2000 Los Angeles Sparks season

The 2000 WNBA season was the fourth season for the Los Angeles Sparks. The team set a 28-4 record, the best in league history, but they were unable to go for the WNBA Finals, losing in the conference finals in a sweep to the Houston Comets.

2000 Los Angeles Sparks season
Coach	Michael Cooper
Arena	Great Western Forum
Attendance	6,563 per game
Results
Record	28–4 (.875)
Place	1st (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost Conference Finals (2-0) to Houston Comets
← 1999 season 2001 season →

Transactions

Indiana Fever expansion draft

The following player was selected in the Indiana Fever expansion draft from the Los Angeles Sparks:

Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
Gordana Grubin	Yugoslavia	MiZo Pécs (Hungary)

Seattle Storm expansion draft

The following player was selected in the Seattle Storm expansion draft from the Los Angeles Sparks:

Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
Nina Bjedov	Yugoslavia	Basket Bees Treviglio (Italy)

WNBA draft

See also: 2000 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	15	Nicole Kubik	United States	Nebraska
2	31	Paige Sauer	United States	UConn
3	47	Marte Alexander	United States	Arizona
4	63	Nicky McCrimmon	United States	USC

Transactions

Date	Transaction
September 30, 1999	Head Coach Orlando Woolridge retires from coaching[1]
October 14, 1999	Hired Michael Cooper as Head Coach[1]
December 15, 1999	Lost Nina Bjedov to the Seattle Storm in the WNBA expansion draft[1]
	Lost Gordana Grubin to the Indiana Fever in the WNBA expansion draft[1]
April 25, 2000	Drafted Nicole Kubik, Paige Sauer, Marte Alexander and Nicky McCrimmon in the 2000 WNBA Draft[1]
May 30, 2000	Waived Nicole Kubik[1]
October 11, 2000	Traded La'Keshia Frett to the Sacramento Monarchs in exchange for Latasha Byears[1]
	Traded Allison Feaster and Clarisse Machanguana to the Charlotte Sting in exchange for Rhonda Mapp and E.C. Hill[1]

Roster

2000 Los Angeles Sparks roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 21 Dixon, Tamecka 5' 9" (1.75m) 148 lb (67kg) 1975-12-14 Kansas 3 F 5 Feaster, Allison 5' 11" (1.8m) 168 lb (76kg) 1976-02-11 Harvard 2 G 15 Figgs, Ukari 5' 9" (1.75m) 142 lb (64kg) 1977-03-31 Purdue 1 F 0 Frett, La'Keshia 6' 3" (1.91m) 170 lb (77kg) 1975-06-12 Georgia 1 G 17 Grgin-Fonseca, Vedrana 6' 1" (1.85m) 160 lb (73kg) 1975-01-13 R C 9 Leslie, Lisa 6' 5" (1.96m) 170 lb (77kg) 1972-07-07 USC 3 G 4 Mabika, Mwadi 5' 11" (1.8m) 165 lb (75kg) 1976-07-27 3 F/C 33 Machanguana, Clarisse 6' 5" (1.96m) 180 lb (82kg) 1976-10-04 Old Dominion 1 G 10 McCrimmon, Nicky 5' 8" (1.73m) 125 lb (57kg) 1972-03-22 USC R F 8 Milton-Jones, DeLisha 6' 1" (1.85m) 175 lb (79kg) 1974-09-11 Florida 1 C 31 Sauer, Paige 6' 5" (1.96m) 200 lb (91kg) 1977-12-08 Connecticut R	Head coach Michael Cooper (New Mexico) Assistant coaches Marianne Stanley Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

