Welcome It's a good game with Sarah Spain, without Sarah Spain. Where the kids are in charge today.
Akaa, me producer and ME producer Alex. We can't promise we won't break anything, but we will eat lots of candy and definitely have some fun. On today's show, Misha chats with multimedia journalist Erica l Ayala about New York's path back to the WNBA Finals and what the Liberty has to do to overcome the Minnesota Links, plus breaking ground new shoes in women's sports in the wild.
That's all coming up right after this.
Welcome back. Here's what you need to know today. The best of five WNBA Finals get underway tonight between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Links. New York will host games one and two before the series heads to Minnesota. The Liberty are aiming to win the franchise's first ever WNBA title in their sixth finals appearance. The Links, meanwhile, will they're going for banner number five, but they're first since twenty seventeen. Tonight's game tips off at eight pm
Eastern on ESPN. Now, I'm personally hoping that Fees daughter Mila and Stewie's kids, Ruby and Theo get a good play date out of this series. As for what to expect on the court, Mish and Erica will get you caught up on that in a bit. Elsewhere in the w the Chicago Sky broke ground on a new training facility on Wednesday. It's a thirty eight million dollar project that is scheduled to be completed in December twenty twenty five.
Friend of the show, Annie Costable was there reporting for the Chicago Sun Times, and she posted a video of the groundbreaking that, to be totally honest, is pretty funny. The quote unquote groundbreaking didn't actually involve digging up the actual ground that already existed on the site. Instead, they brought in a stage dirt pit that was just big enough so that the owners, execs, and players and attendance each had enough room to make a little dirt pile
of their own. Still, it's great to see training facilities have become a major game changer in WNBA free agency. Since the start of last season, three teams Las Vegas, Seattle, and Phoenix have all opened up brand new facilities. To college hoops, USC sophomore Juju Watkins has agreed to a multi year contract extension with Nike. Per ESPN's sham Shrania. It is reportedly one of the biggest shoe deals in
women's basketball history. Now quick refresher folks. As a freshman, Watkins helped usc make its deepest NC DOUBLEA tournament run in three decades, with the Trojans eventually losing to Yukon in the Elite eight. Along the way, Watkins became the all time freshman scoring leader in NC DOUBLEA women's basketball history,
recording nine hundred and twenty points. For reference, Caitlin Clark, who became the NC doublea's all time career scoring leader this spring, she scored seven hundred and ninety nine points her freshman season at Iowa, so Juju has a bit of a head start, but will she make a run
for the all time record. Only time will tell. Moving on to college soccer, on Tuesday, Duke earned the number one spot in the United Soccer Coaches Poll for the first time since nineteen ninety two, and tonight the Blue Devils take on number seven Stanford AKA, last year's NCAA runner up. Both teams have had stellar starts to the twenty twenty four season, each with just one loss to date.
It's worth noting that while these teams have played each other a handful of times in recent years, Tonight's game
will actually be their first meeting as conference rivals. Stanford joined the ACC this year following the implosion of the PAC twelve, finally to the NWSL, and a new development involving the San Diego Wave, Defector Media reported on Wednesday that the team and league are being sued by five former Wave employees over fifteen claims, including racial discrimination, sexual harassment,
and disability discrimination. The lawsuit does not name club president Jill Ellis in the suit, but it does include lots of examples meant to highlight her role in creating a quote abusive and toxic workplace culture end quote. The five former employees include Brittany Alverado, who spoke out against the Wave on social media in July and was so subsequently sued by Ellis for defamation. In statements to Defector, the Wave and NWSL did not comment on specific allegations, citing
the ongoing legal action lots to unpack here. We'll link to Defector's full story in the show notes, and plan to discuss this more in detail on a future episode.
We're gonna take a quick break when we come back. Erica el Ayala gives us the lowdown on the New York Liberty heading into the finals Keep It Locked. She is a multimedia sports journalist at CBS Sports and the creator of Black Rosy Media. She's a Day one New York Liberty fan who is one of the go tos for all things Liberty on the gott to Get Up podcasts. She's a proud after Latina, a connector in the media space.
