WNBA Playoff Preview

Sports Illustrated Weekly. Thank you for having me. So happy to be here again. Oh, it's delightful to have you on as always. The w NBA Playoffs are here and you're gonna help us set the table. Before we get I want to run through all of the different matchups with you, because nobody's just plugged into the w n b a as you are, so it's gonna be great for all of us. But I want to talk about the change to the format in the playoffs, which I

find very interesting. Jordan's so no more buys. Every team plays in the first round, no receding after the first round. This is the component that I find interesting after six years of single elimination first and second round games. We have now moved to first round matchups as a best of three, semifinal and finals best of five the first round Jordan's this is the wrinkle. First two games at the higher seed at home. If the lower seats somehow pulls that off, they get the decisive game three on

their core. What do you make of all this? Do we like it? I like it? I like it. It's like the new old format because this is a format that the W used to have back in the heyday. The single elimination was just chaos and it was fun, but it was like March madness at a pro level, and some players hated it, like if you have an off game and you're a top seed, you don't have a chance to redeem yourself. So I like this series. It gives us more games just in general, more playoff games,

which is what we want. But it's time it allows for some bounce back games, because that's how the Chicago skuy won last year. They had their best games in those single elimination games and then they ended up winning the finals. They came into the playoffs at five hundred and they still won the finals, so it they kind of stopped that right after Chicago did that you make a compelling point. More basketball is always good. We love basketball here. On the one hand, I am an agent

of chaos in my own life. I also embraced chaos as a content creator. However, if you were a basketball player and a basketball team, and you were a higher seed, you certainly want more games because, as we know, the statistics bear it out. If you have an actual series, the higher seeds, the more accomplished teams tend to get through as opposed to Hey, on any given night, if it's just one game, now, all of a sudden, there

might be an upset. So it is a little bit fairer for the teams that are putting the work during the regular season, which brings me Jordan's to these matchups. We'll start with the one versus the eight. It's the Las Vegas Aces versus the Phoenix Mercury. The race. The number one Vegas barely held off the Chicago Sky, the aforementioned defending champions by a half game. It lost any sass, I'm the number one overall. See in the radio playoffs Vegas one all three games versus the Mercury in the

regular season. Uh, what do you see? From Vegas. What are their strengths to the Does Mercury have any shot here? Vegas is going to win the championship, That is my statement. I was gonna save that for the end, but all right, let's do it up top. Let's do it up top, because they are winning this series and they are beating everyone. Asia Wilson is my m v P, so I don't think the Mercury have a chance. Diana Trassi is is out. She was out for the regular season. It's a question

mark if she's playing in the playoffs. Skylar Diggins didn't finish the regular season for personal reasons. So this Mercury team him is kind of stitched together barely. They don't have their all stars Superstar and Britney Griner right now. The Aces also have some injuries with Derick A. Hanby, but they are rolling Kelsey Plum. If Asia wasn't the m v P, Kelsey Plum might be the m v P. Becky Hammond has his team moving like a machine and they're gonna beat everybody. So the Mercury are first up

and they're gonna beat them too. I like it. I like how declarative and definitive. This is as you mentioned, that first round matchup for the Aces doesn't seem like a tall order because of all the things that Phoenix has had to go through this season. There were five games under five hundred, they finished fifteen and twenty. As you mentioned, Diana Tarassi has a quad strain. Who knows if she'll be back. And then the entire Britney Grinder situation,

which has been just a really awful situation. Her lawyers, we should mention, just appealed her sentence while the US government tries to arrange a prisoners swap. There's no real good transition here. It's just like a weight that's that's over everybody. Uh and that that, obviously and rightly so, is a massive distruction because there's more important things in basketball.

