Sparks go for a repeat in WNBA championship series

NEW YORK -- New York. Los Angeles.

No matter the subject -- sports, politics, fashion or music --when the talk involves these locales, it's not just a matter of comparing apples to oranges.

Both are the symbols of their geographical coasts, East and West. Both represent outlandish levels of prosperity, population overload and urban angst.

Today's topic is the WNBA Finals, a best-of-three series that begins tonight in Madison Square Garden, whose patrons haughtily bestow the title "The Mecca of Basketball."

But the Knicks haven't won an NBA championship since 1973. And the Liberty, making its fourth trip to the WNBA Finals in six years, has never worn the league crown.

It is the Sparks who are the defending champions, and trying to be the only team besides Houston to win more than one title. The Comets won the first four league championships until the Sparks won last year.

This series would seem to have all the ingredients to raise the WNBA's profile to new heights. New York and Los Angeles represent the two biggest sports markets in the country. The teams play contrasting styles -- the Sparks love to run, the Liberty keeps the game in the half court. They were two of the original eight teams when the WNBA formed in 1997. And they were expected to meet in a championship series long before this.

"In many sports leagues, New York vs. Los Angeles is a dream matchup," WNBA commissioner Val Ackerman said. "For us, it's maybe the true East-West matchup. Had it been a Washington-Utah final, we at the league office would treat it the same. But because of markets and interest that L.A. and New York typically generate, from coaches to players, there are a lot of story lines. And I like every one of them."

Even the respective coaches expect there will be more attention to this series than others.

"The New York vs. L.A. thing is great for the league," Spark coach Michael Cooper said. "I think it will be good for the game, good for the ladies and good for basketball. The series heightens the excitement and generates the excitement of what pro basketball is about. This could catapult the league to the next level. If you can continually get the two marquee WNBA teams to meet for the championship, that's always a plus."