Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're starting the show with a huge you to the lady with the band Nails shirt. At Wednesday nights, connecticuts on Indiana Fever Game, Go Kick Rocks Lady. On today's show, we got another group chat. We're talking all things WNBA with Jordan Robinson, co host of the Queens of the Court podcast, and Ben Pickman, women's basketball writer for The Athletic. Plus Captain Dick Rocket is at it again. It's all coming
up right after this. Welcome back my little slices. Happy Friday. Here's what you need to know today. Round one of the WNBA Playoffs is complete and we're looking ahead to the semi finals that start on Sunday. First up, the New York Liberty host in the Las Vegas Aces at three pm Eastern on ABC. It's a twenty twenty three finals rematch and it's sure to be a hell of
a five game series. Who will prevail in the Battle of the last two WNBA MVPs to Wilson or Brianna Stewart, Who will have the upper hand point guard Chelsea Gray or sabrinian Escu. Clear your schedule This one is going to be fun. Then, at eight thirty pm Eastern on ESPN, the Connecticut Sun played their first road game of these playoffs at the Minnesota Links. Will Nafisa Collier serve up another forty Burger can Alyssa Thomas at another triple double
tour all time tally? Only time will tell. This should be a good one. Some more WNBA news, a w team might be in Philadelphia's future. Per the Philadelphia Inquirer, the seventy six Ers have plans to bid for a team, a detail that was uncovered during a public city meeting about the seventy six ers new arena proposal on page
sixty six of an eighty page PowerPoint presentation. In a statement to the Inquirer, a seventy six Ers team spokesperson said, quote, we share in Mayor Parker's desire to bring a WNBA franchise to Philadelphia and have been engaged with the league on the process. Our goal is for our new arena to service home to both the seventy six Ers and a WNBA franchise. End quote. We'll link to the Inquirer's
full story in our show Notes to Soccer. There's one game in the NWSL Tonight, angel City FC host in the Washington Spirit at ten pm Eastern on Prime Video. Angel City is still sitting in the tenth spot in the standings with twenty two points, three points behind number eight Racing Louisville, and they'll try to close that gap
with a win tonight. There are six more games this weekend as well, including a three to four matchup between Gotham FC and Casey Current on Saturday, and a five to six matchup between NC Courage and Chicago Red Stars on Sunday. We'll link to that full schedule in our show notes. Some exciting news for the NWSL as well. The average team now worth one hundred and four million dollars,
up fifty seven percent from a year ago. According to Sportico, angel CITYFC, a club that joined the NWSL in twenty twenty two, leads the whole league with a two hundred and fifty million dollar valuation on its own. This comes in a year where the league is set records for attendance, revenue,
and TV ratings. What's that age old adage we keep coming back to in women's sports, If you build it and invest in it, they will come to college volleyball, the non conference portion of the schedule has come to a close. So far, this season has been full of surprises and upsets. Pitt and Nebraska are currently holding court as the best teams in the land, and there's a slew of rank sides tipping off conference action over the weekend. We'll link to the full schedule in our show notes.
The top three teams in the nation hit the court tonight. First, it's number three Stanford versus Notre Dame at six thirty Eastern, Then the aforementioned Pittsburgh Panthers against Clemson at seven eastern, followed by number two Nebraska playing UCLA at eight eastern to the ice. The college hockey season enters its second
weekend with a big couple matchups. Number three Minnesota opens its season with back to back games on the road against number nine Connecticut tonight and Saturday, and number two Wisconsin opens its season at home with Lyndenwood visiting for a doubleheader. In college soccer, number three Duke takes the pitch tonight against Southern Methodist and number four UNC will face number nineteen Virginia, both at seven pm Eastern. A majority of the top tenor and Action on Sunday too.
Will link to the entire weekend schedule in our show notes. We got to take a quick break. When we come back, time for another group chat with Jordan Robinson and Ben Pickman. It's time for group chat where we take the tea from the text to the airwaves. Joining us today, she's co host of the Queens of the Court podcast, host of the ESPN Plus show this Week in wcc Basketball,
and hosts for the Women's Sports Network. She's co authoring a book on the history of women's hoops and you don't want to mess with her and her hubby in a co ed hoops league. It's Jordan Robinson. What's up, Jordan?
Hi, I'm so glad that last part got in there.
Yes, I've seen the picks. I've seen proof. Joining her, he's a staff writer at The Athletic, cover in the WNBA and women's college basketball, one of the hosts of the Athletic Women's Basketball Podcast. He's a Wisconsin alum, an elite camp counselor, and a marathon runner. It's Ben Pickman. What's up, Ben?
