Apologies to the legend, Lisa Leslie, who ended her remarkable, groundbreaking career Saturday night with 22 points, adulation from the opposing fans, and tears and tributes.
But this is how it should be.
The WNBA Finals open Tuesday and they will feature the two most do-everything, all-everything players in the league this year, taking their respective teams into battle for the title.
It's perfect in almost every way.
The Mercury vs. the Fever.
Diana Taurasi vs. Tamika Catchings.
The league's best offensive team against its stingiest defensive team.
The top scorer guarded by the defensive player of the year.
The two teams with the best records during the regular season.
It's the only matchup that scratches every itch after a long, hot summer of basketball.
The best-of-five series opens in Phoenix on Tuesday night, the Mercury playing for their second title and Indiana making its first-ever appearance in the Finals, both teams fulfilling destinies they created with outstanding regular-season efforts.
Phoenix starts with two games at home and its star player shining bright. Taurasi is the front-runner for the Most Valuable Player award, turning out big game after big game, despite the distraction of the her July DUI arrest.
After averaging a league-leading 20.4 points a game during the regular season, Taurasi has elevated her game in the postseason, averaging 23.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists in six playoff games. She's shooting 52 percent from the floor.
Catchings is Indiana's heart and soul, the leader of a team that is wondering whether it will even be around next year. There's been talk all season that the Fever, who celebrated their 10th anniversary, might not be long for the league because of perpetual financial losses.
So there was no comfort in the recent comments from team co-owner Herb Simon, who confirmed to the Indianapolis Star that the team is losing money each season and that he wants to see a big boost in ticket sales and sponsorship. Or else what? That is the operative question here.
But Catchings just keeps playing, leading her team to wins and taking home personal awards. She is already the WNBA's Defensive Player of the Year, winning that award for the third time.
She also could be the MVP and is bettering her case with a postseason effort in which she's averaged 18.1 points and 11.2 rebounds.
If we assume that Taurasi and Catchings are going to be their usual spectacular selves, then this series might come down to the No. 2 and No. 3 players on each team's star meter. That means it is Cappie Pondexter vs. Katie Douglas or Penny Taylor vs. Tammy Sutton-Brown.
Or offense vs. defense.
The Mercury have offense, the most potent scoring team in the WNBA (they've averaged 93.5 points a game in six playoffs games). They run and gun and don't so much worry about stops or rebounds provided they can keep putting shots up.
The Fever have defense -- they haven't yet given up 80 points in the playoffs -- and guts, rallying back from their Game 1 loss in the conference finals to Detroit to win two close in a row at home and punch a ticket to the Finals for the first time in franchise history.
But Indiana wants it all. Catchings and guard Tully Bevilaqua were quick to say that their job was not yet done on Saturday night. Getting there is not good enough.
Phoenix has the home-court advantage, but will need to take care of business because Indiana had the best home record in the WNBA this year at 14-3.
Phoenix, on the other hand, had the best road record (11-6) and was only one of three teams to have won in Indiana.
Indiana is excited for their Fever. More than 18,000 went to Conseco Fieldhouse Saturday night for the deciding game against Detroit. Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird bought all the tickets in the balcony and gave the tickets away to boost the crowd and the noise.
The Fever have proven worthy of the cheers to this point. Now they need to prove whether they are worthy of a title.
