2000 Houston Comets season

The 2000 WNBA season was the fourth season for the Houston Comets. The Comets won their fourth WNBA Finals and their last title in franchise history before disbanding in 2008.

2000 Houston Comets season
Coach	Van Chancellor
Arena	Compaq Center
Attendance	12,255 per game
Results
Record	27–5 (.844)
Place	2nd (Western)
Playoff finish	Won WNBA Finals
← 1999 season 2001 season →

Transactions

Indiana Fever expansion draft

The following player was selected in the Indiana Fever expansion draft from the Houston Comets:

Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
Kara Wolters	United States	UConn

Portland Fire expansion draft

The following player was selected in the Portland Fire expansion draft from the Houston Comets:

Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
Sophia Witherspoon	United States	Florida

WNBA draft

See also: 2000 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	16	Elena Shakirova	Soviet Union	Dynamo Moscow (Russia)
2	32	Andrea Garner	United States	Penn State
3	48	Latavia Coleman	United States	Florida State
4	64	Abbie Willenborg	United States	Marquette

Transactions

Date	Transaction
December 15, 1999	Lost Kara Wolters to the Indiana Fever in the WNBA expansion draft
	Lost Sophia Witherspoon to the Portland Fire in the WNBA expansion draft
January 28, 2000	Traded Mila Nikolich to the Portland Fire in exchange for Coquese Washington
April 25, 2000	Drafted Elena Shakirova, Andrea Garner, Latavia Coleman and Abbie Willenborg in the 2000 WNBA Draft
	Traded Latavia Coleman to the Indiana Fever in exchange for Latina Davis and Renee Robinson
May 27, 2000	Traded Andrea Garner to the Seattle Storm in exchange for a 2001 4th Round Pick

Roster

2000 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 3 G 14 Cooper, Cynthia 5' 10" (1.78m) 150 lb (68kg) 1963-04-14 USC 3 G/F Gibson, Kelley 5' 9" (1.75m) 137 lb (62kg) 1976-11-07 Maryland R F/C 23 Jackson, Tammy 6' 2" (1.88m) 190 lb (86kg) 1962-12-03 Florida 3 C 40 Lamb, Monica 6' 5" (1.96m) 206 lb (93kg) 1964-10-11 USC 2 G 21 Rizzotti, Jennifer 5' 6" (1.68m) 146 lb (66kg) 1974-05-15 Connecticut 1 C 32 Shakirova, Elena 6' 3" (1.91m) 190 lb (86kg) 1970-06-02 R G/F 22 Swoopes, Sheryl 6' 0" (1.83m) 145 lb (66kg) 1971-03-25 Texas Tech 3 F 7 Thompson, Tina 6' 2" (1.88m) 178 lb (81kg) 1975-02-10 USC 3 F 13 Valdemoro, Amaya 6' 1" (1.85m) – 1976-08-18 2 G 4 Washington, Coquese 5' 6" (1.68m) 138 lb (63kg) 1971-01-17 Notre Dame 2	Head coach Van Chancellor (Mississippi State) Assistant coaches Kevin Cook Alisa Scott Legend (C) Team captain (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Regular season

