2002 Orlando Miracle season

2002 Orlando Miracle season
2002 Orlando Miracle season
Coach	Dee Brown
Arena	TD Waterhouse Centre
Attendance	7,115 per game
Results
Record	16–16 (.500)
Place	5th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Team Leaders
Points	Shannon Johnson (16.1)
Rebounds	Wendy Palmer (5.8)
Assists	Shannon Johnson (5.3)
	← 2001 season 2003 season →

The 2002 WNBA season was their fourth season and their last in Orlando. The Miracle missed out of the playoffs by losing in a tiebreaker to the Indiana Fever. It was also the final season in Orlando.

Offseason

WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
2	23	Davalyn Cunningham	United States	Rutgers
3	39	Saundra Jackson	United States	Mississippi
4	55	Tomeka Brown	United States	Ohio State

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Transactions

May 24: The Miracle waived Andrea Congreaves and Anna Zimerle.
May 22: The Miracle waived E.C. Hill and Saundra Jackson.
May 18: The Miracle waived Tawona Alhaleem and Tomeka Brown.
May 12: The Miracle waived Jaclyn Johnson.
May 5: The Miracle waived Naomi Mulitauaopele, Alissa Murphy and Monika Roberts.
May 4: The Miracle waived Darene Thomas.
April 18: The Miracle acquired Clarisse Machanguana from the Charlotte Sting in exchange for a first-round pick (seventh overall) in the 2002 Draft.

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Roster

2002 Orlando Miracle roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Height	Weight	From
F	50	Cunningham, Davalyn	6' 0" (1.83m)	187 lb (85kg)	Rutgers
C	28	dos Santos, Cintia	6' 5" (1.96m)	187 lb (85kg)	Brazil
G/F	32	Douglas, Katie	6' 0" (1.83m)	165 lb (75kg)	Purdue
F/C	7	Hicks, Jessie	6' 4" (1.93m)	188 lb (85kg)	Maryland
G	31	Johnson, Adrienne	5' 10" (1.78m)	154 lb (70kg)	Ohio State
G	14	Johnson, Shannon	5' 7" (1.7m)	152 lb (69kg)	South Carolina
C	00	Machanguana, Clarisse	6' 5" (1.96m)	180 lb (82kg)	Old Dominion
G/F	12	McCain, Tiffany	5' 10" (1.78m)	167 lb (76kg)	Kentucky
F	10	McGhee, Carla	6' 1" (1.85m)	179 lb (81kg)	Tennessee
F/C	11	McWilliams, Taj (C)	6' 2" (1.88m)	184 lb (83kg)	St. Edward's College
F	3	Palmer-Daniel, Wendy	6' 2" (1.88m)	165 lb (75kg)	Virginia
G/F	42	Sales, Nykesha (C)	6' 0" (1.83m)	175 lb (79kg)	Connecticut
F	21	Wyckoff, Brooke	6' 1" (1.85m)	183 lb (83kg)	Florida State

Head coach: Dee Brown (Jacksonville)
Assistant coaches: Vonn Read (Clark Atlanta); Valerie Still (Kentucky)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(DP) Unsigned draft pick
(FA) Free agent
(S) Suspended
Injured

Season standings

Eastern Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
New York Liberty ^x	18	14	.563	11–10	–
Charlotte Sting ^x	18	14	.563	12–9	–
Washington Mystics ^x	17	15	.531	12–9	1.0
Indiana Fever ^x	16	16	.500	12–9	2.0
Orlando Miracle ^o	16	16	.500	13–8	2.0
Miami Sol ^o	15	17	.469	11–10	3.0
Cleveland Rockers ^o	10	22	.312	7–14	8.0
Detroit Shock ^o	9	23	.281	6–15	9.0

Schedule

Preseason

Game	Date	Opponent	Result	Record
1	May 11	Miami	W 67-59	1-0
2	May 19	Los Angeles	L 75-85	1-1
3	May 21	@ Houston	W 61-56	2-1

Regular season

Game	Date	Opponent	Result	Record
1	May 30	Detroit	W 80-66	1-0
2	June 1	@ Washington	L 82-93	1-1
3	June 4	@ Miami	W 71-69	2-1
4	June 8	Cleveland	W 103-99 (3OT)	3-1
5	June 11	Indiana	L 69-75	3-2
6	June 15	Miami	L 65-69	3-3
7	June 18	@ New York	W 71-62	4-3
8	June 19	@ Cleveland	W 66-62	5-3
9	June 21	@ Detroit	W 80-59	6-3
10	June 23	New York	W 77-65	7-3
11	June 26	@ Portland	L 57-64	7-4
12	June 27	@ Seattle	L 71-73	7-5
13	June 29	@ Minnesota	L 59-67	7-6
14	July 3	Indiana	W 79-71 (OT)	8-6
15	July 6	Phoenix	W 72-70	9-6
16	July 8	Washington	L 51-63	9-7
17	July 12	Charlotte	L 67-72	9-8
18	July 13	@ Miami	L 56-70	9-9
19	July 17	@ Charlotte	L 62-89	9-10
20	July 19	Utah	W 84-73	10-10
21	July 21	@ Sacramento	L 60-62	10-11
22	July 22	@ Los Angeles	L 84-92	10-12
23	July 25	Seattle	L 76-79	10-13
24	July 28	@ Cleveland	W 76-70 (OT)	11-13
25	July 30	@ Washington	W 70-55	12-13
26	August 1	Charlotte	W 65-63	13-13
27	August 3	@ Houston	L 62-69	13-14
28	August 4	Portland	W 63-61	14-14
29	August 7	@ Indiana	L 63-70	14-15
30	August 8	@ Sacramento	L 72-82	14-16
31	August 11	Detroit	W 71-58	15-16
32	August 13	New York	W 70-63	16-16

Playoffs

The Miracle tied for fourth place with the Indiana Fever. However, the Miracle lost two of the three regular season meetings with the Fever and therefore, the Fever took fourth place and advanced to the postseason for the first time ever.

Depth

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Inactive
C	Clarisse Machanguana	Jessie Hicks	Cintia dos Santos
PF	Taj McWilliams-Franklin	Wendy Palmer-Daniel		Davalyn Cunningham
SF	Katie Douglas	Brooke Wyckoff		Carla McGhee
SG	Nykesha Sales	Adrienne Johnson
PG	Shannon Johnson	Tiffany McCain

Player stats

http://www.wnba.com/sun/stats/2002/

Awards and honors

Shannon Johnson and Nykesha Sales were named to the WNBA All-Star team.
Shannon Johnson was named WNBA Player of the Week for the week of June 9.
Nykesha Sales was named WNBA Player of the Week for the week of June 23.
Shannon Johnson was named to the All-WNBA Second Team for the third time in her career.

References

[1] WNBA.com: 2002 WNBA Draft Board^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[2] WNBA.com: 2002 WNBA Transactions

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