New York State of Mind

Welcome to good Game with Sarah Spain, where we can't decide whether to cry, puke, or open up a window and just scream into the night.

Becuz this just happened twenty.

Eight years in the May Games. Good New York Liberty WA champions. That's right, the New York Liberty just won the first WNBA championship in their franchise history and overtime victory over the Minnesota Links in one of the most incredible WNBA finals we've ever seen.

Sixty two sixty.

Seven, the final score, How we got there, Who did what?

Why? We're gonna cry if you can scream.

All coming up next, and we're going to get to the headlines and the news and everything else from the weekend tomorrow. So when we come back, it's all Links and Liberty.

Welcome back, Slices.

I don't know if you're hungover, exhausted, thrilled, disappointed, but I think we're all sort of all of those things.

Maybe not hungover.

I try to keep it sober for the game, but Misha and Alex are going to join me to talk about everything that we just witnessed. We're coming to you live at the time right after the podium ceremony. There's probably going to be a ton of incredible quotes and moments that come in the hours after we record this, and we'll get to all of that this week. I hope we get some Liberty guests. I hope we get some folks to talk about just what this means in terms of the history of the league and of this team.

She Wow, this is pretty huge.

The next one May eighth, nineteen seventy and again Brooklyn getting its first major championship since back when the Dodgers were there. Right after the game ends, we get a Nike ad Liberty has a nice ring to it with a ring. They so quickly the ring on the statue of Liberty before we get into sort of a breakdown of how everybody played in all the different things.

Like Meiche, what's just your first reaction.

To what you just witnessed, Sarah, My heart is so happy right now because I told y'all coming into this series, I had the Libs winning it. I will state that for the record off top. Okay, so we're all clear. But the other thing I really wanted out of this series was extra basketball. I wanted us to get our money's worth. If you're in the arena, I want us to get, you know, our time's worth, and we got that.

In more so, I'm just so happy.

For the entire pure basketball community because what we just witnessed was easily one of the best finals series NBA WNBA period.

Well timed for the WNBA to have its best season ever and have one of, if not its best WNBA Finals ever, the only one with multiple overtime games in it, clutched moments for five games, all five games right within at least five points in the two minutes remaining.

Alex's first reaction.

And first time that a title deciding game ever went to overtime in WNBA history pretty incredible. Uh oh my gosh, initial reaction. I feel like the Liberty both deserved it for so many reasons and then did not deserve it for so many reasons. Real so it feel so split in that way, and yet so excited for them.

At the same time, I have to tell you a weird thing happened to me while watching this game, because I also picked the Liberty before the playoffs started to win it all. Heading into the game and this whole series, I said to myself, I'd like the Liberty to win. I'd like them to win their first championship. You know, love the Links, you know, friend of the show Cheryl Reevenfisa Colliers quickly becoming one of my favorite players to watch, But I'd like to see the Liberty finally, you know,

And I couldn't stop myself from being like, oh.

That was a foul, that's a travel like, you know, and being like, don't let them get back in this this is a bit, this is a big moment, you know, with like with like Elena Smith on the bench, you got to make sure you don't let them come back in.

Which is exactly what happened.

And I couldn't figure out why that was happening to me. Can either of you explain why you think that was happening to me?

I just wanted it to be real close.

Yeah.

For me, it was like, I'm rooting for whoever's down right now, and that's who I'm rooting for.

Doesn't even matter.

At one point, you know, people have been asking me every game of the series.

Who I want to win?

Who I want I'm like, at this point, I said what I said, But again, I just want to see the most chaos max chaos max out.

So yeah, that's understandable.

And the way the way that Minnesota played, you wanted to root for them.

I think that's part of it. Yeah, because of how they competed.

I mean New York and Sandy Brondelo had to press every button they had, you know what I mean, use every tool in the toolbox. In Minnesota, just I felt so bad because I know they wanted it so bad. Fee the way she approached it as a leader for that team, she was composed that whole.

First half they led.

You know, they went the way that she went because she was unphased, and so it is her unfazed.