Wow, that is a great introduction, but I'm still dwelling on Jordan's introduction because that just blew me away.
Yeah, Judy, about your championship, I would love to so me and my husband wearing a co ed league and we won the championship and it was amazing because I'm a guard, he's a post player, so my assists were up. He was dominating inside, I was shooting from the outside. Just a scary tandem to go up against.
Yah sounds like a perfect perfect match in marriage and in hoops. Speaking of hoops, we are knee deep in the WNBA playoffs. There is so much to get to. I want to start with reflecting on the first round. I got called the casual on Twitter by a number of people for complaining about the best of three format in the first round. But I know I am not alone in wanting more to Rossi and the Mercury, more Jewel, Lloyd and the Store, more Kaitlin Clark and the Fever.
That was probably enough of the Liberty Dream series. But you get my point. Are you with me? Jordan? Is it time to to best of five in the first round?
Absolutely?
I think we've made steps forward because we've come from the single elimination first round, which.
Was just bonker.
I think we could all agree on that that was really hard because yes, it gave kind of that March badness atmosphere, but it didn't allow for a team to have a bad game. Like if somebody was just having a bad game, then they can come back and kind of, you know, have a good game the next time.
So that's what the best of three series did.
Now it's time to expand from that, and I hope that we can see that there was still some really high basketball being played and we want to continue to watch that. And Sarah, I think you made this point of like giving the other teams a chance to make some money off of the postseason run. I think that's smart, and it also I think the conversations around making the regular season longer, I don't think we want that. Look,
I love the Sparks. We don't want to see the Sparks way anymore games Like put the bad teams out of their misery and let's give more games to the good teams of the postseason.
I agree with that. I think I could be convinced on an even longer regular season, but we're just year two of the forty game season. I'm fine with a couple more years of that. While it shakes out, and then figuring out once we add another team next year, two more teams in twenty twenty six, if we want to have a few more opportunities for teams to face each other, then Ben She mentioned that I talked about
the financial aspect on Twitter and listen. I was only part of a team ownership group for a couple of years, but in those meetings you do talk about how important it is to make the postseason so that you can
potentially host a playoff game. Not only for the financials and the money it brings in with merchant ticket sales and concessions and all that, but the brand affinity that is driven by success by having a team that gets to that point and that you can get fans to show up for that playoff atmosphere brings them back the next year more often because it just feels different than
a regular season game. I think the WNBA financials are so different now that not only do they not to save money on avoiding the travel and the things that come with a longer series, but also they can afford to make more money by capitalizing on teams getting a chance to host at least one game. So are you good with expansion to ben Are you gonna call me a casual who just got here who only wants to see Kaitlin Clark? And if she had won, I would have been saying this no.
And I'm all for a playoff reformatting the postseason, and I do think it is something that is going to happen over the next couple of years. I think there was kind of a general openness among players and coaches I talked to heading into the postseason that you know, as the WNBA expands to fourteen teams and sixteen teams, if the playoff format is going to continue to be
reevaluated right to the regular season format. I mean, I think the footprint of the WNBA is only going to get longer because it has to, as you know, team thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and eventually sixteen comes in, and so it makes sense that you know, the footprint in the fall continues to go, you know, late October into November, potentially you know, making
the arena dates work with the NBA too. But you know, it wouldn't shock me if the playoff format changed as well, and maybe you know it's three out of five, maybe it's actually going back to conferences if we get eight to eight, you know, evenly in a couple of years.
I do think one other thing to consider. Brianna Stort made this point to me in a conversation we had leading into the playoffs, is in the short term at least do they re evaluate the two to one format, right, Because one of the big reasons it was put in was because of the.
Current charter plans, right and how right?
Like everyone's taking commercial flights and the league had then moved to charters for you know, the postseason before now putting in the full charter plan. But in theory, with charter flights being the norm even next year, like, couldn't you go one to one one and allow what you're talking about, Sarah, that everyone gets a chance to host a game. Now we know the WNBA post season schedule
really tight, really condensed. Those games are on top of each other, So maybe logistically that's tough, but that could also be something in the short term, even before a three out of five change goes into place.
Yeah, that's a great point, Ben, Were there any surprises for you in this first round in the WNBA postseason?
It's a good question.
I mean, I think Seattle hung with Las Vegas a little bit more than I thought, and Phoenix for a while, especially in that Game one, pushed the Minnesota Lynx big picture surprises like not really, I had predicted a two to two two two or sweeps and the Connecticut Indiana series frankly, like, I'm going to get a lot of
things wrong on this postseason. In terms of predictions, it kind of went exactly how I thought it was going to be, with Connecticut winning pretty handily in Game one and then this game too coming down to the wire and the more experienced team playing out. So I think we're due for some surprises, do for some excitement, but no shockers for round one.
