The assist on the WNBA's first dunk, by Los Angeles' Lisa Leslie on Tuesday night, was credited to Latasha Byears. But maybe a second assist should go to Portland's Kristin Folkl.

	Lisa Leslie became the first player in WNBA history to dunk on Tuesday.

In Houston on Tuesday night, which started two hours before the Sparks' game in L.A., Portland was getting clobbered. The Fire were in the midst of being paid back for the temerity to beat the Comets 11 days before, and there wasn't much Portland could do about this one.

And in the latter part of the second half, Houston's Michelle Snow started lingering in the offensive end. Sometimes, she didn't play a lick of defense, just hung around waiting for an outlet pass to go dunk.

The Fire didn't care for this, of course. So for about the last 5 minutes, it seemed like the Fire was a hockey team killing a penalty -- determined not to let Snow get a cherry-picker dunk.

Snow did go back to playing the whole court again late, but there were still a couple of good breakaway opportunities for her. On one, the over-eager Comets just got butterfingers with the ball. In the other, Folkl just played good defense.

The Fire have been a team of mostly solid but not spectacular play this year. DeMya Walker has been spectacular at times, and Tamicha "Jack 'em Up'' Jackson is the definition of streak shooter. When she's on, you could blindfold her and they'd go in, as was the case in the Fire's victory over Houston. When she's off, the Fire better hope somebody's rebounding.

Folkl was Tuesday, pulling down 12 boards, but it didn't matter much against the Comets' military-drill-precise execution. But Folkl's effort got her the starting nod in the second half, most of which she played.

That included the play that sort of bugged Houston coach Van Chancellor. It was a breakaway near the end, where admittedly two points didn't mean squat. Folkl still got back as quickly as she could and bumped Snow for the foul, disrupting what could have been a dunk attempt.

Chancellor said later that he thought if the roles had been reversed and Portland's Sylvia Crawley had been going for a dunk, the Comets wouldn't have tried to stop her.

Some would say since the loss was already certain, the Fire shouldn't have disrupted what could have been a historic moment, something the Houston fans were looking forward to.

But here's the deal: The Fire are fighting to make the playoffs. Portland pretty much knew this game was over by halftime, when it trailed by 15. But it desperately wanted to take some momentum from the second half, as the Fire go into Washington on Friday night. You don't get momentum by standing back and letting the opponent do whatever she wants. And don't fans deserve to see both teams go all-out the entire game, regardless of the score?

Further, Folkl didn't execute a flying tackle or anything like that; she just bumped Snow because she was able to get there. Folkl earns her minutes in Portland by rebounding and hustling; you get the sense that she, like most WNBA reserves, feels as if she's proving herself every second on court. Isn't that effort exactly what you want to see out of a professional? You can't ask somebody like that to give up on a play.

All that said, I'm really looking forward to Snow, who can become an excellent pro player, dunking a lot in the WNBA. But ... in the legitimate flow of the game. She and other players soon will be able to do that: take advantage of situations where the dunk will be their best shot available.

That's really what Leslie's dunk was: the best shot as she went down on a legit breakaway. Some people don't like the dunk because they fear it takes away from "fundamental'' basketball. But "fundamentals'' means giving yourself the highest-percentage shot every chance you can.

And for those players like Leslie and Snow, getting comfortable with the dunk in the flow of the game is good fundamentals.

Just like getting back on defense and cleanly stopping what looks to be an easy basket.

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