2016 Los Angeles Sparks season
WNBA team season
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The 2016 Los Angeles Sparks season was the 20th season for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association. The season tipped off on May 15 at home, against the Seattle Storm.[1]
| 2016 Los Angeles Sparks season | |
|---|---|
WNBA champions | |
| Head coach | Brian Agler |
| Arena | Staples Center |
| Results | |
| Record | 26–8 (.765) |
| Place | 2nd (Western) |
| Playoff finish | WNBA champions (Defeated Minnesota 3-2) |
| Media | |
| Television | Time Warner Cable SportsNet ESPN2, NBATV |
The Sparks started the season well, winning all five of their games in May. Three of the five wins came by double-digits, and the closest was a five-point win over Connecticut on May 26. The team continued its hot streak into June and did not lose until June 21. The three-point loss, which came at home against Minnesota, ended an eleven-game winning streak. The Sparks got revenge on Minnesota, winning three days later in Minnesota by a score of 94–76. The Sparks did not lose again in June and finished the month with a 10–1 record. The team went on a nine-game winning streak, which lasted until July 17. They then lost back-to-back games for the first time in the season, with losses coming on the road against Atlanta and Indiana. The team won its final game heading into the Olympic break to finish July 6–2. The return from the break was a rocky one with the Sparks losing both of their games in August. However, a trip to Texas to begin September saw the team return to its winning ways when they defeated San Antonio and Dallas. The Sparks lost three straight games from September 6 to September 11 before finishing the season with two wins. Their September record was 5–3 and they finished the season 26–8 overall.
The Sparks' 26–8 record earned them the second overall seed in the WNBA Playoffs and they finished two games behind top seed Minnesota. The Sparks earned a bye into the semifinals where they matched-up with fourth seed Chicago. The Sparks won the first two games at home, 95–75 and 99–84. When the series moved to Chicago, the Sparks lost Game 3 66–70. A return to Los Angeles wasn't needed as the Sparks won Game 4 95–75 to advance to the WNBA Finals and matched-up with first seed Minnesota. The series began in Minnesota and the Sparks won Game 1 78–76, but lost Game 2 60–79. The two teams again split Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles, with the Sparks winning Game 3 92–75 and losing Game 4 79–85. In the deciding Game 5, the Sparks won in Minnesota 77–76 to secure their third WNBA title.[2]
Transactions
WNBA draft
The Sparks made three selections in the 2016 WNBA Entry Draft in Uncasville, Connecticut:
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | WNBA Team | School/Team/Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 15 | Whitney Knight |  United States |
Los Angeles Sparks from Connecticut Sun | Florida Gulf Coast |
| 2 | 23 | Brianna Butler | United States |
Los Angeles Sparks from Connecticut Sun | Syracuse |
| 3 | 29 | Talia Walton | United States |
Los Angeles Sparks | Washington |
Trades and Roster Changes
| Date | Transaction | |
|---|---|---|
| February 11, 2016 | Signed Candace Parker[3] | |
| February 17, 2016 | Signed Nneka Ogwumike[4] | |
| March 1, 2016 | Acquired Riquna Williams and the 6th pick in the 2016 WNBA draft from the Dallas Wings in exchange for Erin Phillips, the 5th pick in the 2016 draft and, the 11th pick in the 2017 WNBA draft.[5] | |
| March 31, 2016 | Signed Essence Carson[6] | |
| April 14, 2016 | Acquired Chelsea Gray, the 15th and 23rd picks in the 2016 draft, and the 4th pick in the 2017 draft from the Connecticut Sun in exchange for Jonquel Jones and the 17th pick in the 2016 draft.[7] | |
| May 11, 2016 | Waived Talia Walton | |
| August 30, 2016 | Waived Whitney Knight[8] | |
Roster
| 2016 Los Angeles Sparks roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Schedule
Pre-season
| 2016 pre-season game log Total: 3–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 2–0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pre-season: 3–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 2–0)
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| 2016 season schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Regular season
| 2016 game log Total: 26–8 (Home: 14–3 Road: 12–5) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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May: 5–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 4–0)
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June: 10–1 (Home: 7–1; Road: 3–0)
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July: 6–2 (Home: 3–0; Road: 3–2)
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August: 0–2 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–2)
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September: 5–3 (Home: 3–2; Road: 2–1)
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| 2016 season schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playoffs
| 2016 playoff game log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Semifinals vs. Chicago Won Series: 3–1
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Finals vs. Minnesota Won Series: 3–2
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| 2016 playoff schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Standings
| Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - Minnesota Lynx | 28 | 6 | .824 | — | 15–2 | 13–4 | 15–1 |
| 2 - Los Angeles Sparks | 26 | 8 | .765 | 2 | 14–3 | 12–5 | 11–5 |
| 7 - Seattle Storm | 16 | 18 | .471 | 12 | 10–7 | 6–11 | 7–9 |
| 8 - Phoenix Mercury | 16 | 18 | .471 | 12 | 11–6 | 5–12 | 6–10 |
| e - Dallas Wings | 11 | 23 | .324 | 17 | 6–11 | 5–12 | 8–8 |
| e - San Antonio Stars | 7 | 27 | .206 | 21 | 4–13 | 3–14 | 1–15 |
Playoffs
The Sparks qualified for the 2016 playoffs, and, as the team with the second-best regular season record in the WNBA, received two automatic byes, advancing straight to the best-of-five semifinal.
