← No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
WNBA Playoffs: Which series are headed to game 3?
00:56:10
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- [00:02]
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- [02:51]
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- [04:57]
Ben Pickman
For the athletic I'm Ben Pickman and this is the Athletic Women's Basketball show presented by AT&T. Welcome to the Athletic Women's Basketball Show. We're coming to you on a Monday afternoon after the first full day of the WNBA post season is complete for Series 1 0. Of course, that's how it was always going to be and four different kinds of games with a lot of storylines and a lot of takeaways coming out of them. We were at three of them. And so joining me on this podcast from all over the country, we have Sabrina Merchant, who is coming to us from Uncasville, Connecticut. Beautiful Uncasville, Connecticut. And Chantel Jennings from Minneapolis, Minnesota, of course, at that Lynx game on Sunday. But don't worry, Aces and Storms fan, we will also be talking about that game too. So we will be breaking down each game, previewing the game twos and talking about the postseason. Our impressions so far. So we're gonna go in order, guys. Of the games that I think lit up our text group, the most that we got the most engagement out of as we were going back and forth and just watching these games. And so I think the clear answer, the clear one that got the most engagement that we were all locked into and talking back and forth during was the Minnesota Lynx and the Phoenix Mercury. And that was a 102.95 win by those Minnesota Lynx. Minnesota led by as many as 23 points in the third quarter. Nafisa Collier, a playoff career high 38 points. And the Lynx held on after, you know, a little bit of a scare. So, Chantel, you were in the building for this, a long awaited return to Target Center. I think everyone was welcoming you back. I'm sure just set the scene for us a little bit. What was it like in Target center before tip off? What were your impressions as kind of the game got underway?
- [06:54]
Sabrina Merchant
Well, I just want to shout out that you referred to Uncasville as beautiful. Uncasville in Minnesota didn't get any kind of a shout out. And now people are probably going to be thinking that like the Uncasville Tourism board is sponsoring this podcast, which Uncasville, if you're looking for someone to sponsor, get in touch with our ad team.
- [07:10]
Ben Pickman
Maybe a little sarcasm. And I don't know how big the Uncasville Tourism board is, but I digress.
- [07:15]
Sabrina Merchant
Well, let's get back to Minnesota then. From beautiful Minneapolis. I arrived like two and a half hours early. There weren't a ton of people or reporters in the building quite yet. I walked out to my seat and I was the only one out there. So then I went back to the media room. The Vikings game was on rather than the Fever. And so I sat and watched the Fever game from my computer with my headphones on in the corner and ate a lovely cookie as I waited for the Minnesota Phoenix game to start. But I think about 40 minutes or so before tip off, I went out into the arena. I was filling up. There were Towels on every seat. That said links, they're doing all the in arena, pump up stuff, the mascot is walking around, all of those sort of things. There's definitely a palpable energy there that I think this is the most optimistic Minnesota fans have been in a long time in terms of their chances for a championship. And I think you could really feel that in the arena. Kind of the flip side of that, though, is the other part of the series is obviously if this is it for Diana Taurasi. And I think that was also really obvious in the arena when they were announcing the Mercury starters. She got a really big cheer, even though I would say the vast majority of fans in the building were Minnesota fans. And so I think everyone's kind of aware of what this series means, both for Minnesota and its chances at a championship, but also, as Nafisa said after the game, she hopes to end Diana's career on Wednesday. And kind of what that would also mean if, if that does happen on Wednesday in Minneapolis.
- [08:43]
Ben Pickman
I think it was important that we started with some of those scene setting details. And I'm glad you painted that picture because at least one of the things that jumped out to me on tv the second half, you know, went on and the Phoenix Mercury crawled back in was just how quiet the arena got. That I thought was pretty evident over the airwaves. And I guess, you know, as we dive into this game a little bit further, can you just again continue to paint that picture of just what did it sound like, what did it feel like, what was the energy in the second half and maybe fill people in a little bit on the game story as everything was kind of unraveling a little bit for the Minnesota Lynx.
