Two years ago, Lisa Leslie worked to improve her 3-point shooting. Last season, the Los Angeles center focused on passing out of the double-team, going strong to the basket and cutting down on taking bad shots.

	In her WNBA debut, Los Angeles' Nikki Teasley played with incredible poise.

This season, defense and shot-blocking appear to be Leslie's main objectives, and her play on Saturday and Monday were probably the most impressive and noteworthy performances of the opening weekend.

Leslie has always been a tremendous defensive player, but she has stepped up her game another notch this season. In the first two games, Leslie pulled down a combined 31 rebounds and blocked 10 shots, including a seven-block performance against New York in the season opener.

Once again, she has found a way to improve her game and is playing at a higher level than anybody else in the league at this point in the season. Leslie's also showing more diversity in her arsenal, and was just a bear on the boards, keeping things alive time and again. She is reading defenses very well, too.

Leslie, who had five assists against New York, was especially impressive on offense with her left hand. One particular move that seemed new was one she repeatedly used down low against Tina Thompson, where Leslie throws a head and shoulder fake to the baseline, then uses a sort of step-through to get inside and finish with the left hand. She can hurt opponents on either wing right now.

Point guard Nikki Teasley also was very impressive, and played with tremendous poise and composure for a rookie. She didn't force things, took shots when she was supposed to and got the ball to the right people. She made some beautiful passes.

The Sparks' bench looks to be a threat, too, and Los Angeles didn't lose anything when Nicky McCrimmon, Sophia Witherspoon or Latasha Byears came in.

Overall, the defending champion Sparks, a very well-coached team, looked very good. If they can avoid injury, it seems they'll be very hard to dethrone.

Some other opening weekend observations (through Tuesday's Minnesota-Miami game):

Houston, we have a problem

	Lassiter

After one of Houston's practices last week, Sheryl Swoopes questioned the energy level and commitment of some of her teammates. Swoopes has put in an incredible amount of work over the past year to come back from a torn ACL, and it's no doubt frustrating when you think your teammates aren't working equally hard.

Swoopes and Thompson come with the goods every night, but that's because they pay the price in the offseason. Houston trainer Michelle Leget, as well as the team's strength coach, Wendy Dutch, do an excellent job getting the players ready, but the team members have to commit to the program.

Right now, it appears that Amanda Lassiter didn't. Typically, you might have expected Lassiter to take her game to the next level in the second year, especially knowing that Swoopes was coming back. But the forward out of Missouri seems to have regressed. She averaged 19.2 minutes last season, but didn't even get step on the court in Monday's season opener.

The problem for Houston, though, is the fact the Comets lack a true point guard. Coquese Washington played 34 minutes but attempted just three shots. She consistently dribbled into the corner, and at times it seemed that Los Angeles had an extra player on the court when on defense. Van Chancellor likes to stick with his starters -- all five played at least 27 minutes in the opener -- so Washington must be a bigger threat.

Janeth Arcain also played some point, but that really takes away her strengths. She's better when she's able to get on the perimeter, shoot the ball and do a little slashing.

Lynx getting to point, too

	Lennox

The fact that Minnesota has so many talented players -- Katie Smith, Svetlana Abrosimova, Betty Lennox, Tamika Williams, Val Whiting-Raymond, Georgia Schweitzer, Michele VanGorp, Shaunzinski Gortman -- has caused a small problem for the Lynx: how -- and where? -- do you play them all?

Although she didn't start Tuesday against Miami, Betty Lennox was playing point guard in some of Minnesota's preseason games and in the season opener against Utah. That's not a good fit for Lennox, who is used to having the plate set for her. I love the way she plays. Get her on the wing and this great slasher can beat the defense. But get her in the middle of the floor and the help defense just really works against her.

The tough part for coach Brian Agler is that he knows he needs to get minutes out of her. Lennox is a productive player -- the former Rookie of the Year averaged 16.9 points in 2000. But against Utah, Lennox went 5-for-22 from the field and committed nine turnovers and five fouls in 38 minutes.

This is a very talented team. Smith is just a trooper, and Abrosimova is really taking her game to the next level. But Lennox is out of position at the point.

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