In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. What's Up, everyone, Welcome back to another special edition of In Case You Miss It with Christina Williams. Here on the iHeartRadio app and the WNBA Finals are underway and heading back to Minnesota where the series is tied between the Liberty and the Links. At one apiece,
joining me to break it all down. His friend to the show and co host of the Dunker Spot podcast, Maikaias Duncan Macaias, Welcome back to the show.
Thanks for having me. I'm glad I didn't bomb my first appearance. I could come back excited to talk to hoop with you now.
You always are invited on this show. You're like one of my favorite basketball minds. All right, Nikaias Liberty Links finals are tied the series one one? What have you been seeing throughout this series that stands out to you?
I have been seeing a whole lot of defense in this series, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. These were the two best teams in the league. These were two of the top four defenses in the league, and because of the versatility that they have in the front court, in particular John quel Abreonna Stewart with New York, Lafisa Collier, and Atlanta Smith with Minnesota, they can execute
so many different coverages. And I think the series through the first two games has really been how Sabrindi and Escuo is going to respond to the coverages that she seing and looking at the game too, how Courtney Wiams is going to respond to the coverages that she's seen.
Like something that's popped for me. Through the first two games, we saw a high volume of switching in that game one against Sabrinia and Escue to something that she talked about, something that Sandy Brundello talked about not want the offense to get too stagnant. The emphasis on making quick decisions
and swinging the ball were necessary. And we saw a much better job and a much better start from Sabrina in Game two, twelve or fifteen points coming in that first quarter, and she just looked much more decisive than she did in that first game. And we look at the other side of the floor with Courtney Williams making big shots, making big plays, specifically towards the end of that game one. The in game two it is Minnesota saying actually, or New York saying, actually, this is flatting
us out. Will switch John Quell out on, you, will blitz John Quyll Sometimes we're gonna switch Stewarie on, you gonna mess with the matchups, and watching Courtney Williams kind of cycle through that and figure out what New York's trying to do became a fun little game within the game. So I'm it's been a lot of fun defense so far for me through too.
Listen, and how about Brandon Stewart in game two, it's seven steals. I mean, Stueie is just putting a defensive master class on display, as is Nafisa Collier, Who's the defensive player of the year. Okay, so in your opinion, who's been the best player throughout the first two games?
You know, I was thinking about this earlier today because I wanted to tweet out like a premature finals MVP, like power ranking type fit, and I was like, you, actually, I really don't know, Like I probably lean Brianna Stewart, like she hasn't had much success going inside the York so far. We'll see if some of those short jumpers fall, but like the threes have mostly been there, particularly in that game too. The defense has been outstanding, not just
in this series but throughout the entire season. Really, I think she had a really rate the Defensive Player of the Year case this year, like I think some of like the on court ratings are slightly better. Again, it's a two game sample, so how much does that really matter? But you could argue Courtney Wims. You could arguing in the Feasta Collier. I think we are in for some fun and trying to figure out who the finals VP's actually gonna be as the series goes on.
Listen, I agree and New York.
This is a must win game obviously for both teams because the series is tied. I know that Leoni Thievich has been playing phenomenally in this postseason. She hit that three pointer and everyone had their hands like, what are you doing? Ba's the ball with Stewie, She's open. But who do you think has been the biggest X factor for each team throughout the series.
I guess if we're removing the obvious characters, it could just be Benije Lady Hamilton. Honestly, like that just broke out with the twenty point game. That was her first double digit scoring game since I believe game one of the Atlanta series. So naturally getting that scoring punch, but the decision making for her is going to be important. How quickly is she decided to shoot, how quickly is he deciding to drive? What are those entry passes to
look like when she's trying to feed John Quill. But ultimately, the defense has been really strong throughout this entire postseason run. I think her early ball pressure on Courtney Winias in particular has been impactful, making Minnesota work deep into the clock. And so when she has a game like she did in Game two, where she's hitting corner threes on top of the defense and on top of the you know everything else, she provides like, it's such a swing for
New York. So I guess I would go with Benija right now.
Yeah, And if you look at the series from last year against the Aces, it was also Benija and Landy Hamilton who was sort of that X factor.
