ot tell you as Ive traveled the league how many people, when they ask me in other cities about this franchise, say, Im going to go on a road trip with my team. Im going to go tak

MINNEAPOLIS -- In a championship series filled with stars, Alana Beard sometimes can get lost with so much attention on Minnesotas four Olympians and the two MVPs in Los Angeles.Thats exactly what happened in the closing moments of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, and Beard hit a jumper from the baseline just before time expired to lift the Sparks to a 78-76 victory over the defending champion Lynx.With the defense collapsing on Candace Parker and Nneka Ogwumike in the paint, Beard found herself all alone in the corner. She took the pass from Chelsea Gray and knocked down jumper with Maya Moores in her face.As the ball splashed through, Moore put her head in her hands, and the Sparks celebrated a thrilling victory, their second on Minnesotas court this season.You may not recognize the importance of her statistically for us a lot of times, Sparks coach Brian Agler said. But her presence, her leadership, obviously how disruptive she can be defensively, and then for her to hit a shot like that, it was incredible.Kristi Toliver scored 19 points to lead Los Angeles and Parker had 14 points and nine rebounds in her finals debut. League MVP Ogwumike added 19 points for the Sparks in the opener of the best-of-five series.Sylvia Fowles had 18 points and 13 rebounds and Lindsay Whalen scored 18 points for top-seeded Minnesota. Moore scored all 18 of her points in the second half to move into first place on the WNBAs career finals scoring list, but the Lynx committed 16 turnovers and got caught scrambling on the final possession of the game.I think we were more worried about not letting anyone get to the hole, Fowles said. Im not sure exactly what happened on that last play to make her get wide open. But we learned from this.There was a time not too long ago when Beards name belonged on the marquee with players Parker and Ogwumike or Lynx stars Moore, Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen. She was the national player of the year at Duke, the No. 2 overall pick by the Washington Mystics in 2004 and a four-time All-Star before injuries set her back.She re-emerged in Los Angeles as a defensive specialist, but she took center stage in Game 1. Before she hit the game-winner, Beard also had a spectacular block of a shot by Whalen and then a steal off an inbounds to set up Ogwumikes bucket for a 76-72 lead.Moore scored on a coast-to-coast layup to tie the score at 76 with 24.7 seconds to play, but she helped aggressively on Grays drive on the other end, leaving Beard open for just her second bucket of the game.I dont think Ive ever hit a game-winner, Beard said quietly. So its pretty cool. Pretty cool.NEW LOOK: In years past these two teams never could have met in the finals because both are in the Western Conference. But the league changed its playoff format this year and seeded all of the teams based on record, not geography. The result in the first year could not have been better for the league with the top two teams throughout the season meeting.I dont think its a fluke that were here now in the finals, Fowles said. Im loving this new format.PARKERS DEBUT: Parker has been one of the leagues brightest stars for years, but has never been able to reach the leagues biggest stage. She hit 5 of 12 shots and had three assists.At first obviously theres some nerves, but you kind of get lost in the game and just trying to execute, Parker said. We had to take it possession by possession because you never know whats going to happen.MOORES MARK: The Minnesota star was 0 for 4 in the first half, but made 7 of 10 shots in the final two quarters to move past Diana Taurasi for first place on the WNBAs career scoring list for the finals. She set the mark with 5:20 to play after hitting a jump shot and converting the three-point play.TOP 20: The WNBA hosted more than a dozen members of the top 20 players in league history for a halftime ceremony. Each player was presented with a ring to commemorate it. Whalen, Moore, Parker and Augustus all participated in the ceremony, and the league extended the length of halftime to allow them to receive their rings and then get back to the locker room to meet with coaches and teammates.UP NEXT: Game 2 is on Tuesday in Minneapolis.Custom Bucks T-shirts . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. Custom Bucks Jerseys .C. -- Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. http://www.custombucksjersey.com/custom-oscar-robertson-jersey-large-77u.html . But what about the officials? Every sport has officials and they also have stories about hard work and sacrifice but their accomplishments are seldom recognized by anyone outside their inner circle. Cheap Custom Bucks Jersey . Mitch Holmberg added a goal and three assists. Connor Chartier also scored for the Chiefs (3-0-0). Luke Harrison spoiled Garrett Hughsons shutout bid with a power-play goal at 13:17 of the third period. The Spokane goaltender finished with 28 saves, including a Brandon Fushimi penalty shot in the second period that would have tied the game 1-1. Bucks Jerseys China .