by Lisa Leslie
We opened the 2002 playoffs in Seattle, against Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird, and company. They had beaten us in our last two meetings, and they had been effective sending double, and triple, coverage at me. But not this time. The Sparks’ playoff experience paid off, and our defense took hold. We swept Seattle in a two-out-of-three game series, and Lauren Jackson scored just four points in the second game.
The Utah Starzz were our next opponents, but we crushed them in a sweep and celebrated our return to the finals for the second time in as many years. And this time, it was a showdown: the L.A. Sparks vs. the New York Liberty. L.A. against New York was the championship matchup that people had been anticipating ever since the league tipped off in 1997. It had all the makings of a sensational series, because we were big-time rivals, and each team had a powerhouse lineup.
New York had been to the finals three times, and they had lost to the Houston Comets every time. They knew this was their chance finally to win it all. Teresa Weatherspoon was the leader of their team, and she gave New York a lot of energy and emotion. Coach Cooper would always tell us that a team can ride on emotion only for so long, and then winning comes down to talent and intelligence. As a team, we felt that we were smarter than New York, but we also knew that New York was extremely talented and very physical.
On the day of Game One, it was raining in Manhattan. When our bus pulled up to Madison Square Garden for the shootaround, security would not let it it drive in. I do not know if it was a legitimate safety precaution, gamesmanship, or the home team trying to take us out of our routine, but security made us get off of the bus outside in the rain, and we were not happy about it. Every other time that we had been to MSG, our bus had pulled right up to the loading dock that led us to the elevator and our locker room.
The door to our bus had been opened and closed several times as our driver tried to get clearance to drive into the building, so the bus steps got wet and slick from the rain. As our team began to unload, Tamecka Dixon stepped down, slipped, and fell to the pavement. She injured her ankle badly, and with the start of the WNBA finals just hours away, she was lying in pain outside of Madison Square Garden.
It was one of those things that did not have to happen. If we had been allowed to unload in the tunnel, the way that we always did, there would never have been a problem. This was a major blow. We knew we needed all of our big-time players to win in New York, but before the finals had even begun, we had lost a starter. Coach Cooper reminded us that the Sparks were so deep in talent that we had starters backing up starters. And he was right. Toto took Tamecka’s place in the starting lineup, and the duel with the Liberty was back on.
I was matched up against Tari Phillips, a six-foot-one, two-hundred-pound center, who was in great shape and on top of her game. She was the most physical, and most active, post player that I had ever played against, and she probably played defense against me as well as any big player in the WNBA. I knew if I was going to be successful, I had to go at her and play my most physical game, and I could not complain about hard hits. I really had a lot of respect for Tari Phillips. She had quick hands and was adept at forcing steals, so I had to protect the basketball on my drives to the hoop. She was a big challenge for me, but I was mentally prepared, and it was time to roll up my sleeves, get in there, and match her intensity.
The score was tied at halftime, but the Sparks pulled away in the final minutes to win Game One. It was a total team effort and a huge win, because we beat the Liberty in their own house, and we did it without Tamecka.
The next two games were scheduled for Staples Center, and the Sparks knew that we needed only one win to earn our second straight championship, but we also knew that New York was not going to roll over. The Sparks really wanted to end the series with New York in Game Two. Coach Cooper had our squad well prepared, and our fans packed Staples Center in hopes of seeing us close it out and finish the season on top. The Sparks roared out to an early lead, but the Liberty chipped away and tied the score with just eighteen seconds on the clock.
Coop called a time-out, and he diagrammed a final play for us. I think everybody in the arena assumed that the ball would come inside to me for the potential game-winning shot, because I had already scored seventeen points in the game and because the Sparks had enjoyed great success running that play for me all season long. The way it was designed, Nikki was supposed to dribble to the wing and pass the ball to me as I made my move to the basket, but New York was familiar with that play, too, and they were ready for it. We got the ball inbounds, and as Nikki worked her way to the wing, I moved to the block on the left side. Weatherspoon dropped down from her guard spot to double-team me, so there was no way to get the ball in my hands. The clock was winding down, I was completely covered, and our team was running out of options.
