# 2004 Connecticut Sun season

The 2004 WNBA season was their sixth season and their second in Connecticut. The Sun attempted to return to the postseason for the second consecutive season and were successful.

## Offseason
### Dispersal Draft

Based on the Sun's 2003 record, they would pick 8th in the Cleveland Rockers dispersal draft. However, the Sun traded the pick to the Houston Comets.

### WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| 1 | 4 | Lindsay Whalen | United States | Minnesota |
| 2 | 16 | Jessica Brungo | United States | Penn State |
| 2 | 24 | Ugo Oha | United States | George Washington University |
| 3 | 29 | Candace Futrell | United States | Duquesne |

### Transactions

* May 19: The Sun waived Courtney Colman.
* May 18: The Sun waived Anna Zimerle, Ugo Oha, and Anastasia Kostaki.
* May 12: The Sun waived Courtney Mix and Katie MacFarlane.
* May 10: The Sun waived Brina Chaney and Brianne Stepherson.
* May 4: The Sun waived Texlin Quinney, Jamila Wideman, and Isabel Stubbs.
* April 26: The Sun signed Brina Chaney, Katie MacFarlane, Le'Coe Willingham, Jennifer Derevjanik, Courtney Mix, and Texlin Quinney.
* April 20: The Sun waived Adrienne Johnson.
* April 19: The Sun waived Jamila Wideman.
* April 16: The Sun signed Isabel Stubbs.
* April 9: The Sun signed Wendy Palmer-Daniel, Brianne Stepherson, Anna Zimerle, and Anastasia Kostaki.
* March 25: The Sun acquired Asjha Jones from the Washington Mystics. The Washington Mystics acquired Tamicha Jackson from the Phoenix Mercury. The Phoenix Mercury acquired the 8th pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft from the Sun.
* January 28: The Sun traded Shannon Johnson and their 21st and 34th picks in the 2004 WNBA Draft to the Silver Stars in exchange for San Antonio's 4th, 16th, 29th picks in the 2004 WNBA Draft.
* January 5: The Sun traded the eighth pick in the 2004 WNBA Dispersal Draft to the Houston Comets in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2004 collegiate draft.

## Season standings

| Eastern Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
| Connecticut Sun $^x$ | 18 | 16 | .529 | – | 10–7 | 8–9 | 14–6 |
| New York Liberty $^x$ | 18 | 16 | .529 | – | 11–6 | 7–10 | 10–10 |
| Detroit Shock $^x$ | 17 | 17 | .500 | 1.0 | 8–9 | 9–8 | 11–9 |
| Washington Mystics $^x$ | 17 | 17 | .500 | 1.0 | 11–6 | 6–11 | 9–11 |
| Charlotte Sting $^o$ | 16 | 18 | .471 | 2.0 | 10–7 | 6–11 | 8–12 |
| Indiana Fever $^o$ | 15 | 19 | .441 | 3.0 | 10–7 | 5–12 | 8–12 |

## Schedule
### Preseason

2004 Game Log: Preseason
GameDateOpponentScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocationRecord
1
May 8
Chinese National Team
L 85-87
Derevjanik (13)
Coleman (9)
Mohegan Sun Arena
0-1
2
May 11
@ Houston
L 71-84
Douglas, Sales (13)
Coleman (6)
Toyota Center
0-2
3
May 13
Los Angeles
L 51-77
Sales (12)
McWilliams-Franklin (7)
Mohegan Sun Arena
0-3 :

### Regular season

2004 Game Log: Regular Season :
May
GameDateOpponentScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocationRecord
1
May 22
Phoenix
L 58-65
Mohegan Sun Arena
0-1
2
May 25
Houston
L 57-68
Mohegan Sun Arena
0-2
3
May 27
Los Angeles
W 82-73
Mohegan Sun Arena
1-2 :
June
GameDateOpponentScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocationRecord
4
June 3
Charlotte
W 71-62
Mohegan Sun Arena
2-2
5
June 4
@ Washington
W 72-63
MCI Center
3-2
6
June 6
Detroit
L 73-74
Mohegan Sun Arena
3-3
7
June 9
@ Phoenix
L 59-75
America West Arena
3-4
8
June 11
@ Seattle
L 63-68
KeyArena
3-5
9
June 12
@ Sacramento
W 83-76
ARCO Arena
4-5
10
June 14
@ Los Angeles
L 74-76 (OT)
Staples Center
4-6
11
June 18
Charlotte
L 58-63 (OT)
Mohegan Sun Arena
4-7
12
June 20
Washington
W 75-65
Mohegan Sun Arena
5-7
13
June 22
@ Indiana
W 63-58
Conseco Fieldhouse
6-7
14
June 25
Detroit
W 71-67 (OT)
Mohegan Sun Arena
7-7
15
June 27
@ Detroit
W 74-72
Palace of Auburn Hills
8-7
16
June 30
Washington
W 78-69
Mohegan Sun Arena
9-7 :
July
GameDateOpponentScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocationRecord
17
July 6
Indiana
W 79-67
Mohegan Sun Arena
10-7
18
July 9
Sacramento
L 70-85
Mohegan Sun Arena
10-8
19
July 11
@ Indiana
W 65-61
Conseco Fieldhouse
11-8
20
July 14
@ Minnesota
L 63-66
Target Center
11-9
21
July 15
@ San Antonio
L 67-78
SBC Center
11-10
22
July 17
@ Houston
L 56-72
Toyota Center
11-11
23
July 21
@ Detroit
W 78-68
Palace of Auburn Hills
12-11
24
July 22
Minnesota
L 52-68
Mohegan Sun Arena
12-12
25
July 24
San Antonio
W 69-55
Mohegan Sun Arena
13-12
26
July 30
@ Washington
L 68-69
MCI Center
13-13
27
July 31
@ New York
L 66-80
Madison Square Garden
13-14 :
September
GameDateOpponentScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocationRecord
Summer Olympic break
28
September 1
@ Charlotte
L 55-62
Charlotte Coliseum
13-15
29
September 3
New York
W 61-43
Mohegan Sun Arena
14-15
30
September 10
@ New York
W 77-66
Madison Square Garden
15-15
31
September 12
Seattle
W 71-64
Mohegan Sun Arena
16-15
32
September 15
@ Charlotte
W 81-67
Charlotte Coliseum
17-15
33
September 17
New York
L 66-69
Mohegan Sun Arena
17-16
34
September 19
Indiana
W 80-60
Mohegan Sun Arena
18-16 :