For me, yeah, we'll get to the semi finals because that, to me is going to be a lot tougher to pick. But Jordan, how about you, Anything surprised you in this first round?
I think kind of the opposite, and I feel like that kind of goes with this whole playoff schedule. Is when I look at a team with Skuyler Neka and Jewel Lloyd and them not winning a single playoff game, I think that kind of surprises me when you think about who they went up against. Okay, that's not really the surprise, but when that trade happened, I think I wanted to them, you know, gel more and have that excitement of playing with each other. And then the same
with Phoenix. You get Ca Natasha Cloud, Diana Tarassi playing the way she was, Brittany Griner and them going, you know, winless in the postseason. That's a little bit of a surprise. So I think the sweeps are the way that they are, and the better teams did win, but when you look at the construction of the teams, it is a little surprising that they didn't get a win.
But that's just.
Kind of a hat tip to how good this league is right now. There are players like an Asia Wilson that are playing out of their mind, so that is not surprising.
Yeah, I think that the top teams are just so good that they somehow managed to beat out even rosters that look like they should make I mean, the Storm all season long look like this should have been making it work better than they did, and it just never really clicked. And then when you saw what Gabby Williams brought, you were like, I really would have liked to see this team with her all season long. It just would have been a different story. I think if they'd had
her all along, and then same with Phoenix. Some mean I think the foul trouble obviously made it so cautious, wasn't as dominant as she could have been. But also, yeah, just on paper is very different than in games when you got a fee or you got a Asia doing what they're doing. It's it's tough toward the WNBA released a statement after the Wednesday night game between the Sun and the Fever condemning the racist, derogatory, and threatening comments
received by the players. This felt like it was directly in response to the treatment faced by dj A Carrington after the accidental contact with Caitlin Clark in Game one of that series, but it applies to a whole lot of players in the league. What did you make of the timing of that statement? Let's start there. Let me just take any bath pace. The timing of this statement is atrocious.
I think, just to put it out there to say this statement in the what are way the last week of September, when this has been happening since May, since April, since what was that twenty twenty three National championship with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, like the WNBA had a whole year to prepare themselves for what was about to come their way, and they did not prepare themselves. And when I saw that statement, you know, I kind of thought about twenty twenty and how awful twenty twenty was
for so many reasons. But I just felt like the whole year I was going around saying how my life mattered. The whole time, I'm just saying Black lives matter, and this is why, this is why. And I feel like it is more of the same thing in the WNBA. We have been screaming all season long that the black players' lives matter, and their lives are getting threatened daily on
social media, players are getting stocked. Like it has gone to a way bigger level than just oh I don't like that player because they were mean to my favorite player.
This is a whole other level.
And a couple weeks ago when Cathy says essentially that yeah, we see.
That, but that doesn't really matter.
What matters is the bottom line, and it was just a slap in the face to all the players, but especially the black players who have been screaming at the top of their lungs like, hey, pay attention to this, and now it is getting to a point where you can't ignore it. But the bare minimum that you can do is release a statement, and that's exactly what the WNBA is doing.
They're doing the bare minimum.
Now I want to see what are the actions that are going to be taking place, because, yes, the statement is nice, and it was in a nice spot, it was in the color scheme of the WNBA, But what is going to be the next step after this? And the season's about the end, so you got a whole off season to figure it out for the next season.
And it wasn't just end of September. It happened to be after the fever and that fan base that's been responsible for a lot of it is no longer in it.
It did feel like it was specific to the email that Dja Carrington got and posted on her Instagram story, and that they felt like it was necessary to speak out, but again, it's just so far behind a conversation that's been going on all season long that you expected the league's front office and even the players themselves to potentially rally around and speak out about and it's been sort
of instead. This constant hum both below the surface and in the conversations of media, reporters, fans, players, etc. Without
the league really taking control of it. So Ben there were a couple of reporters, including Frankie de Lacreta, who was on the show a few weeks ago to talk about something else but also covers a lot of women's basketball and the intersection of race and sports, and they posted about a downright hostile and unsafe feeling environment at the Connecticut sun Fever game, including posting a photo of one woman wearing fake nails and a homemade T shirt
that said ban nails. This was again in reference to Djnay Carrington, who, by the way, doesn't even have particularly long it's giving racist dog whistle, it's giving misogynir and some folks think this kind of thing is inevitable with
an increase in attendance and popularity. I think those people can't possibly be deeply involved in the w if they don't understand the difference between sports fans being assholes and morons, and the way this has been very specifically divided by race, bisexuality, by political party, et cetera, and how it's become this much bigger thing. What do you say to those folks who just kind of shrug and say, this is what comes with a league getting more popular.