- [09:18]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, I love that you bring up our group text because I've actually been thinking it would be hilarious to do a dramatic table reading of our group text at some point, take fans inside what it's like to be on our group text with at least the applicable text messages to games and stuff. Because the three of us are coordinating what we're writing at the end of the night and we're contributing together to this day one recap. And I think it was, I don't know, Nafisa was going off midway through the first quarter and I text everyone, I said, well, I'm writing fee unless something dramatically changes. And not long after, I think Sabrina's response was like, well, how's that going? What are you thinking about writing now? And I was like, well, things have dramatically changed, I guess, because it was just this game where it was such a game of momentum and runs. And if you take a snapshot, like in the first half, if you look at it, you're like, nafisa Collier is absolutely running this thing. Like, Minnesota is going to run away with this. It's going to be a 40 point blowout win. Minnesota setting such a tone with this game, sending such a message to the rest of the league. Flash forward 25 minutes and you're like, oh, there's playoff Tosh. Like, there she is. She's the best player on the floor. She's making everything happen. And I think it was just this like back and forth game of that in terms of, like, it is a game of runs, it's a game of momentum. And the first half it was Minnesota. And then the defense started to falter. Cheryl Reeve was not happy with how Minnesota executed their defensive plan. And playoff Tosh showed up and had a, you know what we've come to expect of her, especially in the last few years, like just an outstanding game. And yes, the arena got really, really quiet, which honestly made Bridget Carlton's three with 40 seconds to go that much more impactful because that was when you sort of realized how quiet it had been for so long because it honestly felt like the roof blew off that place. Like she hits that three from the left corner and like Minnesota fans are used to seeing that. But what it meant for extending their lead and kind of like how clutch it was, it just went from sort of like crickets to like this explosion of cheers from, you know, 9,000 people in the arena. And I think that was when I sort of realized exactly how quiet it had been through much of the second half?
- [11:20]
Ben Pickman
Sabrina, just what did you kind of make of it as that comeback was happening and as the Phoenix Mercury were crawling back in, Just what did you kind of see and what stuck out to you as everything was kind of going down?
- [11:30]
Chantel Jennings
Just a really fun game to watch. I mean, we had started the day with some, some less than ideal performances in the playoffs, but to get to a really, really fun game where, as Chantel said, like, you just had stars playing like stars. Not only was Nafeesa Collier putting on her playoff career high, but you have Kalia Kopper who just showing that she's unguardable when she gets to her first step, and Diana Tarazi having a nice moment where I think she puts up 21 points in one of potentially her final playoff games. And obviously Natasha Cloud, who I somehow forget every year, is just a dramatically improved shooter during the playoffs, regardless of who the opponent is. And I think she set a WNBA mark by becoming the first player in playoff history to have back to back games with 30 points and double digit assists. But you know, you don't really think of Natasha Clyde like I don't even think we had in our all star conversation this year. And yet I'm watching the games on Sunday and like, maybe she's the best player, you know, best performance of any of those four games, with all due respect to what Nafisa Collier did, obviously across from her in that same game. But I was just really impressed by Phoenix. Like they've kind of been lifeless over the last month and for them to have this resilience, this ability to bounce back and like make adjustments, play a little bit bigger, I thought, you know, the Natasha Mack, Brittney Griner minutes were a lot of fun. I really enjoyed watching Monique Billings just get lots and lots of rebounds. So yeah, it was kind of cool to watch Phoenix have to evolve over the course of this game and be able to do so in real time and even take the lead in the fourth quarter. And I think equally impressive for Minnesota to withstand that game pressure and figure out a way to get things done.
- [12:56]
Ben Pickman
You know, I know later in the night you wrote about maybe Seattle blowing their opportunity to win a game, but I guess I wonder, back to you, like, do you feel like Phoenix might have missed their only chance to win a game in this series? Because I kind of had the feeling in the fourth quarter, like I was taken back a little bit to watching the finals last year and Game four and specifically how I know we were sitting next to each other and we were just talking about like, if Las Vegas can keep this close and if they can cut it to a certain amount, then they still have the talent on the court to pull out a victory, right? They still had Plum, they still have Asia, they still Jackie Young in that series, and we saw what happened in game four to close out the New York Liberty. I kind of feel the same way about the Phoenix Mercury or I did yesterday, obviously with a little bit of a different result where like they didn't play their best game. Initially though, we saw the Natasha Cloud performance and we know that their roster, you know, doesn't have a ton of depth overall. They've dealt with injuries all year, but like, they still do have players that if the game is close in the fourth quarter, anything can happen. And that's kind of what we saw from kalia copper scoring 10 over 20 points in the fourth quarter that like, she didn't play great for the first three quarters, but when it mattered, she has the ability to just get downhill and create baskets. So that was kind of one of the takeaways I had. And of course they come up short, but, I mean, was this kind of their best opportunity? Do we see them replicating this formula at all going forward?
