This NBA Tuesday miniseries examining past awards for the WNBA continues today with another season where the Houston Comets won the title—their fourth straight, something only the Boston Celtics ever achieved in the NBA. It’s sad that the franchise would fold before the end of the first decade in the twenty-first century, but Houston fans are total bandwagon garbage, of course, as MLB has shown us recently.

2000 WNBA MVP: Sheryl Swoopes, G/F, Houston (original); Yolanda Griffith, C/F, Sacramento (revised)

The same three players went 1-2-3 in both PER and WS, with the top dog winning the MVP vote: Comets wing Sheryl Swoopes (32.0 PER, 9.8 WS). But Sacramento Monarchs center/forward Yolanda Griffith (30.3 PER, 7.8 WS), the 1999 MVP winner, and Phoenix Mercury F Brandy Reed (28.8 PER, 7.3 WS) close behind, we have to look at the standings—where Houston finished way ahead of both Sac and Phoenix.

In fact, the Mercury qualified for the postseason by just two games over the Utah Starzz. Does this mean we give the nod to Reed? Not necessarily, but without her, Phoenix would have missed the postseason. While Swoopes was certainly the best player, she wasn’t significantly ahead of either Griffith or Reed in the sabermetric categories. She did play on a better team, too, with better teammates, as we can demonstrate.

The Comets had three players in the league’s Top 7 for PER, for example, and they had the same three players in the league’s Top 5 for Win Shares. Meanwhile, neither Griffith nor Reed had any teammate support in the Top 10 for either category. So, for that reason alone, we give this nod to Griffith again, as she was better than Reed—and also a difference maker, in the sense that Sac finished one win ahead of Phoenix.

2000 WNBA ROTY: Betty Lennox, G, Minnesota (original, confirmed)

Only one rookie finished with more than 1.0 WS on the year, and that player won this vote: Minnesota Lynx guard Betty Lennox (3.7 WS). So, we confirm the vote without much discussion, as she ran away with this one (16.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.7 spg). Her team only won 15 games, the same number as it won without her in 1999, but again, no other rookie surpassed 1.0 WS for the season, so she will win this by default. Ho hum.

2000 WNBA DPOY: Swoopes (original); Griffith (revised)

Again, there’s only a trio eligible for this award, as Swoopes (3.6 DWS) won the vote. Yet Los Angeles Sparks C Lisa Leslie (3.2) and Griffith (3.0) weren’t too far behind. But one more time, there were two other Comets in the Top 10 for DWS—and two other Sparks as well. Yet Griffith was the only Monarch in the Top 10 for DWS. The lowest DWS mark in the Top 10 was 1.9 DWS, too, so Griffith was carrying a large load for Sac.

2000 WNBA FINALS MVP: Cynthia Cooper, G, Houston (original); Swoopes (revised)

The playoffs once again expanded, this time to three rounds of best-of-three series. The Comets swept the Monarchs, the Sparks, and the New York Liberty to win the title, going 6-0 in the process. Swoopes was, by far, the most valuable Comet in the postseason, putting up .312 WS/48, which bested the next-best player on the team by quite a bit (.199). She was 29 and in her prime. The vote went to her backcourt teammate, still.

This was the fourth straight time Cynthia Cooper won the vote, but we are overturning it this time.