# 2002 Orlando Miracle 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 |

### 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.

## 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.