2017 Los Angeles Sparks season

2017 Los Angeles Sparks season
2017 Los Angeles Sparks season
Coach	Brian Agler
Arena	Staples Center
Attendance	10,687 per game
Results
Record	26–8 (.765)
Place	2nd (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost WNBA Finals 3–2 (Minnesota)
Team Leaders
Points	Nneka Ogwumike 18.8 ppg
Rebounds	Candace Parker 8.4 rpg
Assists	Chelsea Gray 4.4 apg
Media
Television	Spectrum SportsNet; ESPN2, NBATV
	← 2016 season 2018 season →

The 2017 WNBA season was the 21st season for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association. The Sparks were the defending WNBA champions. The season tipped off on May 13.

The Sparks started the season winning two games, losing two games and then winning two more games. This stretch was followed by a loss to Dallas before the Sparks won eight straight games. Their winning streak was ended as they lost a Finals re-match with Minnesota. They lost the following game to Seattle before winning five of their next six games. They started August slowly, going 2–2 in their first four games of the month, but finished the month on a five game winning streak. The Sparks only had two regular season games in September, and they won them both. They finished the regular season with a 26–8 record, and secured the second seed in the 2017 WNBA Playoffs, finishing one game out of the first seed.

As the second seed in the playoffs, the Sparks earned a bye into the Semifinals. There, they faced-off against the Phoenix Mercury. Los Angeles had won the regular season series between the two teams 3–0 and won the playoff series by the same result. The closest game was Game 3, which Los Angeles won 89–87 to complete the sweep. The victory setup a finals re-match with Minnesota. The Sparks won the first and third games of the finals, but could not finish off the Lynx and lost the Finals 2 games to 3. The closest game was Game 1, which Los Angeles won by a single point. Minnesota won the final two games of the series by eleven points and nine points.

WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	11	Sydney Wiese	United States	Oregon State
3	35	Saicha Grant-Allen	Canada	Dayton

Trades and Roster Changes

Date	Transaction
February 8, 2017	Alana Beard resigned with Los Angeles Sparks ^[1]
July 28, 2017	Signed Sandrine Gruda^[1]

Roster

2017 Los Angeles Sparks roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	DOB	From	Yrs
G/F	0	Beard, Alana	5' 11" (1.8m)	160 lb (73kg)	05-14-1982	Duke	11
G	1	Sims, Odyssey	5' 8" (1.73m)	160 lb (73kg)	07-13-1992	Baylor	3
G	2	Williams, Riquna	5' 7" (1.7m)	154 lb (70kg)	05-28-1990	Miami (FL)	4
F	3	Parker, Candace	6' 4" (1.93m)	175 lb (79kg)	04-19-1986	Tennessee	9
C	7	Gruda, Sandrine	6' 4" (1.93m)	185 lb (84kg)	06-25-1987	France	5
G	12	Gray, Chelsea	5' 11" (1.8m)	170 lb (77kg)	10-08-1992	Duke	2
F	17	Carson, Essence	6' 0" (1.83m)	163 lb (74kg)	07-28-1986	Rutgers	9
G	24	Wiese, Sydney	6' 0" (1.83m)	–	06-16-1995	Oregon State	R
F/C	26	Diarra, Maimouna	6' 6" (1.98m)	–	01-30-1991	Senegal	R
F/C	30	Ogwumike, Nneka	6' 2" (1.88m)	174 lb (79kg)	07-02-1990	Stanford	5
F	33	Jackson, Tiffany	6' 3" (1.91m)	185 lb (84kg)	04-26-1985	Texas	8
C	42	Lavender, Jantel	6' 4" (1.93m)	185 lb (84kg)	11-12-1988	Ohio State	6

Head coach: Brian Agler (Wittenberg)
Assistant coaches: Tonya Edwards (Tennessee)
Bobbie Kelsey (Stanford)

Athletic trainer: Courtney Watson (California)

Strength and conditioning coach: Kelly Dormandy (Springfield College)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(FA) Free agent
(IN) Inactive
(S) Suspended
Injured