- [14:21]
Chantel Jennings
I'm always of the belief that a road team's best shot of getting one of the first two games comes in game one before the team gets to settle in. I'm about to completely go in opposition of that in another series, but I do think that this was probably Phoenix's best opportunity just in terms of, you know, surprising Minnesota a little bit. Like, you could tell. I mean, Chantel, you can obviously add to this what it felt like in the building, but it seemed like the Lynx were just caught off guard by Phoenix's ability to come back. And I don't think you have that element of surprise anymore in game two. I think they're going to defend Natasha Cloud differently. They kept going under on her. You can't keep going under on her. She just makes a lot of jump shots in the playoffs. That's what happens with Natasha Cloud. And I think, you know, Cheryl Reeve is going to probably become announced as coach of the Year at some point during these playoffs. I would imagine they just have a lot of adjustments for what Phoenix was able to do, and I think that their bag of counters is just deeper than what Phoenix has to offer considering the roster limitations on that set.
- [15:20]
Sabrina Merchant
I completely agree with you, Sabrina. I think this is sort of a unique game too, though, because, like, again, to go back to it, like, if this is it for Diana Taurasi, like, this is the most unique game too, for a road team in a very long time in terms of, like, players showing up. We saw Natasha Cloud and Kalia Kopper, like, you know, when your number is called, show up. Like, if everyone is sort of feeling it or if everyone knows it and just hasn't said it yet, that this is potentially Diana's last game. Like, what version of BG do we see? What version of Diana do we see? What version of, you know, like, down the roster, like Celeste Taylor, like, all these players sort of showing up in a big way for the chance to bring Diana back to Phoenix one more time. I think, you know, by and large that Game one is the most winnable for road teams, but this is just sort of a unique situation where you have the greatest WNBA scorer for all time 40 minutes away from getting to go home. One last time. And I wonder how maybe that manifests in the Mercury.
- [16:19]
Ben Pickman
Chantal, what are you, you know, what were coaches, what were players saying? What do you expect. Expect to be different in game two. What were some of the adjustments or the tenors that you think are going to change?
- [16:29]
Sabrina Merchant
Well, neither of the coaches were going to go into it. Much like Cheryl Reeve was asked, you know, are there adjustments that you see could work moving forward? And she said yes, and that was it. I think Sabrina hit it on the head in terms of like, you can't go under screens on Natasha Cloud. Minnesota was doubling off of her down to bg and she said, you know, she took that personally. I thought of like the Jordan meme, you know, every time they did it, you could just sort of see this, this fire in her burning a little brighter. And it's like this is someone who, who is really going to show up and play well. I think establishing tempo is, is going to be really important for the Mercury. Natasha talked about that in the post game, but it'll be a really interesting Wednesday night in Minneapolis. I think it has a chance to be, either way, it goes, a really, really good game. I'm really interested to see how plays into it because everyone sort of knows that this is likely or could be Diana's last game.
- [17:18]
Ben Pickman
Do you think Phoenix is going to be more motivated because of that or are they talking about that at all or acknowledging it? Other players. I know Diana has kind of been uncommittal publicly about what she's saying, but are other players kind of. I don't know. Do you feel like it's weighing on them a little bit or motivating them a little bit or not really.
- [17:37]
Sabrina Merchant
No one really wanted to talk about it in the post game. I think everyone is sort of running with the line of like, well, she hasn't. After the season's over, she's going to make some decisions and she's going to think about it and talk about, you know, I think it's like what we hear from everyone where it's like they're gonna go home and sit with their family and, you know, make some decisions. And it's like Diana's a very decisive person. I think. I think she's probably had her mind made up for a long time that she's either gonna play out this really, really long, hilarious joke to her and come back next year, or she's, you know, lacing up her shoes one last time this year. And so, yeah, no one, everyone is staying very, like, tight lipped on this. But, yeah, I think for me, it'll be. It'll be really interesting to cover Wednesday night's game either way, but especially if it's her final game. But there was this moment. I took a photo of it because it just felt really poignant. Diana was checking in in the second half when the Mercury was going on this run, and everyone is, like, looking down and she's just standing at the scores table all alone, and her legs are, like. She has her, like, feet crossed and she's leaning back and she looks so calm and comfortable and, like, in her element, which is what this is. And it's this court that she's, like, ruled for so long. Right. And it's like, at that point, it was pretty quiet in the arena, but it was just like this moment where I was like, wow. Like, I can't believe that truly Wednesday might be her last game. And if that is, you know, for me as a sports writer, sort of feeling that I do wonder what it's going to be like in the locker room for her teammates and coaches.