Yeah, I mean, I think though on the other side of That is how much credit you have to give the Liberty for winning a game that they had no business winning. Sabrina and Nescu, as they said on Twitter, it was called than a penguin's toes. I don't even think penguins have toes, but that's how cold she was. And I want to tell you all respect to her for her passing ability, that still being able to draw

Not even in a winner take all game. So I went to across the timeline and ran the numbers. No player in WNBA history we're talking regular season, Commissioner's Cup Finals playoffs. Has ever taken so many shots and yielded such a low no field goal percentage of any game ever, any game ever, No one before this for a player that had at least nineteen field gold attempts, field gold field goal attempts, any gold in there, any gold. She did win a gold medal this summer, so we'll give

Oh man, okay.

I want to go back to the beginning, but first a couple more moments at the end there that I just want to hit on quick as we're still talking and feeling the joy from it, the scene around John Qwell Jones, the joy from her and the joy for her when she was named MVP. This was her four attempt at a WNBA Championship. Her teams came up short in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three. She's

The journey that she's been on. You could feel all of that.

In that moment, the way there was surprise and delight. I think even she was surprised that it didn't go to someone like Brianna or sab even if they had rough games tonight. She was deserving and it was really cool to see.

Yeah, And I think you know, in that moment, for everybody that was watching, you saw the reactions from her whole team, from everybody who was up there on the podium, from the entire arena, that shocking surprise, but also the elation on her behalf like, and I would be remiss, I'm about to get a little DMV.

I would be of course.

I already got texts from people, Okay, we are going up Riverdale Baptist stand up, George Washington University.

Stand up, my Behavians stand up. And also you Bahamian.

I'm not, but you know what tonight tonight. I was at Caine on H Street in DC the other day eat jerk chicken wings.

So we're acting like honorary Bahamian. Honorary honorary tonight, all right.

But I also have to give a shout out to coach Diane Richardson. Folks who are plugged in with DMV basketball, with women's basketball as a whole, know that this lady right here, she produces players like that, and she is one of the big reasons why JJ has gotten to the point that she's at. She was at the podium on the floor during the celebration.

Shout out to her. Shout out to everybody who's ever worked with JJ.

Shout out to anybody who's even tangentially connected.

We're celebrating were going on tonight.

Okay, I just want to point out, you know, we had Michael Voppelan a couple of days ago, and he talked about in the sort of oral history of the tortured franchise of the Liberty, saying something like New York is the place that you go and you become a

I mean, these women from all over the globe are New Yorkers.

You know, you're gonna call them DMV and you're gonna take credit for him, but I'm sorry, Bahama's, Germany, everywhere else that they're from, it's New York now.

Yeah, It's It's a beautiful thing to see. And I feel like that's been the story of the Liberty this whole season too. Right, it's from the finn experience, the in game arena experience, they've had, you know, different cultural nights, different performers. I think the New York Liberty franchise as a whole has bought into that concept of being a melting pot.

And look at what the successes that they're reaping from it.

You just reminded me that game was so good. I did not even notice that I got zero. Ellie the elephant that tells you how.

Good the game was. How are her puffer? How are we gonna get zero? She was wearing a puffy skirt and a puffy jacket. We got zero.

Codeaways to Ellie. I did not see her celebrating the trophy.

They tell Ellie, chill out tonight, they tell Ellie cool.

Out will I will not stand for Ellie Eraser at the peak moment of this franchise.

She was a huge part of this title one.

I want to propose a new rule. So right now, in the WNBA, it is the owner who has handed the trophy first. That's not the rule in all leagues, but it is in the WNBA. And I think that from here on out, Scott first mascot hands off.

Okay, but only Ellie, because only trash mascots. And I want you to know that if Skyguy had been handed the trophy when the Sky won it all, that would have been the end of my fandom. So I like your rule, but only Ellie. Also, speaking of that, I did love that it was a woman who has handed the trophy first. That is such a rarity in professional sports to see a woman be the one that is the owner and getting it. I know it's both of the size, but still there is some beauty in that.

And I like that she talked about investment.

I like that she talked about watching this team grow and wanting to put them somewhere bigger where the fans could appreciate them. I saw a women's sports reporter that I really respect and love say you know what, I don't really want to talk of investment right now. Not everything has to be a PSA. And I was like, I completely disagree. You are telling everyone else show up like this team, and this is what you get when you care. Would you invest? When you give these women

It keeps going up even though the building stays the same, which I love.