She's returned to thwart our podcast Thupple with Sarah while she's away, and she's joining us from the airport on her way back to New York for the finals.
It's Erica el Ayala again.
What's up, Erica?
Let up? Misha Jones. Good to be back.
Yes, good to have you back. It feels like it feels like early Rosy media days, right, you would be were missing Brian Florentin shout out to him.
But it's good to have you on.
So let's let's get to the meat of this thing, right. Gotta start with the New York Las Vegas series. The libs finished the job in four games. We saw fireworks from Sabrinia Escu and Brianna Stewart all throughout JJ John Quel Jones was solid and there were big plays made by the entire supporting cast when their numbers were called. So what went right for the Liberty to push him over the hump in that series?
To you, what went right is that Sabrina took the keys. You know, I talk about this all the time. What I loved. I'm going to go to game three real quick, because I think that is it sets up, you know, the story if we were writing like a comic book, right, But game three, after Game three, when Sabrina said she had three players coming at her at all times, and she was talking about how difficult that was, and she kept saying, this is great, this is great. We've seen it.
Now we know how to attack it. She said it multiple times, this is great that we saw it and now we make adjustments. And for me a few things when talking about Sabrina, the confidence and the way that she thinks and attacks the game of basketball. In that interview, it's one of my favorite interviews she's ever done, because you can just tell, all right, this is a student of the game, this is someone who respects and honors the game. And so, first of all, I just love that.
Second of all, it's one thing to say, oh, this is great. Now we know what to see and now we can fix it. It's one thing to say that. But they did it, Misha yeh. They absolutely did it. And we talked about it. You mentioned got to get up, you know, Brian and I talked about that. Are we going to see the New York Liberty play Sabrina off the ball in what we on the podcast believe is and I think what many people likely believe is her true position at the two guard, and that's what they did.
The reason that's effective is because you have a Swiss Army Knife, multiple time champion, multiple time All Star, multiple time Olympic gold medalist in Brianna Stewart. Because I was thinking maybe Courtney Vanderslut gets more time, a true point guard, a veteran point guard has started for the New York Liberty, and instead what we saw was Stuie bringing up the ball. So that now the New York Liberty to take it back,
not just just Sabrina but to the whole team. Now they get back to what they feel is their best shot when they play any team which is to make other teams make the defense have to think very strategically about switching off screens on defense. And so for me, it was a combination of Sabrini and Escu and the New York Liberty being able to adapt and to adapt quickly.
They have so many weapons, right, It's like they can morph into whatever they need to morph into whenever they need to do it. You spoke a little bit there about Sabrina and handing her the keys. That's one thing I definitely wanted to press on here with you, and you talk about on got to get up a lot about how the organization, the Liberty organization should be preparing to give her the keys to the franchise. So, I mean, let's zero in on sab What did you like about
the way she performed in this series? What else did you see from her in terms of her facilitation, not just putting the ball in the basket? What made her so effective?
I honestly want to talk about her leadership, because when I talk about giving sab the keys first, the first part of that, right phase one, if you will, was her having the confidence to know like she's, if not the go to one of the go tos on the New York Liberty and I say that because you still have John cole Jones, you still have Breonna Stewart, But Nigelini can get hot. She's been playing injured, but she can get hot. Leoni Phoebish can get hot. So she
doesn't have to put everything on her shoulders. But she has to know that she can take the big shots, and we've seen that. That's part of the reason why I was the one voter who voted her most improved player. I've been talking about it all year, and I think that we need to look at most improved in literally the game. What are the parts of her game that are in eight that are known as her bread and butter, and what has she added to that. Sabrini a Escu
has added leadership. She's added better, not great, better defense, and that first step is not as unquick as as I have reported in the past. She's gotten quicker and she's always been strong. After that first step, she's very strong. But the leadership for me, the confidence and the leadership has been what makes her the right person for this New York Liberty squad. She's able to communicate alongside Brianna Stewart. She's able to direct Brianna Stewart, and she has to
do that as a backcourt player. She has to do that as a guard, whether she's the lead guard, the shooting guard, whatever the case is. And the confidence, the confidence to say after scoring, what was it?