- [18:58]
Ben Pickman
Yeah, it will be a really interesting scene as you're talking about. If Phoenix does lose and Minnesota advances, does Diana get that ovation? What is it like in the locker room? What are players saying? And does she commit to anything more than she already has? I guess let's turn to another series and let us go to one that was not close on the scoreline, but one that was much anticipated. Sabrina, you are currently, as we've already teased in Connecticut because you were at the game one of the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun. A 9369 win by the Connecticut Sun. Alyssa Thomas had her fourth postseason triple double 15th of her career. 12 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists. I guess before we jump into that game, Sabrina, just for you, what was your favorite part of the Mohegan Sun Casino? Have you done any exploring of the casino so far?
- [19:47]
Sabrina Merchant
Any highlights?
- [19:48]
Ben Pickman
Yeah. What can you tell us about that?
- [19:49]
Chantel Jennings
You know, it's funny you mentioned that warm welcome that Chantel must have gotten on her return to Target Center. This is my first time at Mohegan sun, and every single person I ran into was like, oh, I thought Ben was going to be here.
- [19:59]
Ben Pickman
Congratulations.
- [20:01]
Chantel Jennings
So that was lovely. I think my clothes just smell like sugar from all of the Krispy Kremes around. It's just a very pungent smell that really seeps in. I mean, there's worse things to smell like than donuts, obviously, but I. I just love the vibe. You know, I've spent a lot of Time in Las Vegas. Every casino there has kind of lost its personality. Like, everything on the Strip sort of feels like the same architect has built it, and it's just sleek and modern and doesn't really have any fun to it. And Mohegan is just. It's a vibe, you know, like, everything is really loud and colorful and, you know, the patterns everywhere. And some artwork that felt a little. I didn't even feel comfortable taking pictures of it because I didn't want them on my phone. It was that uncomfortable. But Mohegan. Yeah, good times. I suppose I'll spend some more time there over the course of this week at practices and games and such. But, yeah, a fun first trip to Connecticut so far.
- [20:55]
Ben Pickman
Yeah. Well, that is. I don't know if that phrase has ever been uttered on a podcast before, at least with the commute that you had to do from Los Angeles. But that is also the pitch from the Yonkersville Tour. We're gonna clip that audio out and send it to them for what you just described. But, yes, let's go to something else. Another thing that had holes, and that is the Indiana Fever defense, because they were not very good, especially in the second half, with how they struggled, I guess. Sabrina, just what did you kind of make of Connecticut, how they came out? I know a lot of talk about experience in this series and seemed like it kind of showed up in game one.
- [21:28]
Chantel Jennings
Yeah, I think, you know, experience is definitely one factor. The number keeps getting thrown out. Entering this series, Connecticut had 222 total games of playoff experience, whereas Indiana had 19. And none of those come from their starting five. So definitely tilted in one direction in terms of that balance. But the defense, like that has nothing to do with experience. Indiana was just a bad defensive team over the course of the regular season. That just was a function of how they play. They like to get up and down. They have no problem with made baskets, so long as they can take the ball out of the hoop really quickly and get the ball moving, you know, back in the other direction. They're sort of like unofficial baseline this year was we just need to give up 84 points or fewer, which is, you know, above what most teams score. But totally fine when you average 85 points like the Indiana Fever do. And to not even get close to that total, I think was kind of a disappointment for them, even if it was their first playoff game, with all of these, you know, barriers of the big stage and this new moment and all of this, like, disparity that they had to overcome. But I thought their defense was just, it wasn't unexpected for them to look like that defensively. Like, you know, Caitlin Clark talked about it, you know, she said, I saw Marina hit two threes and then I just didn't cover her for like the next two. And I, I can't do that because when you're a shooter and you see the basket like you see two going to the basket, it just starts to look huge. And to have all of these self professed mistakes and lapses that happened over the course of the game, for better or worse, I mean, actually for worse, it's just a thing that's been a course of the, the fever season. Like for all of the gains they've made offensively. We don't talk much about their defense because frankly there's not much to talk about. Like they score more points than their opposition and they weren't able to do that against Connecticut. And I don't think anything Connecticut did was like out of the ordinary. I mean, we don't expect Marina Mabry to hit five threes, but Indiana was just putting them in position to get comfortable to, you know, have openings for jump shots. And even teams that are loath to take jumpers as the Connecticut sun are like, you give them that much space and they're going to work with it.