2000 game log Total: 27–5 (Home: 14–2; Road: 13–3)
May: 2–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 1–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 29 New York W 84-68 Sheryl Swoopes (27) Janeth Arcain (8) Cooper Thompson (6) Compaq Center 1–0 2 May 31 @ Portland W 93-89 (2OT) Sheryl Swoopes (29) Johnson Thompson (9) Cooper Swoopes (6) Rose Garden 2–0
June: 12–2 (Home: 6–1; Road: 6–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 3 June 1 @ Seattle W 77-47 Sheryl Swoopes (20) Johnson Thompson (6) Cooper (4) KeyArena 3–0 4 June 3 Phoenix L 62-80 Sheryl Swoopes (31) Tina Thompson (9) Jennifer Rizzotti (4) Compaq Center 3–1 5 June 6 Sacramento W 78-70 Sheryl Swoopes (22) Tina Thompson (10) Cynthia Cooper (8) Compaq Center 4–1 6 June 7 @ Washington W 81-54 Cooper Swoopes (20) Tina Thompson (6) Sheryl Swoopes (5) MCI Center 5–1 7 June 10 @ Utah W 73-71 Sheryl Swoopes (22) Swoopes Thompson (6) Sheryl Swoopes (4) Delta Center 6–1 8 June 12 Utah W 107-85 Sheryl Swoopes (28) Sheryl Swoopes (10) Cynthia Cooper (6) Compaq Center 7–1 9 June 15 Miami W 77-53 Tina Thompson (20) Sheryl Swoopes (6) Cynthia Cooper (5) Compaq Center 8–1 10 June 18 Minnesota W 78-66 Cynthia Cooper (25) Tiffani Johnson (12) Sheryl Swoopes (7) Compaq Center 9–1 11 June 20 @ Los Angeles L 84-90 Sheryl Swoopes (27) Johnson Swoopes Thompson (7) Cynthia Cooper (5) Great Western Forum 9–2 12 June 23 @ Utah W 83-66 Tina Thompson (28) Tina Thompson (8) Sheryl Swoopes (5) Delta Center 10–2 13 June 24 Indiana W 93-67 Tina Thompson (23) Shakirova Thompson (7) Sheryl Swoopes (7) Compaq Center 11–2 14 June 26 @ Orlando W 70-58 Tina Thompson (19) Sheryl Swoopes (9) Cynthia Cooper (6) TD Waterhouse Centre 12–2 15 June 28 @ Charlotte W 76-66 Sheryl Swoopes (22) Tina Thompson (8) Cynthia Cooper (5) Charlotte Coliseum 13–2 16 June 30 Portland W 79-39 Janeth Arcain (18) Tina Thompson (7) Sheryl Swoopes (6) Compaq Center 14–2
July: 8–3 (Home: 5–1; Road: 3–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 17 July 2 Phoenix W 69-58 Cooper Swoopes (20) Tina Thompson (11) Tina Thompson (4) Compaq Center 15–2 18 July 6 Seattle W 80-50 Tina Thompson (23) Tina Thompson (6) Sheryl Swoopes (9) Compaq Center 16–2 19 July 7 Charlotte W 86-71 Sheryl Swoopes (30) Sheryl Swoopes (8) Cynthia Cooper (7) Compaq Center 17–2 20 July 9 @ Minnesota W 70-60 Sheryl Swoopes (19) Tina Thompson (10) Cynthia Cooper (7) Target Center 18–2 21 July 12 Sacramento W 77-62 Sheryl Swoopes (25) Swoopes Thompson (9) Cynthia Cooper (7) Compaq Center 19–2 22 July 14 @ Los Angeles L 58-63 Sheryl Swoopes (26) Tina Thompson (7) Coquese Washington (4) Great Western Forum 19–3 23 July 20 @ Cleveland W 74-56 Sheryl Swoopes (19) Tina Thompson (12) Cynthia Cooper (5) Gund Arena 20–3 24 July 21 @ Detroit W 76-74 (OT) Cynthia Cooper (27) Tiffani Johnson (15) Cynthia Cooper (4) The Palace of Auburn Hills 21–3 25 July 23 @ New York L 64-69 Sheryl Swoopes (18) Sheryl Swoopes (9) Sheryl Swoopes (5) Madison Square Garden 21–4 26 July 25 Seattle W 79-53 Cynthia Cooper (28) Tina Thompson (6) Cynthia Cooper (5) Compaq Center 22–4 27 July 29 Los Angeles L 74-84 Cynthia Cooper (25) Tina Thompson (8) Cynthia Cooper (6) Compaq Center 22–5
August: 5–0 (Home: 2–0; Road: 3–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 28 August 1 Washington W 68-60 Tina Thompson (16) Arcain Cooper Thompson (5) Cynthia Cooper (8) Compaq Center 23–5 29 August 4 @ Portland W 81-56 Cynthia Cooper (26) Swoopes Thompson (10) Cynthia Cooper (5) Rose Garden 24–5 30 August 6 @ Sacramento W 76-63 Sheryl Swoopes (25) Tina Thompson (13) Cynthia Cooper (6) ARCO Arena 25–5 31 August 7 @ Phoenix W 71-54 Tina Thompson (26) Tina Thompson (10) Cynthia Cooper (6) America West Arena 26–5 32 August 9 Minnesota W 77-64 Tina Thompson (25) Swoopes Thompson (8) Arcain Cooper Thompson (3) Compaq Center 27–5

