1999 Houston Comets season

1999 Houston Comets season
CoachVan Chancellor
ArenaCompaq Center
Attendance11,906 per game
Results
Record26–6 (.813)
Place1st (Western)
Playoff finishWon WNBA Finals

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

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[1]
May 4, 1999 Drafted Natalia Zasulskaya, Sonja Henning, Kara Wolters and Jennifer Rizzotti in the 1999 WNBA Draft[1]
July 11, 1999 Traded Nyree Roberts to the Washington Mystics in exchange for Alessandra Santos de Oliveira[1]

Roster

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



Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured 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 .594 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

References

  1. ^ a b c "1999 Houston Comets Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 3, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Postseason Awards: 1999". WNBA.com. Retrieved September 4, 2022.