Game log

Preseason

2017 pre-season game log

May: 1–2 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–2)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
1	May 2	New York	L 65-81	Samuelson (9)	Wiese (6)	Tied (2)	Mohegan Sun Arena 2,782	0-1
2	May 3	Connecticut	L 62-79	Sims (12)	Warley-Talbert (11)	Sims (5)	Mohegan Sun Arena 2,809	0-2
3	May 6	San Antonio	W 73-59	Ruef (18)	Ruef (7)	Gray (5)	Pasadena College 1,000	1-2

2017 pre-season schedule

Regular season

2017 game log
Total: 26–8 (Home: 16–1; Road: 10–7)

May: 3–2 (Home: 2–0; Road: 1–2)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
1	May 13	Seattle	W 78-68	Ogwumike (23)	Jackson (8)	Gray (8)	Staples Center 10,603	1-0
2	May 19	Washington	W 99-89	Ogwumike (23)	Parker (8)	Parker (5)	Staples Center 12,127	2-0
3	May 24	Indiana	L 90-93	Ogwumike (24)	Parker (12)	Parker (6)	Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,875	2-1
4	May 27	Atlanta	L 73-75	Gray (25)	Ogwumike (7)	Parker (6)	McCamish Pavilion 4,253	2-2
5	May 30	New York	W 90-75	Ogwumike (22)	Parker (11)	Gray (6)	Madison Square Garden 8,108	3-2

June : 8–1 (Home: 4–0; Road: 4–1)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
6	June 6	Chicago	W 79-70	Ogwumike (20)	Ogwumike (11)	Gray (5)	Staples Center 8,523	4-2
7	June 9	Dallas	L 90-96	Ogwumike (28)	Ogwumike (13)	Sims (5)	College Park Center 3,169	4-3
8	June 10	Phoenix	W 89-87	Gray (24)	Tied (5)	Gray (8)	Talking Stick Resort Arena 10,223	5-3
9	June 13	Dallas	W 97-87	Gray (24)	Parker (7)	Tied (5)	Staples Center 7,233	6-3
10	June 15	San Antonio	W 80-75	Parker (20)	Ogwumike (9)	Parker (4)	Staples Center 9,104	7-3
11	June 18	Phoenix	W 90-57	Ogwumike (18)	Parker (8)	Parker (6)	Staples Center 9,916	8-3
12	June 24	Indiana	W 84-73	Ogwumike (21)	Parker (13)	Parker (7)	Bankers Life Fieldhouse 9,241	9-3
13	June 27	Connecticut	W 87-79	Ogwumike (21)	Ogwumike (9)	Gray (5)	Mohegan Sun Arena 6,899	10-3
14	June 30	Atlanta	W 85-76	Parker (21)	Parker (13)	Parker (5)	McCamish Pavilion 4,119	11-3

July : 6–3 (Home: 5–1; Road: 1–2)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
15	July 2	Washington	W 76-69	Tied 17	Parker (11)	Parker (4)	Staples Center 9,185	12-3
16	July 6	Minnesota	L 77-88	Ogwumike (27)	Ogwumike (14)	Ogwumike (5)	Xcel Energy Center 9,821	12-4
17	July 8	Seattle	L 69-81	Ogwumike (21)	Ogwumike (9)	Gray (6)	KeyArena 7,104	1125
18	July 13	Connecticut	W 87-77	Ogwumike (29)	Ogwumike (11)	Parker (6)	Staples Center 9,918	13-5
19	July 17	Indiana	W 80-62	Gray (16)	Ogwumike (12)	Ogwumike (6)	Staples Center 11,386	14-5
20	July 20	Chicago	L 80-82	Ogwumike (24)	Ogwumike (10)	Gray (6)	Staples Center 16,166	14-6
21	July 25	Seattle	W 68-60	Parker (17)	Tied (10)	Gray (5)	Staples Center 10,012	15-6
22	July 28	San Antonio	W 85-73	Sims (22)	Parker (17)	Parker (11)	AT&T Center 5,777	16-6
23	July 30	Dallas	W 95-74	Parker (23)	Parker (10)	Tied (8)	Staples Center 11,053	17-6

