FanHouse DianaTaurasi

PHOENIX -- The best Finals series in the history of the WNBA ended Friday night with the Phoenix Mercury hoisting the trophy for the second time in three seasons.

Phoenix finished off the best-of-five series against the Indiana Fever by winning two straight games, including a 94-86 win at the US Airways Center that gave them the title in front of a boisterous, sold-out home crowd.

They finished as the best team in the league from start to finish, but they also finished as battered and tired as they were victorious after an intense, fiercely competitive series.

PHOENIX -- Emptying the notebook at the WNBA Finals, where the Phoenix Mercury and the Indiana Fever will tip off Thursday night (9 PM ET) at the US Airways Arena.

Statistics suggest that Indiana can't afford to keep pace with Phoenix and stay in this series for long. The Fever have been averaging 81.5 points a game in the postseason thus far, a number inflated by Tuesday night's 116-point output in the overtime loss.

PHOENIX -- Lisa Leslie is undeniably women's basketball's biggest star, and she has stated that this, her twelfth year in the WNBA, will be her last. She and the Sparks faced elimination in Game 2 of the league's Western Conference Finals against the hometown Mercury on Friday, but Leslie was clearly not ready to call it a career just yet.

Behind 10 first-quarter points from Leslie, the Sparks jumped out to an early double-digit lead, and never looked back while cruising to an 87-76 victory, which evened the best-of-three series at one game apiece.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

WNBA star Lisa Leslie is one of the greatest American Olympians in history, winning four gold medals in four consecutive Olympics. In this video we catch up with Leslie and two of her Sparks teammates -- Candace Parker and Delisha Milton-Jones -- who teamed up with her on the USA basketball team. Find out which athlete most impressed Parker, and how President Bush supplied the players with some laughs. Also, around the 2:45 mark, find out how the Sparks plan on celebrating the Olympic achievement.


Youtube link.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

WNBA star Lisa Leslie is one of the greatest American Olympians in history, winning four gold medals in four consecutive Olympics. In this video we catch up with Leslie and two of her Sparks teammates -- Candace Parker and Delisha Milton-Jones -- who teamed up with her on the USA basketball team. Find out which athlete most impressed Parker, and how President Bush supplied the players with some laughs. Also, around the 2:45 mark, find out how the Sparks plan on celebrating the Olympic achievement.


Youtube link.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

WNBA star Lisa Leslie is one of the greatest American Olympians in history, winning four gold medals in four consecutive Olympics. In this video we catch up with Leslie and two of her Sparks teammates -- Candace Parker and Delisha Milton-Jones -- who teamed up with her on the USA basketball team. Find out which athlete most impressed Parker, and how President Bush supplied the players with some laughs. Also, around the 2:45 mark, find out how the Sparks plan on celebrating the Olympic achievement.


Youtube link.

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

The U.S. Olympic Team is the only country other than the host nation with their very own training facilities located in Beijing. They've contracted out a relationship with Beijing Normal University to set up the kind of training center our nation's top athletes have come to expect.

During a tour I took of the facilities the other day I got the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the ladies hoops stars -- including Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, and Diana Taurasi, among others – in the middle of a closed practice.
They seemed light and loose during their shoot around, as they should with the rest of the world struggling to even compete with our dominant women's team.

More photos of the basketball team as well and the men's water polo squad after the jump.