But because we're discussing basketball here, Jordan's just imagine you made the case for the Aces rolling and they're gonna win the championship, and they're they're playing so well, what would a Mercury upset have to look like? What would they have to pull off? They would have to score a hundred and fifteen points each game. There's a lot

of points, especially in the debut. The Aces are scoring so easily and so much, and they're going they're the fastest team in the league pace wise, so it's like you have to score more than them and you have to be faster than them for three games or two games. I don't see that happening, especially for the Mercury team. So if they would, if they were to win, they don't have to take it to the whole series and

probably shoot from three breaks. As a basketball fan, I feel like is a tall order, uh, from or from anywhere on the court. So got speed to the Mercury. You've got some nice parting gifts coming your way. Let's go to number two Chicago Sky versus the number seven New York Liberty. Chicago almost got the top slot. They're the defending champs for the first time in franchise history,

the Chicago Sky champions. We know that their interior with Candice Parker is excellent, and yet you're already saying that this is a rap. It's gonna go to the Aces. Tell me more though about the Sky before we get to the Liberty and why the Sky could maybe up end your Aces in your prediction. The Sky have that championship experience, right like going back to back you know what it takes to get there. The Aces have been to the finals before, but this pretty much same unit

with the Sky. We're just there so they know what it takes. They have great leadership in Canus Parker. They have Courtney bandersup, they have Khalia Copper and they're they're just have their mindset there, like we know what it takes to get there. We're going to get back whoever is in our way. We're gonna bulldoze them. But when

they meet the Aces again, that's where it stops. I have Chicago going all the way up until but we just had the Commissioner's Cup not too long ago, which is basically they're in season tournament for the w n b A and the Chicago Sky and the Aces met there. The Aces were up by thirty in the first quarter, Like it's a lot of points. They score a lot

of points. That's what I'm getting at. So if the Sky can match them there and kind of prep each series like Okay, this is what we need to work on to beat the Aces, then that's what's going to get them there. First up for the Liberty, they are a tough team and they barely made it into the playoffs. If you guys didn't know, the last regular season games all decided the last three spots of the playoffs. So the Liberty got that spot because they beat the Atlanta Dream.

So the Liberty got that spot two times in a row. They've squeaked in. But you have Sabrina Esque, which you're gonna bet money on. You're gonna bet money on that. She's going to have a great game, She's gonna have a good series. But Nigel Laney, Um, so many players on this Liberty team are going to fight till the end. But I still don't think they make it past Chicago and their experience. Yeah, as you mentioned, Liberty just snuck in.

They finished at sixteen and twenty. Uh. Doesn't look good for them either, in the same way that it doesn't look good for Phoenix. But now we get into some of these matchups that could potentially be slightly more competitive. You have number three Connecticut Sun versus the sixth seed the Dallas Wings. The Son had a really good season and eleven just a half game behind this guy in a game behind the Aces eleven and three. Since the All Star break, they're playing their best basketball right now.

What do you think maybe a potential spoiler somewhere in here. Yeah, the Connecticut Son. I always say this about them. They are the bride'smaids, but never the bride. They have wonderful regular seasons top top three for the past like four years, but they when it gets to the postseason, it gets a little shaky. So if I'm yes, and if you're the Wings, you want the Connecticut Son. I'm excited for this series because the Wings are a team that will

blow up everyone's bracket. Like they are really good and they're peeking at the right time. Without their superstar, Rique gomal A, one of the best players in the league, is injured right now and she is expected to miss the first round. I hate to see it for such an awesome player. Plus, don't forget she's just came back from that ankle injury. But the Dallas Wings have actually been playing better without her, which is very interesting. Usually

that doesn't happen. Well, so let me let me stop you then, because there they were a game under five hundred. They finished at seventeen and eighteen. As you mentioned, they don't have their top score the best player Rique, She's got an abdominal injury and yet You're excited for the series and think that the Wings want the Sun. So what are the Wings doing to the Sun or what do you think the Wings can bring that could potentially spell an upset. The Sun are really good inside in

the paint. Most of their points are right in the middle. They have Alyssa thomas Um, they have Bree Jones who just clog it up. But the Dallas Wings have Tierra McCowen, who is having a breakout season on this new team. She was with the Fever before, now she's with Dallas and we're really were able to see her blossom into this dominant post player that we knew that she could be.

So they have that matchup in the in the paint, it's it's not going to be so easy for them where they have John Quo Jones typically you know feasted inside, but they have Tierra McCowan to at least be a barrier and stop them. They also have Izzie Harrison, who is a post player. So I think that matchup in the paint is usually where Connecticut's son beats everybody else.

Dallas has that marked. And then on the outside, Dallas has Marina Maybury who's having an incredible season, and it is really stepping up while Rique is out and Connecticut is a little inconsistent on the outside with their guards.

