Comets Not Yet Vulnerable

It was a blinking red light, a signal cutting through the gloom, held by pretenders to the WNBA throne.

Or so it seemed, for a day or two.

On the night of Saturday, June 3, the Phoenix Mercury beat Houston, 80-62. The next morning, coaches and players around the league looked at that score, and wondered if it might be a typographical error.

It was no typo. Moreover, the game was played at Houston’s Compaq Center, before 12,385.

Was it a signal? Were the Comets slipping, after three consecutive WNBA championships? Were the Western Conference teams finally catching up?

At the time, it seemed a reasonable interpretation.

Not now.

The Comets, who play the Sparks tonight at the Great Western Forum, have won six in a row since that loss.

The dynasty lives. The big three--Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper and Tina Thompson--even with an ordinary supporting cast and a weak bench, are still hammering WNBA teams. Houston is 80-20 since 1997. No other team has won as many as 60. The Sparks are 52-46 in that span.

Most coaches believe no team will dethrone Houston until the talent scale balances. With the Comets running up regular-season records of 26-6 last year and 27-3 in 1998, they built a huge home-court advantage for the playoffs.

The Sparks know how hard it is to win at the Compaq Center. They are 4-11 in three seasons against the Comets, but none of those four was logged at Houston.

Is this ever going to change?

“Anything can happen, it’s a long season,” says Spark Coach Michael Cooper. “Remember, they don’t have a lot of depth and for them to be successful, two of the big three have to be on the court all the time.”

There are games when they’re on the court all the time. In the loss to Phoenix, Swoopes, Cooper and Thompson each played all 40 minutes.

Sacramento’s coach, Sonny Allen, agrees that Houston’s bottom seven players aren’t much but suggests no one should underestimate the Comets’ coach, Van Chancellor.

“The thing to remember about Van is, no coach in the league understands WNBA player personnel like he does,” Allen said recently. “He does a great job of matchups, game after game.”

This, more than in any previous season, is the best stage for the big three. But the Comets took two big roster hits after winning their third title last summer:

* Polina Tzekova, the 6-foot-4 Bulgarian center who contributed major help inside--five rebounds a game--and outside last summer, did not return this season, in part because of unhappiness over her contract offer.

* Chancellor put his starting point guard, Sonja Henning, on the expansion draft list, and Seattle claimed her.

Losing Henning meant lessened backcourt flexibility. Chancellor had to move the shooting guard, Brazilian Janeth Arcain, to the point, backed up by Jen Rizzotti. But another way of looking at it is that Henning was virtually a nonscorer, averaging only four points a game.

Arcain, after reporting late, is averaging 7.3.

Two coaches say the loss to Phoenix served only as a wake-up call for the Comets.

“All that did was make them tougher than ever,” said Marynell Meadors, Miami Sol assistant.

And Chancellor himself: “It was a good wake-up call for us. We need to remember in every game that these Western Conference teams can get it done. L.A.’s defense is much better this year; we know what Phoenix can do; Sacramento will win a bunch and when Utah gets [Jennifer] Azzi back, look out.”

Spark assistant coaches Glenn McDonald and Marianne Stanley are alternately preparing game plans for each opponent. This week, Stanley drew Houston. She wouldn’t divulge any trade secrets but did talk about her impressions of Phoenix’s June 3 rout at Houston. “The thing to realize about that game is that Phoenix shot extremely well [55%, a franchise record] and that Phoenix took great advantage of the fact Houston didn’t pressure them on the perimeter,” she said.

“In this league, if you let any team come down and set up in the half-court and execute, they’ll beat you.”

Houston had no answer that night to Phoenix’s Brandy Reed, who scored 32 points.

Sunday at Compaq Center, Chancellor displayed a gift for adaptation. Minnesota made four of its first six shots. Chancellor called time, read the riot act--and by late in the first half, Minnesota was shooting 19%.

Houston then won its sixth straight, 78-66.