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BOX SCORE
HOUSTON (AP) -- The Houston Comets aren't complaining about their
1-3 record against the Los Angeles Sparks.
|  | | The basketball goes back through the legs of the Sparks' Tamecka Dixon, left, after being knocked away by the Comets' Cynthia Cooper (14) in the first half Thursday in Houston. |
Sheryl Swoopes scored 22 points, Cynthia Cooper added 21, and
the Comets used an early 17-0 run to take control in a 77-56
victory on Thursday night in Game 1 of the WNBA's Western
Conference finals.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Sunday in Los Angeles. A
third game, if necessary, would be in Los Angeles on Monday.
"They've been trying to give away our championship for a few
years now," Cooper said. "It always seems like we are the
underdogs. Well, in this case, we are the underdogs because Los
Angeles had the best regular-season record."
That didn't matter to the Comets, who lost all three-regular
season games to the Sparks.
"This is the playoffs and I don't think any of us care about
the regular season," Swoopes said. "Playoff time is a chance for
us 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 at
28-4, weren't quite ready for the Comets this time.
Cooper, the two-time league MVP, and Swoopes, honored Thursday
as this season's MVP, took control early as Houston overpowered the
Sparks with the 17-0 run that made it 19-4.
"The best sign was when we got the big lead and we came out in
the second half and played with the same intensity," Comets coach
Van Chancellor said.
Cooper, held to 16 points in Monday's playoff game against
Sacramento, and Tina Thompson each had six points in Houston's
early run. Cooper had 15 points and Swoopes 10 in the first half as
Houston built a 17-point lead at 40-23.
The Comets tied a league playoff record with 15 steals and
Swoopes had five steals, tying the team playoff high.
"I was more impressed with our defense," said Swoopes, the
league's defensive player of the year. "We know that someone will
score 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 turnovers
that the Comets turned into 25 points. Houston had eight first-half
turnovers, yielding seven points. Los Angeles had 25 turnovers for
the game, costing them 37 points.
"They just got the basketball and out-hustled us," Sparks
coach Michael Cooper said. "Our inability to execute really hurt
us tonight. We hit our fair share of shots, but we need to have a
much better effort.
"They were like a shark and when they smelled blood, they attacked."
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 and
didn't have a player in double figures. The Sparks shot 36 percent overall.
Play was hard, but tempers didn't flare the way they did in last
year's conference playoff between the teams.
Leslie and Thompson were ejected in last season's Western
Conference finals. Leslie was fined $500 for shoving Thompson and
Thompson got a $300 fine for taunting.
"We just were not on the same page tonight, it was the first
time all year," Leslie said. "It's just not a great day. I could
tell that early in the first half that our effort was just not
there. We didn't follow the game plan and that's why we lost."
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ALSO SEE
WNBA Scoreboard
RECAPS
Cleveland 56
New York 43
Houston 77
Los Angeles 56
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Cynthia Cooper cuts through the lane for the layup.
avi: 768 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Sheryl Swoopes shows why she is the League MVP.
avi: 983 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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