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Storm Coach Anne Donovan on Lauren Jackson:
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2004 Season:
After being named the WNBA's 2003 MVP, Lauren Jackson said she'd trade the individual honor for the opportunity to hold the league's championship trophy at the end of the season. As it turned out, that's exactly what happened for Jackson in 2004.
Despite the fact that Jackson was coming off one of the best seasons in WNBA history, Donovan commented during the preseason that her superstar might be even better in 2004 as she continued to mature and develop. After shaking off a training camp groin injury, Jackson got off to a great start in terms of that goal, following up 29 points in 26 minutes in the Storm's preseason finale with 31 points on 11-for-16 shooting on Opening Night against the Minnesota Lynx.
But even after the Storm added perimeter players Betty Lennox and Sheri Sam, opposing defenses decided that their first priority would have to be containing the reigning MVP. Double teams began coming at Jackson on a nightly basis, and she scored 20 points or more just twice in nine June games. (The only team to try to guard Jackson one-on-one during the stretch was the San Antonio Silver Stars, and Jackson scored 27 points on 10-for-15 shooting in that matchup.)
During the month of July, Jackson took her game to a new level. On July 3, she scored a team-record 23 points in the first half and finished with 32 (including 13 free throws in 15 attempts) against the Sacramento Monarchs. She scored 20 points in the first half again in the Storm's next game at Washington. In the rematch in Sacramento, Jackson had 18 points to push her past 2,000 for her WNBA career. She became the youngest player to reach the milestone and the second-fastest after retired Cynthia Cooper.
Chamique Holdsclaw of the Mystics. She scored a season-high 33 points on 11-for-17 shooting and blocked Holdsclaw's shot at the end of overtime to set up Sue Bird's game-winning layup. In the Storm's next game against Indiana, Jackson scored 18 straight points around halftime, one bucket away from the WNBA record she already holds. She followed that up with multiple blocks in the final two minutes to secure a 67-63 win over Houston at KeyArena.
After ending July with an average of 22.3 points per game during the month, Jackson headed to Athens for the Olympics. She would end up the Olympics' leading scorer at 22.9 points per game and led the Australian National Team to a rematch of the 2000 gold-medal game with the United States. The U.S. hounded Jackson defensively, forcing her into 4-for-16 shooting, and her double-double was not enough as the Opals settled for another silver.
Shortly after returning to Seattle, Jackson flew to Australia to be with her ailing grandmother and rest her ankle, which had bothered her during the Olympics. She missed three games while on the injured list with a right mid-foot sprain, and during this time, Los Angeles' Lisa Leslie established herself as the MVP favorite despite the Storm struggling without LJ and losing all three games.
Upon her return to the Storm lineup, Jackson was rusty, but she tuned up for the playoffs by scoring 20+ points in each of the last four games. The performance enabled her to repeat as the WNBA's scoring champion at 20.5 points per game.
On the eve of the playoffs, Jackson received word from Australia that her grandmother had passed away. In her honor, Jackson and her teammates wore black electrical tape during the Storm's series against the Minnesota Lynx. Foul trouble forced Jackson to the bench early in Game 1 against Minnesota, but she scored 12 points in the second half of the Storm's win. She followed that with a game-high 18 points as the Storm swept the series.
In the Western Conference Finals against Sacramento, Jackson was nothing short of phenomenal. In Game 1, she scored 31 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, hitting four 3-pointers. In Game 2, as the Storm evened the series, Jackson posted 23 points and nine rebounds, and she scored a game-high 27 points and set a WNBA Playoffs record with five 3s in one half of Game 3 as the Storm advanced to the WNBA Finals.
The Connecticut Sun set a goal in the Finals of stopping Jackson, aggressively defending her, and limited her to 14.7 points during the three-game series on 35.6% shooting. With Lennox stepping up, however, the Storm achieved Jackson's goal of winning it all, the perfect end to her season.
- Kevin Pelton, storm.wnba.com
2004 Highlights:
storm.wnba.com Player of the Week:
May 10-16
May 24-30
June 14-20
July 5-11
July 12-18
July 19-25
Sep. 13-19
