With the return of Lisa Leslie and the addition of Candace Parker, many observers considered the Los Angeles Sparks preseason favorites to win their third WNBA title.

Less than a month into the season, though, the Connecticut Sun seem to be emerging as favorites to win their first.

The Sun put their perfect road record and five-game overall winning streak on the line Friday when they face the Sparks.

Connecticut (8-1) is off to the best start in the league after finishing just two games above .500 and losing in the first round of the playoffs last season.

The Sun may not have the star power that recognizable names Leslie (17.0 points and a league-best 10.7 rebounds per game) and Parker (16.9 ppg, 10.3 rpg) provide, but they're winning with balance. Three Connecticut players average between 15.1 and 15.3 points, led by guard Lindsay Whalen, who's also second in the league with 6.2 assists per game.

Whalen is one of the league's most accurate guards (47.8 percent from the field), but she wasn't at her best Tuesday, hitting just five of 15 shots and scoring 14 points. However, she added eight rebounds and six assists as the Sun improved to 3-0 away from home by opening a five-game trip with a 75-66 win over Minnesota.

"I just tried to keep doing as much as possible,'' Whalen said. "Sometimes the shot's not going to be there, and sometimes its a tough shooting night, but that's the way it goes.''

The Sparks (5-2) tied for the league's worst record last season with Leslie on pregnancy leave, but that finish enabled them to draft Parker No. 1 overall.

With Parker, Leslie and DeLisha Milton-Jones, who's returned to where she played her first six WNBA seasons after spending three years in Washington, Los Angeles is the third-highest scoring team in the league and its best rebounding club.

The Sparks, averaging 80.1 points, beat Detroit 80-73 on Wednesday for their first home win of the season.

Leslie had 17 points and 12 boards - both game highs - against the Shock.

"We have to understand that we have to get in there and rebound," coach Michael Cooper said. "After the last home game, where we let a smaller team outrebound us down the stretch, we did a better job against one of the better rebounding teams."

Cooper's club will face a similar challenge against the Sun. Connecticut is the league's second-best rebounding team (38.4 per game) behind the Sparks (41.1).

The teams split a pair of meetings last season, with the Sparks topping Connecticut 88-68 on May 26 at Mohegan Sun Arena and the Sun winning 110-89 at Los Angeles on July 7.