Say this for the Los Angeles Sparks: They have cast-iron confidence. Nothing dents it. They lost their first games on the road in playoff series at Minnesota and Sacramento. And both times, they just said with ticked-off certainty, "Yeah, well, we'll take the next two games.''

COMPLETE FINALS COVERAGE

To check out ESPN.com's complete WNBA Finals coverage, check out the links below: Game 3 for all the marbles As Game 3 approaches, the Shock seek the perfect ending to their worst-to-first turnaround, while L.A. is still eyeing the threepeat. Can L.A. ride road to happiness? L.A. went 5-0 at home in the playoffs, but is 0-3 on the road. With Tuesday's Game 3 in Detroit, here's a home-and-away look at the Sparks' playoff stats. Game 2: Detroit 62, L.A. 61 Reserve Kedra Holland-Corn scored 16 points, and Deanna Nolan hit the game-winning free throws with 12.1 seconds left to force Game 3. Voepel: Shock beat the odds Teams don't normally win games where they blow gigantic leads. But on Sunday, Detroit survived the kind of game teams often don't survive. Game 1: L.A. 75, Detroit 63 L.A. took advantage of Detroit's shooting woes to build the second-largest halftime lead in finals history and take a 1-0 lead in the series. Lieberman: Nothing but nerves Detroit's nerves, and some great defense from Mwadi Mabika, led to an L.A. rout in Game 1 of the finals. Voepel: Don't underestimate Dixon Guard Tamecka Dixon is a critical, if sometimes overlooked, cog who has been essential to two championships for Los Angeles. Lieberman: Finals preview Detroit is athletic and talented enough to threaten L.A.'s quest for a threepeat.

Now, though, Los Angeles is at the end of the road, and so is Detroit. Tonight's WNBA Finals Game 3 decides the champion. And the fact is, both sides were talking with assurance Monday.

The Shock players and coach Bill Laimbeer are boosted because they faced the potential knockout punch Sunday but didn't hit the canvas. Meanwhile, the Sparks reflect the attitude of L.A. coach Michael Cooper: We didn't play well and still almost won, so now we'll fix that and will win.

It really seems like a toss-up. If this game were in L.A., obviously, you'd say the Sparks had it. However, it being in Detroit makes it a lot different -- but not because of what that does to the Sparks. Rather, because of how the homecourt advantage has seemed to elevate their opponents in these playoffs.

At least, that's my current theory on why L.A. had a better record on the road than at home during the regular season, but the opposite in the playoffs.

L.A. doesn't seem to get really rattled by anything. The Sparks don't worry about being in a very hostile environment. Hey, that's an every-road-game occurrence for them. But their playoff foes have been good-enough teams that the homecourt boost was just the extra edge needed.

What has bothered the Sparks in all three of their playoff defeats is they've lost continuity on offense. They seemed to have Minnesota buried and then started heading for the airport a little too early. They were in a battle at Sacramento, then went cold the last six minutes.

At Detroit, the offensive problems were in the first half, when the Sparks were getting blown out. But they pulled it together and then could well have won. At the same time, Detroit showed its quickly developed maturity by not flipping out after losing the big lead.

L.A. had the same reaction to all three losses: irritation. There's no sense of panic or worry; rather, the Sparks seem kind of disgusted with themselves.

Part of L.A.'s strength these last three seasons is that attitude: "You can't beat us.'' Then when the Sparks lose, it shifts slightly to, "OK, you can't beat us when it really counts.''

But the Sparks have never faced a third game in the Finals before now. They won the 2001 title in two games over Charlotte and did the same to New York last year. So this will be a different kind of test for L.A.

Before the season started, Cooper said that the "juggernaut'' element that marked the beginning years of the WNBA -- first Houston, then L.A. -- was coming to an end. There was too much talent spread out, with an impending influx from the class of 2004.

At the time, Detroit probably wasn't the challenger that worried him. For good reason, considering the Shock won just nine games last year. But Detroit not only turned itself around, which is hard enough, it really has developed confidence for playing against the best, which is even harder.

Charlotte and New York the last two years both gave their all. But, frankly, there was an underlying sense that they were trying to slay a giant and it probably wasn't going to happen. Detroit does not feel that way about L.A.

And so the two meet in the last game of the 2003 season, staring steely-eyed at each other. Whoever loses will go out muttering like Yosemite Sam, mad as heck and convinced it shouldn't have happened.

Mechelle Voepel of the Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.