2002 New York Liberty season

2002 New York Liberty season
Head Coach	Richie Adubato
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Attendance	14,670 per game
Results Record 18–14 (.563) Place 1st (Eastern) Playoff Finish Lost WNBA Finals (2-0) to Los Angeles Sparks New York Liberty seasons < 2001 2003 >

The 2002 WNBA season was the 6th season for the New York Liberty. The Liberty franchise reached their 4th berth to the WNBA Finals, but lost in a sweep to the Los Angeles Sparks. As of the 2016 season, this was the last season that New York qualified for the WNBA Finals.

Offseason

WNBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	College/School/Team
2	26	Linda Fröhlich (F)	Germany	UNLV
3	46	Tracy Gahan (G)	United States	Iowa State
4	62	Deedee Warley (F)	United States	Maryland

Regular season

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

Season schedule

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Record
May 25	@ Los Angeles	64-72	Loss	0-1
May 29	@ Portland	84-62	Win	1-1
May 30	@ Seattle	78-61	Win	2-1
June 2	Miami	58-52	Win	3-1
June 5	Detroit	60-59	Win	4-1
June 8	@ Indiana	62-71	Loss	4-2
June 9	@ Detroit	70-63	Win	5-2
June 11	@ Utah	71-68	Win	6-2
June 13	@ Sacramento	77-78 (OT)	Loss	6-3
June 16	Charlotte	54-53	Win	7-3
June 18	Orlando	62-71	Loss	7-4
June 21	@ Cleveland	69-80	Loss	7-5
June 23	@ Orlando	65-77	Loss	7-6
June 25	Indiana	74-55	Win	8-6
June 28	Cleveland	58-67	Loss	8-7
June 30	Portland	44-54	Loss	8-8
July 2	Seattle	74-63	Win	9-8
July 8	Phoenix	77-71	Win	10-8
July 10	@ Detroit	63-66	Loss	10-9
July 13	@ Washington	67-53	Win	11-9
July 18	Los Angeles	72-59	Win	12-9
July 19	@ Indiana	70-62	Win	13-9
July 22	Cleveland	73-52	Win	14-9
July 23	@ Miami	46-54	Loss	14-10
July 28	Houston	62-56	Win	15-10
August 2	Miami	66-54	Win	16-10
August 4	@ Charlotte	71-58	Win	17-10
August 6	Minnesota	49-52	Loss	17-11
August 8	Washington	54-65	Loss	17-12
August 9	@ Washington	74-66	Win	18-12
August 11	Charlotte	58-71	Loss	18-13
August 13	@ Orlando	63-70	Loss	18-14
August 16 1st Round, G1	@ Indiana	55-73	Loss	0-1
August 18 1st Round, G2	Indiana	84-65	Win	1-1
August 20 1st Round, G3	Indiana	75-60	Win	2-1
August 22 East Finals, G1	@ Washington	74-79	Loss	2-2
August 24 East Finals, G2	Washington	96-79	Win	3-2
August 25 East Finals, G3	Washington	64-57	Win	4-2
August 29 WNBA Finals, G1	Los Angeles	63-71	Loss	4-3
August 31 WNBA Finals, G2	@ Los Angeles	66-69	Loss	4-4

Player stats

Player	GP	REB	AST	STL	BLK	PTS
Tari Phillips	32	223	41	58	14	451
Tamika Whitmore	32	141	23	27	43	406
Crystal Robinson	32	92	81	48	12	378
Vickie Johnson	31	109	86	27	4	359
Becky Hammon	32	68	54	25	0	256
Teresa Weatherspoon	32	86	181	42	3	108
Sue Wicks	30	101	14	22	15	66
Camille Cooper	23	16	3	4	5	27
Korie Hlede	16	16	12	6	2	26
Linda Fröhlich	16	13	1	2	0	6
Bernadette Ngoyisa	7	5	0	0	2	6

^[1]

References

1. http://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/teams/NYL/2002.html