Bet if you polled a group of WNBA fans -- from everywhere but Los Angeles -- about top guards in the league, it might take awhile for Tamecka Dixon's name to be mentioned.

COMPLETE FINALS COVERAGE

To check out ESPN.com's complete WNBA Finals coverage, check out the links below: 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. Voepel: Deflecting the spotlight Bill Laimbeer and Michael Cooper are stealing the headlines. But they know this series really belongs to the players. Kreidler: An unlikely reunion What would have been the odds 14 years ago that Bill Laimbeer and Michael Cooper would square off again as coaches of WNBA teams? Cash vs. Leslie MVP candidates Swin Cash of Detroit and L.A.'s Lisa Leslie go head-to-head to lead their teams into the finals. The hard road If L.A. is to win its third straight WNBA title, the Sparks will have to do something they haven't done so far this season in the playoffs: win on the road. Are Sparks the underdogs? The two-time defending champions say they're not getting the R-E-S-P-E-C-T they deserve as Game 1 nears.

Yet for four seasons in a row now, Dixon has started every game she has been healthy enough to play in for the Sparks. She averaged 13.7 points this season and is at 11.5 for her seven-year career, 11.2 in playoff games.

In L.A.'s 75-63 victory over Detroit in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday, Dixon scored 15. You could call her the Janeth Arcain of the Sparks -- not the star, not even the second banana. But just as Arcain was a critical, if sometimes overlooked, cog for the Houston Comets during their run to four WNBA titles, Dixon has been essential to two championships for L.A.

Here's what Dixon, 27, most takes pride in: She knows how to be a professional ballplayer -- "You always work hard, and you sign every autograph for every kid who asks'' -- and she likes the human being she has become.

"For me, just growing as a person has probably been the most gratifying thing,'' Dixon said of her time in the WNBA. "I can see the personal growth in every aspect of my life over the last few years.''

Dixon is a native of New Jersey who went to Kansas for college -- even though it probably seemed about as familiar as Jupiter to her when she arrived. She went there because of coach Marian Washington, who told Dixon that she would be Kansas' next star and that she would be there for her not just in college but for the rest of her life.

Both statements were true. Dixon averaged 20.8 points her senior season for Kansas and was the Big 12 player of the year. And, yeah, opponents' fans called her a hot dog and a ball hog and ... well, it was kind of hard to dispute that. However, she was being what the KU coaching staff wanted her to be. The Jayhawks needed points and swagger; Dixon provided both.

That "mean,'' almost confrontational look she had then -- and still has now -- on court? Well, off-court she was always smiling, soft-spoken, nice. Completely different than people who don't know her would probably think.

But she'd grown up on the playgrounds in Jersey and learned how to play a boldly confident style. OK, that might not have been how foes would describe it, exactly, but people aren't always real charitable when they've been taken to school. Which Dixon did constantly to the opposition.

I watched Dixon make plenty of "wow'' moves at Kansas, but there's one memory that stands out the most -- and it wasn't of her playing. That was her senior day, when her dad, Russell "Boo'' Bowers, was standing beside her on the Allen Fieldhouse court. He cut a striking figure in a dark-blue suit, and I don't think Dixon would have traded a million bucks for her dad being there at that moment.

He and her mother, Portia Dixon, had Tamecka when they were just teenagers. Bowers went on to be a scoring star for American University's basketball team. And even if things weren't ideal, he did stay involved with his daughter, who absolutely adored him.

	Tamecka Dixon has helped L.A. win the past two WNBA titles, averaging 11.5 points in her seven-year career.

I always sensed that while Dixon loved basketball, the thing that carried her the extra mile in the sport was the desire to maintain the bond it created between her and her dad.

Now, go back to spring 1997. The ABL had just finished its first season. The WNBA would have its first season that summer. Most of the top seniors that season picked the ABL because it offered higher salaries, even though its future seemed doomed in the eyes of everyone but hopeless/stubborn optimists or the uninformed.

Kansas had a link, though, to the WNBA because of player personnel director Renee Brown, a former Jayhawk assistant. Thus, Dixon chose the WNBA. Then the Sparks chose her in the second round of the WNBA draft.

Anybody remember who L.A. took with its first-round pick? Stanford's Jamila Wideman. Another rookie guard who was taken ahead of Dixon was Virginia's Tora Suber, Charlotte's first-round pick.

As it's turned out, things went just right for Dixon. There were three somewhat frustrating seasons for her and the Sparks under coaches Linda Sharp, Julie Rosseau and Orlando Wooldridge.

During that time, Dixon got her degree from Kansas, stayed in close touch with Washington, worked out with her dad, kept being positive.

These last four seasons, Michael Cooper has been running the Sparks' show. And Dixon said he has been a blessing for the players. Especially for Dixon, who probably wouldn't play as effectively in a system that bottled her up. Cooper looks past the bad from Dixon -- she can force shots and has never been a consistent 3-point threat -- because it's completely overshadowed by all she does well.

"Our relationship with Coop is very good,'' Dixon said. "Some coaches put themselves on a pedestal. He asks our opinions and keeps us involved.''

This season, Cooper has had to rely a lot on Dixon and the two other players who've been with the Sparks from the league's inception, Leslie and Mwadi Mabika.

Off-court problems and injuries have challenged the Sparks' chemistry. They've worn a target for the second season in a row as the team everybody most wants to beat. They've had to battle back from first-game losses in the previous two playoff series.

"It has been one of the most difficult years for us,'' Dixon said.

But still, the Sparks stand a victory away from their third consecutive WNBA title. And they wouldn't be there without Dixon.

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