I think Heidelman is doing well. Courtney Williams is great, but I think Marina Maybrey is gonna drop a thirty point game on them, and they're not gonna see it coming because they're expecting a Rique to do that, and since she's not here, maybe they fall back a little bit um and Dallas kind of strikes. That's what I'm hoping for. Are you gonna do it? Are you going to pick the upset? Oh? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Yeah, there we go. You're

gonna hear first on Sports Illustrator Weekly, Jordan's picking the upset? Alright? Last one for you, number four Seattle Storm versus the number five Washington Mystics. Uh, they finished with the same record, both were fourteen tiebreaker and home court go to the Storm. Super even what are we looking for here? Aside from farewell to Supper who was like one of the great, not just great all time basketball players, but one of the great all time athletes. Ever. I can't believe she's retiring.

I can't believe it either. I'm so old. I'm so old. It's it's bizarre. I don't know a w B A without super like shea going to college. She has been winning at every level for so long. But this has been a wonderful farewell tour to her every game, her last home game, her last regular season game, like everything has really been this. We love you, Sue, we love you. Now is the playoffs, and uh, I don't know if the Washington Mystics are going to be so so nice

to you on her farewell tour. But it really helps that Sue is on a Seattle Storm team with Brianna Stewart and Jue Lloyd and all of these one Tina Charles, like all of these really great basketballers. I watched the Seattle Storm the other day and I was like, they could win it all. Like they're that good. They are so good. And when we talk about experience in the postseason, this is a core that has won multiple championships together, have been to the playoffs almost every season, have been

to the finals, so they know what it takes. They're like, you know, a regular season, Yeah, yeah, we're the fourth seed, but we're going to turn up in the playoffs. This Washington Mystic team is trying to figure that out. Atlanta de Ladon was a part time player during the regular season just to save her for this moment um. Natasha Cloud is a little bit of a question mark. I know she got banged up in the last the last game,

Zone Philly Zone. Natasha contractually obligated to mention that anytime anybody for Philadelphia appears, So yes, very excited for you. Got Khalia Copper to North Philly. She's on the Chicago skuy so you you'll love her too. But the Washington Mystics are close. I don't think this is their year to make it past Seattle, but they're close. They're like a season or two from winning it again. So it sounds to me like you're going with the storm though,

or are you wavering? I'm going with the storm. I'm going with the storm here. Jula Lloyd had thirty eight I think in the last game, and every time I watched her play basketball, I'm just in awe and she is wonderful at the sport, and I think this is her time to shine. She wants People have kind of only been talking about Sue's farewell tour and not really about how good Seattle Storms team is. And I think she wants to kind of prove like, yeah, we're good

and we're gonna we're gonna go far. And you've got me excited for that series. You've got me excited for these playoffs. You've already mentioned that the finals are gonna be chalk, and then you've got the Aces winning. So we've covered all that. Less exciting probably for them, maybe not for us, are the teams that were eliminated. I just want to rattle off a couple here with you

that did not make the playoffs. The Sparks, Jordan's, the Sparks missing back to back postseasons for the first time since the first two years as a team, traded away their first round pick, Grimm, Grimm and l A. Yeah, you know, I was at the last home game last night, and um, how did that go? It did not go well because you know that Dallas team that I was telling you about, Yeah, they beat us by about forty

It was not good. A friend of mine Jordan's a friend of mine went to a game recently and said there was no energy in the building. It was kind of dead. People are like only the hardcore Sparks fans like you go, now, yeah, it's kind of rough. I think me and my fiance were there and we were looking around and we were like, it isn't Sparks basketball. Like it was actually bad basketball. They didn't know what

they're doing. I've interviewed so many Sparks players this season, and it was turnover with coaches and players and egos. And you can make all the shots on the court, but if everything behind the scenes isn't working out and isn't jelling together, then it kind of doesn't matter. And that's what's going on with the Sparks right now. It doesn't seem like anyone is like, hey, remember when we

were good. I panned up to the championship banners while I was there, and I zoomed in to just remember the good times that, like, we were good at one point, right, so we got to get back there. We have to get back there. I don't know what it's gonna take, but this season was pretty awful, Like it was pretty bad. How long I mean when you say you don't know what it'll take, I mean ball park me Like, like, how grim do you think it is? Like when do you think they're back in the mix. Are we talking