Because people are so.
Help bent on what she can do defensively, they almost forget that she's a bucket on offense as well, and so just to see her just overcome a lot of adversity with getting back into the swing of things post injury and surgery this season.
I think it's great to see.
I think she needed that game, that twenty point game, just for a confidence booster for herself going into Games three and four Minnesota, they're gonna need to win on the road if they want.
To win this championship.
Which player did you expect to see step up for the rest of the series. I mean, we talked about Jolane Hamilton, but on the Minnesota ink side, for me, I think it's kill and McBride.
I would like to see her, you know, be a little bit more consistent. But what do you think, because.
I also go to the Minnesota's side, I think Kayla is shooting the leather off the ball right now, but to your point, it hasn't been a consistent wave of production for her, so you would love to see that. If you're Minnesota, I probably go to Bridget Carlton. I think because of the year that she's had and because of the postseason run that she's had, the three point shooting hasn't hit quite the same, but she is still someone that can knock down big shots when they matter.
I think a little bit more from her offensively be helpful. They have used her a little bit as an initiator just to counter some of the full court pressure that we seen from New York, so she's able to get some of the pull up two's going, she's able to knock down those crucial threes, and ultimately her defense both on the perimeter and when she's been asked to switch on to some of the bigger players for the Liberty, Like, if that continues to hold up, like I think Minnesota
could be in good shape. But I do think as the serious shifts back to Minnesota, they're going to need a big Bridget game, give me an eighteen point out and or something like that to really put an exclamation point on the type of season that she's had.
All Right, Nikias, before we stop talking about the playoffs, you know, I gotta ask you, who do you have? What is your playoff predictions for this series against the Liberty Links, Who do you have poisoning up that trophy at the end of the series.
I had the Liberty in five ahead of the series. We are now tied, Like, I haven't seen enough to shift off of that, so I will stick with the Liberty getting their first championship in franchise history. But I do think this goes to distance. This has been a fun series so far and I don't anticipate that changing all.
Right, Leakaias has Liberty in five. So Nikayas the Golden State Valkyries announced this week their new head coach and Natalie Nikowski from the Las Vegas Aces.
So what do you think about this hire?
In particular, it feels like a slam dunk to me, like as someone that does W coverage, But I'm also around the Aces quite a bit, both virtually and in person when I can get out there. Like the players lover Becky Hammond has a great deal of respect for her. She obviously has experience underneath this a staff, she has previous NBA experience and so like she already brings a
wealth of basketball notlice. She's a former player in her day on top of that, so she just brings a wealth of knowledge verse in terms of diverse backgrounds and learning and coaching, her own playing background and the consistent message that you hear from Becky from the player like,
she just has a way of building relationships. And I think as we are in this era of not just basketball, but in sports like I do think that human connection is even more important as people have become more aware on how you treat people, what the effects are in terms of performance and things like that. So I believe
the basketball knowledge kind of speaks for herself. The basketball experience speaks for herself, but the way she connects with people, and like reading the messages that players will tweeting out Chelsea Gray, Sidney Colson and others, you could kind of see there's a genuine love there beyond the basketball respect. So I believe you're to go to State Valkyries, you want to make a snap dunk higher. This fits the outline.
Someone that's been there, that's done that, can connect with people and has the actor type to build something from the ground up.
Sad to see that ass coaching staff kind of break up a little bit, but I'm excited to see how Natalie prospers with the Golden State Valkyries, and also looking
ahead to the expansion draft that is happening in December. Obviously, the Golden State Valkyries are going to you know, have the one up on other teams in terms of you know, forming their team ahead of the twenty twenty five draft, when you look at you know, the hires in the front office paired with you know, the players that may become available.
Who can we look.
To see with the Golden State Valkyries in twenty twenty five? And are the rumors about Kelsey Plumb true?
