LOS ANGELES – In these star-studded Finals, which feature four of the last five WNBA MVPs, 14 former All-Stars and five of the 10 All-Defense selections from this year, every matchup is vitally important.

But there are a couple of individual battles – one on each side of the court – that stand out. They involve the past two Defensive Player of the Year winners guarding recent MVPs.

During the regular season, the team that held both Nneka Ogwumike and Maya Moore to their lowest scoring averages was their current Finals opponent. Moore scored just 10.7 points per game against L.A. in the regular season, while Ogwumike averaged 12.7 points against Minnesota.

Alana Beard and company limited Moore to 39 percent shooting in their three meetings. She never had more than 12 points or four field goals. Ogwumike had one monster game against Minnesota – 27 points on July 6 – but Sylvia Fowles and the Lynx held her to eight points and two points in the final regular-season meetings. Those were Ogwumike’s only single-digit scoring outputs all season.

Knowing that, how are those two matchups panning out so far this series?

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Ogwumike has been quiet on the offensive end, scoring 11 points in each of the first two games. She’s shooting a combined 32 percent from the floor, and the 2016 MVP was held without a field goal in the first half of Game 2, as the Lynx built an enormous lead.

In the regular season, Fowles posted the league’s best defensive rating and the most total blocks. She has a four-inch advantage on Ogwumike, and that alone can be the difference sometimes:

“It’d be great for Nneka to break out a little bit,” Sparks coach Brian Agler said Thursday. “I think she’s really competing hard, though. I always expect big and great things out of Nneka. It’s not one of those things you have to talk to her about. She knows. She has high expectations of herself too.

“Sylvia definitely has the advantage around the basket because of her size and athleticism. Nneka has the quickness advantage and the mobility advantage. So like anything else, you just try to play to your strengths.”

While her scoring numbers are down, Ogwumike is still contributing in other ways, averaging two steals and almost 10 rebounds per game. Plus, the Sparks have proven they boast the talent to overcome an off night from their leading scorer.

“She’s an amazing player, and she’s going to step up big for us, even just with her activity,” Candace Parker said Thursday. “All of our starters are capable of having the offense run around them. Just the simple fact of them being on the floor makes them have to take certain things away. So whether I’m scoring points or not, I feel like I’m a threat. Same thing with Nneka.”

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Like the Lynx with Ogwumike, the Sparks view Moore as an assignment for the entire team.

“You can’t guard Maya with one person,” Beard said Thursday. “Maya’s an Olympian, an All-Star, a player that can score in numerous ways. You just have to stay engaged in whatever she’s doing.”

After struggling against Beard in the regular season, Moore filled it up in Game 1 of these Finals with a team-high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting. She scored just 13 in the Game 2 victory, but Moore has also been getting to the line often, making 10 of 13 foul shots so far.

Even for a Defensive Player of the Year like Beard, sometimes there’s nothing you can do to stop her:

Wicked crossover and nothing but net for @MooreMaya!

With 4:15 to go, @minnesotalynx lead 66-57. #WNBAFinals pic.twitter.com/jhKRqejZPN

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 27, 2017

Moore has scored the most points in WNBA Finals history, and she’s not far from passing Diana Taurasi on the all-time playoff scoring chart. In a recent piece for The Players’ Tribune, Beard labeled Moore one of the toughest players she has guarded in her 12-year career. She said Moore had her number in their first few meetings when Beard first arrived in L.A.

Moore has found success in these Finals, but Minnesota knows it won’t be easy to maintain.

“I’m happy with that matchup so far,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “Alana’s won some of the battles, and Maya’s won some of the battles. I think Maya’s doing a lot of the things we’ve asked her to do to find success. Both of them are incredibly prideful about what they’re doing, about their craft. And that’s what makes it such an interesting matchup to strategize against.”

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Through two games, the Finals have been everything the fans could have hoped for, with the league’s best teams battling until the very last second. In Friday’s pivotal Game 3 at STAPLES Center, these two matchups could be the deciding factors.