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.

1998 Houston Comets season
WNBA champions
Coach	Van Chancellor
Arena	Compaq Center
Attendance	12,602 per game
Results
Record	27–3 (.900)
Place	1st (Western)
Playoff finish	Won WNBA Finals
← 1997 season 1999 season →

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

See also: 1998 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[1]
April 29, 1998	Drafted Polina Tzekova, Nyree Roberts, Amaya Valdemoro and Monica Lamb in the 1998 WNBA Draft[1]
May 8, 1998	Traded Fran Harris to the Utah Starzz in exchange for Karen Booker[1]

Roster

1998 Houston Comets roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 9 Arcain, Janeth 5' 11" (1.8m) 147 lb (67kg) 1969-04-11 1 C Booker, Karen 6' 1" (1.85m) 170 lb (77kg) 1965-04-10 Vanderbilt 1 G 14 Cooper, Cynthia 5' 10" (1.78m) 150 lb (68kg) 1963-04-14 USC 1 C 4 Guyton, Wanda 6' 1" (1.85m) 178 lb (81kg) 1968-10-14 South Florida 1 F/C 23 Jackson, Tammy 6' 2" (1.88m) 190 lb (86kg) 1962-12-03 Florida 1 C 40 Lamb, Monica 6' 5" (1.96m) 206 lb (93kg) 1964-10-11 USC R F/C 33 Moore, Yolanda 6' 0" (1.83m) 175 lb (79kg) 1974-07-01 Mississippi 1 G 10 Perrot, Kim 5' 5" (1.65m) 130 lb (59kg) 1967-01-18 Louisiana 1 C 0 Roberts, Nyree 6' 3" (1.91m) 209 lb (95kg) 1976-03-10 Old Dominion R G/F 22 Swoopes, Sheryl 6' 0" (1.83m) 145 lb (66kg) 1971-03-25 Texas Tech 1 F 7 Thompson, Tina 6' 2" (1.88m) 178 lb (81kg) 1975-02-10 USC 1 F 13 Valdemoro, Amaya 6' 1" (1.85m) 1976-08-18 R G 5 Woosley, Tiffany 5' 7" (1.7m) 132 lb (60kg) 1973-04-26 Tennessee 1	Head coach Van Chancellor (Mississippi State) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

1998 game log Total: 27–3 (Home: 14–1; Road: 13–2)
June: 8–1 (Home: 4–0; Road: 4–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 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) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 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) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 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 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 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 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 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

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	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