New York ? After seeing the Los Angeles Sparks win the WNBA title their first time out, the New York Liberty feel they’re more than a little due for some rings of their own.

The Liberty will begin their fourth title quest in six years tonight when they play the Sparks in Game One of the WNBA Finals at Madison Square Garden. The best-of-three series then shifts to L.A.

“New York has a lot of veterans who feel they should have won a championship by now,” Sparks coach Michael Cooper said. “Madison Square Garden is the mecca of basketball. The crowd gives the Liberty a strong home court advantage from a coaching perspective, because the opposing coach can’t be heard over the crowd.”

A raucous crowd of nearly 12,000 stood amid falling confetti after New York beat the Washington Mystics, 64-57, Sunday, winning the last two games of the series to secure their third Eastern Conference title in four years.

The victory had special significance for veterans Teresa Weatherspoon, 36, Sue Wicks, 35, and Vickie Johnson, 30. It softened the memory of losing to Charlotte at home in the 2001 conference finals.

“It was an awful offseason for us,” Weatherspoon said. “There were negative things said, that it was time to be separated, time to move on. But you put this same group together and look where we are we’re back in the Finals.”

While the Liberty needed three games to beat Indiana and Washington, the Sparks are more rested after a pair of 2-0 sweeps against Seattle and Utah. Los Angeles also set a WNBA playoff record for points with a 103-77 win over the Starzz in the Western Conference finals.

Cooper said the key will be the teams’ inside play.

“To win a championship, remembering last year and my years with the Lakers, the games are won in the paint,” Cooper said. “We are an inside team.”

The Liberty will try to contain 6-foot-5 center Lisa Leslie, who is averaging 21 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.3 blocks and 2.5 steals in the playoffs.

In splitting their two regular-season meetings, Leslie was hampered by foul trouble in New York’s 72-59 win at the Garden. In the season opener, New York center Tari Phillips sat with fouls in the Sparks’ 72-64 win.