Los Angeles, CA – The Los Angeles Sparks took the WNBA Championship in game 5 on the Minnesota Lynx court 77-76 with Nneka Ogwumike basket with 3.1 seconds.
These two teams have been on this collision course all year from their first matchup in regular season. At that time both teams were undefeated and gave each other their first loss on other teams home court.
It was safe to say both teams knew they could win on their opponent’s home floor. This was Lynx first time losing two games at home in the playoffs to same team.
WNBA deserves some credit for be a pioneer in changing the playoff format to put best teams into the playoff regardless of conference. This year the two best teams in WNBA just happen to be in the Western Conference, so previously this game would not have been on this big ESPN stage.
They WNBA MVP’s filled the court from this year Nneka Ogwumike, Maya Moore 2014, and Candace Parker 2013 all on display. Fans will talk about this five game series for years to come.
Parker was named playoffs MVP and final got that elusive title that haunted her legacy. She took over the game like a true champion scoring a game high 28 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 steals. After game an emotional Parker said, “This is for Pat (Summitt).”
Sparks General Manager Penny Toler weathered the storms of underachieving teams with high expectations. Her master plan bringing in head coach Brian Agler two seasons ago from the Seattle Storm was part of winning recipe.
Now the Staples Center will raise a LA Sparks banner to hang with their back to back banners from 2001 and 2002. No one can take away this magical season it will go down in history.