Okay, let's get into some of the nitty gritty of a game. We're gonna call gritty because we don't want to just say ugly. It's coming up next after this quick break.

We're backslices and you're back too. Love that for us?

Okay, Like I said, not a pretty game and for such a beautiful series, I guess it's to be expected. They were tired. They were tight, especially through the first half. The reason the Links were ahead was that they were getting open looks in the paint layup after layup, and that was allowing them to get in some sort of

That was all the Links was getting.

And at the beginning it really looked like all it was going to need was for someone on the Liberty to start to hit some shots. Sabrina started, Oh force do we started oh of three? After the first it's nineteen ten Links, But it didn't feel it felt like they had such control of it. But it didn't feel like something that was sustainable, because there was just no way you were going to see the Liberty give up those back cuts and those easy lanes the whole game.

I had a lot of moments during this game where I was like, has anyone checked the rims to make

Wow, Meshe, I want your answer to for me.

In the first half, especially the interior defense of the Links was strong and making inside shots tough for the Liberty, but mid range and three they were perfectly fine shots. No one could hit the broad side of a barn. On the other side, the defense for the Liberty was ass and they were getting whooped in the paint and those shots were so easy they almost couldn't miss them.

That's what I saw.

Yeah, I saw a little bit of the same I think for Minnesota, the defense that they played all season was the defense you saw even with the fatigue, because they were very clearly to me fatigue that was one through line the entire game. But even with that, the defense they played, if you watch a little technical here, every time New York catches the basketball.

Minnesota is in their space. There's no room to breathe.

And once you do that time and time again over the course of a possession, that's the kind of stuff that gets into an opponent's head. That's the kind of stuff that forces a Stewie or a sab or anybody to shoot off balanced shots, when if you could pivot and calm down and not be as chaotic in your body, you could find an open layout. But they didn't have that frame of mind because Minnesota was so up in their business.

It's also exhausting. Though.

Yes, we saw later in the game for the links, and we talked about this all series long, the bench for the liberty. We'll get into it more in the second half, because that's obviously when soabily you really starts to make the biggest difference. But early on their defense was smothering, and especially inside it was why but they were just tight Sabrina all of eight through the second.

That close of a game. Yeah, and that was a bit of a warning for all of us watching.

I don't think anybody was feeling confident or comfortable in the Links at this point, and they were just waiting for something to come from the Liberty, and what we saw ultimately was some bench players step up, the Sobbly huge, the biggest Thornton, great, big minutes, getting stops, doing things that they needed from hustling hustling, and that's when Minnesota started to get tired. To me, in the second half, that's where it started to matter. They just couldn't play

Yeah, New York just turned it up.

It was do or die time because they knew if they did not hit a run sometime in that third quarter, their championship hopes were about to be dashed.

Period. Like you said, Niarisaboli, been talking about this girl on here.

What did you do with Germany and the Olympics, y'all? She was like the was it was crazy. She was hurt for a little while in there and still was like the leading scorer or some craziness like that. I can't even tell you this is that right now, but she was bawling and she brought that energy to the court. You saw her interview with Holly Row during that little stretch.

She was like, she was so excited by the way she.

Was excited that she got her first in game interview in Game five of the WNBA Finals, talk about it time to show up.

Yeah, and it didn't phase her.

I was watching the game with my parents and my dad was like, she's just out there having fun. None of the pressure that everybody else on the court seems to be dealing with is.

Zero expectations, zero expectations. And that's the beauty of that.

They needed that because to be honest, look at what happened to the two people with the biggest expectations period dewiye and.

Sab period yep.

And then, like you said, Kayla Thornton, I do not want her to go under the radar, her or foe. Even though Phoebish is a starter now and all that good stuff, she's still I consider her supporting cast.

But let's start with Thornton.

Her defense, her defense and that bulldog mentality because one play it was it was her closing out on the FISA call you're and deflecting a ball out of bounds. She could have just left it there. And some people might call this dirty, and I'm leaving space for that because depending on how you watched it.

And what your vantage point was, Hey, that's on you.

