LOS ANGELES -- Nneka Ogwumike remembers a feeling of uncertainty and even butterflies when she was playing in the Women's Final Four and championship games with Stanford. Those games seemed like a whirlwind, where random chance might come into play in the one-and-done nature of the NCAA tournament.
These WNBA Finals aren't like that for her. Part of it is being older, sure. But it's also that as her Sparks try to win the WNBA championship Sunday in Game 4 against Minnesota (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET), there is so much familiarity.
The Sparks and Lynx have met six times between the regular season and this series. They both know what they need to do Sunday. Now, it's about who does it best.
"The beauty of professional sports is the best team usually does win, because they can sustain it over a series," Ogwumike said. "Now, I'm not thinking so much about what's at stake. I'm staying level.
"We have a lot of information to work with, and they do, too. I'll probably feel a little anxiety beforehand, but the good kind of anxiety. Not really nerves."
The Sparks all reflected that attitude Saturday as they talked about what it would take to knock off the defending champion Lynx. The three games so far have all been different.
The opener came down to Alana Beard's last-second shot for a 78-76 Sparks victory. The Lynx defense set the tone in the second game, a 79-60 Minnesota win. Then Friday, the Sparks were like a runner who takes off to set a blistering pace in a race and then never falters to let anyone catch up.
So many things went right for the Sparks in their 92-75 victory at USC's Galen Center. As was the case in the first game, they made the Lynx pay dearly for turnovers. They won the rebounding battle 29-24. They shot 54.9 percent from the field (39-of-71) and had an offensive rating of 131.4.
The Sparks got big offensive games from not just post players Ogwumike (21 points) and Candace Parker (24), but also guards Essence Carson (16) and Beard (15).
"We just have such a narrow focus right now," Carson said. "I can't stress how important it is to continue that. When the picture gets too broad, that's when people get lost. You have to accept the moment for what it is. We're here for a reason. You have to be pretty damn good to be here.
"At the same time, you have to understand that there are all the little things that you've done all season, that you worked on day in and day out in practice, and they still need to be implemented."
The Sparks did all those things Friday, right from tipoff.
"I'm very proud of my team and proud of myself, too. We needed to persevere," Ogwumike said of coming back from the difficult Game 2 loss. "It was pivotal, not just getting off to that start but maintaining it. Even through our troubled times during the game, we wanted to stay aggressive, stay on each other, stay positive."
"The skills aren't going to change from game to game. But it's the mentality. We know we're playing a mentally tough team; they've come back from down to win games before." Los Angeles' Candace Parker
Considering the Lynx will have their backs against the wall, it likely will be difficult for the Sparks to dominate Sunday's game from an energy standpoint the same way that they did Friday. They expect Game 4 to be very tight throughout.
"We'll get Minnesota's best," Sparks coach Brian Agler said. "And even though our players really haven't been in this environment before in the WNBA, they've been in it overseas, in college. So they've experienced the tension, the edginess you go through."
The Sparks also can look to how they came back from the last four minutes of the second quarter Friday, when they didn't score and had such a strong third quarter in response. They drifted briefly into that impatient offense that can hurt them, but then got back on course.
"We were settling for shots. And that's something we seem to revert to at times when we feel pressure or pushback," Ogwumike said. "But at halftime, we said, 'We have to go back to what we were doing in the first quarter.' What you saw then was a relentless drive to the hole."
Agler has talked to his team a lot about staying committed to what they do best offensively and not getting rattled.
"Teams try to force us there, and sometimes we give into that," Agler said. "This is a game of will, and it's what your expectations are and what you want to get accomplished."
For Parker, who won two NCAA titles and also has championships overseas and in the Olympics, this is about being as even-keeled as possible while still playing at peak level.
"I feel like I've grown as a person the last two years, just understanding how mental the game of basketball is," Parker said. "The skills aren't going to change from game to game. But it's the mentality. We know we're playing a mentally tough team; they've come back from down to win games before."
Beard said one thing she told her teammates is to "stay in the moment," because the Sparks' ability to do that this season is as big a key as anything to getting them to this point.
"That's why these Finals have been something I've enjoyed," Beard said. "Because I've been able to do that: Be in the moment."