For These WNBA Stars, It’s Getting Too Defensive

HOUSTON —  With a championship series featuring the offensive talents of Jennifer Gillom, Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes, you’d think the scoreboard operators would be double-checking the third digit bulbs on the scoreboards.

But the fact is this Phoenix-Houston three-game finals matches the league’s two best defensive teams.

Van Chancellor, the Houston Comets’ coach, surprised some earlier in the week when he talked about Cooper, Swoopes, Tina Thompson and Kim Perrot as defenders, not about their offense.

“The thing I’m most proud of about this team is that they play so darn hard on defense,” he said.

“They know that if they keep that up for 40 minutes, they’ve got the talent to take care of things at the other end [offense].”

Houston ranked first in the regular season in fewest points given up, Phoenix second.

“We kind of hang our hat on that [defense] too,” Mercury Coach Cheryl Miller said, after her team won the series’ first game, 54-51, Thursday night at Phoenix.

The series resumes today at Compaq Center, with Phoenix expected to try to beat the Comets with a game plan similar to Thursday’s.

Houston’s Cooper, the league MVP, scored 29 points Thursday but no other Comet reached double figures.

“You can’t stop Cooper, what you try to do is minimize the damage,” Miller said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WNBA Finals

HOUSTON VS. PHOENIX

(Phoenix leads series, 1-0)

* Game 1: Phoenix 54, Houston 51

* Today: at Houston, 1 p.m. (NBC)

* Tuesday: x-at Houston, 5 p.m. (ESPN)

x-if necessary; all times PDT