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does.LAS VEGAS -- Whats in a name? For the Vegas Golden Knights, it is in some ways everything because to have a name is to have a beginning.After weeks of speculation, owner Bill Foley revealed to hundreds of fans outside T-Mobile Arena that their team has a name and a logo, bringing the idea of a team in Las Vegas much closer to reality.We now have an identity, Foley told ESPN.com in his office a few hours before he unveiled the teams name and logo, which features a medieval-themed helmet.We are now the Golden Knights, he said. My whole idea was to create a logo and a name that was powerful, that would epitomize the warrior class. The knights are the epitome of the warrior class, the top of the line in terms of defending the realm, defending the unprotected. This is all part of the culture we want to create with the hockey team. And hockey players are warriors and theyre team players, theyre not individuals, theyre playing together.Whats in a name?Along with an identity, it is also an important signpost along the way in creating something from nothing.Although hiring staff GM George McPhee and assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon, and formalizing Murray Craven as senior vice president are important moments in the teams creation, until it got a name, there was still something ethereal about it.But if youre a fan and you can get a T-shirt or a hat, this then begins to signify the beginning of fandom, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told ESPN.com.It was five months to the day since the NHL confirmed that Las Vegas would become the 31st franchise, beginning play in the fall of 2017.About three weeks after that announcement, Foley met for the first time with the folks at Adidas about creating the teams logo and jerseys.And then I had to stay on them, he said.So we finally got them going, Foley said. Weve been through six or seven iterations. Going from broad vision to more narrow to more narrow to more narrow.The final versions of both the logo and jerseys werent settled on until 2? weeks ago.Thumbing through a book that displays the jersey color schemes for home and away, Foley pointed out the changes that had been undertaken even since September, including a band of red on both the jerseys and socks that was initially white. That was the brainchild of McPhee.George McPhee colored it in and said, What do you think about that? Foley said. And it looked perfect. It makes the gray look more powerful.Foley, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, initially wanted to call his team the Black Knights, but a number of factors -- not the lleast of which was some level of concern from Army officials -- conspired to make that a no-go.ddddddddddddBut Foley incorporated some of the color schemes and elements that hed envisioned for a Black Knights team with the Golden Knights, including metallic gold embroidery, a slate-gray medieval-themed helmet, crossed swords over a stylized star with a dab of red that approximates the star in the iconic Las Vegas city sign.Foley had to get approval from the NHL and they had to clear the use of the Golden Knights name with Clarkson College in Potsdam, New York, which also uses the Golden Knights as its nickname.Then Foley trademarked the name, along with Silver Knights and Desert Knights, to keep people from guessing the teams real identity before Tuesdays big reveal.That folks didnt know for sure what the team was going to be called until they gathered in the plaza outside T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday evening was remarkable in and of itself.My wife knew. My kids didnt know, the owner said. George knew, but he wouldnt tell his wife. He said, Im going to prove I can keep a secret, so George didnt tell anybody. The guys at Adidas didnt talk.The buzz surrounding the naming and the attendant festive atmosphere of the naming ceremony, which also included a performance by corporate partner Cirque de Soleil, should bode well for sales of merchandise that began Tuesday night, even if jerseys wont be available until mid-February. The team expects to have merchandise in 11 Las Vegas strip locations, McCarran International Airport, the team store and at the practice facility, which is currently under construction.The interest in the team isnt solely in Las Vegas, either.Bettman told of being in a coffee shop in Nashville on Monday when he ran into a group of Tampa Bay Lightning fans who had traveled to Nashville to see their team play. They told the commissioner they were already planning a road trip next season to see the Lightning play in Vegas.This market is going to elevate the leagues visibility, Bettman said. I cannot tell you as Ive traveled the league how many people, when they ask me in other cities about this franchise, say, Im going to go on a road trip with my team. Im going to go take in a game on the road in Las Vegas.With the nickname, logo and jerseys unveiled, theres just one thing left to do to make this team a reality.Now all we have to do is get some really good players, Foley said with a laugh. ' ' '