2004 WNBA Finals

Result

Finals MVP: Betty Lennox

Seattle's first title, and the Connecticut Sun's first Finals appearance since the franchise relocated from Orlando (as the Miracle) for the 2003 season.

Games

Finals context

Seattle's first championship was built around an unlikely hero: Betty Lennox, a journeywoman guard who had landed with the Storm via the dispersal draft after the Cleveland Rockers folded, outplayed franchise cornerstones Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird across the series and earned Finals MVP. Connecticut, in just its second season since relocating from Orlando (where it had played as the Miracle before moving for 2003), stole Game 1 in Hartford on October 8, winning 68-64 as Katie Douglas overcame an early ankle sprain to score 18 points, hit three three-pointers, and knock down clutch free throws late; Lindsay Whalen added 11 points and a franchise playoff-record 9 assists, while Betty Lennox (17) and Jackson (16) led a Seattle offense that could not quite keep pace. The series shifted to Seattle for Game 2, a tense affair Seattle won 67-65 as Lennox scored 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting, including 16 after halftime, narrowly outdueling Nykesha Sales's 32-point outburst, a Finals scoring record for Connecticut. Jackson (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Bird (10 points) supported Lennox as Seattle evened the series. Game 3, also in Seattle on October 12, saw the Sun's shooting collapse — Connecticut missed 18 of 23 field-goal attempts, with Douglas going scoreless from the floor on 11 attempts after her heroics in the opener — while Lennox again dominated, scoring 23 points, 16 of them after the break, to finish the series averaging 22.3 points per game and claim the championship for Seattle, 74-60. Jackson (13 points, 7 rebounds) and Bird (8 points, 6 assists) rounded out a balanced Storm effort. Both home games in Seattle were sellouts at 17,072, reflecting the enthusiasm the city's fan base had built around the franchise since its 2000 founding. The title carried real significance beyond the trophy: Anne Donovan became the first female head coach to win a WNBA championship, a milestone in a league still working to establish women in head-coaching roles at a time when several franchises were still coached by men. Connecticut, appearing in its first Finals since relocating from Orlando, had won five consecutive playoff games entering the series and looked like a rising power in the Eastern Conference, but the shooting collapse in the decisive game proved costly; the Sun would return to the Finals the following year and lose again, part of a pattern of championship-round frustration that has followed the franchise across every incarnation to date, with no title as of this writing. For Seattle, this breakthrough validated years of building around Jackson and Bird and set the stage for three more championships (2010, 2018, 2020) over the following decade and a half.

Sources

• Wikipedia — 2004 WNBA Finals
• Basketball-Reference.com — WNBA Playoffs