2002 WNBA Finals

The 2002 WNBA Finals was the championship series of the 2002 WNBA season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Los Angeles Sparks finished the regular season with a 25–7 record and as the Western Conference's number-one seed. They matched up against the New York Liberty, who finished with an 18–14 record and as the number-one seed of the Eastern Conference. Holding the better record, the Sparks received home-court advantage over the Liberty. The series was the first championship series to be branded as the "WNBA Finals", as the league's championship was previously called the "WNBA Championship" from 1997 to 2001.^[1]

2002 WNBA Finals

Team Coach Wins Los Angeles Sparks Michael Cooper 2 New York Liberty Richie Adubato 0
Dates	August 29 – 31
MVP	Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks)
Hall of Famers	Sparks: Lisa Leslie (2015) Liberty: Becky Hammon (2023) Teresa Weatherspoon (2019) Coaches: Michael Cooper (2024, player)
Eastern finals	New York defeated Washington, 2–1
Western finals	Los Angeles defeated Utah, 2–0
← 2001 WNBA Finals 2003 →

The series marked the fourth WNBA Finals appearance for the Liberty and second for the Sparks. For the Sparks, it also marked their second straight Finals appearance, going into the series as defending champions. The Sparks defeated the Liberty two games to none in the best-of-three series, winning their second consecutive championship. The 2001-02 Sparks would be the last team to win back-to-back championships until the Las Vegas Aces did so in 2022 and 2023. The 2002 NBA Finals coincidentally also saw the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA win their respective championship series by sweeping a New York metro area team, the New Jersey Nets 4–0.

Road to the finals

Los Angeles Sparks		New York Liberty
25–7 (.781) 1st West, 1st overall	Regular season	18–14 (.562) 1st East, 4th overall
Defeated the (4) Seattle Storm, 2–0	Conference Semifinals	Defeated the (4) Indiana Fever, 2–1
Defeated the (3) Utah Starzz, 2–0	Conference Finals	Defeated the (3) Washington Mystics, 2–1

Regular season series

The teams had split the regular season series:

May 25

New York Liberty 64, Los Angeles Sparks 72

STAPLES Center, Los Angeles

July 18

Los Angeles Sparks 59, New York Liberty 72

Madison Square Garden, New York

Game summaries

All times listed below are Eastern Daylight Time.

Game 1

ESPN2

August 29 7:30pm

"Game 1". Archived from the original on November 26, 2002. Retrieved September 14, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

Los Angeles Sparks 71, New York Liberty 63
Scoring by half: 35–35, 36–28
Pts: Mabika 20 Rebs: Byears 11		Pts: Hammon 18 Rebs: Weatherspoon 7
L.A. Sparks leads series, 1–0

Madison Square Garden, New York City

Game 2

NBC

August 31 3:30pm

"Game 2". Archived from the original on November 26, 2002. Retrieved September 14, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

New York Liberty 66, Los Angeles Sparks 69
Scoring by half: 24–31, 42–38
Pts: Johnson, Whitmore 17 Rebs: Phillips 8		Pts: Leslie 17 Rebs: Byears 11
L.A. Sparks wins WNBA Finals, 2–0

Staples Center, Los Angeles

Nikki Teasley hit a series-winning three pointer with 2.1 seconds left. Teresa Weatherspoon tried to repeat history by trying to make a halfcourt heave at the buzzer, but the shot was blocked, and the Sparks won their second consecutive title.

Awards

• 2002 WNBA champion: Los Angeles Sparks
• Finals MVP: Lisa Leslie

Rosters

2002 Los Angeles Sparks Finals roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight From C 41 Askamp, Marlies 6' 5" (1.96m) 198 lb (90kg) Germany F 00 Byears, Latasha 5' 11" (1.8m) 206 lb (93kg) DePaul F 14 DeSouza, Erika 6' 5" (1.96m) 190 lb (86kg) Brazil G 21 Dixon, Tamecka 5' 9" (1.75m) 148 lb (67kg) Kansas F 17 Grgin-Fonseca, Vedrana 6' 1" (1.85m) 160 lb (73kg) Croatia C 9 Leslie, Lisa 6' 5" (1.96m) 170 lb (77kg) USC F 4 Mabika, Mwadi 5' 11" (1.8m) 165 lb (75kg) Democratic Republic of the Congo G 10 McCrimmon, Nicky 5' 8" (1.73m) 125 lb (57kg) USC F 8 Milton, Delisha 6' 1" (1.85m) 172 lb (78kg) Florida G 42 Teasley, Nikki 6' 0" (1.83m) 165 lb (75kg) North Carolina G 13 Witherspoon, Sophia 5' 10" (1.78m) 145 lb (66kg) Florida	Head coach Michael Cooper (New Mexico) Assistant coaches Glenn McDonald Karleen Thompson Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

2002 New York Liberty Finals roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight From C 42 Cooper, Camille 6' 4" (1.93m) 176 lb (80kg) Purdue F 31 Frohlich, Linda 6' 2" (1.88m) 183 lb (83kg) University of Nevada, Las Vegas G 25 Hammon, Becky 5' 6" (1.68m) 136 lb (62kg) Colorado State G 7 Hlede, Korie 5' 9" (1.75m) 150 lb (68kg) Duquesne G 55 Johnson, Vickie 5' 9" (1.75m) 150 lb (68kg) Louisiana Tech C 50 Ngoyisa, Bernadette 6' 4" (1.93m) 195 lb (88kg) Democratic Republic of the Congo F 24 Phillips, Tari 6' 1" (1.85m) 200 lb (91kg) University of Central Florida F 3 Robinson, Crystal 5' 10" (1.78m) 175 lb (79kg) Southeastern Oklahoma State University G 11 Weatherspoon, Teresa 5' 8" (1.73m) 161 lb (73kg) Louisiana Tech F 44 Whitmore, Tamika 6' 2" (1.88m) 190 lb (86kg) Memphis F 23 Wicks, Sue 6' 3" (1.91m) 174 lb (79kg) Rutgers	Head coach Richie Adubato (William Paterson) Assistant coaches Pat Coyle (Rutgers) Jeff House Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured