Quoting the Eagles, "It's going to be a heartache tonight, heartache tonight I know." (Though the Northern Lights' bluegrass cover of the tune is mighty hot...)

Tamika got the Defensive Player of the Year award and then proved she had a little offensive prowess by dropping 22. Though there was a moment in the third when she dropped to the ground after a Hornbuckle foul when her teammates and the Indy fans held their collective breaths.

Catch got up, then nailed the free throws, came up with a steal that led to an assist on a January three and suddenly the Fever had the lead. They never relinquished it, and the 79-75 victory will force a decisive game 3 tonight.

I'd bet tonight's outcome will depend on whether or not Detroit's post game (Ford/Braxton a combined 17pts) can compliment the game Nolan and Zellous are bringing.

Oh, and some guy called Bird bought 9,000 tickets for tonight's game. Guess he used to play basketball or something. Couldn't have been very watchable since he didn't dunk, though....

In the land of the Sun, Los Angles streaked out to a huge first quarter lead and then played point-trading for the next three, coming away with a 87-76 win. Parker had a monster game (24pts/18rebs), Leslie found 20pts of offense and Betty dropped in 17.

For Phoenix, it was all Pondexter and Taurasi (who fouled out for a second straight game) with a little Tangela thrown in.

Though the Merc's bench didn't score much, they did actually play significant minutes (56 split between four players) compared to LA's (34 split between two players). With the games being back to back, I wonder how the Sparks' legs will feel in the fourth quarter?

From the highway (?) Kathy starts writing:

As I was sitting in the parking lot that passes for the 405 Freeway these days, fighting my way to airport, I reflected back that that was how my first blog this season began. I was nervous heading into Game 2 of the Western Conference finals against Phoenix. I had plenty of time to think about the upcoming game (does it really need to take 90 minutes to go 15 miles on that freeway?), and I knew we could beat Phoenix if we played our game, instead of trying to play theirs.

From Arizona, Mechelle writes:

What it meant to Lisa Leslie for Los Angeles to win 87-76 on Friday in Phoenix goes without saying. And the fact is, Leslie really hasn't said much about it to her teammates.

Sure, it's the unspoken weight every Spark carries, to some extent, but Leslie isn't putting it on their shoulders. At 37 and a lock to someday be in every possible basketball hall of fame she's eligible for, Leslie is going about her business the same as always.

Warming up before Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, with one more loss meaning the end of her season and career, Leslie looked completely calm.

"I don't feel emotional about it," she said before tipoff. "I just feel like, 'This is what I do, and I'm trying to do my best. I want to finish up strong.' Being down, having to come here and we need to win two … it's not impossible."