EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- If the Los Angeles Sparks are to win a third consecutive WNBA championship, it will have to be on the road.

They won their first two titles at home, but Detroit had the league's best record this season, giving the Shock homecourt advantage for the WNBA Finals, which begin Friday night at Staples Center.

"I don't think we're worried about where we're playing, home or away,'' All-Star forward DeLisha Milton said Tuesday.

The Sparks and Shock met once this season, with Detroit winning 87-78 in overtime at home. That game proved the difference in determining the league's best record -- the Sparks finished 24-10, while Detroit was 25-9 in completing the turn from the league's worst record last season.

"I feel that we are still the best team in this league and we have not been given our due,'' Los Angeles coach Michael Cooper said.

The best-of-three finals pit former NBA rivals Cooper and Bill Laimbeer against each other. Cooper starred for the "Showtime'' Lakers' teams of the '80s, while Laimbeer was one of the so-called "Bad Boys'' on Detroit's championship teams in 1989 and '90.

"I enjoyed cheering against Mr. Laimbeer and I enjoyed watching Coop play,'' said Milton, a teenager when the Pistons and Lakers were major rivals.

"The Sparks are here and we are the legitimate champions,'' Cooper proclaimed after the team beat Sacramento 66-63 on Monday night to win the Western Conference finals in three games. "I feel very comfortable and confident, and in a sense cocky, that we will be the last team standing.''

Lisa Leslie hit a short baseline jumper with 9.8 seconds to go, then made two free throws with 6 seconds left to put the Sparks in the WNBA finals.

The Sparks had a better road record (13-4) than at home (11-6) this season.

In winning their two championships, the Sparks were 12-1 in the playoffs -- 6-0 last year and 6-1 two years ago. This season, they dropped the opener on the road in both the first round and conference finals before winning the final two games to advance.

Deanna Nolan of the Shock was still listed as day-to-day Friday as she recovers from a bruised sacrum, a triangular bone situated near the lower end of the spinal column. She was injured Sunday in the Shock's clincher over Connecticut.

Game 2 will be Sunday in Detroit as will a third and deciding game, if necessary, on Tuesday.