I understand the rumblings of Kelsey Plum, you are a Golden State Valkyrie because she is a free agent, and
naturally Natalie Nicasse was just there. But with the Aces having the core designation available, I would imagine that the Aces just core Kelsey Plumb, even if it turns into them eventually moving on, Like, it just makes more sense to me, Hey, let's core and then let's work on a trade destination if that's where it's gonna go, versus Kelsey just being an unprotected player and the Valkyries have
and the ability selector. Like I, I guess, crazier things have happened, but like, I just don't foresee something like that happening Beyond that, I am just generally curious on what the player pool is going to look like. I think the rule is you can protect up to six.
You don't have to protect six players for each team, and so I would imagine we're going to see some interesting rookie scale players available, Like even if we stick with the Aces, I would imagine they're going to keep their core for again, I would guess that Kelsey Plum gets the court designation and then from there, like does
Kate Martin become available? Does Kirsten Bell come available? Actually didn't have much of a role because of injury, Like I would be looking at players or on those lines for someone that they may want to pick up. Beyond that interesting thing, like I look at Atlanta like I would be no reporting here, Like I would be surprised if Shyanne Parker Tias is back in Atlanta next season.
So like, does that become like a primary free agency pick up for the Goal Stay Valkyries or just an expansion pick for them as they designate, like they're one under straight to free agency selection in the draft, Like that's probably where I go. And then going to Indiana, I guess we would just keep an eye on what the Melissa Smith situation is gonna be. I would guess they protect her and if nothing else, if they do decide to move on, it's going to be a trade from there.
Kensley Mitchell is also going to be a free agent too, so.
This is true. I believe she I'll have to check her who stats, but I believe she still has core eligibility. So they made core Kelsey Mitchell as well. So like Melissa Smith, will be a player that would keep an eye on if she becomes available. That's someone that has proven that they can score and grab boards and they can be a financial, a foundational scoring piece for you.
And just curious what she would look like in a different situation altogether if this was an up and down season for her, But those would probably be the names that come to mind first for me.
Sticking on the Aces, what do you think they need next season in order to get better?
I think, well, one just an off season to recharge and fully heal. As you get the reporting on Chelsea Gray, the Aces had their docu series on her and she went into in detail what she was dealing with, what she was coming back from. So I think one just rest will help them quite a bit in terms of the actual roster needs, like a little bit more versatility in the front court is probably where I would want
to go. I think they have found money over the past few years with being able to go smaller with Asia at the five and Alicia Clark at the four. Having Asia next to another big last year it was lights out with Kia Stokes. This year not so much. They wanted to stretch element with Meghan Goustason that was hit or miss throughout the season. So if they can find a big that pairs better with Asia, I think
that's probably where I go. I mean, entering last season, they were hoping that was still going to be Campus Parker, and right before training camp she announces the retirement, so they still had their Roston ultimately still had a really good season. But I think that's probably the one thing
that I look at. Can you find a big that, even if they aren't a pure stretch five, someone would size that you could utilize as a handoff hub or just a passer so you can still space them out and give Asia all that room inside yard to work with. Just a better fitting five is probably where I would look.
Can I did you Natasha Howard? She's a three time WNBA champion. She is a for her Instagram posts. After Dallas, I'm looking forward to a new city and new team next season.
I must say one that might be the quickest goodbye message I have from SO and on the w side, she hey, I appreciate the fans and my teammates. I can't wait to see what's what's gonna happen with my new team. It's like, okay, fair enough, but her next to Asia is interesting to me. I think naturally she's sloped more in as a four than a five next
to Asia. But like I think, if you are going to continue to ramp things up with Asia and pick a roll in particular and have her at the level, having someone like Natata Howard in a situation where the defensive ecosystem and the expectation is higher, I think she can get back to playing high level defense. We mostly saw flashes of that last season. She had her own entry stuff to deal with earlier in the year, but I would just say it was an adventure watching the
Dallas Wings play defense this past season. So I would imagine one year deal because I don't think anyone's taking a multi year deal this offseason, but one year deal in a championship situation, I think you could see a rebounding effort and overall intensity from Natasha Howard. I think I like that fit.
Oh, okay, we'll keep our eyes out for it. Also, if the WNBA announced that starting next season, there will be a new playoff format and so you know, the finals would go to a best of seven series and then round one would go to that one one one format where the home team will get home court. Then you'll go on away game and go back home potentially.
