Three more games last night. From West to East:

1. L.A. barely won its home opener, against the 1-7 (now 1-8) Lynx. Mwadi Mabika's free throws in the final seconds provided the entire margin of victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game.

Mwadi, Taj and Augustus looked great; Lynx rookies Quinn (UCLA) and Murphy (USC) enjoyed the trip home, within limits. "We fought back, but of course we're not satisfied," Quinn said.

2. The Comets have made a habit of blowing big leads; the Sun, a habit of playing basketball only after halftime. No rewards for guessing what happened in Houston: down by sixteen at the break, the visitors crushed the home team anyway.

The second quarter was apparently one of the worst in the history of the Sun franchise: the third quarter, the statistical best.

(Query to coach Thompson: if your team often runs out of gas late in games, why not use your bench a bit more? Six Comets, including the injured Swoopes, concluded the game with DNPs.)

3. The Mystics lost again, at home, to Indy. Catch scored 24, Beard 23.

Washington looked terrible in the opening minutes, and couldn't quite come all the way back at the end. Nikki Teasley: "I'm speechless. It's discouraging."