The simplest way to compare the two finalists is to say that Connecticut has a better starting five but Sacramento is deeper. Last night's game showed the differences between the reserves, as the Monarchs bench was +3 while the Sun's bench was -19 (numbers from Paul).

Sacramento

Starters: Powell +9, Brunson +3, Griffith +3, Newton +2, Penicheiro 0
Reserves: Lawson +6, Walker +3, Haynie 0, Scott-Richardson -1, Maiga -5

Connecticut

Starters: Sales +4, McWilliams-Franklin +1, Dydek 0, Douglas -2, Whalen -4
Reserves: Derevjanik +1, Wyckoff -3, Jones -4, Willingham -6, Carey -7

To the delight of the large hometown crowd, Lindsay Whalen played... but she looked less than 100%. “(The knee) felt fine out there,” she said. “I could've played better.” She still gets props for the valiant effort.

Yo was fabulous. "She turned it on," Sun coach Thibault said. "She's got that will right now to go and try to win a championship. You can see how possessed she's playing."

"Nothing in life is guaranteed," Griffith said, "and I've been preaching that from Day 1. We're here this year, but we can finish last next year. So I keep telling my teammates, 'Be hungry.' This opportunity may come once."

And Sacto's all-around defensive effort was excellent, forcing the huge turnover differential. "Sometimes, basketball is very black and white to me," Thibault said. "Except for turnovers, we played pretty even. We gave this game away by turning over the ball."

"I think we lost our composure," Katie Douglas said.

Mike DiMauro mourns how the Sun worked so hard to get home court then gave it away in one night. Game Two is now a must-win for Connecticut.

As Coach Whisenant says, these teams are evenly matched, and we can expect more close games. "Each game, I think, will be a tossup, and tonight we just happened to come out on top."