figgs (10) Staples Center 2–1
Championship vs. Charlotte Sting Won Series: 2–0 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 30 @ Charlotte W 75–66 Lisa Leslie (24) Leslie Milton-Jones (8) DeLisha Milton-Jones (5) Charlotte Coliseum 1–0 2 September 1 Charlotte W 82–54 Lisa Leslie (24) Lisa Leslie (13) Tamecka Dixon (7) Staples Center 2–0
2001 playoff schedule

Season standings

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Los Angeles Sparks x	28	4	.875	19–2	–
Sacramento Monarchs x	20	12	.625	13–8	8.0
Utah Starzz x	19	13	.594	11–10	9.0
Houston Comets x	19	13	.594	13–8	9.0
Phoenix Mercury o	13	19	.406	8–13	15.0
Minnesota Lynx o	12	20	.375	9–12	16.0
Portland Fire o	11	21	.344	5–16	17.0
Seattle Storm o	10	22	.313	6–15	18.0

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Lisa Leslie	31	31	33.3	.473	.367	.736	9.6	2.4	1.1	2.3	19.5
Tamecka Dixon	29	29	31.9	.417	.176	.791	2.9	3.9	0.9	0.1	11.7
Mwadi Mabika	28	24	29.6	.387	.382	.861	4.6	3.1	1.4	0.4	11.2
DeLisha Milton-Jones	32	27	29.3	.453	.343	.794	5.3	2.1	1.5	0.9	10.3
Ukari Figgs	32	29	29.1	.425	.462	.810	3.1	3.9	1.3	0.1	8.0
Latasha Byears	32	13	23.1	.602	.333	.577	5.7	0.9	1.3	0.4	9.3
Rhonda Mapp	30	0	13.2	.415	.000	.750	2.6	0.5	0.5	0.2	4.2
Nicky McCrimmon	28	0	12.5	.444	.417	.429	0.4	2.3	0.8	0.0	2.3
Vedrana Grgin-Fonseca	24	7	9.3	.431	.316	.643	1.5	0.5	0.2	0.0	3.0
Nicole Levandusky	13	0	5.2	.318	.294	1.000	0.7	0.5	0.4	0.1	1.5
Wendi Willits	13	0	3.6	.300	.154	.750	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.0	1.3

^‡Waived/Released during the season
^†Traded during the season
^≠Acquired during the season

Awards and honors

• Lisa Leslie, WNBA Finals MVP Award
• Lisa Leslie, WNBA Most Valuable Player Award
• Latasha Byears, WNBA Peak Performer