I think I would say, listen to what Jordan just said. How you teed up this question, Sarah, I think I would say, listen to the players who time and again since may have made their thoughts very clear on this. I think agents have made their thoughts clear as front
offices coaches like this is not a secret. And I think going back to Jordan's comments about the timing of the league's release, and to do it in the middle of a press conference, when players you suddenly are reacting mid press conference to a statement they haven't seen, it puts them in again in an unfair position to react to what the league is saying. But this is not new. This is not something new to the WNBA. Frankly, it's heightened this year. You talk to players, they talk about
the increases in toxicity, in vitriol that they face. But this is not new for this league of players who you know, primarily black women, so many in the queer community. I mean, this is commonplace for a lot of these players now. Unfortunately so and I think everyone is still waiting to see how the WNBA is going to react. I know the Chicago Skies, a franchise, have taken a lot of crap over the years for their lack of
investment for their facilities. But I do want to call one partnership that they actually announced in mid August, and they partner with these two companies to have an app placed on the phones of their players that, in theory they say uses automatic intelligence to identify negative posts on
social media feeds and block them. Like, I don't know the success of that app and how good of a job it is doing and limiting harassment, but to me, that seems like, you know, a step, right, a small step potentially that the lead could take, that other teams could take, and you know, is it reactionary to what has gone on? Would that have been something a great partnership to have at the start of the year. Absolutely, But that is more than what I think a lot
of other teams are doing right now. So I do have to give Chicago credit for making that step, and I hope stuff like that happens, you know, going forward, because I think the unfortunate reality is these kind of comments, the toxicity, it's not going away.
Yeah, I have to say I do like the idea of that, assuming that the AI and or someone else is actually monitoring it, because as someone who has gotten death threats before, the problem with dismuting or blocking is then you're actually not seeing if they escalate. You're not seeing if they're taking a turn where you actually have to like think about being in danger. I've definitely had people say I know where you work or I know
where you live and I'm coming there. So yeah, there's I mean, the problem is that this exists in the sports world and outside of it too.
Along those lines, pre Turner just on Twitter this morning. She talked about, you know, that it's important that these players continue to call out what is going on right and that she is someone who has continued to advocate for various causes, but to be fearless in what she is saying. And she noted that you know, minimizing hate spiece, not calling it out, cultivate spaces in which people are enabled and continue to be enabled to allow this behavior
to go on. So I think, you know, I hear exactly where you're saying, Sarah, and I think that's kind of the balance that teams and leagues are navigating right of how to act when you receive this hate speech.
Yeah, and Jordan, I wanted to say something Ben pointed out, and this is true. This is a league that has had to push back against society's feelings about queer people, about black women, about women who don't fit this like general esthetic of what we like to see the girl next door, petite athlete. But it also had made for itself over the years a space that felt unique for all those people, both as fans and as players. There
were always going to be the outliers. There were always going to be the assholes, but when you went to a game, it felt different. Literally named this show based on the concept of like going to a women's professional sporting event is the good place where you get the
good game. And it was so sad to me to see people posting about going to that game, that sun Fever game, and say, I never thought this is what a w game would be for me, with a woman wearing these ridiculous fake nails and a dumb shit shirt she made that said band nails and feeling like it looked like a meme of like a Karen calling on someone's barbecue, or it looked like a fucking Trump rally at a W game. I know, it just feels it's different this year. It's not the same.
It's not the same.
And I.
Had to think about, you know, I'm doing my Scandal rewatch right now.
Out's shondaland perfect show.
But I just got to the part where Papa Pope is telling Olivia Pope the famous scene where you have to be what and Olivia repeats, you have to be twice as good for half as much. And that is the story of being a black woman in this country, very much so. And when I think about Djana's story, she has two undergrad degrees from Stanford, Like.
She is not just this normal woman. She is the WNBA's most improved player.
And still she gets reduced to someone calling her a thug. She gets reduced to an inward slur. She gets, you know, the long nails that aren't even long. It's just an assumption that because she is a black player with lashes, that her nails are long. Still that happens, and it just hurts my heart because you're right. The W it felt like this safe space. It felt like we were in our own world for a little bit. And I know we were calling from the rooftops for people to pay.
Attention, but not in this way like good.
People, only the best people, like good people.
It truly feels like I was thinking about this the other day.
It feels like we got hijacked, like our season, our love for this sport got hijacked by people who don't know anything about it, who are spewing hate.