But she dies for that basketball out of bounds, knocks and the VISA call you're over and then sprints back to the huddle in the paint with her team, And those are the kind of plays you need your bench players to make in a moment like that. She wasn't the leading score, she probably wasn't even the best defender on the floor, but that kind of stuff from her, and then Leoni phoebsh she was just misconsistency like she has been this entire playoffs. I mean, hats off to her.

There are a couple of things that stood out to me in this one. Lenna Smith is a freakin' fighter. I mean, you could tell she was dragging around that one leg from the start of the game, not to.

Mention midway through, and her back was killing her half a spine.

And what sucked was that there was no opportunity really for them to say, all right, someone else step up, because no offense to dorkat Yuas.

But when she was.

Out there, turnovers, defensive struggles, over committing on defense, leaving players either to do and up and under and you know, score or put pressure on other defenders to have to step up and play help and then their their you know, primary offensive player and assignment was open. It just was so such a clear difference the way that they defensively had to change what they were doing with her out.

There instead of Smith.

So, I mean, Smith deserves the world's biggest couch and the world's biggest heating pad for the next two weeks because you could tell, especially after that play with John Quell where she hit the deck and didn't have her arm available to cushion her fall, landed right on her spine, was immediately in tears, and that was a big difference. You just you talk about the bench being important. Corney Vanderslud had three.

Minutes in this game. I was a three minutes of playing.

Yeah, they the balls, the ovaries, I should say the ovaries on Sandy Brondello to say, you know what, I'm gonna go with Niara SOBEI and Kayla Thornton, you know what, I'm gonna go big and guess what. In certain moments in particular, that was huge because someone like Court Williams, who wants to get hot and feeds off of getting hot, was getting blocked into tomorrow because she could not hang with the size. Natisha hid him and made some big plays.

Off and be a spark.

There was no one coming off that bench that you said, this is going to be a change maker if someone's tired or injured.

Yeah.

And it's tough because we saw early minutes for Mayisha heines Allen early on in this series, right, and so between Dorka Uhas, between heinz Allen, I thought maybe there was an opportunity to put heinz Allen in even though she is still undersized.

You gotta mix it, you gotta do something right.

She's too slow for me, both of them, I think, too slow for the style of play that was working for the Links.

But for for Mayisha.

At least you got fouls you can use, right, And what did it come down to at the end of the game. Fee had five fouls, You had Bridget Carlton with five fouls, because what are they both in there doing? Battling with Finals MVP John Quell Jones, And if nothing else, I would have just liked to see it because my USA, I still got a little bit of DC Homerism, you know, Erica la Ala and Black Rosy media already know I.

Find a way to make it about the mystics, Okay.

But it felt like there might have been maybe one or two opportunities to get her in there, let her at least bang use her body as opposed to Fee.

But yeah, it was just a tough situation. Both these teams came into the series evenly matched. Folks. You can't see my hands, but I mean I think the Liberty were a better team. I've said this throughout.

It was a matter of strategy and who showed up, and the Liberty on paper to me, are the super.

Team on paper? Yes, okay, I'm glad the better team. I think both way.

Minnesota was playing coming in that put them neck and neck.

In terms of actual performance, in terms of actually being effective in the plays and the system and the way the coaches called things up evenly matched, but the Liberty should have been I think a more dominant team. But listen the percentage shoot it for some of these stars on for the series, not just tonight.

Woof.

Okay, we could be honest about this, Holly Roe said afterwards. This is some of thost beautiful basketball we've ever seen.

Yes, and mm hmm.

Also some real turns in the punch bowl throughout this series and in this game in particular.

I do want to while we're on the topic of turds.

I hate when there are moments of incredible excitement, enthusiasm, celebration and we shit on them by talking about things like officiating.

Yeah, talk about this game.

And not talk about how mostly throughout it felt like New York was getting away with being more physical, but especially down the stretch. Stewie made it from the three point line to the free throw line without a single dribble and then did not get fouled, and somehow there was no travel call and there was a fowel call.

Now it made for a better finish.