Well?
Does she even score seven?
I don't even remember.
It was like it was some crazy She's had single digit in a semi final gain against the Las Vegas Aces and is over here talking about this is great, this is great. That's wild confidence to me that we didn't see. This is the same Sabrinian Escuhu and I talk about this on the podcast a lot. She was ill to her stomach in Game four of the WNB Finals. Less than a year later, she is facilitating, she is leading on the court, she is executing on defense and
offense to get the New York Liberty going. So for me, that's why, that's what I saw, That's what I felt
the New York Liberty have always needed. And I mean, if they end up winning, you know, I'm gonna be talking about them peas until the next champ I'll be like I've been telling you, I've been telling y'all for two years she's she's she's got to take she's got to take the wheel, and we've seen that, and I think the leadership part, outside of again some of the other things that she's done just to improve her game, that to me, is what's most important for the New York Liberty this season.
But yeah, I think you got a really good point there. I think some people, you know, they talk about mama mentality, and sab is one of the few players who I think really has it. You know, she's one of the players who worked very closely with Kobe while he was here with us. I think you talk about leadership.
I think that's a big part of it, right.
I don't think anybody could be in the position that tab is in with a JJ, with a Brianna Stewart who's excellent, with the Courtney Vanderslut who's a vet who you know, if you're not doing your job, Sandy Brondello can just say, Okay, come here, Courtney, go in there, fix with the mess that Sabrina made. But that is not the case. Sabrina has stepped up to that challenge for the Liberty, and it's just really it's really good to see her hooping like this after dealing with injury,
you know, coming into the to her WNBA career. I think she's she's the best she's ever been this season. But you did mention JJ and Leoni Phoebish. Both of them had a lot of foul trouble in Game four of that series and we're limited. How did New York whether that storm? And are you confident that they could fight through a similar situation against the Links.
I love this question because I think this is another place where the New York Liberty as a team have matured. So Leoni Phoebish, We've been talking Brian and I about how Leoni Foebish reminds me of early New York Liberty Rebecca Allen, like to the point where like I'm talking Rebecca, not Beck, but Rebecca beca Rebecca Okay, full government, just like you know Sandra Brondela. But Rebecca Allen is the
LEO before LEO is on the New York Liberty. Long can stretch the defense because they have a perimeter shot makes switches difficult defensively because of their wingspan, right, But Rebecca Allen had difficulty with her timing sometimes on defense because you have that wingspan, sometimes you rely on the
reach too much instead of moving your feet. I think Leo has better footwork, but also can struggle a little bit because of her size with timing and knowing kind of when to put her hands up, and she gets caught with those kind of tiki tak fouls. They are fouls, but you know, I mean in the grand scheme of things, you know, she gets caught with those a lot because of when she's switching on someone shorter than her, which
happens because of her size. So with Leo, some of that is just a learning curve, and the New York Litter Liberty are going to have to just absorb that because she's she's still a rookie. I think what they did is they used Leo in bursts and then they were able to go back to Courtney Vanderslut, who we
saw getting more significant minutes. And with Courtney Vanderslut, at first the question was is she going to be able to shoot if a team leaves her open, and she's been hesitant throughout the playoffs at times, but now seeing that Leo's been in a little bit of trouble, getting more into the groove and understanding. Now, Okay, this is my role. I've agreed to this role to come in as a reserve and the game plan might switch. I need to be able to tap into and have the
confidence to tap back into that skill set. And so I think that's what we're I'm hoping that's what we'll see for the Liberty's sake from Courtney Vanderslut in relation to Leo, that's how they handle that now with JJ. And it's not that Leo doesn't get this approach, but we've also talked about JJ is a maturing player. She's getting into she's out of those baby vet years and
she's getting into true veteran WNBA veteran status. And with that has come she has to play with a certain amount of calm that she's been a little flustered in the last handful of games, and that's by design. And Minnesota has done that Commissioner's Cup, you know, they beat them twice in the regular season, and the way they were able to do that is frustrate JJ early with John Quell Jones. You heard the team, the New York Liberties say when that's happening with JJ, they're just pouring
into JJ. Hey, that's all right, don't worry about it. We need you, we need you. Let's focus on what we need to do. Don't worry about that. We saw she got frustrated, even kind of you know, popped up, and it ends up running into her head. Coach, you know that that level of frustration for JJ can easily
take her out of the game. And that's exactly what Minnesota or any opponent is going to want to do with John call Jones well when she played with the Connecticut Son So for the New York Liberty, it's going to be critically important. I think it was. Was it Lauren Holliday who said in an interview, she's like, with Alex Morgan, my job, I felt My job was to remind her, hey, you're Alex Morgan and we need you.