| First round Single elimination (Sept. 21) | Second round Single elimination (Sept. 24 and 25) | Semifinals Best-of-5 (Sept. 28 – Oct. 6) | WNBA Finals Best-of-5 (Oct. 9 – 20) | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | Minnesota Lynx | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | New York Liberty | 94 | 8 | Phoenix Mercury | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | Indiana Fever | 78 | 8 | Phoenix Mercury | 101 | 1 | Minnesota Lynx | 2 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Phoenix Mercury | 89 | 2 | Los Angeles Sparks | 3 | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Los Angeles Sparks | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Chicago Sky | 108 | 4 | Chicago Sky | 1 | |||||||||||||
| 6 | Atlanta Dream | 94 | 6 | Atlanta Dream | 98 | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Seattle Storm | 85 | ||||||||||||||||
Note: Teams re-seeded after the second round and semifinals.
- Bold – Game or series winner
- Italic – Team with home-court advantage
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 | 33 | 33 | 31.6 | 66.5% | 61.5% | 86.9% | 9.1 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 19.7 |
| Candace Parker | 34 | 34 | 30.8 | 44.2% | 38.2% | 70.7% | 7.4 | 4.9 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 15.3 |
| Kristi Toliver | 33 | 33 | 32.1 | 42.6% | 42.4% | 88.9% | 2.6 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 13.2 |
| Jantel Lavender | 34 | 0 | 19.4 | 53.8% | 0.0% | 68.3% | 3.6 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 9.6 |
| Essence Carson | 34 | 34 | 23.3 | 44.9% | 35.9% | 89.1% | 2.0 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 8.1 |
| Alana Beard | 34 | 34 | 29.3 | 46.7% | 34.2% | 69.2% | 3.3 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 7.1 |
| Chelsea Gray | 33 | 1 | 16.4 | 45.2% | 30.4% | 78.0% | 1.8 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 5.9 |
| Ana Dabović | 22 | 0 | 10.7 | 37.0% | 15.8% | 75.9% | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 3.0 |
| Evgeniya Belyakova | 21 | 0 | 11.3 | 29.6% | 17.9% | 43.8% | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 2.1 |
| Jelena Dubljević | 15 | 0 | 5.3 | 40.9% | 33.3% | 100% | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Ann Wauters | 21 | 1 | 4.6 | 54.5% | — | 75.0% | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Sandrine Gruda | 7 | 0 | 5.3 | 33.3% | — | 100% | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.0 |
| Whitney Knight | 7 | 0 | 3.9 | 20.0% | 28.6% | — | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
Playoffs
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candace Parker | 9 | 9 | 33.0 | 46.9% | 31.3% | 77.8% | 8.7 | 3.2 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 19.3 |
| Nneka Ogwumike | 9 | 9 | 31.3 | 62.5% | 22.2% | 76.3% | 9.3 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 17.9 |
| Kristi Toliver | 9 | 9 | 32.2 | 40.5% | 41.4% | 85.2% | 2.0 | 3.0 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 12.8 |
| Chelsea Gray | 9 | 0 | 22.1 | 40.6% | 39.1% | 83.3% | 1.7 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 9.0 |
| Alana Beard | 9 | 9 | 31.1 | 45.6% | 50.0% | 77.8% | 3.8 | 3.7 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 8.0 |
| Jantel Lavender | 9 | 0 | 15.6 | 60.7% | 0.0% | — | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 7.6 |
| Essence Carson | 9 | 9 | 25.2 | 33.3% | 25.8% | 50.0% | 2.3 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 6.7 |
| Jelena Dubljević | 2 | 0 | 3.0 | 50.0% | — | — | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Ann Wauters | 2 | 0 | 2.5 | 50.0% | — | — | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
| Ana Dabović | 6 | 0 | 8.0 | 7.1% | 14.3% | 100% | 0.3 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
| Sandrine Gruda | 6 | 0 | 2.8 | — | — | — | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Evgeniya Belyakova | 3 | 0 | 2.7 | 0.0% | 0.0% | — | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
Awards and honors
| Recipient | Award | Date awarded | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candace Parker | Finals MVP | October 20, 2016 | [9] |
| Western Conference Player of the Week | May 29, 2016 | [10] | |
| June 20, 2016 | |||
| Nneka Ogwumike | WNBA MVP | October 18, 2016 | [11] |
| All-WNBA First Team | October 14, 2016 | [12] | |
| All-Defensive First Team | September 30, 2016 | [13] | |
| Western Conference Player of the Week | June 13, 2016 | [10] | |
| July 6, 2016 | |||
| July 18, 2016 | |||
| July 22, 2016 | |||
| September 6, 2016 | |||
| September 19, 2016 | |||
| Western Conference Player of the Month - June | July 1, 2016 | ||
| Western Conference Player of the Month - July | August 1, 2016 | ||
| Jantel Lavender | WNBA Sixth Player of the Year | September 28, 2016 | [14] |
| Alana Beard | All-Defensive First Team | September 30, 2016 | [13] |