No one wanted the game to end with a travel or we were sending the followl call give the ball. You know that's not as fun. But man, we watched that replan every time. I was like, we're calling this, and then you didn't call any of the other stuff, and you didn't call the travel, which was like a five starter step if I were a Links fan.

Ooh mm hmm.

She traveled from from Barclays to her hometown in Syracuse and back before she before she put that ball on the floor. I have to say it, it is true, but what I think happened there, and I'm glad actually that it happened, because it wasn't just that call, but a couple of calls down the stretch where I felt like the referee team decided, we are not gonna be the the topic of this game. We're not gonna be the center of attention. We're not going to, like you said, rescind a call.

How's that working out for him?

Wow?

Yeah, Cheryl Reeve has some thoughts on that.

Yeah, Cheryl Reeve's gonna be like I should have been the one putting the bug in their ear after the last because Sir felt like Sandy Brondello gave him a talking to and then things went their way.

It did, I will say that it was looking real lopsided.

Yeah, now, I'll say this much in the overtime the links. You know, I love Courtney Williams. I love that she was feeling like she was going to get the job done. But fobitch hits the three immediately, and then three misses for court There's a lazy turnover for McBride that leads to that Tobbaly breakaway. Now they're up five, and then it was pretty much sixty five sixty for almost the whole lot After that, people were not finding their way

Not go their way safe.

Then fee gets frustrated on the lob pass turnover that she felt she was getting pushed on. Sure looked like there was a lot of contact there on her trying to establish position. Now you've got spike on his knees as we're coming down the stretch here, Basically he's all of us. We're puking, we're peeing our pants, we're crying, we're doing everything. He always has to make it about him, and in this case it's funny to me, So I'm okay with it.

My knees would have been hurting on that hard withek. I know, right, yeah, right, I agree. Impressive. I guess at his age to still be able to do that.

But then you've got a couple moments where you do see that Sable's age and inexperience comes into play. She gets a couple of fowls into pretty important moments. There's the fowl after that McBride steel, but then the charge where Carlton's got five fouls and boldly takes that charge and they make.

The right call.

But then she comes right back and soably gets the block on Fee the very next play to make up for that, like this back and forth, and then good lord if sabrina Inescu doesn't take two more shots to get from one for seventeen to one for eighteen, and then one for nineteen.

And then the final shot. There's a couple things.

For one Carlton misses before you even get to the McBride one with fourteen seconds to play. And I watched that replay multiple times and I said, good person, good shot, good look. And yet you're coming out of a timeout with that, and not a single person crashed the boards.

They all watched the shot, and there was a chance. You had fourteen seconds on the clock.

There's a chance for you to get the ball, set it up, get another shot, and instead Nafisa ends up fouling out.

You know it. Just that kind of stuff is what kills you.

Yeah, that made me mad too, Like Alex when you see your star player running to foul, you still got twelve however many seconds were left.

You see feet, she's got five fouls running to go foul. You say, feet, get your work. Somebody else, somebody else.

And then on the not crashing the glass part, that again is what fatigue.

It's fatigue and it's looking up.

Please hit this, please shot And then you know McBride's shot.

There was more time left, you know that for that attempt. I thought that was in regulation. It was a good look.

She just she had more time, and then we didn't talk about this. This is the end of regulation. When McBride had a couple more seconds, it could have set it up, a good look at it, and then New York could have called time.

You didn't.

So there's just the stakes in this game that are just I think tired getting lost in the moment. Listen, we have to talk about those calls, but the focus needs to be on You won a title with two of your best players poop in the bed. You won a title with bench players stepping up in a moment that they had absolutely no right to be so certain and confident and secure during, and you won your first title in history in front of an insane crowd. You saw uswin Ca and T Spoon and T Spoon and

They did the double double. They went to go see Kelly.

O'Hara in her final game being honored at Gotham and then hustle the crosstown to get over there.

Spike Lee, Jason Sadeikis.

You know all the regulars, Robin Roberts in the house, common Jay Hudd, you know, the stars were out on so Liberty Row.

And I'm excited for them.

I'm excited for I hope will be a parade, will be what I hope will be some cool you know, press. I want to see these players on all the late night shows. I want to see them get the full car wash as we call it in the business, going to do all the different shows and interviews.

Misha, Who's going to be the star in.