You.
You are Alex Morgan, you are at the top. You are the best. And it's not blowing smoke. It's just when you have a player that can be such a game changer as their teammate, you need them to be operating at peak performance at all times. So you don't want them thinking about any of them negative. Save that for film session, all right, save that save that from behind closed doors.
Yeah yeah.
On the court, everything you do is golden and we're gonna keep it that way. That's how the New York Liberty want to and have been operating with John cole Jones because they do need her on the court. I think their best when she gets touches on the offensive side within the first ten seconds of the shot clock.
And Sandy Brondelo has said it right, She's called JJ the most important piece. She says, when JJ gets a double double, we win. The stats have proven that, you know, so I think that's gonna be a really important point of emphasis for New York heatting into the finals. But speaking of the finals, Erica, let's do a little vibe check here. This season, compared to last year, we were talking a lot about this team in the playoffs after y'all beat my Mystics. You know, we had a lot
of conversations about this Liberty team. But you, as a lifelong Liberty fan, how are you feeling entering this series this season?
You know what, I probably would use different language, but the New York Liberty have said, we haven't done anything yet, and honestly, that's kind of how I feel like. If you're asking me as someone who's watched this team, who has a vested emotional interest in how the New York Liberty perform as a New Yorker, then yes, that's how I feel. I think it's so let me break that down. That's my you know, coded you know, sports way of saying, at least for me, I'm not putting this on the
New York Liberty. I'm putting this on me squarely. Of course, there's nerves, of course, you know, it's respect for what Minnesota has done. And you know, I know what the Liberty got. I know what they got. They maybe ain't one nothing yet, but if they do what they have to do, then then they'll be exactly where they want to be. And it's interesting. So now, as an analyst, right as a as a journalist, I my predictions early on as far as who would make the final, I
always had the Liberty making the final. Preseason I had Liberty Son almost saw that, and then right before the postseason I have I had Liberty links. So that's right where we are now. In both preseason and right before postseason, I had the Liberty losing in the finals. And that's because this is a better New York Liberty squad, and I wanted to see the maxie I'm a New Yorker, come on, like you know, I'm an underdog New Yorker at that, Like this is.
What I wanted to get at, because we talked about this a lot last night.
This is what's going to be interesting about this finals, and I'm sure we'll get to this. The Minnesota Links team is very similarly built to this New York Liberty squad, length in all positions, and they want you to have problems switching when they're when they're running their offensive sets. They want that to be a nightmare for their opposition. And the Minnesota Links and beat the New York Liberty.
So coming into the postseason, I was like, if we get that finals, you gotta think the Links have earned the benefit of the doubt in that series. And as we stand here right now, the New York Liberty have continued to get even better since the postseason began. They continue to say things like we're not done yet. I'm telling you that interview with sabrinian Escu one of my top favorite athlete interviews of ever. Okay, we saw it and like, that's so New York to me, okay, and.
