1999 WNBA Championship

US basketball championship August 2024 August 2023 1999 WNBA Finals logo.png WNBA 1999 New York Liberty Richie Adubato 1 Houston Comets Van Chancellor 2 September 2-5 Cynthia Cooper (Houston Comets) Comets:Cynthia Cooper (2010)Sheryl Swoopes (2016)Tina Thompson (2018)Liberty:Becky Hammon (2023)Rebecca Lobo (2017; did not play)Teresa Weatherspoon (2019)Coaches:Van Chancellor (2007) New York defeated Charlotte, 2–1 Houston defeated Los Angeles, 2–0 The 1999 WNBA Championship was the championship series of the 1999 WNBA season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Houston Comets, top-seeded champions of the Western Conference, defeated the New York Liberty, top-seeded champions of the Eastern Conference, two games to one in a best-of-three series. This was Houston's third title.Thompson Jack 30 May 2000 WNBA Champs Pick Up Where They Left Off https://www.proquest.com/docview/418997955 2024-08-22 Chicago Tribune 418997955 The Comets made their third appearance in the Finals in franchise history. The Liberty made their second Finals appearance. Going into the series, no other team except the Houston Comets had ever won a WNBA championship (1997 and 1998). The Comets had a 26–6 record (.813), good enough to receive home-court advantage over the Liberty (18–14). Road to the finals Houston CometsNew York Liberty26–6 (.813)1st West, 1st overall Regular season18–14 (.563)1st East, 4th overallReceived a bye Conference SemifinalsReceived a byeDefeated the (2) Los Angeles Sparks, 2–1 Conference FinalsDefeated the (3) Charlotte Sting, 2–1 Regular season series The Comets and the Liberty split the regular season series: #eee July 3 https://web.archive.org/web/19990824013301/http://wnba.com/games99/990703/NYLHOU/boxscore.html August 24, 1999 Recap New York Liberty 50 Houston Comets |score2=65 Compaq Center, Houston 12,003 #eee August 8 https://web.archive.org/web/20010305025615/http://wnba.com/games99/990808/HOUNYL/boxscore.html March 5, 2001 Recap Houston Comets 71 New York Liberty |score2=74 Madison Square Garden, New York 19,563 Game summaries All times listed below are Eastern Daylight Time. Game 1 #eee September 2 https://web.archive.org/web/20010422162718/http://wnba.com/games99/990902/HOUNYL/boxscore.html April 22, 2001 Recap Houston Comets 73 60 New York Liberty 29–20 44–40 Cooper (29) Witherspoon (18) Thompson (7) Wicks (11) Cooper (6) Weatherspoon (10) Madison Square Garden, New York 17,113 Sally Bell Derek Collins Gary Zielinski Lifetime Game 2 #eee September 4 https://web.archive.org/web/20010422163124/http://wnba.com/games99/990904/NYLHOU/boxscore.html April 22, 2001 Recap New York Liberty 68 67 Houston Comets 23–37 45–30 Robinson (20) Thompson (16) Hampton (9) Swoopes, Tzekova (6) Weatherspoon (5) Cooper (6) Compaq Center, Houston 16,285 June Corteau Courtney Kirkland Jason Phillips NBC With Houston leading 67–65 over New York and the Liberty out of timeouts with only 2.4 seconds remaining on the clock after Tina Thompson's jumper, New York would have to go the length of the court if they had any hope of winning. Kym Hampton inbounded the ball to Teresa Weatherspoon who took a couple dribbles and let the ball fly 50 feet away from the basket. The ball smacked off the backboard and banked into the basket and the Liberty won the game 68–67. The lasting image of this moment is Weatherspoon falling over on the ground smiling as her teammates mob her from the bench. Game 3 #eee September 5 https://web.archive.org/web/20000918095026/http://wnba.com/games99/990905/NYLHOU/boxscore.html September 18, 2000 Recap New York Liberty 47 59 Houston Comets 25–33 22–26 Wicks (11) Cooper (24) Wicks (9) Jackson (11) Robinson (3) Henning (2) Compaq Center, Houston 16,285 Sally Bell Stan Gaxiola Michael Price NBC Awards 1999 WNBA champion: Houston Comets Finals MVP: Cynthia Cooper Rosters 1999 Houston Comets Finals WNBA #B22222 #D3D3D3 #D3D3D3 #FFFFFF 4 Janeth Arcain F 5 11 147 Brazil BRA 14 Cynthia Cooper Cynthia Cooper-Dyke G 5 10 150 USC USA 34 Sonja Henning G 5 7 143 Stanford USA 23 Tammy Jackson F 6 2 190 Florida USA 40 Monica Lamb C 6 5 206 USC USA IN 24 Mila Nikolich F 6 3 183 Israel Israel 21 Jennifer Rizzotti G 5 6 146 Connecticut USA 22 Sheryl Swoopes F 6 0 145 Texas Tech USA 7 Tina Thompson F 6 2 178 USC USA 15 Polina Tzekova C 6 4 189 Bulgaria Bulgaria 13 Amaya Valdemoro F 6 1 160 Spain Spain 52 Kara Wolters C 6 7 227 Connecticut USA USA Van Chancellor Mississippi State 1999 New York Liberty Finals WNBA #0047AB #FFFFFF #66CDAA #FF4500 25 Becky Hammon G 5 6 136 Colorado State USA 34 Kym Hampton C 6 2 210 Arizona State USA 55 Vickie Johnson G 5 9 150 Louisiana Tech USA 12 Carolyn Jones-Young G 5 9 175 Auburn USA IN 5 Venus Lacy C 6 3 234 Louisiana Tech USA 50 Rebecca Lobo C 6 4 185 Connecticut USA yes 3 Crystal Robinson F 5 10 175 Southeastern Oklahoma State University USA 31 Michele VanGorp C 6 6 187 Duke USA 4 Coquese Washington G 5 6 138 Notre Dame USA 11 Teresa Weatherspoon G 5 8 161 Louisiana Tech USA 44 Tamika Whitmore F 6 2 190 Memphis USA 23 Sue Wicks F 6 3 174 Rutgers USA 13 Sophia Witherspoon G 5 10 145 Florida USA USA Richie Adubato William Paterson University References External links Basketball-Reference.com – 1999 WNBA Finals WNBA.com – 1999 WNBA Finals Finals Category:Houston Comets Category:New York Liberty WNBA Championship WNBA Championship Category:WNBA Finals WNBA Championship WNBA Championship Category:Basketball competitions in Houston Category:Basketball competitions in New York City Category:1990s in Manhattan