Playoffs

2000 playoff game log
First round vs. Sacramento Monarchs Won Series: 2–0 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 12 @ Sacramento W 72–64 Cynthia Cooper (25) Tiffani Johnson (8) Cooper Thompson (3) ARCO Arena 1–0 2 August 14 Sacramento W 75–70 Sheryl Swoopes (27) Tina Thompson (14) Sheryl Swoopes (6) Compaq Center 2–0
Conference Finals vs. Los Angeles Sparks Won Series: 2–0 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 17 Los Angeles W 77–56 Sheryl Swoopes (22) Arcain Swoopes (6) Arcain Thompson (3) Compaq Center 1–0 2 August 29 @ Los Angeles W 74–69 Cynthia Cooper (29) Tina Thompson (6) Sheryl Swoopes (6) Great Western Forum 2–0
Championship vs. New York Liberty Won Series: 2–0 Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 August 24 @ New York W 59–52 Cynthia Cooper (20) Swoopes Thompson (8) Cynthia Cooper (5) Madison Square Garden 1–0 2 August 26 New York W 79–73 (OT) Sheryl Swoopes (31) Tina Thompson (8) Cynthia Cooper (7) Compaq Center 2–0
2000 playoff schedule

Season standings

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Los Angeles Sparks x	28	4	.875	17–4	–
Houston Comets x	27	5	.844	17–4	1.0
Sacramento Monarchs x	21	11	.656	13–8	7.0
Phoenix Mercury x	20	12	.625	11–10	8.0
Utah Starzz o	18	14	.563	13–8	10.0
Minnesota Lynx o	15	17	.469	5–16	13.0
Portland Fire o	10	22	.313	4–17	18.0
Seattle Storm o	6	26	.188	4–17	22.0

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
Sheryl Swoopes	31	31	35.5	.506	.374	.821	6.3	3.8	2.8	1.1	20.7
Cynthia Cooper	31	31	35.0	.459	.355	.875	2.7	5.0	1.3	0.2	17.7
Tina Thompson	32	32	34.0	.469	.417	.837	7.7	1.5	1.5	0.8	16.9
Janeth Arcain	32	32	30.5	.468	.200	.837	3.7	1.9	1.3	0.1	8.4
Tiffani Johnson	29	29	22.2	.480	N/A	.700	4.7	0.3	0.3	0.5	4.2
Jennifer Rizzotti	32	2	13.7	.382	.308	.667	1.1	1.4	0.5	0.1	1.9
Tammy Jackson	29	1	11.7	.574	N/A	.545	2.1	0.4	0.4	0.3	2.6
Monica Lamb	13	2	10.8	.500	N/A	.500	2.0	0.2	0.2	0.3	2.0
Elena Shakirova	14	0	10.7	.433	.167	.879	2.2	0.3	0.4	0.1	4.1
Coquese Washington	25	0	9.4	.364	.200	.800	0.8	1.0	0.6	0.0	1.7
Amaya Valdemoro	22	0	7.8	.333	.379	1.000	1.0	0.6	0.4	0.2	2.6
Kelley Gibson	17	0	4.5	.368	.429	.875	0.7	0.1	0.1	0.0	1.4

^‡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
• Sheryl Swoopes, WNBA Most Valuable Player Award
• Sheryl Swoopes, WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award

External links

• Comets on Basketball Reference