# 1998 Houston Comets season

The 1998 WNBA season was the second season for the Houston Comets. The Comets won their second straight championship. Their record of 27-3 remains the best in league history.

## Transactions
### Washington Mystics expansion draft

The following player was selected in the Washington Mystics expansion draft from the Houston Comets:
| Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| Tammy Jackson | United States | Florida |

### WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School/Team/Country |
| 1 | 10 | Polina Tzekova | Bulgaria | Tarbes Gespe Bigorre (France) |
| 2 | 20 | Nyree Roberts | United States | Old Dominion |
| 3 | 30 | Amaya Valdemoro | Spain | Pool Getafe (Spain) |
| 4 | 40 | Monica Lamb | United States | USC |

### Transactions

| Date | Transaction |
| February 18, 1998 | Lost Tammy Jackson to the Washington Mystics in the WNBA expansion draft |
| April 29, 1998 | Drafted Polina Tzekova, Nyree Roberts, Amaya Valdemoro and Monica Lamb in the 1998 WNBA Draft |
| May 8, 1998 | Traded Fran Harris to the Utah Starzz in exchange for Karen Booker |

## Schedule
### Regular season

1998 game log Total: 27–3 (Home: 14–1; Road: 13–2) :
June: 8–1 (Home: 4–0; Road: 4–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
1
June 13
New York
W 73–62
Sheryl Swoopes (28)
Tina Thompson (8)
Kim Perrot (7)
Compaq Center
1–0
2
June 15
@ Charlotte
W 79–65
Cynthia Cooper (31)
Tina Thompson (8)
Kim Perrot (6)
Charlotte Coliseum
2–0
3
June 18
Cleveland
W 87–69
Sheryl Swoopes (25)
Tina Thompson (6)
Cynthia Cooper (7)
Compaq Center
3–0
4
June 20
@ Sacramento
W 79–68
Cynthia Cooper (22)
Tina Thompson (9)
Cynthia Cooper (6)
ARCO Arena
4–0
5
June 21
@ Los Angeles
W 79–63
Cynthia Cooper (29)
Monica Lamb (11)
Cynthia Cooper (5)
Great Western Forum
5–0
6
June 24
@ Phoenix
L 66–69
Cynthia Cooper (27)
Tina Thompson (13)
Cynthia Cooper (3)
America West Arena
5–1
7
June 27
Los Angeles
W 75–64
Cynthia Cooper (28)
Cynthia Cooper (6)
Kim Perrot (6)
Compaq Center
6–1
8
June 29
Washington
W 73–48
Cynthia Cooper (16)
Lamb Thompson (6)
Kim Perrot (3)
Compaq Center
7–1
9
June 30
@ Utah
W 75–73 (2OT)
Cynthia Cooper (27)
Tina Thompson (14)
Cynthia Cooper (5)
Delta Center
8–1 :
July
: 12–0 (Home: 6–0; Road: 6–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
10
July 3
Sacramento
W 84–67
Cynthia Cooper (34)
Tina Thompson (10)
Cynthia Cooper (5)
Compaq Center
9–1
11
July 6
@ Cleveland
W 78–64
Cooper Swoopes (18)
Yolanda Moore (7)
Sheryl Swoopes (7)
Gund Arena
10–1
12
July 8
@ New York
W 79–54
Cynthia Cooper (23)
Lamb Swoopes (7)
Kim Perrot (8)
Madison Square Garden
11–1
13
July 9
Detroit
W 96–66
Kim Perrot (22)
Arcain Perrot (6)
Cooper Perrot (7)
Compaq Center
12–1
14
July 11
Utah
W 72–68
Cynthia Cooper (24)
Monica Lamb (6)
Kim Perrot (7)
Compaq Center
13–1
15
July 13
Washington
W 81–67
Cynthia Cooper (23)
Sheryl Swoopes (7)
Cynthia Cooper (8)
Compaq Center
14–1
16
July 17
@ Los Angeles
W 74–68
Cynthia Cooper (22)
Sheryl Swoopes (10)
Kim Perrot (9)
Great Western Forum
15–1
17
July 18
@ Sacramento
W 75–44
Cynthia Cooper (23)
Tina Thompson (11)
Kim Perrot (7)
ARCO Arena
16–1
18
July 21
@ Phoenix
W 65–62
Cynthia Cooper (23)
Sheryl Swoopes (10)
Cynthia Cooper (3)
America West Arena
17–1
19
July 25
@ Charlotte
W 67–58
Sheryl Swoopes (20)
Cynthia Cooper (8)
Cynthia Cooper (8)
Charlotte Coliseum
18–1
20
July 28
Phoenix
W 72–62
Cynthia Cooper (27)
Tina Thompson (9)
Cooper Thompson (3)
Compaq Center
19–1
21
July 30
Utah
W 88–65
Cynthia Cooper (22)
Sheryl Swoopes (8)
Cynthia Cooper (10)
Compaq Center
20–1 :
August
: 7–2 (Home: 4–1; Road: 3–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceRecord
22
August 1
Cleveland
L 71–74 (OT)
Sheryl Swoopes (18)
Monica Lamb (8)
Cynthia Cooper (8)
Compaq Center
20–2
23
August 2
Sacramento
W 70–53
Sheryl Swoopes (20)
Monica Lamb (8)
Cooper Swoopes (3)
Compaq Center
21–2
24
August 4
@ Utah
W 77–57
Cynthia Cooper (32)
Janeth Arcain (9)
Kim Perrot (7)
Delta Center
22–2
25
August 6
Phoenix
W 75–64
Cynthia Cooper (21)
Tina Thompson (10)
Kim Perrot (7)
Compaq Center
23–2
26
August 7
@ Detroit
W 61–57
Cynthia Cooper (34)
Yolanda Moore (7)
Cooper Swoopes Perrot (2)
The Palace of Auburn Hills
24–2
27
August 10
Charlotte
W 70–67
Cooper Swoopes (20)
Tina Thompson (13)
Kim Perrot (9)
Compaq Center
25–2
28
August 15
@ New York
L 54–70
Cynthia Cooper (17)
Perrot Thompson (5)
Cynthia Cooper (3)
Madison Square Garden
25–3
29
August 17
@ Washington
W 110–65
Cynthia Cooper (21)
Monica Lamb (9)
Kim Perrot (7)
MCI Center
26–3
30
August 19
Los Angeles
W 80–71
Cynthia Cooper (22)
Sheryl Swoopes (10)
Cooper Perrot (7)
Compaq Center
27–3 :
1998 season schedule :

