Comets Rout Sparks in Game 1
H O U S T O N, Aug. 18, 2000 -- The Houston Comets aren’t complaining about their1-3 record against the Los Angeles Sparks.
Sheryl Swoopes scored 22 points and Cynthia Cooper added 21, andthe Comets used an early 17-0 run to take control in a 77-56victory on Thursday night in Game 1 of the WNBA’s WesternConference finals.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Sunday in Los Angeles. Athird game, if necessary, would be in Los Angeles on Monday.
‘We Are the Underdogs’
“They’ve been trying to give away our championship for a fewyears now,” Cooper said. “It always seems like we are theunderdogs. Well, in this case, we are the underdogs because LosAngeles had the best regular-season record.”
That didn’t matter to the Comets, who lost all three-regularseason games to the Sparks.
“This is the playoffs, and I don’t think any of us care aboutthe regular season,” Swoopes said. “Playoff time is a chance forus to pick up to another level and show people what we’re made of.We established ourselves early and did what we had to do to win.”
The Sparks, with the best record in the WNBA this season at28-4, weren’t quite ready for the Comets this time.
Cooper, the two-time league MVP, and Swoopes, honored Thursdayas this season’s MVP, took control early as Houston overpowered theSparks with the 17-0 run that made it 19-4.
“The best sign was when we got the big lead and we came out inthe second half and played with the same intensity,” Comets coachVan Chancellor said.
Comets Take Command
Cooper, held to 16 points in Monday’s playoff game againstSacramento, and Tina Thompson each had six points in Houston’searly run. Cooper had 15 points and Swoopes 10 in the first half asHouston built a 17-point lead at 40-23.
The Comets tied a league playoff record with 15 steals andSwoopes had five steals, tying the team playoff high.
“I was more impressed with our defense,” said Swoopes, theleague’s defensive player of the year. “We know that someone willscore for us. But we had to pick up our defense a whole level,maybe two levels.”
The Sparks self-destructed in the first half with 16 turnoversthat the Comets turned into 25 points. Houston had eight first-halfturnovers, yielding seven points. Los Angeles had 25 turnovers forthe game, costing them 37 points.
“They just got the basketball and out-hustled us,” Sparkscoach Michael Cooper said. “Our inability to execute really hurtus tonight. We hit our fair share of shots, but we need to have amuch better effort.
“They were like a shark and when they smelled blood, theyattacked.”
Mwadi Mabika led the Sparks with 21 points, all on 3-pointers.Lisa Leslie had 14 points.
Los Angeles shot 29 percent from the field in the first half anddidn’t have a player in double figures. The Sparks shot 36 percentoverall.
Keeping Their Cool
Play was hard, but tempers didn’t flare the way they did in lastyear’s conference playoff between the teams.
Leslie and Thompson were ejected in last season’s WesternConference finals. Leslie was fined $500 for shoving Thompson andThompson got a $300 fine for taunting.
“We just were not on the same page tonight, it was the firsttime all year,” Leslie said. “It’s just not a great day. I couldtell that early in the first half that our effort was just notthere. We didn’t follow the game plan and that’s why we lost.”