2008 Los Angeles Sparks season

December 2022 August 2023 March 2026 Los Angeles Sparks 2008 20 14 Western 3 Michael Cooper Staples Center Lost Western Conference Finals The 2008 Los Angeles Sparks season was the franchise's 12th season in the Women's National Basketball Association, and the second season under head coach Michael Cooper. The Sparks returned to the postseason for the first time since 2006. Offseason The following player was selected in the Expansion Draft: LaToya Thomas Los Angeles Sparks http://www.wnba.com/dream/expansiondraft_080206.html WNBA.com: Atlanta Dream 2008-04-24 https://web.archive.org/web/20090820061552/http://www.wnba.com/dream/expansiondraft_080206.html 2009-08-20 dead WNBA draft On October 23, 2007. The WNBA draft lottery was held. The Los Angeles Sparks received the first pick for the upcoming 2008 WNBA Draft. Pick Player Nationality School 1 Candace Parker Tennessee 15 Shannon Bobbitt Tennessee 29 Sharnee Zoll Virginia https://www.wnba.com/draft2008/draft_board.html https://web.archive.org/web/20131004121933/http://www.wnba.com/draft2008/draft_board.html dead October 4, 2013 2008 WNBA Draft Board WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA Transactions April 24, The Sparks waived DeTrina White. April 23 The Sparks waived Layla Schwarz due to injury. April 22, The Sparks traded Taj McWilliams-Franklin and a first-round pick in the 2009 WNBA Draft to the Washington Mystics for DeLisha Milton-Jones. April 21 The Sparks signed Tiina Sten to a training camp contract. April 17 The Sparks signed Vaida Sipaviciute to a training camp contract. April 15 The Sparks signed Lady Comfort to a training camp contract. April 2 The Sparks signed Olympia Scott to a training camp contract. March 6, The Sparks signed Layla Schwarz, Liron Cohen and Brisa Silva to training camp contracts. February 22 The Sparks signed free agent Marie Ferdinand-Harris. February 21 The Sparks signed Jessica Moore and Raffaella Masciadri to training camp contracts. https://www.wnba.com/archive/wnba/transactions/WNBA_2008.html WNBA.com: 2008 WNBA Transactions www.wnba.com Preseason Date Opponent Score Result Record May 3 @ Atlanta 86-80 Win 1-0 May 8 @ Chicago 84-68 Win 2-0 May 11 @ Minnesota 106-105 (2OT) Win 3-0http://www.wnba.com/schedules/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080514211741/http://www.wnba.com/schedules/ dead Wnba.Com: Schedules May 14, 2008 Regular season Candace Parker Candace Parker scored 34 points, and set a league record for the most points in a WNBA debut. Parker added 12 rebounds to help the Los Angeles Sparks beat the defending champion Phoenix Mercury 99–94 on Saturday 17. Parker, narrowly missed a triple-double with 12 rebounds and eight assists. The previous high in a WNBA debut was 25 points by Cynthia Cooper in 1997.https://www.espn.com/wnba/recap/_/gameId/280517011 https://web.archive.org/web/20221220211125/https://www.espn.com/wnba/recap/_/gameId/280517011 dead December 20, 2022 Sparks vs. Mercury - WNBA Game Recap - May 17, 2008 ESPN On May 29 against the Indiana Fever, Parker tallied the first-ever "5x5" performance in WNBA history, posting 16 points, 16 rebounds, six blocked shots, five assists and five steals.http://www.wnba.com/news/awards08_rookie.html Los Angeles Sparks' Candace Parker Named Hanns-G Go Beyond Rookie of the Year WNBA.com 2008-10-03 2022-09-04 Parker had a career-best 40-point performance on July 9 against the Houston Comets. On June 22, Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks finished a breakaway late in a game against the Indiana Fever with a one handed slam. This marked just the second time that a player in the history of the WNBA had a slam dunk. Malice at the Palace Sparks–Shock brawl The Sparks–Shock brawl (also known as The Malice at the Palace II) was an altercation that occurred in a game between the Detroit Shock and Los Angeles Sparks on July 22, 2008, at The Palace of Auburn Hills. With 4.2 seconds before the game was officially over, the fighting began on the court after Plenette Pierson made a hard block out after a free throw on Candace Parker. This was the second brawl to occur at the Palace, the other being the Pacers–Pistons brawl. Season standings LAS Season schedule Date Opponent Score Result Record May 17 @ Phoenix 99-94 Win 1-0 May 25 @ Atlanta 74-56 Win 2-0 May 29 @ Indiana 78-82 (2OT) Loss 2-1 May 31 @ Washington 70-59 Win 3-1 June 3 @ Chicago 81-77 (OT) Win 4-1 June 6 vs. Phoenix 79-85 Loss 4-2 June 11 vs. Detroit 80-73 Win 5-2 June 13 vs. Connecticut 98-93 (OT) Win 6-2 June 14 @ Sacramento 74-66 Win 7-2 June 18 vs. Chicago 80-67 Win 8-2 June 20 @ San Antonio 