And it's like, what is going on?
And I think Stephanie White said it beautifully last night in her press conference. She said, we are making the trolls the main story. Yes, we're not keeping the main thing, the main thing, the main thing.
The basketball is still really good.
Right, right right. I think it's this complicated thing of how do you address this very obvious thing that's going on, but also how do you take responsibility as reporters, as media companies, as websites to not post the thing that you know will get the clicks if you also know that it will increase the damage, the vitriol, the threats, Like you have to decide that it is not worth the extra clicks to immediately post Kaitlin Clark punched in the eye if that's not what happened, and you also
know the result the LA Times headline that I called out that said, Kaitlin Clark gets black eye from player who previously mocked her, Like, you know, what's going to happen when you post that, and it implies intention, and it implies correlation, which there wasn't. It happened to be a player she had an incident with before, which happens in basketball. But when you do that, you know what
you're doing. And I think that's what Stephanie spoke to beautifully, which is it's not that we ignore that this is a hum beneath the surface, but it is that we stop allowing them to have control over what we talk about, what we post, the clips we use, the headlines we write, because that's what's making it allowed to grow and be fostered.
I think that's also something that you know, players are wrestling with about how to platform and if they should you know, platform to use another word or to use that word, like the messages they are actually receiving. Right, We saw to Jenick Carington post the specifics of a message, right and sure enough a few hours later call a coincidence.
Maybe it's not coincidence. The WNBA, You sure it's not Yep, the WNBA releases this statement, and suddenly we're continuing to have this conversation and more and more people are talking about it. They do it, you know, they talk about it on Sports Center, on morning talk shows today, on shows like this. I've talked to players all year about, you know, some of these social media you know, the harassment they faced, and a lot of them speak to it,
but are also hesitant to provide specific examples. And that is obviously their right not to provide specific examples. But there is this kind of balance that I think players are navigating of how much do they share and reveal?
Because how much does sharing and revealing specifics actually lead to what you're talking about, Sarah, More people going into their mentions, more people using really vitriotic, vitriolic language, more people seeing you know, what Carrington has been called and doing that time.
Yeah, exactly. That It's tough, the balance that so many are waying.
And here we are, you know, we're twenty minutes into talking and we haven't talked that much basketball because it's so hard. You don't want to, you don't want to move from this, it's so important, But you also then find yourself saying Oh yeah, let's talk about who had a good game too. Nancy Armer wrote a great piece, and I want to wrap up with this before we do move on to basketball, about how Caitlin didn't ask for any of this, but she is still sort of
responsible for helping shut it down. I've been giving her a lot of grace. I've been saying by next season, I anticipate and expect that she should have enough experience in this league with women of color understanding everything going on that she should be able to speak to it and feel comfortable speaking to it if she isn't yet. She didn't ask for this, but I do think it'd be hard for me to be in her position and
not have said something by now. Do you think she needs to now or do you think at the start of next season or in the off season there needs to be a time for her to address what's going on in her name?
Jordan.
Such a tough question, because sometimes I've read people saying it is her responsibility. I don't know if it's her responsibility, but the silence is very loud.
I will say that.
Because if it was something that you totally disagreed with, I would run to say please so disassociate my name with all of this hate. But it's a little bit of like you know that quote from the Last Dance that kind of blew up where Michael Jordan was like Republicans VI shoes too, like, oh, is it her team? Kind of saying, you know, let's just all good. Press is good. You know, all press is good press. That's where I would hope there's a change there because she
has these teammates. You know, a Leah Boston was kind of the first person this season that got the most hate when Indiana was not doing well. That is her teammate, that is someone she says she loves to play with. So now you are in these rooms with these players who are having these visceral reactions, like an Alyssa Smith, like people who you see every single day. So I would hope that you would get out in front of it the next season and say this is not what I stand for.
Shut it all down. That's my hope. Will it happen, I don't know, but that's my hope.
Yeah. Let's talk side my finals. The first round going chalk wasn't a surprise to any of us, but making picks in the next round is tough. I want to start with Game one on Sunday, top seeded New York Liberty versus the two time defending champs in the Las Vegas Aces. What's the difference going to be in this one, Ben, I.
