# 1999 Houston Comets season

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

## 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

| 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 |

## Schedule
### Regular season

1999 game log Total: 26–6 (Home: 15–1; Road: 11–5) :
June: 8–1 (Home: 3–1; Road: 5–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
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)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
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)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
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
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
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
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
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
### 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