Not so fast ...

Mercury surprise Comets in Game 1 of WNBA Finals

Posted: Friday August 28, 1998 08:20 PM

Gillom (left) finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds to help Phoenix beat the Comets 54-51 AP

PHOENIX (AP) -- The MVP controversy didn't come up until the final minutes of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.

Until then, Houston's Cynthia Cooper, who won her second straight MVP award this season after averaging a league-record 22.7 points, was the clear winner. But Jennifer Gillom of Phoenix, who averaged 20.8 points and 7.3 rebounds and finished second in the voting, won out when the Mercury outdueled the Comets down the stretch.

Gillom blocked a shot by Houston's diminutive Kim Perrot late in the game, then made the winning basket as the Mercury beat the Comets 54-51 on Thursday night for a 1-0 lead in the best-of-3 championship series.

"I don't want to take all the credit here," Gillom said of her 15-point, 10-rebound performance. "But I felt really good, especially after the blocked shot. I wanted to let my teammates know that I was there for them."

Gillom's made a turnaround layup with 8.9 seconds left after a pass from Michele Timms.

"We were playing in honor of Jen, because she has been the MVP for us all season," Timms said. "We knew that she had carried the team on her back at times this season, so this was a special game emotionally for us."

After a timeout, Sheryl Swoopes took a 15-foot jumper that went in and out, and the Mercury got the ball. After an inbounds pass, Michelle Griffiths was fouled with 1.5 seconds to go and made a free throw.

Cooper, who scored 29 points, missed a 28-foot shot at the buzzer.

The series shifts to Houston on Saturday. Game 3, if needed, will be Tuesday night in Houston.

Griffiths had a career-high 12 rebounds to go with eight points.

Swoopes had 11 rebounds and eight points for the Comets, who were 27-3 in the regular season and brushed aside Charlotte by 14- and 16-point margins in the first round.

The Mercury were 19-11 during the season, and their playoff with Cleveland went to three games. But they had the homecourt edge again, and it paid off Thursday night.

Defense and rebounding turned the tide for the Mercury, who led 33-29 at halftime but had to withstand the pressure of three lead changes and two ties in the final 4:45.

In the biggest play, Perrot, a 5-foot-5 point guard, tried to get off a shot against Gillom with 37 seconds to go, but the 6-3 center rejected it and then pulled down the rebound. It was her second block, a finals record for the 2-year-old league.

The Comets shot only 32 percent to the Mercury's 34 percent, and Phoenix had a 41-32 edge in rebounds.

"Absolutely nothing that the Phoenix Mercury did tonight was the reason we played as we did," Cooper said. "They should be worried about their offense; they should be worried about why we kept them to 54 points."

Cooper had 16 points in the first half, when the Comets led by up to eight points.

The Mercury made only four of their first 15 shots, and Cooper opened a 16-8 Houston lead with two free throws 8:18 into the game.

But Timms hit four field goals -- one a 3-pointer -- without a miss during a 15-8 run, and a putback by Griffiths with 5:31 to play cut the Comets' lead to 24-23.

Cooper answered with a layup at the 5:08 mark, but the Comets scored only one more field goal in the first half. Gillom sent the Mercury to 27-26 lead with two free throws with 3:57 to play, then hit a 3-pointer for a 30-26 lead 45 seconds later.