2001 Los Angeles Sparks season

2001 Los Angeles Sparks season
CoachMichael Cooper
ArenaStaples Center
Attendance9,278 per game
Results
Record28–4 (.875)
Place1st (Western)
Playoff finishWon WNBA Finals
Media
TelevisionKCOP (UPN 13)
Fox Sports Net West

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[1]
April 30, 2001 Signed Kiesha Brown and Wendi Willits[1]
May 9, 2001 Waived Beth Record[1]
May 18, 2001 Waived E.C. Hill, Kiesha Brown and Paige Sauer[1]
May 27, 2001 Suspended contract of Kelley Siemon[1]
June 5, 2001 Traded Camille Cooper to the New York Liberty in exchange for a 2002 2nd Round Pick[1]

Roster

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



Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured 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

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "2001 Indiana Fever Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 18, 2024.