Updated: June 29, 2006, 6:33 AM ET
The best-ever WNBA champ?
As the WNBA turns 10 this season, ESPN.com needs your help.
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ROUND 1 |
QUARTERFINALS |
SEMIFINALS |
FINAL |
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(1) '98 Comets (8) TBD |
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(4) '01 Sparks (5) '97 Comets |
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(2) '99 Comets (7) '05 Monarchs |
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(3) '02 Sparks (6) '03 Shock |
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| (8) 2004 SEATTLE STORM | (9) 2000 HOUSTON COMETS |
![]() The only WNBA champion with double-digit losses in the regular season, the Storm (20-14) rode Lauren Jackson (20.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg that season) and Sue Bird (12.9 ppg, 5.4 apg) -- both of whom recently were named to the WNBA All-Decade Team -- all the way to Seattle's first major professional sports championship in 25 years. But in addition to having Jackson (above), the 2003 WNBA MVP, and home-court advantage, the Storm also had the good fortune of having a key player get hot at the right time. Betty Lennox, who had totaled 13 points in two previous games against the Sun that season, exploded for 23.3 points per game (which more than doubled her regular-season scoring average) and shot 50 percent from the field in the WNBA Finals. In the end, Seattle gutted it out to overcome a talented -- and probably favored -- Connecticut team that had five starters averaging double figures. Unsung heroes like Kamila Vodichkova and great team defense -- let's face it, the Storm that season weren't great individual defenders, but they rotated very well and played good help defense -- also were key. But Jackson, Bird and Lennox were simply unstoppable. Lennox just got confident and hot at the right time and put on a show. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) |
![]() Someone had to be No. 9, and somewhere, Van Chancellor is probably grimacing. "You want to ask me which one is the sweetest? It's this one, no question," the Comets coach declared back on Sept. 2, 2000, when Houston became the first U.S. pro basketball team to win four consecutive titles since the Boston Celtics won eight straight (1959-66). The 2000 Comets (27-5) finished with 11 straight wins, including a 6-0 playoff run, and went 17-2 at home. Sheryl Swoopes (20.7 ppg), Cynthia Cooper (17.7 ppg) and Tina Thompson (16.9 ppg) combined for 72 percent of Houston's offense. It was the first time Cooper (above) didn't lead the team in scoring, but the then 37-year-old was tops in the WNBA Finals, earning her fourth series MVP award. Her three-point play with 26 seconds remaining sealed a 59-52 Game 1 win over the Liberty, and a Cooper 3-pointer with 21 seconds left forced overtime in Game 2. Cooper scored nine of Houston's final 18 points in regulation, then added six in OT to finish with 25, while Swoopes added 31 on an injured ankle. The Comets had a target on their back that season like you wouldn't believe, but Chancellor kept it all in check -- the drive for four, the emotional hangover from Kim Perrot's death the year before, the personality conflicts between his stars and a Houston backcourt played by committee. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) |



