# 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 | 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 |

## Schedule
### Regular season

2001 game log Total: 28–4 (Home: 16–0; Road: 12–4) :
May: 1–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 1–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
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)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
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)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
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)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
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
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
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
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
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
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
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
### 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