August : 4–2 (Home: 1–0; Road: 3–2)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
24	August 4	New York	W 87-84	Parker (24)	Gray (7)	Parker (6)	Staples Center 11,617	18-6
25	August 6	Dallas	L 79-85	Tied (21)	Parker (9)	Gray (4)	College Park Center 3,903	18-7
26	August 11	Minnesota	W 70-64	Gray (23)	Parker (10)	Sims (5)	Xcel Energy Center 11,533	19-7
27	August 13	New York	L 69-83	Sims (18)	Parker (7)	Sims (5)	Madison Square Garden 10,083	19-8
28	August 16	Washington	W 95-62	Parker (21)	Parker (7)	Sims (7)	Capital One Arena 7,279	20-8
29	August 18	Chicago	W 115-106	Ogwumike (32)	Parker (12)	Tied (10)	Allstate Arena 6,826	21-8
30	August 22	San Antonio	W 75-55	Ogwumike (22)	Ogwumike (14)	Parker (6)	Staples Center 12,433	22-8
31	August 24	Phoenix	W 82-67	Sims (28)	Ogwumike (10)	Sims (8)	Talking Stick Resort Arena 9,890	23-8
32	August 27	Minnesota	W 78-67	Parker (24)	Parker (10)	Gray (5)	Staples Center 19,282	24-8

September : 2–0 (Home: 2–0; Road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
33	September 1	Atlanta	W 81-56	Parker (18)	Ogwumike (6)	Sims (7)	Staples Center 12,163	25-8
34	September 3	Connecticut	W 81-70	Ogwumike (21)	Parker (14)	Gray (7)	Staples Center 12,236	26-8

2017 season schedule

Playoffs

2017 playoff game log
Total: 5–3 (Home: 3–1; Road: 2–2)

WNBA Semifinals: 3–0 (Home: 2–0; Road: 1–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Series
1	September 12	Phoenix	W 79–66	Ogwumike (19)	Ogwumike (9)	Gray (6)	Staples Center 7,963	1–0
2	September 14	Phoenix	W 86–72	Parker (24)	Parker (13)	Tied (6)	Walter Pyramid 4,023	2–0
3	September 17	Phoenix	W 89–87	Sims (22)	Ogwumike (12)	Parker (11)	Talking Stick Resort Arena 12,043	3–0

WNBA Finals: 2–3 (Home: 1–1; Road: 1–2)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Series
1	September 24	Minnesota	W 85–84	Gray (27)	Parker (11)	Gray (6)	Williams Arena 11,823	1–0
2	September 26	Minnesota	L 70–68	Parker (17)	Ogwumike (13)	Parker (6)	Williams Arena 11,434	1–1
3	September 29	Minnesota	W 75–64	Tied (16)	Ogwumike (10)	Gray (7)	Staples Center 13,500	2–1
4	October 1	Minnesota	L 69–80	Ogwumike (17)	Tied (8)	Gray (9)	Staples Center 13,500	2–2
5	October 4	Minnesota	L 76-85	Parker (19)	Parker (15)	Gray (8)	Williams Arena 14,632	2-3

2017 playoff schedule

Standings

#	Western Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1	Minnesota Lynx - (1)	27	7	.794	–	15–2	12–5	13–3
2	Los Angeles Sparks - (2)	26	8	.765	1	16–1	10–7	12–4
3	Phoenix Mercury - (5)	18	16	.529	9	9–8	9–8	7–9
4	Dallas Wings - (7)	16	18	.471	11	10–7	6–11	7–9
5	Seattle Storm - (8)	15	19	.441	12	10–7	5–12	8–8
6	San Antonio Stars - e	8	26	.235	19	6–11	2–15	1–15

Playoffs


First round: Single elimination (Sept. 6)			Second round: Single elimination (Sept. 10)			Semifinals: Best-of-five (Sept. 12 – Sept. 17)					WNBA Finals: Best-of-five (Sept. 24 – Oct. 4)



						2	Los Angeles Sparks	79	86	89

			4	Connecticut Sun	83	5	Phoenix Mercury	66	72	87

5	Phoenix Mercury	79	5	Phoenix Mercury	88						1	Minnesota Lynx	84	70	64	80	85

8	Seattle Storm	69									2	Los Angeles Sparks	85	68	75	69	76

						1	Minnesota Lynx	101	93	81

			3	New York Liberty	68	6	Washington Mystics	81	83	70

6	Washington Mystics	86	6	Washington Mystics	82

7	Dallas Wings	76

Note: Teams re-seeded after second round and semi-finals.