Think it is how Las Vegas handles New York's revamp starting lineup, and that is really the big question for me. New York moved Leoni Phoebich into the starting lineup in the first round, and this was a five man group of Stuart Jones, Laney, Yenescu, and Phoebich that was almost plus twenty four per one hundred possessions during the regular season. It was their third most used lineup and one that
was super super successful. That netrating went up to plus thirty six point one, which is a crazy, crazy number in the first round series, and it just provides New York with so much versatility. Lanth on defense and Spiebitch is a true six ' four. She is really strong, like she can guard post and she can guard guards, and that is such a weapon to have. Laney, we
know she can switch. Yanescu has improved her physicality all year and so there really isn't a point that I think Las Vegas can attack, and so I'm curious to see, you know, what does Las Vegas do to counter or do they play Kia Stokes. Do they play Tiffany Mitchell who had a great first round series, but New York might go out her on the defensive end?
Right?
Do they play Alicia Clark who has been such a good defender, but Knight might not have the same offensive ability as Hayes. So I think that's really the most fascinating chess match for me is how does Las Vegas counter with New York playing such a big lineup for what I expect to be the majority of this series.
Yeah, it's not a big problem to have when you get to bring one of the greatest facilitators in history of the game off the bench in Courtney vander Slut, just for a switch up, it's not too bad. Jordan, Is there a particular matchup or a particular player in this series that you think could swing things?
I just want to I want to focus on the stars, like I want Brianna's Doward and.
Asia Wilson to just battle it out.
I feel like in the finals we got robbed a little bit of that. Brianna Stewart did not play well in the finals last season, she really didn't play well the entire postseason, so I want her to step up big. And then Asia Wilson just showing everybody on the biggest stage with the brightest lights why she is a three time MVP. So yes, there is going to be role players and key players that are going to swing, have
momentum shifts and all of that. But especially this season where we're not talking about Brianna Stewart enough, We're not talking about Agia Wilson enough, I want them to be able to rise to the occasion and really battle it out.
That's what I'm so here for that.
I want that too. I want a battle of the back to back MVPs getting after it. Speaking of MVPs, though, the second series features you runner up MVP and defeasta Collier who has been lights out thirty eight points in Game one, forty two points in game too. Her two seed Minnesota Links have been absolutely unstoppable since the Olympic break. They're taken on the number three seed Connecticut Son. What can the Sun do to try to stop feed Jordan?
I think when do they say prayer defense? Like just pray, just pray that Fee is going to have an off night. But honestly, I think NOFISA scoring the forty two points on seventy percent from the field just shows really the team as a whole, because the fascinating thing about the Minnesota Links this season is their pace is slow. They are one of the slowest teams in the league. But it's because they swing the ball. They move it around. So what the Sun can do is try to speed
that up. If they try to speed them up. We saw Phoenix do that to them when they were coming back in Game one after being down twenty points. You're pressuring the ball, You're making Courtney Williams take a rush midi instead of one that's in control and in rhythm. So the Sun is the number one defense right now and Minnesota is the number two defense right now. So it is going to be a defensive battle all the
defensive head This is your series. But if you are pressuring Minnesota and trying to speed them up, Fee is going to do Fee.
She's going to get her shots.
But I think the rest of the team what makes the Links so dangerous is that they can spread it out and everybody's in double figures.
When you look at the box at the end of the day.
So if you try to limit those shots, that's kind of your best bet.
Who you got stepping up if fees in foul trouble or isn't isn't at her best.
Caleb McBride has had a quiet like one of the best seasons of her career, and I think that is a shout out to Cheryl Reeve and Nefisa Collier just getting the best out of all these.
Players so late in their careers. But I can see Caleb McBride just knocking down some shots, but also putting the ball on the floor driving to the basket when she's aggressive that way, the Links are super super scary. And then Bridget Carleton getting some votes for most Improved Player of the Year. She has, I mean down the stretch in clutch time. My goodness, Bridget Carleton has been on points, so I also see her having a good series.
Ben on the other side of Lissa Thomas, the only player in WNBA Playoff history with fifteen plus points, thirteen plus assists and five plus rebounds in a game, and she's done it twice. Now, what do the Links have to do to slow her down.
I don't know what you can do. I mean, try and get her her way, and I guess she's going to run you over and hope to draw charge.
Like, what are the what are.
The solutions to slong the list of Thomas down? No one has really found six a.
Third labor to terror to, a third labrum, a.
Sixth player to follow her on the court as well, something like that. I mean, look, the thing about Connecticut is they can play at so many different styles and I think that's what is making them so dangerous right now. Jordan mentioned the pace Connecticut, you know, bottom of the league in terms of but yet in the first round they actually scored the second most fast break points of any team of the eight teams in the playoffs, behind just the Indiana Fever. They moved in transition and were
sped up and did just fine. Right, It's a team that normally struggles a little bit from three point range, but we saw Marina Mabery get hot. And if she's able to get hot, you know she shot under forty percent I think just four times since like late August or mid August, like she's been really really good and was really great in that first round series. So if she's making shots, especially from their perimeter, they can make
three pointers in a way that they haven't before. We saw someone like Veronica Burton who normally does not score right. I think she had only reached double figures five times previously in her three year career. She gets ten off the bench right and plays a key role. So different players are stepping up, They're playing different styles. I think that's something to be aware of, and so much of that to me, it is Thomas and her ability to play different roles.