That's the mentality you have to have when you're exactly in a situation like this, you know what I mean, Like, what do you what are you going to do? Just sit there and wallow in it? That's not how you get to a finals, correct. I think to your point earlier in our conversation, I think you know, her mentality has been kind of one of the mentalities that this whole team has taken on. I think, you know, a superstar like Stewie, She's always going to be here, you
know what I mean. It's it's kind of how I feel about Fee on the other side, right, they're always going to be right Now to Yukon kids, what it's not. It's not a coincidence, right, But Okay, So now we got to move on to the difference in where these two teams are coming in. New York's had three full days of rest, no games, nothing going on. Minnesota will be forty eight hours out from the end of game five. What role do you believe fatigue is gonna play in this matchup?
Oh, I think it's gonna be huge, especially knowing that Minnesota has to play two games at Barclays. So you're changing time zones and Brooklyn is a hard place to play. That's been proven this year and the New York Liberty have been leaning into After every win at Barclays, they make it a point to give love. Spread love is to Brooklyn way they give love to their fans. Sabrino was shown giving love to the New York Liberty fans in Vegas when they won Game four. This New York team,
and it's a very New York thing. You love us or you hate us, but we there either way. And that's the fans like sometimes, you know, we were the first ones to let you know about yourself. This is a very uh you know, and we've seen, you know, with sabridion Escu and Spike Lee saying like New York has been injected into their veins. Like that's gonna be huge. So the Minnesota Links, that's a real thing. They're gonna have to overcome that, and they have the disadvantage there.
I think also what's gonna come into play when you look at these rosters is what is the bench gonna do? So the Minnesota bench in their last game against the Kid the Connecticut Son in Game five, Minnesota got nine points from their bench. Connecticut got eleven, So Minnesota lost that battle against Connecticut. And if the New York Liberty play as they've been playing all year, they should be able to beat that. If the New York Liberty bench
is only scoring nine points, something's not working. So that's an advantage for the New York Liberty. Where I think the New York Liberty, or I should say, let me rephrase it, where I believe Minnesota will want to try to win back some momentum, especially on the road in Game one and two, including the fact that there's gonna be fatigue. I mean, it's just one of those things, like it is what it is. Where they have to be able to shine is in the paint. Now that
goes back to something that we already talked about. They have to find a way to disrupt junk Wold Jones. They're not gonna stop everybody. The New York Liberty are gonna get points in the paint. That's gonna happen. Minnesota is gonna get points in the paint. Minnesota can if they really want to. They can and have already done so They've beat New York Liberty in points in the paint. They can beat the New York Liberty in the rebound battle. Again, that goes back to why Junkle Jones and her double
double is so important. But if I were Minnesota, I think that's what they're gonna want to do. Establish that that's gonna be a hard battle because then if it comes to a shootout again two similar teams, we know both teams can shoot from the perimeter. I'd probably give Minnesota. They en at this point in the season when it comes to shooting from the perimeter, and we saw that come into play against Connecticut in the semi finals. Yeah.
And you know, the other big component of scoring points in the paint for Minnesota is the Fisa Collier, right, she has been I've heard her described as a ballerina in the paint. She's extremely efficient, I mean her and it's true. Her agility down there. It scares me some of the moves that she makes because I'm like, what about your knees, what about your ankles? What about you know? But that's why Fee is a pro. And she started off the playoffs with two forty point games in a
sweep of the Phoenix Mercury in the semis. It felt like Connecticut had her number a little bit, but by game five she was back to being an unstoppable force. So how does New York save or solve excuse me, the Fee equation.
I think what you do is similarly to what the Aces did against Sabrina Enescu. You make things very difficult in the backcourt. So it's difficult to feed the ball to Fee. I think that the FISA collier can bring up the ball. But can she do it as well and expertly as uh as Brianna Stewart has done. I don't think so, not yet. I don't think she's been
asked to do that. So if you can put the ball in Fee's hands higher up and have her bring up the ball and try to switch things there make things difficult for the backcourt, I'd be curious to see if that's something we see from the New York Liberty, just because that's a way that you can neutralize a player in the paint by making sure that they have more responsibilities outside of the paint.
