1999 Houston Comets season

The 1999 WNBA season was the third season for the Houston Comets. The Comets won their third WNBA Finals.

1999 Houston Comets season
Coach	Van Chancellor
Arena	Compaq Center
Attendance	11,906 per game
Results
Record	26–6 (.813)
Place	1st (Western)
Playoff finish	Won WNBA Finals
← 1998 season 2000 season →

Transactions

Orlando Miracle expansion draft

The following player was selected in the Orlando Miracle expansion draft from the Houston Comets:

Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
Yolanda Moore	United States	Ole Miss

WNBA draft

See also: 1999 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	12	Natalia Zasulskaya	Soviet Union	Dynamo Moscow (Russia)
2	24	Sonja Henning	United States	Portland Power
3	36	Kara Wolters	United States	New England Blizzard
4	48	Jennifer Rizzotti	United States	New England Blizzard

Transactions

Date	Transaction
April 6, 1999	Lost Yolanda Moore to the Orlando Miracle in the WNBA expansion draft
May 4, 1999	Drafted Natalia Zasulskaya, Sonja Henning, Kara Wolters and Jennifer Rizzotti in the 1999 WNBA Draft
July 11, 1999	Traded Nyree Roberts to the Washington Mystics in exchange for Alessandra Santos de Oliveira

Roster

1999 Houston Comets roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 9 Arcain, Janeth 5' 11" (1.8m) 147 lb (67kg) 1969-04-11 2 G 14 Cooper, Cynthia 5' 10" (1.78m) 150 lb (68kg) 1963-04-14 USC 2 G Henning, Sonja 5' 7" (1.7m) 143 lb (65kg) 1969-10-04 Stanford R F/C 23 Jackson, Tammy 6' 2" (1.88m) 190 lb (86kg) 1962-12-03 Florida 2 C 40 Lamb, Monica 6' 5" (1.96m) 206 lb (93kg) 1964-10-11 USC 1 F 24 Nikolich, Mila 6' 3" (1.91m) 185 lb (84kg) 1971-04-07 G 21 Rizzotti, Jennifer 5' 6" (1.68m) 146 lb (66kg) 1974-05-15 Connecticut R C 0 Roberts, Nyree 6' 3" (1.91m) 209 lb (95kg) 1976-03-10 Old Dominion 1 G/F 22 Swoopes, Sheryl 6' 0" (1.83m) 145 lb (66kg) 1971-03-25 Texas Tech 2 F 7 Thompson, Tina 6' 2" (1.88m) 178 lb (81kg) 1975-02-10 USC 2 C 15 Tzekova, Polina 6' 4" (1.93m) 189 lb (86kg) 1968-04-30 R F 13 Valdemoro, Amaya 6' 1" (1.85m) – 1976-08-18 1 C 52 Wolters, Kara 6' 7" (2.01m) 227 lb (103kg) 1975-08-15 Connecticut R	Head coach Van Chancellor (Mississippi State) Assistant coaches - Legend (C) Team captain (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