Nikki picked up her dribble and looked inside, but she could not find a way to get the ball to me. We were in trouble. The game clock was ticking down to the final seconds. The fans were on their feet and going crazy. The play that we wanted to run had busted, and Nikki knew that she had to make something happen in a hurry, so with 2.4 seconds left to play, she launched a three-point shot. The ball went up and seemed to hang in the air forever, but when it came down, that orange and oatmeal sphere swished right through the net. Staples Center went crazy, and when Teresa Weatherspoon missed a desperation shot at the buzzer, the game was over. The L.A. Sparks won the game 69–66, and we were back-to-back WNBA champions.
It was an awesome finish and a tremendous accomplishment for Nikki, our rookie, to help us win the title in such dramatic fashion. She never panicked under the pressure, and her heroics made our GM, Penny Toler, look like a genius for pulling off that draft day deal with Portland. It was amazing how things had fallen into place for us. We had worked our tails off to get our second straight title, and for the second consecutive year, I had been named MVP of the finals. Life was so good.
Chapter 13
Third Time’s a Charm
I really believe that with true champions, the more you win and the more rings that you get, the more your desire grows to gain even more success. After finishing on top, anything less than a championship leaves you disappointed. I was now the proud winner of back-to-back WNBA championships and back-to-back WNBA playoff MVP awards, but I was not satisfied. Winning had become a habit that I really loved, and I did not want it to stop. So in September of 2002, I joined the USA Basketball squad for the world championships in China. The competition internationally was getting stronger every year, and I wanted to get in on the action.
Anne Donovan was our head coach this time, and the U.S. national team knocked off our first seven opponents by no less than thirty-four points per game. In the semifinals, we got an Olympic rematch with Australia, and we had a fantastic game. Our defense held Lauren Jackson to just nine points, and we went on to beat the Aussies and advanced to the gold-medal round against Russia.
We had steamrolled the Russians in our opening game of the championships, but they were better prepared the second time around, and the game stayed close. With less than ninety seconds to play, our lead was only three points, but in the final minute, I grabbed a rebound at one end of the court and scored a bucket at the other end. Sheryl Swoopes hit some big free throws, and our U.S. national team picked up a 79–74 victory and our seventh gold medal in World championship competition.
It seemed like our team was unbeatable, and I felt the same way. On the heels of two very successful WNBA seasons, I was playing well internationally, too. The U.S. team went undefeated in China, and I was named the tournament’s most valuable player. In the process, I eclipsed the Team USA records for games played, points scored, and rebounds in world championship play. Things just kept going my way. Two months later, I was named the 2002 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year. It was my third time earning that honor.
The Christmas holiday season gave me a brief break to catch my breath, and then it was time to turn my thoughts to WNBA basketball once a
gain. Going into the 2003 season, the L.A. Sparks were the two-time defending champs, and we definitely felt as though we had the makings of a dynasty. Every position was filled with strong players. Nikki was the best point guard in the league. Tamecka’s jump shot was money. Mwadi could drive to the hoop and nail the three-point shot. DeLisha could play down low and step outside, and she could guard any player that our opponents put on the court. And Toto was tough and ornery; she enforced the concept that Staples Center was Sparks territory, and no opponent was allowed to come into our house and do as they pleased. If somebody was messing with me, Toto would say, “Smooth, don’t worry. I got ’em!” And that would be the end of it.
Our squad was honest and open, and we shared a strong team bond. With Coach Cooper running the show, we felt really good about going into the 2003 WNBA season. We were a confident, winning unit; we never had to question our coach or his staff; and we never had to worry about our game plan, because Coop and his assistants, Karleen Thompson and Ryan Weisenberg, were the best at communicating and keeping us on top of our game. We always knew what we were supposed to do. That liberated us just to play.
