2001 Los Angeles Sparks season

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

Transactions

WNBA draft

Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 16 Camille Cooper Purdue232Nicole LevanduskyXavier348Kelley SiemonNotre Dame464Beth RecordSyracuse

Transactions DateTransactionApril 20, 2001 Drafted Camille Cooper, Nicole Levandusky, Kelley Siemon and Beth Record in the 2001 WNBA draftApril 30, 2001Signed Kiesha Brown and Wendi WillitsMay 9, 2001Waived Beth RecordMay 18, 2001Waived E.C. Hill, Kiesha Brown and Paige SauerMay 27, 2001Suspended contract of Kelley SiemonJune 5, 2001Traded Camille Cooper to the New York Liberty in exchange for a 2002 2nd Round Pick

Roster

Schedule

Regular season

| 1 | May 28 | @ Houston | W 66–63 | Byears Leslie (15) | Latasha Byears (10) | Lisa Leslie (4) | Compaq Center | 1–0

| 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

| 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

| 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

Playoffs

| 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

| 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

| 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

Season standings

Statistics

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

References