1999 game log Total: 26–6 (Home: 15–1; Road: 11–5)
June: 8–1 (Home: 3–1; Road: 5–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 June 10 @ Orlando W 77–63 Cynthia Cooper (24) Tina Thompson (12) Cynthia Cooper (7) TD Waterhouse Centre 1–0 2 June 12 Washington W 88–63 Cynthia Cooper (24) Tina Thompson (7) Sheryl Swoopes (6) Compaq Center 2–0 3 June 17 Cleveland W 93–73 Cynthia Cooper (30) Polina Tzekova (9) Cynthia Cooper (6) Compaq Center 3–0 4 June 19 @ Minnesota W 69–55 Cynthia Cooper (22) Sheryl Swoopes (10) Cynthia Cooper (5) Target Center 4–0 5 June 22 Los Angeles W 84–76 Cynthia Cooper (36) Polina Tzekova (7) Cynthia Cooper (4) Compaq Center 5–0 6 June 24 @ Detroit W 77–65 Cynthia Cooper (24) Tina Thompson (6) Cooper Swoopes (3) The Palace of Auburn Hills 6–0 7 June 25 @ Washington W 72–69 Cynthia Cooper (28) Sheryl Swoopes (12) Cynthia Cooper (8) Compaq Center 7–0 8 June 28 Orlando L 66–68 Cynthia Cooper (21) Tina Thompson (9) Sheryl Swoopes (8) Compaq Center 7–1 9 June 30 @ Utah W 78–68 Sheryl Swoopes (29) Tammy Jackson (10) Sonja Henning (6) Delta Center 8–1
July : 11–3 (Home: 6–0; Road: 5–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 10 July 1 Cleveland W 76–64 Tina Thompson (26) Tina Thompson (9) Cynthia Cooper (6) Compaq Center 9–1 11 July 3 New York W 78–64 Sheryl Swoopes (19) Sheryl Swoopes (7) Cynthia Cooper (7) Compaq Center 10–1 12 July 6 Minnesota W 80–54 Cynthia Cooper (21) Tina Thompson (9) Cynthia Cooper (9) Compaq Center 11–1 13 July 8 @ Sacramento L 63–74 Tina Thompson (17) Arcain Jackson Thompson (5) Sonja Henning (5) ARCO Arena 11–2 14 July 9 @ Phoenix W 71–70 Sheryl Swoopes (18) Thompson Tzekova (5) Polina Tzekova (3) America West Arena 12–2 15 July 11 Sacramento W 68–63 Cynthia Cooper (31) Sheryl Swoopes (10) Cynthia Cooper (6) Compaq Center 13–2 16 July 16 @ Utah W 88–84 (OT) Sheryl Swoopes (33) Sheryl Swoopes (7) Sheryl Swoopes (7) Delta Center 14–2 17 July 18 @ Los Angeles L 65–78 Sheryl Swoopes (21) Polina Tzekova (7) Cynthia Cooper (5) Great Western Forum 14–3 18 July 19 @ Phoenix L 48–60 Cynthia Cooper (19) Tina Thompson (11) Sheryl Swoopes (5) America West Arena 14–4 19 July 23 @ Charlotte W 75–62 Cynthia Cooper (26) Tina Thompson (8) Cynthia Cooper (5) Charlotte Coliseum 15–4 20 July 25 @ Minnesota W 62–57 Cynthia Cooper (20) Tina Thompson (10) Cooper Swoopes (6) Target Center 16–4 21 July 27 Detroit W 85–46 Cynthia Cooper (20) Sheryl Swoopes (15) Sheryl Swoopes (10) Compaq Center 17–4 22 July 29 @ Cleveland W 71–65 Sheryl Swoopes (28) Swoopes Thompson (6) Cynthia Cooper (7) Gund Arena 18–4 23 July 31 Phoenix W 77–70 Sheryl Swoopes (23) Swoopes Tzekova (7) Cynthia Cooper (6) Compaq Center 19–4
August : 7–2 (Home: 6–0; Road: 1–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 24 August 2 Sacramento W 75–70 Sheryl Swoopes (26) Sheryl Swoopes (6) Cooper Swoopes (6) Compaq Center 20–4 25 August 6 Charlotte W 81–51 Cynthia Cooper (25) Tammy Jackson (10) Sheryl Swoopes (7) Compaq Center 21–4 26 August 8 @ New York L 71–74 Cynthia Cooper (26) Sheryl Swoopes (7) Cooper Swoopes (5) Madison Square Garden 21–5 27 August 12 Los Angeles W 83–61 Sheryl Swoopes (20) Sheryl Swoopes (8) Cooper Swoopes (5) Compaq Center 22–5 28 August 14 Minnesota W 71–53 Cynthia Cooper (17) Polina Tzekova (7) Cynthia Cooper (4) Compaq Center 23–5 29 August 16 Utah W 80–71 Cynthia Cooper (42) Polina Tzekova (11) Sheryl Swoopes (5) Compaq Center 24–5 30 August 18 Phoenix W 70–60 Sheryl Swoopes (24) Polina Tzekova (9) Cynthia Cooper (7) Compaq Center 25–5 31 August 20 @ Los Angeles L 64–68 Sheryl Swoopes (25) Sheryl Swoopes (8) Sonja Henning (5) Great Western Forum 25–6 32 August 21 @ Sacramento W 74–65 Cynthia Cooper (27) Janeth Arcain (8) Cynthia Cooper (10) ARCO Arena 26–6
1999 season schedule

Playoffs

Led by what was already known as the Big Three, (Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper and Tina Thompson), the Comets survived a highlight film last second, court to court game winning shot by the Liberty's Teresa Weatherspoon in Game 2 of the finals to beat the Liberty in three games and win their third straight title, this one after the death of teammate Kim Perrot, who died of cancer.

