Perhaps it was confidence, or forethought, or a little bit of both.

	Brandy Reed, left, shot 60.5 percent from the field in Week 1.

Brandy Reed spent the offseason playing in Spain, adjusting, she says, to the fact she was going to be the go-to offensive player on the floor.

"Coming back over here, I knew I would get the same type of defensive focus," Reed said Wednesday after she was named the WNBA's Player of the Week for leading Phoenix to a 2-0 record after the first week of the season.

Ironically, Phoenix is now 2-1 after a 76-61 loss to Utah Tuesday night, a defeat in which the Starzz defense keyed on Reed and held her to 13 points. Reed apparently knows of what she speaks.

Reed is in the second-phase of her construction as one of the league's most dangerous offensive players.

Reed, a 6-foot-1 small forward from San Francisco, was the seventh-leading scorer in the league last year. In the first week of this season, she is averaging 27 points a game, including a star-making 32-point performance in Phoenix's 80-62 win over Houston which snapped the Comets' 13-game home winning streak.

Reed's WNBA odyssey hasn't always been a warm and fuzzy story. Reed was a promising, if not yet dominant talent for the Mercury in 1998 when she was chosen with the first pick in the expansion draft by the Minnesota Lynx.

She clearly demonstrated her talent for Lynx coach Brian Agler, but locker room conflicts caused Reed to be benched the final game of the season. She was dealt back to Phoenix in an offseason trade that also included Tonya Edwards.

Reed then considered sitting out the season after the league offered her a minimal raise -- one that wouldn't even have her making as much as some of this year's rookies. But coach Cheryl Miller's personal appeal convinced Reed to sign a deal.

Reed seems happy to be back in Phoenix, although she still acknowledges trouble spending social time with teammates.

"When I first came here, I was just trying to get a job and staying on the team, I wasn't really asserting myself," Reed said. "This year I'm a lot more confident and comfortable in my capabilities. I'm becoming one of the focal points of this team.

"I really have to look in the mirror and accept leadership responsibility and that means socializing more with the team. It's definitely a sacrifice at times, but whatever I can do to make the team better."

With Reed back in the fold, the Mercury look less like an aging team than a title contender, especially after the impressive performance in Houston.

"We knew coming in that if we wanted to get into the playoffs again, we had to make a stand," Reed said. "We knew we had to beat them and we had to do it on their home floor."

Now, Reed is also eyeing a spot -- and might just be good enough to earn a place -- on the 2000 Olympic team roster, which could desperately use a perimeter scorer in order to take its best shot at a gold medal. But she has no USA Basketball experience and that usually hurts in the eyes of the committee.

"It has definitely crossed my mind," Reed said. "I have not had any USA Basketball experience, but hopefully that won't be an issue."

Around the WNBA