But also do Wanna Bonner? Right?
You asked Jordan about slowing down to Fisa Collier. I think to want to Bonnor. We might see her gardener Fisa Kllier for a little bit of this series, and you're talking about a smith army knife defender.
Yeah.
From Clark to Open, you know, game one of the first round, Tafisa Kalier. Two very different kinds of players. But do have a player in Bonner capable of doing both like that is such a luxury. It's why Connecticut is so tough to be.
You mentioned top two defenses in these teams, top five offenses in these teams. Two great coaches and Stephanie White and Cheryl reed We got the coach of the year from last year, we got a three time coach of the year. How much of this is going to come down to strategy and who figures out how to face the other team better? And how much is it just the players executing the plan like we're I guess I'm asking for a pick Jordan. Oh gosh, I know, so unfair.
How do you go against Cheryl Reeve?
I don't know, But what that said, Stephanie White has proven been mentioned that switch Ondwana Bonner on Caitlin Clark. He's so smart and such a strategy shift in their defense and it changed everything, I think, especially in that Game one using Dowana Bonner's length. So I'm excited to see what Stephanie White's gonna come up with, Like that's the fun part of this. Her clipboard is amazing, some of those bounds plays, those last minute shots that she's able to draw up.
So that's going to be fun.
But then you go with the experience of Cheryl Reeve just being in these situations time and time again. I always battle with that when we get to this time, how much does experience really come into play when you have players who have been here before who want to get over the hump, and then you have a team like Connecticut who's like, we have to get past this point, Like it is desperation mode for our franchise. We have
to get past this point. So Cheryl Reeve is going to do what she has constantly done, but she's also been able to get the players to buy in to.
This defensive system.
And I've been playing close attention these past couple games of when she calls her timeouts, and it is fully when the defense is not doing what they are supposed to do, when they are giving some backdoor cuts or some pick and roll actions, it's a time out because that's not the standard of defense that we play. So I'm going to I'm sure that's going to happen again with Cheryl Reeves high standard and like, hey, I got some rings. This isn't going to get it done, and
I'm excited to see that. Yeah.
I hate those in game coach interviews. I mean, I like the idea of them, but they just think the coach always seems like they cannot stand it and half the time they can't even hear it. But I did like the insight into Cheryl being like, in the last two halves, we've given up half one hundred points in each one, and there have been twenty six points in the paint. I'm gonna give you every single stant about how pissed I am about this defense. It's not show
it up. And I was like, okay, all right, she ripped into them in halftime, and they're gonna come out of here with a little bit better defense for sure. Ben Jordan didn't answer my questions. So I'm just gonna ask you about out. I need you to make a pick in both series.
Oh yeah, I noticed that too. I was going to call her out if you did.
You know what I was trying to do.
I'm glad you did the job before me. I think I'm gonna lean slightly towards Connecticut. Actually, I think they're in my mind, a slightly more talented roster top to Bonham. I think they can play in different ways as I was talking about. I also think like this is a team that is comfortable and confident going up against the Minnesota Links. They won the season series to one this year.
It is a franchise in Connecticut that has actually ended Minnesota's season the past two years, last year in the playoffs and two years ago in the final day of the regular season. Connecticut, you know, might not have home court in this series, but if you remember back to last year's postseason, they actually won Game three in Minnesota convincingly.
So I don't think the thought of going to Target Center, you know, in front of a rockus crowd, is any kind of thing that the Connecticut son are afraid of. It's a veteran group and you know, I like Thomas Jones Maybury like what they can all do. Bonner is we talked about, like Minnesota, the question I've gone back
to all year is have they hit their ceiling? And if Nafisa Collier plays it the way she did in the first round, I think the answer is no. But so much of what they do is incredible team defense. It's incredible ball movement on offenses Jordan was talking about. And I do wonder that if games slow down and the competition continues to heat up, like does Connecticut just wear on them and just make plays in little moments
that are the difference. So I actually think this one is going to go five and I'm going to take the Sun on the road beating Minnesota in that fifth game.
I'll tell you what Ben's going to do his research, and you did mention the ball movement. They actually set a record over that series of most points assisted in a two game playoff series, so points off assists, the percentage was the best of all time, and you could see that it was very hard to stop them in the half court and very hard to stop them with points off turnovers two, which I think the Sun will do a better job of this series. Ben quick make a pick for the first series.
