The 2001 WNBA Championship was the championship
series
Series may refer to:
People with the name
* Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series
* George Series (1920–1995), English physicist
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Series, the ordered sets used in ...
of the
2001 WNBA season
The 2001 WNBA Season was the Women's National Basketball Association's fifth season. The season ended with the Los Angeles Sparks winning their first WNBA championship.
Regular season standings
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Season aw ...
, and the conclusion of
the season's playoffs. The
Los Angeles Sparks
The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was fou ...
, top-seeded champions of the
Western Conference, defeated the
Charlotte Sting
The Charlotte Sting were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the league's eight original teams. The team folded on January 3, 2007.
The Sting was originally the sister organization of ...
, fourth-seeded champions of the
Eastern Conference, two games to none in a best-of-three series. This was Los Angeles' first title.
The Sparks made their first appearance in the Finals in franchise history. The Sting also made their first Finals appearance.
Going into the series, no other team except the
Houston Comets
The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two ...
had ever won a WNBA championship (
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
-
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
).
The Sparks had a 28–4 record (.875), good enough to receive home-court advantage over the Sting (18–14). It did not matter, however, as the Sparks swept the Sting.
Road to the finals
Regular season series
The Sparks won the regular season series:
Game summaries
All times listed below are
Eastern Daylight Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
.
Game 1
Game 2
Awards
*2001 WNBA Champion:
Los Angeles Sparks
The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...
*
Finals MVP:
Lisa Leslie
Lisa Deshaun Leslie (born July 7, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. She is currently the head coach for Triplets in the BIG3 professional basketball league, as well as a studio analyst for Orlando Magic broadcasts on F ...
Rosters
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! colspan="2" style="background-color: #5c2f83; color: #FFC322; text-align: center;" , 2001 Los Angeles Sparks Finals roster
, - style="background-color: #FFC322;color: #FFFFFF; text-align: center;"
! Players !! Coaches
, -
, valign="top" ,
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{, class="toccolours" style="font-size: 95%; width: 100%;"
, -
! colspan="2" style="background-color: #0196B0; color: #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" , 2001 Charlotte Sting Finals roster
, - style="background-color: #4B0082;color: #FFFFFF; text-align: center;"
! Players !! Coaches
, -
, valign="top" ,
{, class="sortable" style="background:transparent; margin:0px; width:100%;"
! Pos. !! # !! Nat. !! Name !! Height !! Weight !!class="unsortable", !! From
, -
{{WNBA on ESPN
Finals
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
Los Angeles Sparks
Charlotte Sting
WNBA Championship
The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...
WNBA Championship
The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...
Women's National Basketball Association Finals
WNBA Championship
The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...
WNBA Championship
The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...
Sports competitions in North Carolina
Sports competitions in Los Angeles
WNBA Championship
The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...