2000 game log Total: 28–4 (Home: 15–1; Road: 13–3)
May: 1–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 31 Utah W 69-62 Mwadi Mabika (21) Lisa Leslie (11) Leslie Mabika (4) Great Western Forum 1–0
June: 10–2 (Home: 4–0; Road: 6–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 2 June 3 @ Minnesota W 82-75 Lisa Leslie (21) Lisa Leslie (11) DeLisha Milton-Jones (5) Target Center 2–0 3 June 6 Portland W 70-57 Lisa Leslie (19) Allison Feaster (7) Dixon Figgs Mabika (3) Great Western Forum 3–0 4 June 10 Phoenix W 76-57 DeLisha Milton-Jones (17) Lisa Leslie (10) Dixon Mabika (5) Great Western Forum 4–0 5 June 11 @ Sacramento L 68-75 Lisa Leslie (19) Lisa Leslie (11) Mwadi Mabika (6) ARCO Arena 4–1 6 June 13 @ Seattle L 59-69 (OT) DeLisha Milton-Jones (13) DeLisha Milton-Jones (9) Ukari Figgs (4) KeyArena 4–2 7 June 17 @ Portland W 94-81 Mwadi Mabika (26) Mwadi Mabika (10) Dixon Figgs (4) Rose Garden 5–2 8 June 18 Charlotte W 70-62 Mwadi Mabika (21) Allison Feaster (6) Ukari Figgs (5) Great Western Forum 6–2 9 June 20 Houston W 90-84 Leslie Mabika (21) Lisa Leslie (14) Ukari Figgs (8) Great Western Forum 7–2 10 June 23 @ Miami W 68-54 Lisa Leslie (17) Lisa Leslie (13) Tamecka Dixon (4) American Airlines Arena 8–2 11 June 25 @ New York W 72-67 Lisa Leslie (22) DeLisha Milton-Jones (11) Mwadi Mabika (6) Madison Square Garden 9–2 12 June 26 @ Washington W 74-72 Tamecka Dixon (13) Lisa Leslie (14) Figgs Mabika McCrimmon (4) MCI Center 10–2 13 June 28 @ Indiana W 82-73 Mwadi Mabika (19) Lisa Leslie (13) Ukari Figgs (9) Conseco Fieldhouse 11–2
July: 14–1 (Home: 10–1; Road: 4–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 14 July 1 Cleveland W 75-67 Lisa Leslie (22) DeLisha Milton-Jones (12) Mwadi Mabika (6) Great Western Forum 12–2 15 July 2 Detroit W 85-63 Mwadi Mabika (21) Lisa Leslie (12) Tamecka Dixon (8) Great Western Forum 13–2 16 July 5 @ Sacramento W 76-61 Mwadi Mabika (23) Lisa Leslie (9) Figgs Mabika (5) ARCO Arena 14–2 17 July 6 Washington W 79-70 Lisa Leslie (21) Lisa Leslie (13) Nicky McCrimmon (6) Great Western Forum 15–2 18 July 9 Utah W 92-72 Lisa Leslie (22) Leslie Machanguana (5) Ukari Figgs (7) Great Western Forum 16–2 19 July 11 Portland L 77-80 Mwadi Mabika (22) Lisa Leslie (7) Figgs Milton-Jones (4) Great Western Forum 16–3 20 July 14 Houston W 63-58 Mwadi Mabika (15) Leslie Mabika (8) Ukari Figgs (5) Great Western Forum 17–3 21 July 15 Minnesota W 58-57 Lisa Leslie (24) Lisa Leslie (13) Dixon Figgs (3) Great Western Forum 18–3 22 July 20 New York W 82-66 Lisa Leslie (21) Lisa Leslie (14) Ukari Figgs (9) Great Western Forum 19–3 23 July 21 @ Phoenix W 74-68 Lisa Leslie (30) Lisa Leslie (16) Figgs McCrimmon (5) America West Arena 20–3 24 July 23 Sacramento W 73-68 Lisa Leslie (20) DeLisha Milton-Jones (11) Tamecka Dixon (7) Great Western Forum 21–3 25 July 25 Orlando W 78-63 Lisa Leslie (17) Lisa Leslie (11) Ukari Figgs (6) Charlotte Coliseum 22–3 26 July 27 Seattle W 76-63 Lisa Leslie (18) Lisa Leslie (7) Ukari Figgs (5) Great Western Forum 23–3 27 July 29 @ Houston W 84-74 Tamecka Dixon (19) Lisa Leslie (10) Mwadi Mabika (6) Compaq Center 24–3 28 July 31 @ Minnesota W 73-66 DeLisha Milton-Jones (18) DeLisha Milton-Jones (14) DeLisha Milton-Jones (6) Target Center 25–3
August: 3–1 (Home: 0–0; Road: 3–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 29 August 2 @ Detroit W 84-81 Lisa Leslie (27) DeLisha Milton-Jones (6) Dixon Leslie Milton-Jones (3) The Palace of Auburn Hills 26–3 30 August 5 @ Phoenix W 77-63 Lisa Leslie (22) Lisa Leslie (14) Tamecka Dixon (7) America West Arena 27–3 31 August 8 @ Seattle W 60-52 (OT) Tamecka Dixon (17) Mwadi Mabika (12) Mwadi Mabika (3) KeyArena 28–3 32 August 9 @ Utah L 77-89 Lisa Leslie (18) Lisa Leslie (10) Dixon Leslie McCrimmon (3) Delta Center 28–4

