2002 WNBA Finals

August 2023 WNBA 2002 New York Liberty Richie Adubato 0 Los Angeles Sparks Michael Cooper 2 August 29 – 31 Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks) Sparks:Lisa Leslie (2015)Liberty:Becky Hammon (2023)Teresa Weatherspoon (2019)Coaches:Michael Cooper (2024, player) New York defeated Washington, 2–1 Los Angeles defeated Utah, 2–0 Women's basketball championship game 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 25 wins, 7 losses record and as the Western Conference's number-one seed. They matched up against the New York Liberty, who finished with an 18–14 18 wins, 14 losses 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.https://www.wnba.com/archive/wnba/shock/history/EnShocklopedia_F.html EnShocklopedia - F WNBA May 17, 2025 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 SparksNew York Liberty25–7 (.781)1st West, 1st overall Regular season18–14 (.562)1st East, 4th overallDefeated the (4) Seattle Storm, 2–0 Conference SemifinalsDefeated the (4) Indiana Fever, 2–1Defeated the (3) Utah Starzz, 2–0 Conference FinalsDefeated the (3) Washington Mystics, 2–1 Regular season series The teams had split the regular season series: #eee May 25 New York Liberty 64 Los Angeles Sparks |score2=72 STAPLES Center, Los Angeles #eee July 18 Los Angeles Sparks 59 New York Liberty |score2=72 Madison Square Garden, New York Game summaries All times listed below are Eastern Daylight Time. Game 1 #eee August 29 7:30pm http://scores.nba.com/games/20020829/LASNYL/wnbaboxscoreprint.html Game 1 2011-09-14 bot: unknown https://web.archive.org/web/20021126170633/http://scores.nba.com/games/20020829/LASNYL/wnbaboxscoreprint.html 2002-11-26 Los Angeles Sparks 71 63 New York Liberty 35–35 36–28 Mabika 20 Hammon 18 Byears 11 Weatherspoon 7 Madison Square Garden, New York City 17,666 ESPN2 L.A. Sparks leads series, 1–0 Game 2 #eee August 31 3:30pm http://scores.nba.com/games/20020831/NYLLAS/wnbaboxscoreprint.html Game 2 2011-09-14 bot: unknown https://web.archive.org/web/20021126165949/http://scores.nba.com/games/20020831/NYLLAS/wnbaboxscoreprint.html 2002-11-26 New York Liberty 66 69 Los Angeles Sparks 24–31 42–38 Johnson, Whitmore 17 Leslie 17 Phillips 8 Byears 11 Staples Center, Los Angeles 13,493 NBC L.A. Sparks wins WNBA Finals, 2–0 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 Los Angeles Sparks Finals 2002 WNBA #5c2f83 #FFC322 #FFC322 #FFFFFF 41 Marlies Askamp C 6 5 198 Germany Germany 00 Latasha Byears F 5 11 206 DePaul USA 14 Erika DeSouza F 6 5 190 Brazil Brazil 21 Tamecka Dixon G 5 9 148 Kansas USA 17 Vedrana Grgin-Fonseca F 6 1 160 Croatia Croatia 9 Lisa Leslie C 6 5 170 USC USA 4 Mwadi Mabika F 5 11 165 Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo 10 Nicky McCrimmon G 5 8 125 USC USA 8 Delisha Milton F 6 1 172 Florida USA 42 Nikki Teasley G 6 0 165 North Carolina USA 13 Sophia Witherspoon G 5 10 145 Florida USA USA Michael Cooper New Mexico USA Glenn McDonald 1 USA Karleen Thompson 1 2002 New York Liberty Finals WNBA #0047AB #FFFFFF #66CDAA #FF4500 42 Camille Cooper C 6 4 176 Purdue USA 31 Linda Frohlich F 6 2 183 University of Nevada, Las Vegas USA 25 Becky Hammon G 5 6 136 Colorado State USA 7 Korie Hlede G 5 9 150 Duquesne Croatia 55 Vickie Johnson G 5 9 150 Louisiana Tech USA 50 Bernadette Ngoyisa C 6 4 195 Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo 24 Tari Phillips F 6 1 200 University of Central Florida USA 3 Crystal Robinson F 5 10 175 Southeastern Oklahoma State University USA 11 Teresa Weatherspoon G 5 8 161 Louisiana Tech USA 44 Tamika Whitmore F 6 2 190 Memphis USA 23 Sue Wicks F 6 3 174 Rutgers USA USA Richie Adubato William Paterson University USA Pat Coyle basketball Rutgers USA Jeff House 1 References Finals Category:Los Angeles Sparks Category:New York Liberty WNBA Finals WNBA Finals Category:WNBA Finals WNBA Finals Category:Basketball competitions in Los Angeles Category:Basketball competitions in New York City Category:2000s in Manhattan