2017 Los Angeles Sparks season
2017 Los Angeles Sparks season | |
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Coach | Brian Agler |
Arena | Staples Center |
Attendance | 10,687 per game |
Results | |
Record | 26–8 (.765) |
Place | 2nd (Western) |
Playoff finish | Lost WNBA Finals 3–2 (Minnesota) |
Team Leaders | |
Points | Nneka Ogwumike 18.8 ppg |
Rebounds | Candace Parker 8.4 rpg |
Assists | Chelsea Gray 4.4 apg |
Media | |
Television | Spectrum SportsNet ESPN2, NBATV |
The 2017 WNBA season was the 21st season for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association. The Sparks were the defending WNBA champions. The season tipped off on May 13.
The Sparks started the season winning two games, losing two games and then winning two more games. This stretch was followed by a loss to Dallas before the Sparks won eight straight games. Their winning streak was ended as they lost a Finals re-match with Minnesota. They lost the following game to Seattle before winning five of their next six games. They started August slowly, going 2–2 in their first four games of the month, but finished the month on a five game winning streak. The Sparks only had two regular season games in September, and they won them both. They finished the regular season with a 26–8 record, and secured the second seed in the 2017 WNBA Playoffs, finishing one game out of the first seed.
As the second seed in the playoffs, the Sparks earned a bye into the Semifinals. There, they faced-off against the Phoenix Mercury. Los Angeles had won the regular season series between the two teams 3–0 and won the playoff series by the same result. The closest game was Game 3, which Los Angeles won 89–87 to complete the sweep. The victory setup a finals re-match with Minnesota. The Sparks won the first and third games of the finals, but could not finish off the Lynx and lost the Finals 2 games to 3. The closest game was Game 1, which Los Angeles won by a single point. Minnesota won the final two games of the series by eleven points and nine points.
WNBA draft
[edit]Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
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1 | 11 | Sydney Wiese | United States | Oregon State |
3 | 35 | Saicha Grant-Allen | Canada | Dayton |
Trades and Roster Changes
[edit]Date | Transaction | |
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February 8, 2017 | Alana Beard resigned with Los Angeles Sparks [1] | |
July 28, 2017 | Signed Sandrine Gruda[1] |
Roster
[edit]2017 Los Angeles Sparks roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Game log
[edit]Preseason
[edit]2017 pre-season game log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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May: 1–2 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–2)
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2017 pre-season schedule |
Regular season
[edit]2017 game log Total: 26–8 (Home: 16–1; Road: 10–7) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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May: 3–2 (Home: 2–0; Road: 1–2)
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June
: 8–1 (Home: 4–0; Road: 4–1)
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July
: 6–3 (Home: 5–1; Road: 1–2)
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August
: 4–2 (Home: 1–0; Road: 3–2)
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September
: 2–0 (Home: 2–0; Road: 0–0)
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2017 season schedule |
Playoffs
[edit]2017 playoff game log Total: 5–3 (Home: 3–1; Road: 2–2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WNBA Semifinals: 3–0 (Home: 2–0; Road: 1–0)
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WNBA Finals: 2–3 (Home: 1–1; Road: 1–2)
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2017 playoff schedule |
Standings
[edit]# | Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
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1 | Minnesota Lynx - (1) | 27 | 7 | .794 | – | 15–2 | 12–5 | 13–3 |
2 | Los Angeles Sparks - (2) | 26 | 8 | .765 | 1 | 16–1 | 10–7 | 12–4 |
3 | Phoenix Mercury - (5) | 18 | 16 | .529 | 9 | 9–8 | 9–8 | 7–9 |
4 | Dallas Wings - (7) | 16 | 18 | .471 | 11 | 10–7 | 6–11 | 7–9 |
5 | Seattle Storm - (8) | 15 | 19 | .441 | 12 | 10–7 | 5–12 | 8–8 |
6 | San Antonio Stars - e | 8 | 26 | .235 | 19 | 6–11 | 2–15 | 1–15 |
Playoffs
[edit]First round: Single elimination (Sept. 6) | Second round: Single elimination (Sept. 10) | Semifinals: Best-of-five (Sept. 12 – Sept. 17) | WNBA Finals: Best-of-five (Sept. 24 – Oct. 4) | |||||||||||||||||||||
2 | Los Angeles Sparks | 79 | 86 | 89 | ||||||||||||||||||||
4 | Connecticut Sun | 83 | 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 66 | 72 | 87 | |||||||||||||||||
5 | Phoenix Mercury | 79 | 5 | Phoenix Mercury | 88 | 1 | Minnesota Lynx | 84 | 70 | 64 | 80 | 85 | ||||||||||||
8 | Seattle Storm | 69 | 2 | Los Angeles Sparks | 85 | 68 | 75 | 69 | 76 | |||||||||||||||
1 | Minnesota Lynx | 101 | 93 | 81 | ||||||||||||||||||||
3 | New York Liberty | 68 | 6 | Washington Mystics | 81 | 83 | 70 | |||||||||||||||||
6 | Washington Mystics | 86 | 6 | Washington Mystics | 82 | |||||||||||||||||||
7 | Dallas Wings | 76 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Teams re-seeded after second round and semi-finals.
