# 2004 Phoenix Mercury season

The 2004 WNBA season was the eighth for the Phoenix Mercury.

## Offseason
### WNBA draft

| Pick | Player |
| 1st | Diana Taurasi |
| 8th | Chandi Jones |
| 14th | Ashley Robinson |
| 27th | Maria Villarroel |

## Regular season

In her WNBA debut, Taurasi netted 26 points and led the Mercury to an 84-76 victory over the Seattle Storm. For the season, the rookie averaged 17.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. Although the Mercury did not qualify for the playoffs, the season was a personal success as Taurasi was named to the Western Conference All Star team and won the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award.

### Season standings

| Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
| Los Angeles Sparks $^x$ | 25 | 9 | .735 | – | 15–2 | 10–7 | 16–6 |
| Seattle Storm $^x$ | 20 | 14 | .588 | 5.0 | 13–4 | 7–10 | 13–9 |
| Minnesota Lynx $^x$ | 18 | 16 | .529 | 7.0 | 11–6 | 7–10 | 12–10 |
| Sacramento Monarchs $^x$ | 18 | 16 | .529 | 7.0 | 10–7 | 8–9 | 12–10 |
| Phoenix Mercury $^o$ | 17 | 17 | .500 | 8.0 | 10–7 | 7–10 | 11–11 |
| Houston Comets $^o$ | 13 | 21 | .382 | 12.0 | 9–8 | 4–13 | 7–15 |
| San Antonio Silver Stars $^o$ | 9 | 25 | .265 | 16.0 | 6–11 | 3–14 | 6–16 |

### Season Schedule

| Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Record |
| May 20 | Sacramento | 66-72 | Loss | 0-1 |
| May 22 | @ Connecticut | 65-58 | Win | 1-1 |
| May 28 | Seattle | 84-76 | Win | 2-1 |
| June 1 | Houston | 73-63 | Win | 3-1 |
| June 3 | @ Seattle | 45-72 | Loss | 3-2 |
| June 5 | @ Minnesota | 68-76 | Loss | 3-3 |
| June 9 | Connecticut | 75-59 | Win | 4-3 |
| June 11 | Charlotte | 51-59 | Loss | 4-4 |
| June 18 | Los Angeles | 74-76 | Loss | 4-5 |
| June 22 | Minnesota | 69-46 | Win | 5-5 |
| June 24 | New York | 72-60 | Win | 6-5 |
| June 26 | San Antonio | 72-80 (OT) | Loss | 6-6 |
| June 27 | @ Sacramento | 57-63 | Loss | 6-7 |
| June 29 | @ San Antonio | 77-65 | Win | 7-7 |
| July 1 | @ Charlotte | 71-59 | Win | 8-7 |
| July 3 | @ Indiana | 60-61 | Loss | 8-8 |
| July 7 | @ Los Angeles | 71-73 | Loss | 8-9 |
| July 9 | @ Minnesota | 59-61 | Loss | 8-10 |
| July 11 | @ New York | 69-77 | Loss | 8-11 |
| July 18 | Minnesota | 60-63 | Loss | 8-12 |
| July 21 | San Antonio | 87-55 | Win | 9-12 |
| July 22 | @ Sacramento | 71-69 | Win | 10-12 |
| July 24 | Indiana | 71-56 | Win | 11-12 |
| July 30 | @ San Antonio | 68-59 | Win | 12-12 |
| August 1 | @ Washington | 62-82 | Loss | 12-13 |
| September 1 | @ Detroit | 63-58 | Win | 13-13 |
| September 3 | @ Houston | 70-60 | Win | 14-13 |
| September 4 | Seattle | 63-55 | Win | 15-13 |
| September 8 | Los Angeles | 72-58 | Win | 16-13 |
| September 11 | Detroit | 72-80 | Loss | 16-14 |
| September 14 | @ Los Angeles | 60-73 | Loss | 16-15 |
| September 15 | @ Seattle | 58-73 | Loss | 16-16 |
| September 17 | Washington | 67-74 | Loss | 16-17 |
| September 19 | Houston | 78-64 | Win | 17-17 |

## Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; FG = Field Goals; MIN= Minutes; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points
| Player | GP | MIN | FG | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
| Diana Taurasi | 34 | 1130 | 209 | 149 | 132 | 43 | 25 | 578 |
| Anna DeForge | 34 | 1152 | 165 | 123 | 107 | 51 | 8 | 488 |
| Penny Taylor | 33 | 1076 | 150 | 160 | 82 | 52 | 14 | 434 |
| Plenette Pierson | 31 | 803 | 112 | 131 | 26 | 26 | 17 | 290 |
| Slobodanka Tuvic | 33 | 691 | 37 | 123 | 32 | 25 | 37 | 91 |
| Tamara Moore | 32 | 387 | 27 | 28 | 53 | 26 | 9 | 82 |
| Nikki McCray | 27 | 371 | 30 | 29 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 69 |
| Adrian Williams | 11 | 145 | 27 | 21 | 5 | 11 | 5 | 65 |
| Shereka Wright | 24 | 243 | 13 | 27 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 57 |
| Gwen Jackson | 14 | 136 | 23 | 27 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 56 |
| Kayte Christensen | 32 | 407 | 19 | 69 | 23 | 21 | 7 | 50 |
| Jae Kingi-Cross | 13 | 128 | 6 | 13 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 20 |
| Ashley Robinson | 19 | 130 | 7 | 13 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 17 |
| Lindsay Taylor | 5 | 26 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |

## Awards and honors

* Diana Taurasi, WNBA Rookie of the Year Award