What do you think about this new playoff format? And do you think that the WNBA reinforced this change because teams like the Indiana Fever didn't get a home game in round one and was pretty much out.
What are your thoughts on that in terms of the finals, going to seven like that feels long overdue and it makes sense if you're going to implement that change to do so not in an Olympic year where the season is already more spread out than you want it to be. So I love that portion. As far as going to one one one, that felt more like a we got charters now and we can afford to do more travel
and so now we can do this. Because I understand the noise about, hey, the league changed just because of the Fever, and like I won't say it wasn't any kind of accelerant on this, but this is something that I've been complaining about for years or when they made the change, I'm just like, just from a league perspective, why would you have a playoff format to where a team doesn't get playoff game? Yeah, like that, just as you're trying to go to the league financially that that
didn't make much sense to me. Now, granted, you know, we didn't get full blown charts into this year, sprinkled in last year, so trying to get the travel together. But I was very much unpopular opinion, but I was like, Okay, well then just let the road team start at home since they only getting one game, and then the higher seed you just get too crackit to go. So that's where I landed all that, and again I recognized I
was very much in the minority on that flot. But now that you have the flights, it makes sense that you go one to one one because I do believe again both teams should just have a home game, if
for no other reason, then for a financial reason. Where it gets interesting for me though, considering we don't have like the Western Conference in the Eastern Conference when it comes to the playoffs, is if we mess around and get Seattle and the Liberty in round one, like we just got aces Storm in round one for the four or five what happens if the Liberty have like an injury real season or something. They're the four seed, Seattle's to five seed. Now you're going cross country in the
first round, Like, are you prepared to deal with that? Like? I wonder what the safeguard is going to be. Do we get an extra day between you know, games one and game two to account for that travel? Yeah, there has to be something in place to kind of counter that potential thing.
Yeah, I absolutely agree with that.
Like, if there's two teams that are completely opposite sides of the country and they have to travel, that could definitely be hell for a team in terms of rest and recovery and less of a fear playing field advantage when you think about that one one one format. But I love that the finals are going to the best of seven series round.
I do think it's.
Fair to give you know, in a way team a game in the playoffs as well, as you mentioned, as the game continues to rise and grow, so I think I like it could there be more for improvement. Maybe this should have been implemented when the team moved to seat team teams, and you could probably do the conferences, as you said, but I'm looking forward to seeing this. I mean, I feel like the league is very receptive to the players and teams in terms of changing the
playoff format. A couple of years ago, Sue Berd made a lot of noise when Seattle was said in the playoffs and it was the single game elimination, and then they changed it to the best of three, like after she was really vocal about it. And now we see teams and players talking about this, and so I like that we're seeing the change happen immediately, but it'll be interesting to say the least. Nikaias, thank you so much for joining us this week. And Casey missed it with
Christina Williams. It's been such a pleasure to chat with you this week.
Thanks for having me a game and continue doing what you're doing in the space, Christina.
Thank you.
You two keep killing it all right. When we come back, it's going to be the things that I loved this week.
More from and Casey missed it with Christine Williams.
Will we returned, Welcome back to and Casey missed it with Christina Williams, and I just want to thank my guy Niicaius again for coming in to talk about all things w playoffs and the latest news.
Around the league. Now it's time for my favorite segment.
It's time for the things that I loved this week. And I'm super excited about this because, one, I've had so much fun this week. But the one thing that I loved that I did this week was I hosted a finals watch party in collaboration with The Flagrant magazine and the sports Bras. Shout out to Jenny, And it was so much fun. WNBA champion and Phoenix Mercury guard Natasha Cloud came through. My guy Juju Gotti from the Dan LeBatard Show was there.
It was great vibes all around.
We had good food, good eats, and of course I got to interact with some of the fans and the people who loved this show. And so that was such a fun time because it meant so much to me to just be there in person and get to meet and talk to new people in the women's basketball community. All Right, that's gonna do it for this episode of In Case you missed It with Christina Williams.
Don't forget to rate, review and.
Subscribe to the podcast, and on the next episode we have law J.
Johnson coming through. Peace Out.
In case you missed it with Christina Williams is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.