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Parker began the season on maternity leave, and Leslie suffered a knee injury early in the season. Both Leslie and Parker returned to the court in July, however, sparking a 10–2 run which turned an 8–14 start into an 18–16 regular-season record and clinching the Sparks' tenth playoff appearance in their 13-year history. In the first round of the playoffs, the Sparks defeated the Seattle Storm for the third time in four years.
The team said Tuesday that a limited number of fans will likely be able to attend home games starting in June, pending Los Angeles County guidelines. Broadcasters for the Sparks games are Larry Burnett and Lisa Leslie. Previously, Sparks games were found on Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket and former analysts have included Derek Fisher and Ann Meyers.
Brittney Sykes Earns All-Defensive Second Team Honors
The 1999 season featured the development of Lisa Leslie and the Sparks' first playoff berth, as the Sparks posted a 20–12 record. The Sparks won their first playoff game and series with a win over the Sacramento Monarchs. They played in the Western Conference Finals but fell to the defending champion Houston Comets, 2 games to 1, in the three-game series. The 1997 WNBA season, the league's first, opened with a game between the Sparks and the New York Liberty at the Sparks home in Inglewood.
The Los Angeles Sparks currently play in the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. The capacity for a Sparks game is 13,141 because the upper level is closed off . They previously played at The Forum but stayed there for two years after the Lakers departed for Crypto.com Arena until the venue was purchased by a local church. The 2014 and 2015 seasons would be disappointing for the Sparks as they had continued to be an underachieving playoff team, getting eliminated in the first round both years by the Phoenix Mercury and Minnesota Lynx respectively. In the 2012 season, the Sparks significantly improved, making it back to the playoffs since 2010, finishing second in the Western Conference with a 24–10 record.
Franchise history
The Los Angeles Sparks is an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began. Like some other WNBA teams, the Sparks have the distinction of not being affiliated with an NBA counterpart, even though the market is shared with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers. As of 2020, the Sparks are the most recent franchise to win back-to-back titles. The WNBA awarded conference championships to the winners of the Conference Finals in the playoffs from 1998 to 2015.
The Sparks have qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in twenty of their twenty-four years in Los Angeles, more than any other team in the league. The franchise has been home to many high-quality players such as 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) center and Tennessee standout Candace Parker, flashy point guard Nikki Teasley, and nearby USC alums Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson. In 2001, 2002, 2003, 2016 and 2017, the Sparks went to the WNBA Finals. They won the title in 2001, 2002, and 2016, beating Charlotte, New York, and Minnesota respectively, but fell short to Detroit in 2003 and Minnesota in 2017. The WNBA played an abbreviated schedule last season in a bubble in Florida because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Per Game
Members of the media planning to attend a practice are required to contact Ryan Young (ryoung@la-sparks.com) ahead of time in order to gain entry. After the 2018 season, Brian Agler resigned as the coach of the Sparks. One month later, the Sparks announced that Derek Fisher had been hired as a replacement.
Following three more losses, the Sparks fired head coach Gillom, promoting previous Sparks coach Joe Bryant. With Parker out until the end of the season, the Sparks headed into the All-Star break 6–8 and in fifth place. The Sparks finished the season three games out of the playoffs with a 15–19 record. Thompson would become a free agent and sign with the Seattle Storm. In 2003, the Sparks posted a 24–10 record and went into the playoffs looking for a "three-peat". Both the first and the second rounds were forced to deciding third games, as they beat the Minnesota Lynx and Sacramento Monarchs.
Following the 2008 season, Parker announced that she was pregnant. To compensate for Parker's absence, the Sparks signed native veteran superstar Tina Thompson and former Finals MVP Betty Lennox in free agency. With the addition of Thompson and Lennox, the Sparks added more championship experience and veteran leadership to their roster to them help them compete for another title. Before the start of the 2008 season, the team's prospects improved dramatically.
In the Western Conference Finals, the Sparks' lost to the eventual champion Phoenix Mercury in three games. The end of the 2009 playoff run marked the end of Leslie's career as a player and Cooper's second tenure as Sparks' head coach. In the off-season, former Sparks player Jennifer Gillom became the team's new head coach. The 2000–01 off-season saw a move to the Staples Center and a coaching change, when the Sparks hired former Los Angeles Lakers player Michael Cooper as head coach.
In the finals, the Sparks were matched against the Liberty, who were still looking for their first championship. A late three-pointer in game 2 by Nikki Teasley gave the Sparks their second consecutive championship. The 2000 season was a record one, as the Sparks had a 28–4 record, the best in league history, and second only to the 1998 Houston Comets for best all-time. In the playoffs, the Sparks swept the Phoenix Mercury in the first round but lost in the Western Conference Finals again, when they were swept by the Comets. Ultimately, the Sparks were playing in the shadow of the Comets, who won the first four WNBA championships.
The Sparks were on track to win game 2 of the series, but Silver Star Sophia Young made a turn-around bank-shot with a second left on the clock to force the series to a deciding game three. The Sparks lost game three, and the Silver Stars moved on to the WNBA Finals. LOS ANGELES, CA – April 20, 2017 — With nearly three weeks until the Los Angeles Sparks raise their 2016 WNBA Championship Banner inside Staples Center, the team announced today their training camp roster. Founded in 1996, the Los Angeles Sparks play in the Western Conference of the Women’s National Basketball Association . The LA Sparks have won three WNBA Championships , remain the only active team in the league to have won back-to-back titles, and enter the 2017 campaign having qualified for the playoffs in 16 of their 20 seasons. The team plays their regular season annually from May through September.
Sparks radio broadcasts never covered a complete season; most nationally-televised games and many games from the Eastern time zone were not covered. In the playoffs, they defeated the Seattle Storm in three games. However, in the Western Conference finals, the Sparks' season was ended by the Monarchs for the third year in a row.
Being in a major national market, the Sparks have always been a focal point of the league; they faced New York in the league's inaugural game on June 21, 1997. Lakers owner Jerry Buss owned the Sparks from 1997 to 2006 when Williams Group Holdings purchased the team.
After making the playoffs in 2015, losing in the first round, the Sparks made subtle roster changes and improved the following year. Suddenly showing signs of championship contention, they finished with a 26–8 record and made it to the 2016 WNBA Playoffs. By this time, the Sparks had a "Big Three", consisting of Candace Parker, Nneka Ogwumike and Kristi Toliver.
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