75-77 Loss 8-3 June 22 vs. Indiana 77-63 Win 9-3 June 24 vs. Seattle 76-62 Win 10-3 June 26 vs. Washington 74-77 (OT) Loss 10-4 July 1 vs. New York 78-89 Loss 10-5 July 3 vs. Minnesota 70-88 Loss 10-6 July 6 vs. Phoenix 91-80 Win 11-6 July 9 vs. Houston 82-74(OT) Win 12-6 July 10 @ Sacramento 69-87 Loss 12-7 July 12 @ Seattle 52-70 Loss 12-8 July 14 vs. San Antonio 75-62 Win 13-8 July 17 @ Phoenix 92-99 Loss 13-9 July 19 @ Houston 72-75(OT) Loss 13-10 July 22 @ Detroit 84-81 Win 14-10 July 24 @ Connecticut 61-87 Loss 14-11 July 25 @ New York 68-69 Loss 14-12 July 27 @ Minnesota 92-84(OT) Win 15-12 August 28 vs. Sacramento 78-63 Win 16-12 August 30 vs. San Antonio 58-53 Win 17-12 September 1 vs. Minnesota 82-58 Win 18-12 September 5 @ San Antonio 58-76 Loss 18-13 September 6 @ Houston 84-66 Win 19-13 September 11 vs. Atlanta 72-83 Loss 19-14 September 14 vs. Seattle 65-48 Win 20-14https://sparks.wnba.com/schedule/ Schedule Los Angeles Sparks Player stats Note: GP= Games played; MIN= Minutes; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; AVG = Average Player GP MPG RPG APG SPG BPG APGShannon Bobbitt Lisa Lesliehttp://www.wnba.com/playerfile/lisa_leslie/ WNBA.com: Lisa Leslie Playerfile 2008-10-12 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20091002085133/http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/lisa_leslie/ 2009-10-02 33 32.1 8.9 2.4 1.5 2.9 15.1Marie Ferdinand-Harrishttp://www.wnba.com/playerfile/marie_ferdinand/index.html WNBA.com: Marie Ferdinand-Harris Playerfile 2008-10-12 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20081220060614/http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/marie_ferdinand/index.html 2008-12-20 33 20.6 2.6 1.3 0.8 0.1 8.4 DeLisha Milton-Jones 7 230 50 15 7 5 Raffaella Masciardi 5 102 11 6 1 0 Muriel Page Candace Parkerhttp://www.wnba.com/playerfile/candace_parker/ Candace Parker 2008-10-12 2010-08-01 https://web.archive.org/web/20100801234715/http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/candace_parker/ dead 33 33.6 9.5 3.4 1.3 2.3 18.5 Sidney Spencerhttps://sports.yahoo.com/wnba/players/4258/ Sidney Spencer | Connecticut Sun | Women's National Basketball Association | Yahoo! Sports Yahoo Sports 33 13.7 1.9 0.6 0.4 0.1 5.3https://sparks.wnba.com/stats/ Stats Los Angeles Sparks Roster Los Angeles Sparks 2008 WNBA 6 Shannon Bobbitt PG 5 2 130 Tennessee USA 4 Kiesha Brown PG 5 10 134 Georgia USA 12 Margo Dydek C 7 2 223 Poland POL 24 Marie Ferdinand-Harris Marie Ferdinand SG 5 9 153 LSU USA 2 Temeka Johnson PG 5 3 132 LSU USA 9 Lisa Leslie C 6 5 170 USC USA C 33 Raffaella Masciadri F/G 6 0 169 Italy ITA 8 DeLisha Milton-Jones SF 6 1 185 Florida USA 31 Jessica Moore Jessica Moore (basketball) PF 6 3 175 Connecticut USA 00 Murriel Page PF 6 2 160 Florida USA 3 Candace Parker F/C 6 4 175 Tennessee USA 1 Sidney Spencer G/F 6 3 183 Tennessee USA 32 Christi Thomas C 6 3 185 Georgia USA USA Michael Cooper New Mexico USA Laura Beeman California State University USA Marianne Stanley Immaculata University USA Bruce Deziel USA Rachel Schlachet Arizona State http://www.wnba.com/sparks/roster/ 2008-09-18 Playoffs Round Date Opponent Score Result Record Western Conference Semi September 19 vs. Seattle 77-69 Win 1-0 September 21 @ Seattle 50-64 Loss 1-1 September 23 @ Seattle 71-64 Win 2-1Western Conference Final September 25 vs. San Antonio 85-70 Win 1-0 (3-1) September 27 @ San Antonio 66-67 Loss 1-1 (3-2) September 28 @ San Antonio 72-76 Loss 1-2 (3-3) Awards and honors Lisa Leslie, All WNBA First Team Lisa Leslie, Led WNBA, Blocks (2.9 per game) Lisa Leslie, All-WNBA Defensive First Team Candace Parker, WNBA Rookie of the Year Candace Parker, WNBA MVPhttps://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-sparks3-2008oct03,0,1362308.story Parker to be WNBA MVP Los Angeles Times 3 October 2008 Candace Parker, Forward, All-WNBA Rookie Team Candace Parker, Hanns-G 'Go Beyond' Rookie of the Month award in May (For the month of May, she averaged 19.2 points, 11.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists in four games) Candace Parker, Hanns-G 'Go Beyond' Rookie of the Month award in July (In the 12 games played in July she averaged 20.8 points, 9.5 rebounds per game and collected eight double-doubles) Candace Parker, Led WNBA in double-doubles (17) Candace Parker, Led WNBA Rookies, Points per game (18.5)Sports Illustrated, October 6, 2008, p.80) Candace Parker, Led WNBA Rookies, Blocks per game (2.3) Candace Parker, Led WNBA Rookies, Minutes per game (33.6) Candace Parker, Led WNBA, Rebounds per game (9.5) References Category:Los Angeles Sparks seasons Los Angeles Los Angeles Sparks