But not everything worked out the way we had hoped it would. A few WNBA franchises went under. Then Toto, our big post player, who gave the team its swagger, was accused of sexual assault and was released by management. We were all shocked. The player who had been such a huge part of our championship success was no longer a part of our team. In our first game after Toto’s dismissal, we stumbled to a one-point win, but her presence was missed on the court. (No charges were ever filed against Toto, and in 2006 her wrongful termination suit against the team was settled.)
At the All-Star Game, I was again happy to start for the Western Conference, but my teammate Lauren Jackson went up to block a shot by Swin Cash, and Swin fell on my right knee. I was down, and I was hurting badly. There was no way I could stand up. I cried, clutched my knee, and knew right away that something was very wrong. I had to be helped to the locker room. I worried that surgery would be necessary, and I wondered if my career was in jeopardy.
I was also going through a painful breakup with Todd, my boyfriend of five years and my second fiancé. I should have known something was not quite clicking when after he asked for my hand in marriage, I said, “I can handle that.” But Todd was a really good guy. I just think I was at that stage where I thought I could really fix him up, change him, make him better. Todd was my “potential” guy. Over time I realized that you cannot change a guy into what you want him to be. He has to be that already. But it hurt to end that relationship, and it made it tougher to deal with a potentially career-ending injury.
An MRI showed that I had bruised the bone in my right knee. It was not as bad as it could have been, but it was the most serious injury I had ever had. I had to wear a brace and use crutches. As it turned out, I did not play again for almost a month. Not long after this, the Sparks took another direct hit: Rhonda Mapp became the first player dismissed from the WNBA for violating the league’s antidrug policy. We were slowly losing the pieces of the puzzle that had previously made our team unstoppable. But somehow we made it to the playoffs again and to the Western Conference championships for the third straight year. Despite all of the difficult player adjustments, we were getting to defend our back-to-back titles.
The team that wanted to get between us and a three-peat was Detroit, the Eastern Conference champs, who were coached by NBA great Bill Laimbeer. Bill and Coach Cooper knew each other very well from their playing days in the NBA, and there was little love between the two. Coop’s Lakers had beaten Laimbeer’s Pistons to win the 1988 NBA championship, and the next year Detroit’s “Bad Boys” had turned the tables to win the first of their back-to-back titles. Coop had been the WNBA’s Coach of the Year in 2000. Laimbeer had won the award for his team’s “worst to first” turnaround in 2003. They had a bit of a rivalry themselves. So we really wanted to win—for the three-peat and for Coach Cooper.
The Sparks hosted Game One of the WNBA finals at Staples Center, and things could not have gone much better for us or much worse for Detroit. We enjoyed a twenty-one point lead at intermission, the Shock missed fifty of their seventy shot attempts in the game, and we won by double digits.
Game Two was at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and this time the Shock had everything going their way. They pulled out to a nineteen-point advantage and limited me to just two points before halftime. I did manage to score sixteen more in the second half, and the Sparks came all the way back to take the lead with slightly more than a minute to play. But Detroit pulled away from us in the final moments. The series was all tied up.
The Palace was packed for Game Three with a WNBA record crowd of more than twenty-two thousand fans. Derek Fisher from the Lakers made the long trip from L.A. to lend his support to the Sparks, and Detroit had a celebrity cheering section of its own. Pistons greats Joe Dumars and Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson were courtside, and so was former welterweight champ Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns.
The key to the game was Ruth Riley at center. She had been a decent player in the WNBA, but Ruth played the game of her life against us in the championship game. Detroit led most of the way, but with twenty-four seconds left in the season, DeLisha dialed long distance with a jumper and put the Sparks in front by two. But that was the last time we were able to score. Detroit won its first WNBA championship against us, 82–80.
For the first time in three seasons, the Sparks were not the ones hoisting the trophy or tasting champagne, and I was not holding the league’s playoff MVP award. Ruth Riley had it. But not one player on our team cried, because we knew that we had given it our all. It just was not our year. But that just made us hungrier; we knew we needed to retool and regroup before the 2004 season began. But there was a lot to think about before then. We were, after all, approaching an Olympic year.