Statistics
[edit]Legend | |||||||
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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
[edit]Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nneka Ogwumike | 34 | 34 | 30.9 | 56.1% | 34.0% | 87.0% | 7.7 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 18.8 |
Candace Parker | 33 | 33 | 30.5 | 47.8% | 35.4% | 75.6% | 8.4 | 4.3 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 16.9 |
Chelsea Gray | 34 | 34 | 33.1 | 50.7% | 48.2% | 82.7% | 3.3 | 4.4 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 14.8 |
Odyssey Sims | 31 | 14 | 24.3 | 44.7% | 19.0% | 88.6% | 1.9 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 9.6 |
Jantel Lavender | 32 | 0 | 17.3 | 48.8% | 31.3% | 84.6% | 3.0 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 7.3 |
Alana Beard | 34 | 34 | 30.8 | 49.7% | 31.6% | 80.4% | 3.3 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 6.9 |
Riquna Williams | 23 | 6 | 17.7 | 32.1% | 27.0% | 86.4% | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 6.4 |
Essence Carson | 24 | 14 | 19.3 | 40.4% | 25.0% | 48.5% | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 4.8 |
Sydney Wiese | 28 | 0 | 7.9 | 38.3% | 40.0% | 50.0% | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 2.3 |
Tiffany Jackson | 26 | 1 | 5.7 | 46.2% | 0.0% | 62.5% | 1.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.1 |
Sandrine Gruda | 7 | 0 | 4.0 | 36.4% | — | — | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.1 |
Ify Ibekwe | 6 | 0 | 3.8 | 11.1% | 0.0% | 66.7% | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
Maimouna Diarra | 10 | 0 | 2.0 | 20.0% | — | 50.0% | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
Awards and honors
[edit]Recipient | Award | Date awarded | Ref. |
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Candice Parker | Player of the Week | June 19, 2017 | [2] |
Brian Agler | Coach of the Month - June | July 5, 2017 | [3] |
Candice Parker | Player of the Week | July 31, 2017 | [4] |
Candice Parker | Player of the Week | August 28, 2017 | [5] |
Candice Parker | Player of the Month | August 2017 | [6] |
Alana Beard | WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award | September 12, 2017 | [7] |
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Transactions".
- ^ "Connecticut's Jones and Los Angeles' Parker Named WNBA Players of the Week". wnba.com. WNBA. June 19, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
- ^ "Los Angeles' Brian Agler Named WNBA Coach of the Month". wnba.com. WNBA. July 5, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
- ^ "Candace Parker, Tina Charles Named WNBA Players of the Week". wnba.com. WNBA. July 31, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
- ^ "New York's Charles, Los Angeles' Parker Named WNBA Players of the Week". wnba.com. WNBA. August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
- ^ "New York's Charles, Los Angeles' Parker Named WNBA Players of the Month". wnba.com. WNBA. September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
- ^ "Los Angeles' Alana Beard Named 2017 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". wnba.com. WNBA. September 12, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.