Playoffs

2000 playoff game log
First round vs. Phoenix Mercury Won Series: 2–0 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 11 @ Phoenix W 86–71 Lisa Leslie (20) Lisa Leslie (11) Tamecka Dixon (5) America West Arena 1–0 2 August 13 Phoenix W 101–76 Lisa Leslie (29) Leslie Mabika (8) Tamecka Dixon (7) Great Western Forum 2–0
Conference Finals vs. Houston Comets Lost Series: 0–2 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 17 @ Houston L 56–77 Mwadi Mabika (21) Lisa Leslie (8) Figgs Milton-Jones (4) Compaq Center 0–1 2 August 20 Houston L 69–74 Mwadi Mabika (19) Lisa Leslie (14) Leslie Figgs (5) Great Western Forum 0–2
2000 playoff schedule

Season standings

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Los Angeles Sparks x	28	4	.875	17–4	–
Houston Comets x	27	5	.844	17–4	1.0
Sacramento Monarchs x	21	11	.656	13–8	7.0
Phoenix Mercury x	20	12	.625	11–10	8.0
Utah Starzz o	18	14	.563	13–8	10.0
Minnesota Lynx o	15	17	.469	5–16	13.0
Portland Fire o	10	22	.313	4–17	18.0
Seattle Storm o	6	26	.188	4–17	22.0

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	32	32	32.1	.458	.219	.824	9.6	1.9	1.0	2.3	17.8
DeLisha Milton-Jones	32	32	30.7	.512	.250	.745	6.1	2.1	1.4	0.9	11.8
Mwadi Mabika	32	32	29.4	.388	.384	.820	5.6	3.1	1.8	0.6	12.3
Tamecka Dixon	31	31	28.5	.454	.353	.805	3.4	3.1	1.3	0.3	10.9
Ukari Figgs	32	32	25.1	.431	.354	.831	1.7	4.0	0.7	0.1	6.7
Nicky McCrimmon	32	0	15.3	.506	.485	.500	1.0	2.0	0.9	0.3	3.2
Allison Feaster	32	0	14.7	.359	.259	.833	2.7	1.0	0.7	0.1	6.3
Clarisse Machanguana	31	1	13.6	.578	.000	.560	2.3	0.6	0.4	0.1	3.5
Vedrana Grgin-Fonseca	18	0	10.2	.274	.059	.609	1.3	0.7	0.2	0.1	2.7
La'Keshia Frett	25	0	7.5	.275	.000	.750	1.0	0.2	0.3	0.2	1.6
Paige Sauer	12	0	5.5	.571	N/A	.800	1.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	1.7

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