about like a full hard reset? Your you know, this season was the reset. It was pretty much a whole new roster. And then I saw a tweet the other day that said, like six players are free agents or unrestricted free agents. So will they come back to this fire storm? I don't know, are they going to go

somewhere else? I think we need a new coach. Derek Fisher was fired and then we had an interim with Fred Williams, I believe, and no one really bought into what he was doing because it just seemed like it was temporary. So if we come in, have a coach come in and say this is our identity, this is what we're gonna stand for, this is what we're gonna play for. Hey, let's watch some old game film of the Lisa Leslie sparks and how packed it was in Staples in the forum, Like let's get back to how

great we can be. Then I think they'll be buy in because the players want to play at a high level, they want to win, and individually they're all great players. They just have to figure out how to jail them together. Small small things. I mean, it's just so tiny count the organization change. Yeah, one more team that I wanted to mention to you that didn't make it. The links were eliminated, which means we say goodbye to the great Sylvia Fouls a lot of media attention, obviously and rightly so,

as she's leaving. Highly recommend by the way Ben Pickman story on her in s I, Sylvia is a legend. She's got a very unique life story which I want to touch on with you, but real quick. Uh as a basketball player, fifteen year career to w NBA titles, two finals, MVPs for Olympic Golds, go on and on about total rebounds and field goal percentage and double doubles. Member of the WS Anniversary team, just dunked in the most recent All Star Game. It put her career in perspective.

Explain her greatness to people, man Sweet Silk. First of all, she is the nicest person I've ever met. Like sweet Sill just is the perfect moniker for her because she is so nice. But her career is really dominance, like pure dominance for a really long time, like a fifteen year career. She's still the league leader in rebounding. Her last season, she has the all time leader in rebounds. And it's so interesting because when you see her play even this season, you say, she's still dominant. Why is

she hanging it up? But she wanted to end on this note, and I think as basketball fans we can always appreciate that. We didn't want her to go down an injury or um she was going to retire in when she had a hip surgery, but she don't want to go out like that. She wanted to still go out as this dominant, most decorated player, and for an organization like The Links where she helped, you know, really create their dynasty and help with that. But the game

is going to miss her. I think a lot of people are going to be able to get more layups now that she's not in there blocking and uh, share the rebounds somewhere else. But just as fans, you know, she plays with such tenacity and energy, but it's also super super kind and really nice. We're just gonna miss her. We love Sylvia. Foul's here right to the last, as you said, still dominant on the boards, still cleaning the glass, still burying people, which is appropriate because she's going to

spend her next phase of her life as a mortician. Yes, I mean this is a wild component. Again, I recommend people go read Ben Pickman's story, but it's all about how she was like into death from an early age and she like just decided to have a side hustle where she like showed up at a funeral home and was like, I'll help you beautify these corpses, and that's

gonna be her life. It's wild. It's so wild. She is probably the most interesting person ever because also she like knits, and she like knit everyone a homemade gift. On her last home game, while she was receiving all these flowers and gifts, she knitted everybody something personal, like that's who she is. But also yes, she says that people just aren't educated in the mortician area and that it's actually great and she loves it. So more about to a great retirement plan. Honestly, Wow, I wish her

the best. She was a delight to watch. I'm excited about the playoffs now because we've previewed them with you, so we wish you the best as well. Listen to Jordan on the Spinsters with Haley, who is also a friend of the program, and watch her at w NBA commentary on buckets. She's our number one seed and a sure fire Hall of Famer. Jordan leggands, thank you for this, Thank you, thanks for listening everybody, and a reminder to please rate and review the show that helps people find us.

Sports Illustrated Weekly is a production of Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. And for more of Sports Illustrated, its best stories and podcasts, visit SI dot com. This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly was produced by Jordan Rosieri, Jessica Armoski, and Isaac Lee, who was also our sound engineer. Our senior producers are Dan Bloom and Harry sward Out.

Our executive producers are Scott Brody and me John Gonzaltz. Our theme song is by Nolan Schneider. And if you've stuck around this long, we leave you with this. I'm I'm preparing for people to just show up and be like, oh, well, this distant cousin was invited song. I'm invited right. That's how me and Jordan are going to show up soon. We were invited come to Santa Clarita, come on down. All Jordan's are invited for sure.