### Playoffs

1998 playoff game log :
Semifinal vs. Charlotte Sting Won Series: 2–0
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
August 22
@ Charlotte
W 85–71
Cynthia Cooper (27)
Tina Thompson (10)
Kim Perrot (6)
Charlotte Coliseum
1–0
2
August 24
Charlotte
W 77–61
Cynthia Cooper (23)
Tina Thompson (14)
Cooper Perrot (5)
Compaq Center
2–0 :
Championship vs. Phoenix Mercury Won Series: 2–1
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
August 27
@ Phoenix
L 51–54
Cynthia Cooper (29)
Sheryl Swoopes (11)
Swoopes Perrot (6)
America West Arena
0–1
2
August 29
Phoenix
W 74–69 (OT)
Cynthia Cooper (27)
Sheryl Swoopes (13)
Cynthia Cooper (6)
Compaq Center
1–1
3
September 1
Phoenix
W 80–71
Cynthia Cooper (23)
Tina Thompson (6)
Cynthia Cooper Swoopes (6)
Compaq Center
2–1 :
1998 playoff schedule :

### Season standings

| Western Conference | W | L | PCT | Conf. | GB |
| Houston Comets $^x$ | 27 | 3 | .900 | 15–1 | – |
| Phoenix Mercury $^x$ | 19 | 11 | .633 | 10–6 | 8.0 |
| Los Angeles Sparks $^o$ | 12 | 18 | .400 | 6–10 | 15.0 |
| Sacramento Monarchs $^o$ | 8 | 22 | .267 | 5–11 | 19.0 |
| Utah Starzz $^o$ | 8 | 22 | .267 | 4–12 | 19.0 |

## Statistics
### Regular Season

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Cynthia Cooper | 30 | 30 | 35.0 | .446 | .400 | .854 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 22.7 |
| Kim Perrot | 30 | 30 | 32.9 | .404 | .269 | .700 | 3.1 | 4.7 | 2.8 | 0.0 | 8.5 |
| Tina Thompson | 27 | 27 | 32.4 | .419 | .359 | .851 | 7.1 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 12.7 |
| Sheryl Swoopes | 29 | 29 | 32.3 | .427 | .360 | .826 | 5.1 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 15.6 |
| Janeth Arcain | 30 | 4 | 21.9 | .426 | .152 | .756 | 3.6 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 6.8 |
| Monica Lamb | 30 | 25 | 21.6 | .541 | N/A | .690 | 4.7 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 5.4 |
| Yolanda Moore | 30 | 4 | 17.8 | .451 | .500 | .805 | 2.9 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 3.3 |
| Wanda Guyton | 1 | 1 | 14.0 | .000 | N/A | N/A | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| Tammy Jackson | 19 | 0 | 8.4 | .381 | N/A | .727 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.3 |
| Tiffany Woosley | 18 | 0 | 5.3 | .304 | .250 | .714 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 1.2 |
| Nyree Roberts | 14 | 0 | 3.9 | .857 | N/A | .571 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| Amaya Valdemoro | 16 | 0 | 3.8 | .500 | .400 | .706 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.9 |
| Karen Booker | 1 | 0 | 2.0 | .000 | N/A | N/A | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
$^‡$Waived/Released during the season $^†$Traded during the season $^≠$Acquired during the season

## Awards and honors

* Cynthia Cooper, WNBA Finals MVP Award
* Cynthia Cooper, WNBA Most Valuable Player Award
* Cynthia Cooper, Best WNBA Player ESPY Award
* Van Chancellor, WNBA Coach of the Year Award