I was a member of the U.S. national team, and we trained to compete, sometimes internationally, each spring. The WNBA season conveniently runs from May through the end of the summer. The timing is great, and I have not had much trouble playing for both organizations. In fact, the U.S. national team has been a great way for me to play quality basketball before the WNBA season gears up each year, and it is a nice boost before the Olympics, too.
In 2004, however, there was an overlap. The WNBA decided to shut down for the entire month of August so that its athletes could play in the Olympics and then pick up again when the Games were over. It made a lot of sense.
Before the WNBA went on hiatus, we got dramatic news: Michael Cooper had stepped down as head coach to take an assistant coaching position with the Denver Nuggets of the NBA. Coach Cooper had been such a huge part of the Sparks’ success, and he had worked so well with me. Coop had turned down a few assistant coaching offers from NBA teams before in hopes of landing a head coaching job in the NBA, but when the Nuggets called, he obviously felt the time and the situation were right for him. Our team was devastated.
I cannot blame Coop for doing what he felt was best for himself, his family, and his career, but it was difficult to lose the man who had pulled the Sparks together and had taught us how to play like champions. Karleen Thompson and Ryan Weisenberg were promoted to co-head coaches, and all things considered, we played exceptionally well. I felt a nice momentum as I headed to my third Olympics.
The Olympic team gathered in New York, at Radio City Music Hall, to practice for two days and to square off against a team of WNBA All-Stars—the top players in the league who were not playing in the Olympics. This event gave the fans an All-Star Game, and the added bonus was that it was great training for the national team. After the All-Star Game, it was off to Europe for tune-up games against France and Spain, and then, finally, to Athens for the Games.
Greece was incredibly beautiful! During the opening ceremony at Athens Olympic Stadium, there were fireworks and music and dancing and a reflecting pool in the center of everything, which was ignited to form the five Olympic rin
gs in a fire. The ceremony was filled with pageantry, a presentation of Greek culture, and a parade of floats. Thousands of Olympic athletes marched into the stadium in the parade of nations, and as usual, the countries were introduced in alphabetical order. The twist at the Athens Olympics was that the teams entered according to the Greek alphabet.
I was especially excited when all the U.S. athletes walked into the stadium because one of our smallest athletes was carrying the large American flag and leading our delegation. The U.S. Olympic teams’ various event captains had voted five-foot-six-inch Dawn Staley to be our country’s flag bearer. It was a tremendous honor for Dawn, who had announced that she would be retiring from international competition after the Games in Greece. I thought Dawn was the perfect choice to carry our flag. She was nervous and eager as the opening ceremony drew closer, and I made sure to tell her playfully, “Whatever you do, don’t trip. You know how your knees knock sometimes.” Of course, everything went off without a hitch, and I was so proud of her. Watching her was a reminder of how far she and I had both come since those days with the junior national team.
The women’s and men’s Dream Teams stayed on the Queen Mary 2 during the Olympics. The ship was docked in the Athens harbor, and with the world still reeling over the 9/11 attacks, global terrorism, and the bombing at the Atlanta Games, I have to admit, I felt a lot safer living on the cruise ship. It was a great place for our athletes to get together and party, too. There was a great club on board called G-32. We had some fun times there, and WNBA standout Diana Taurasi still jokes when she sees me, “I’ll meet you at G-32.”
The U.S. athletes all ate in the same area on the ship, so that gave us opportunities to sit down, talk, and get to know each other. That is where I met Dwyane Wade, the point guard for the Miami Heat. I talked a lot with him, and I also spent some time with LeBron James and Lamar Odom. Lamar had just been traded from Miami to the Lakers in the Shaquille O’Neal deal, so it was exciting to talk with him, because we were sure to be seeing a lot of each other back in Los Angeles. I met a lot of interesting people on the Queen Mary 2, and because we were on a ship and could not go out very much, we developed a camaraderie that was very special.