All right, now, last question here, because we've got to wrap up for time. Erica, yes or no? Will the Liberty win this series? All right?
All right, I'm gonna give you an answer. You can tell I don't like I don't like this, yes or no, I'm gonna do my job. I'm gonna do my job, but I don't like this. I'm gonna and I'm gonna say what I have to say, and then I'm gonna explain what I'm going through right now, all right? The New York Liberty do have what it takes to win their first title. The New York Liberty do have what it takes to stop the Minnesota Links from winning a
fifth title. This series is going five. It's going five, and the New York Liberty are they going to win? I mean I said, I said Links before the postseason started, and the Liberty have played in a way that makes me think that maybe I picked wrong. So I do think the New York Liberty have a chance if they're gonna do it though it's going five. That's my final answer now the reason.
Yes, Yeah, that's.
I said what I said. You could ask the questions and I answer them how I choose. No, like, I don't, I honestly don't. I'm just a person in general, especially when it's a New York team. I don't like making predictions because to me as an as an analyst. Sure, I watch the games, but we're not performing in the games. It's just like you know, it's it's several steps from even a coach, and I think it's important to honor and respect what players do on the court. So I
can give you a prediction. I'm not saying it's gonna be right, But if the New York Liberty win a title, it's happening that it has to go to five. I think they're gonna be pushed to the brink. I don't know. I don't see them winning. I don't see them sweeping, and I don't see them getting through in four. If the New York Liberty win, they're gonna have to earn it. They said they ain't done nothing yet, and you have to beat the best to be the best, and the
second best team is who they're taking on. So yeah, are they gonna do it? I don't know. I honestly, I genuinely do not know. I don't have a feeling one way or another. If if the question is is New York gonna win, I don't know. And if they do, I'm very confident that they're gonna have to do it in five games.
Thank you so much, Erica for taking the time. You know I always love talking to you. When we return, we ask you to put your ears to the ground. See you on the other side.
Welcome back slices. All right, quick storytime. A couple weeks ago, I was at an art fair and I overheard a woman who makes these little cute felt animals talking about Asia Wilson's greatness. Now I don't know this woman, I have never seen her before, and yet she was talking about women's sports with respect and accuracy and passion. And I realized I do not have enough of this in my life. I want to encounter more strangers in the wild talking about women's sports, which brings us to today's
good gameplay of the day. I want to hear from you. I'm sure Sarah and Misha also want to hear from you. What are your stories about meeting strangers who know just as much as you, or maybe even more, about women's sports. Did you run into somebody at the grocery store, at the pickleball courts? Tell us. You can reach out to me on Twitter at buy alex Azi, or you can
send them to us on email. Good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, or leave us a voicemail at eight seven to two two four fifty seventy.
And don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. It is literally so easy watch clothes that don't fit true to size. Rating negative a billion out of five stars review. Now, maybe I got the game messed up, but I thought the whole point in giving sizes and measurements was so that folks who are ordering clothes have an accurate reflection of what they're gonna receive. That just sounds reasonable to me. So why are there so many discrepancies in sizing? I
just don't get it. I mean, I understand that maybe certain brands or certain styles have slight alterations to the way they fit on the body. For example, the kids are loving the cropped boxy T shirt look right now, and I can't hold you. I got a couple of those teas myself, with the big sleeves and all that good stuff. I totally get it. But all I'm asking is if the size you've got listed on the site, are on the tack in store is not the size of the garment itself, just say that. It'll save us
all a lot of time and a lot of turmoil. Okay, I feel better. I got that off my chest. Now it's your turn, rate and review.
Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow.
Good Game, Erica, Good.
Game, Juju. You to the fact that the WNBA season's gotta end?
Are we sure?
Can we just get a little bonus series?
Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and
Lindsay Crowdowell. Production assistant from Lucy Jones and I'm your host Sarah Spain