Your opinion of the partying slash victory tour footage that we're gonna get from this team.

The star? That's a tough question.

I mean we remember, like US women's national team had some breakout stars that were the ones. We're like, this is who we know, we need to follow their insta live, this is who's dancing on top of the bar and do it.

You know, I don't know, I don't know who.

They've got a lot of cool characters on this team. What I mean by that is like, even Q, I'm not you know what I mean.

So, I think we're gonna get a little bit of that Jackie.

Young esque kind of vibe where she doesn't usually say too much, but now she's running her mouth because she just won a championship. I think we're gonna get that from JJ Stewie. Obviously Sab is probably the one who already does kind of do a little bit of yapping. But yeah, i'd say I'd say JJ and Stewie are are talking reckless for the next for the next until an unrivaled starts in the lock back in.

Alex Who you got being the breakout star of the of the media coverage?

Well, okay, first I want to say this, I want John Quell Jones to get all of her flowers because we have seen far too many times in the history of this league that black players, that gay players, and players that are more masculine presenting don't get the love, the respect, the pr that they deserve. And I want to make sure she gets all of her flowers during this title celebration. I also, you know, it's interesting when when people have conversations about like the Links would have

Winning their first title, and.

So so even though the Links as a franchise were going for their fifth title, only two players on that team had previously won a title. Same is actually true on the Liberty in terms of Courtney Vanderslut winning with the Sky before stewing with Seattle twice. And so for ten of these players, this is their first title, and so I really hope that they're enjoying it too.

Yeah, and you know, the one thing I will say is that you're right. It's an even split for both teams in terms of the players currently on the team getting their first But this was a win for every player in Liberty history.

You want to be a part of.

The dynastic group that people think of with the Links. If you're on the current team, you want to you want to try to catch up to some of those players, the Maya Moors and you know, Lindsay Whalin's that have won all these titles.

But if you're a Liberty player, you feel like you were.

Carrying t Spoon and Rebecca Lobo and all these players from the past on your back. And I have to say I got to give props to Lobo for keeping it pretty chill on the broadcast, because you know, she was probably thinking.

To herself, we know we did it.

We did it, And I look forward to seeing some of that celebration too. When you do get the monkey off the back of a team twenty eight years in, you get to be the ones that hold it up for all the people that came before you, and that's pretty cool.

Yeah, yeah, I mean Rebecca, Yeah, she.

I would have been in tears had I been calling that game, and had I lived the life that Rebecca Lobo has lived, I would have been crying my eyes out. Talk about somebody who was expected to be the person to do this first right, the kind of pressure that

Yeah, it's really cool, so cool. Oh my gosh, there's so much to say about the same. Okay, we got to take one more quick break when we come back. More on the New York Liberty winning their first ever title, Enfranchise History.

Come on back, okay, Welcome back, slices, Sarah.

I really want to talk about the spiciest moment of the game. I think, wasn't it?

Oh, do tell?

Right before the foul got called on, Brienna Stewart, sand Brondello in the huddle was telling the players, if they foul, you embella shit and then the audio got cut off. Did y'all hear that?

Actually I did hear the audio in the time out get cut. I thought it was because I was half listening because I was doing I figured there was a swear. Yeah, I thought it was either a swear or she was talking X and o's like, because I don't know what the deal is.

I've never been on a live broadcast like that.

But I don't know if when they get too deep into their playbook, if there's a out point, like all right, we don't want to give away industry secrets.

I felt like they were giving away industry secrets before she told them to embellish.

Okay, okay, period.

I ain't peeped that, but you at leave it to Alex to always catch the most minute details, the spiciest minute details.

I know you do love gossip.

Speaking of gossip, we are going to have so much more gossip about this game and this series, and frankly, this entire WNBA season. It has been a sprint down the stretcher with so much to get to that we will want to look back on the entire season and again, what a fitting and beautiful ending for the best WNBA season to date. We'll have hopefully some guests to talk about this big win and also just to look back on the season. We're not done with the dub just yet.

Thank you for listening.

Good game, Misha, good game, Alex, good game, Liberty, fuck you. This series is over, which means this season is over. Good game with Sarah's Yane 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,