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Nneka Ogwumike	34	34	30.9	56.1%	34.0%	87.0%	7.7	2.1	1.9	0.5	18.8
Candace Parker	33	33	30.5	47.8%	35.4%	75.6%	8.4	4.3	1.5	1.7	16.9
Chelsea Gray	34	34	33.1	50.7%	48.2%	82.7%	3.3	4.4	1.1	0.2	14.8
Odyssey Sims	31	14	24.3	44.7%	19.0%	88.6%	1.9	3.5	1.5	0.2	9.6
Jantel Lavender	32	0	17.3	48.8%	31.3%	84.6%	3.0	0.9	0.3	0.2	7.3
Alana Beard	34	34	30.8	49.7%	31.6%	80.4%	3.3	2.2	2.1	0.5	6.9
Riquna Williams	23	6	17.7	32.1%	27.0%	86.4%	1.4	0.7	0.8	0.1	6.4
Essence Carson	24	14	19.3	40.4%	25.0%	48.5%	1.7	1.2	0.6	0.3	4.8
Sydney Wiese	28	0	7.9	38.3%	40.0%	50.0%	0.8	0.3	0.2	0.1	2.3
Tiffany Jackson	26	1	5.7	46.2%	0.0%	62.5%	1.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	1.1
Sandrine Gruda	7	0	4.0	36.4%	—	—	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.1
Ify Ibekwe	6	0	3.8	11.1%	0.0%	66.7%	0.8	0.0	0.2	0.0	1.0
Maimouna Diarra	10	0	2.0	20.0%	—	50.0%	1.1	0.1	0.2	0.0	0.3

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Candice Parker	Player of the Week	June 19, 2017	^[2]
Brian Agler	Coach of the Month - June	July 5, 2017	^[3]
Candice Parker	Player of the Week	July 31, 2017	^[4]
Candice Parker	Player of the Week	August 28, 2017	^[5]
Candice Parker	Player of the Month	August 2017	^[6]
Alana Beard	WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award	September 12, 2017	^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b "Transactions".
^ "Connecticut's Jones and Los Angeles' Parker Named WNBA Players of the Week". wnba.com. WNBA. June 19, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
^ "Los Angeles' Brian Agler Named WNBA Coach of the Month". wnba.com. WNBA. July 5, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
^ "Candace Parker, Tina Charles Named WNBA Players of the Week". wnba.com. WNBA. July 31, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
^ "New York's Charles, Los Angeles' Parker Named WNBA Players of the Week". wnba.com. WNBA. August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
^ "New York's Charles, Los Angeles' Parker Named WNBA Players of the Month". wnba.com. WNBA. September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
^ "Los Angeles' Alana Beard Named 2017 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". wnba.com. WNBA. September 12, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.

External links

Official website

[transactions-1] "Transactions".

[2] "Connecticut's Jones and Los Angeles' Parker Named WNBA Players of the Week". wnba.com. WNBA. June 19, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.

[3] "Los Angeles' Brian Agler Named WNBA Coach of the Month". wnba.com. WNBA. July 5, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.

[4] "Candace Parker, Tina Charles Named WNBA Players of the Week". wnba.com. WNBA. July 31, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.

[5] "New York's Charles, Los Angeles' Parker Named WNBA Players of the Week". wnba.com. WNBA. August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017.

[6] "New York's Charles, Los Angeles' Parker Named WNBA Players of the Month". wnba.com. WNBA. September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.

[7] "Los Angeles' Alana Beard Named 2017 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year". wnba.com. WNBA. September 12, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.

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