1999 playoff game log
Conference Finals vs. Los Angeles Sparks Won Series: 2–1 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 26 @ Los Angeles L 60–75 Sheryl Swoopes (17) Tina Thompson (7) Cynthia Cooper (7) Great Western Forum 0–1 2 August 29 Los Angeles W 83–55 Cynthia Cooper (22) Tammy Jackson (10) Cynthia Cooper (9) Compaq Center 1–1 3 August 30 Los Angeles W 72–62 Cooper Swoopes (23) Cynthia Cooper (7) Cynthia Cooper (12) Compaq Center 2–1
Championship vs. New York Liberty Won Series: 2–1 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 September 2 @ New York W 73–60 Cynthia Cooper (29) Tammy Jackson (8) Cynthia Cooper (6) Madison Square Garden 1–0 2 September 4 New York L 67–68 Tina Thompson (15) Tzekova Swoopes (6) Cynthia Cooper (6) Compaq Center 1–1 3 September 5 New York W 59–47 Cynthia Cooper (24) Tammy Jackson (11) Sonja Henning (2) Compaq Center 2–1
1999 playoff schedule

Season standings

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Houston Comets x	26	6	.813	16–4	–
Los Angeles Sparks x	20	12	.625	12–8	6.0
Sacramento Monarchs x	19	13	.863	9–11	7.0
Phoenix Mercury o	15	17	.469	7–13	11.0
Minnesota Lynx o	15	17	.469	8–12	11.0
Utah Starzz o	15	17	.469	8–12	11.0

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Cynthia Cooper	31	31	35.5	.463	.335	.891	2.8	5.2	1.4	0.4	22.1
Sheryl Swoopes	32	32	34.4	.462	.337	.820	6.3	4.0	2.4	1.4	18.3
Tina Thompson	32	32	33.6	.419	.351	.782	6.4	0.9	1.0	1.0	12.2
Sonja Henning	32	32	24.9	.444	.317	.611	2.5	2.3	1.1	0.2	4.0
Polina Tzekova	32	32	24.3	.429	.250	.775	5.1	1.0	0.4	0.6	6.1
Janeth Arcain	32	1	23.0	.433	.250	.829	2.8	1.2	0.9	0.1	5.8
Tammy Jackson	28	0	13.6	.414	1.000	.714	3.3	0.3	0.5	0.7	2.6
Monica Lamb	3	0	12.0	.400	N/A	.833	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	4.3
Jennifer Rizzotti	25	0	9.7	.350	.269	.583	1.1	0.8	0.7	0.0	1.7
Amaya Valdemoro	17	0	5.4	.371	.400	.750	0.8	0.5	0.6	0.0	2.4
Nyree Roberts	4	0	4.3	.000	N/A	.500	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3
Mila Nikolich	7	0	4.1	.364	.250	.500	0.7	0.1	0.0	0.0	1.4
Kara Wolters	10	0	4.1	.231	N/A	.833	1.2	0.2	0.1	0.0	1.6

^‡Waived/Released during the season
^†Traded during the season
^≠Acquired during the season

Awards and honors

• Cynthia Cooper, WNBA Finals MVP Award
• Cynthia Cooper, Best WNBA Player ESPY Award
• Cynthia Cooper, Guard, Houston Comets, All-WNBA First Team
• Van Chancellor, WNBA Coach of the Year Award
• Sheryl Swoopes, Forward, Houston Comets, All-WNBA First Team
• Tina Thompson, Forward, Houston Comets, All-WNBA Second Team

External links

• Comets on Basketball Reference