### Playoffs

In the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the Sun had to face the Washington Mystics. Since the Sun had the better record, the series would be played with game 1 at Washington, game 2 at Connecticut, and game 3 (if needed) at Connecticut. The Sun lost the first game, but won the next two to advance to the next round. In the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the Sun had to face the New York Liberty. The Sun and the Liberty had identical records and each team had won two of the four meetings against each other in the regular season. The Sun attained home-court advantage however, because they beat the Liberty by more than the Liberty beat them. The series would be played with game 1 at New York and games 2 and 3 (if needed) at Connecticut. The Sun swept the Liberty and game 3 was not needed. The Sun advanced to the WNBA Finals. The team would be facing off against the Seattle Storm. The Storm had the better record so the series would be played with game 1 at Connecticut, and games 2 and 3 (if needed) at Seattle. This was the last year the league played the finals in a best-of-three setup. The Storm beat the Sun 2 games to 1 to win the WNBA Finals.
2004 Game Log: Postseason :
Eastern Conference Semifinals
GameDateOpponentScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation/AttendanceSeries
1
September 25
@ Washington
L 59-67
Whalen (16)
McWilliams-Franklin (9)
Douglas (4)
MCI Center 13,263
0-1
2
September 27
Washington
W 80-70
Whalen (21)
Sales (7)
Whalen (6)
Mohegan Sun Arena 5,760
1-1
3
September 29
Washington
W 76-56
Sales (18)
McWilliams-Franklin (11)
Douglas, Whalen (6)
Mohegan Sun Arena 5,514
2-1 :
Eastern Conference Finals
GameDateOpponentScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation/AttendanceSeries
1
October 1
@ New York
W 61-51
Sales (15)
McWilliams-Franklin, Palmer-Daniel (10)
Whalen (5)
Madison Square Garden 12,146
1-0
2
October 3
New York
W 60-57
McWilliams-Franklin (18)
McWilliams-Franklin (9)
Douglas (4)
Mohegan Sun Arena 6,734
2-0 :
WNBA Finals
GameDateOpponentScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation/AttendanceSeries
1
October 8
Seattle
W 68-64
Douglas (18)
Sales (9)
Whalen (9)
Mohegan Sun Arena 9,518 (sellout)
1-0
2
October 10
@ Seattle
L 65-67
Sales (32)
McWilliams-Franklin (7)
Whalen (7)
KeyArena 17,072 (sellout)
1-1
3
October 12
@ Seattle
L 60-74
Sales (18)
Douglas (6)
Douglas, Whalen, McWilliams-Franklin (2)
KeyArena 17,072 (sellout)
1-2 :

## Depth

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 | Inactive |
| C | Taj McWilliams-Franklin | Le'Coe Willingham | | Brooke Wyckoff |
| PF | Wendy Palmer-Daniel | Asjha Jones | Le'Coe Willingham | |
| SF | Nykesha Sales | Jessica Brungo | Candace Futrell | |
| SG | Katie Douglas | Jennifer Derevjanik | | |
| PG | Lindsay Whalen | Debbie Black | | |

## Player stats

* http://www.wnba.com/sun/stats/2004/

## Awards and honors

* Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Nykesha Sales, and Lindsay Whalen were named to the WNBA All-Star team.
* Nykesha Sales was named to the All-WNBA Second Team.
* Wendy Palmer-Daniel was named the Most Improved Player.
* Nykesha Sales was given the Off Season Community Assist Award.
* Nykesha Sales was named the WNBA Player of the Week for the week of June 27, 2004.