I'm gonna go to New York in five games. I think if you are a fan of the New York Liberty, I think you should be very afraid of how they looked against the Las Vegas Aces in mid August without Asia Wilson. But New York still did beat Las Vegas in all three matchups. This year, it's a different team, Sabrina and Escu, a different player from last year to this year, and I do think the Phoebish switch into the starting lineup creates a different look. I like New York in five games in that one.
All right, Jordan, back to you. We're making picks this time. Both series.
Go Man Okay, well, let's start with Connecticut Minnesota. I also think Connecticut that desperation is gonna kick in. Like I said, it truly feels like, do we blow it up after this year if they don't get it done.
They've always been the bridesmaid, never the bride, So do wanna playoff?
Dowana Bonner is such a treat for all of us, and she's able to still in year fifteen kick it into another gear. So she has a she has a semi finals gear, and I'm excited to see that happen. So yes, I think Connecticut gets Minnesota in. God, I'm not saying the games don't put me to that, but I'm saying Connecticut wins. Now for the Liberty and the Aces, Gosh, this is tough because I do feel like the Aces are a different team from when the Liberty beat them
those other times. They are just hitting a stride right now, and Asia Wilson is hitting a stride and Chelsea Gray is back to the playoff point. God, and you can't ever count her out for that. But Sabrina has something different in her eye. That focus is there. She was in the gym in the off season and me and Cheryl Swoops talked about it on our podcast.
She could have been up for most Improved Player, Like she's.
Added so much into her bag that it's it's tough to be a liberty team where Stuwie is playing at a high level and she has a quiet thirty because Sabrina is making so much noise not only from beyond the three point line but also in the paint and attacking and driving. So I have New York because I just feel like this is their season, all right.
That was unfair of me, So thank you guys. I appreciate you playing a lot in there. It's a tough one. This is gonna be so much fun. Listen to the Athletic Women's Basketball Podcast. Listen to Queens of the Court Jordan alongside Cheryl Swoops, and thanks to both of you for hopping on.
Thank you for having us.
We gotta pay some bills. When we come back. We air out some weirdos for being weirdos. Welcome back, Slices. It's been a while since we called someone out for fucking around and finding out and it's time we're back. Baby. Let's talk about the gambling site and I'm not giving
it Freeable City by naming it here. That set odds on Chicago's Skyrookie Angel Reese's Next Boyfriend, The Superstar first year player talked about the kind of guy she likes on her podcast, Unapologetically Angel, saying, quote, he gotta be tall six ' seven, six ' eight yeah NBA end quote, And there were rumors that she was dating Detroit Piston's power forward Jalen Duran. So the gambling site ran with it, making an Angel Reese Next Boyfriend odds chart and allowing
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don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. It's easy watch Twitter slash x owner Elon Musk changing the block feature so blocked users can still see the posts of the accounts that block them, rating a billion T out of
a billion T fail whales review. Elon has long hated the block feature, saying it quote unquote makes no sense, which is exactly what someone would say who's been blocked thousands and thousands of times for I don't know, inciting hate, spreading misinformation, restoring Donald Trump's Twitter threatening a cage match with Mark Zuckerberg, selling blue check marks, making the report
function essentially useless. Making the search function essentially useless, making the security protection essentially useless, losing users, losing billions, and losing cool points for shit like posting a picture holding a sink and writing quote let that sink in. So not only has he confused us all by giving Twitter two names Twitter x, twitter x, I don't know what the fuck is, but he's also allowed right wing bots to continue flourishing and harassing people, and now he wants
the harassment to be less checked. Allowing block users to see your content just makes it that much easier for them to continue to harass you. Sure, folks have always been able to create another account, logging over there and go creep on your posts, but at least that creates
some sort of barrier, some sort of work. Now, if your stocker wants to keep up with you, Elon's made it real easy, and I have no doubt that this is just a step toward eliminating the block feature altogether, something he's been threatening to do since he became the app's evil overlord. Thankfully, Apple's App Store guidelines mandate that social networks offer quote the ability to block abusive users from the service end quote, So maybe that'll keep captain
Dick Rockets somewhat in line. Now. Am I gonna get off Twitter or whatever the fuck it's called. I'm not because that would be letting him win, and because I'm addicted, So I'll be on it till they pry my phone out of my cold dead hands. What can I say, I'm weak. Now it's your turn, rate and review. Thanks for listening, have a great weekend and see you next week. Good game, Jordan, Good game, Ben, Thank you again, Lady with the band Nail's shirt. No one wants you here
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