- [23:17]
Sabrina Merchant
So Ben, I want to throw this back to you, but before we go any further, I did some Google research while Sabrina was talking. There is not an Uncasville tourism board. However, I did learn that Uncasville is actually a village within the town of Montville, Connecticut. I didn't realize this, that it was a village and it does look like Montville has a tourism board within its city government or within its town government. But visit Connecticut, which is the Connecticut tourism office, might be our better shout out here in terms of advertising, so we can just put that in the back pocket. But to go back to basketball, Ben, as someone that has spent a lot of time in the village of Uncasville, when we talk about game twos and the potential for a road team to win game one overcoming that deficit going into game two, you add the inexperience factor that Sabrina was just talking about is the offensive potential in the backcourt of Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark enough to potentially get this team back to Indianapolis for a game three.
- [24:14]
Ben Pickman
It definitely is. I mean, look, Caitlin Clark was one of nine in the first half. I don't think anyone had Dimiras Dantas of the Indiana Fever reserve outscoring Caitlin Clark in the first half. And also so for the game 12 to 11, if you had that on a betting card, good on you. And we need to talk about other gambling wagers that people should make for other sports because I pretty unpredictable that that happened. Honestly, Chantel, like I thought Game one kind of went how I thought it was going to go, where it was close initially and then Connecticut just, you know, overpowered Indiana and I did not expect the 27 points for Marina Mabry off the bench, an unbelievable showing overall. Dewana Bonner had a great game, 22 points as well, five assists and she played really good defense on Clark early on. But like when Sabrina and I talked about this series on Friday, I had picked Connecticut in two and my kind of prescription of the series and we'll see if it turns out to be right. Look, I'm going to be wrong a lot during this postseason when we have these conversations, but I do feel a little bit validated where I think like the series sets up for how I thought where Connecticut is going to win Game one handily and Indiana is going to come out and make some adjustments in Game two and it's going to be a much more competitive game. But I still don't think that Indiana has, you know, even if they value every possession more, even if Clark plays better, Connecticut has played really, really well against Indiana all year long. It was somewhat fitting that Alyssa Thomas had this triple double because she started the year with a triple double against the Indiana Fever. And so while I expect, you know, Mitchell to play better and you know she was not bad by any means, 9 of 20 from the field, 21 points and Clark obviously is going to play better. And we've seen Aaliyah Boston, you know, she was much better tonight than she was in some of the early season matchups against the Connecticut Sun. I still don't know how they are going to slow down Connecticut. And I think Connecticut's coaching staff I regard as one of the best in the league and so I would expect them to continue to tinker too. And so to answer your question, I still think this one is going to end in two games as well.
- [26:15]
Chantel Jennings
So my one caveat to that is that the Connecticut sun have lost five consecutive game twos in the playoffs and this comes in a variety of situations at home on the road, whether they've won or lost game one. But it is a thing that has happened now dating back to the last five series. So that's three series in 2022 when they made their run to the WNBA Finals and two last year and Connecticut is the only team to have gone to three games in the first round, you know, both times in this format. So I know I said that I think the road team usually has to steal game one. Apparently, that's not the case against the Connecticut Sun. Apparently there's always a letdown after Game 1 with Connecticut. And, you know, you mentioned visit Connecticut in the tourism board. Apparently a lot of Caitlin Clark and Fever fans have done that over the course of this weekend, because that building was not nearly as pro Connecticut as I thought it was going to be. You know, you have an arena that seats, I think, about 10,000 people, maybe a little bit less, and they do really well in terms of filling it during the regular season. So I didn't think that there was going to be enough of a gap for Fever fans to sneak in and get extra seats. And yet, you know, whenever Caitlin, like, threw a good pass, because that was the low bar of Caitlin Clark's success in Game 1 of the playoffs, there were roars. Dewana Bonner got booed at the free throw line at one point in her home arena, which was astounding to me. You know, she was doing whatever she could to pump up the crowd, throwing her arms up during stoppages, like giving hearts to the fans by the Connecticut bench when they started, you know, to try to do chants to drown out the Indiana fans. But a lot of 22s and Fever jerseys, a lot of 22s in Iowa jerseys. I think I even upset one particular fan who had made the trip from New York, because I asked her, she was wearing an Iowa 22 jersey. I asked her how long it had taken her to get there, and she's like, oh, I'm from New York, but don't worry, my family is from Iowa. As if I was, like, suggesting she was a bandwagon fan of some sort. But I do think that, like, if Indiana can just start with a little bit more momentum, potentially get their part of the crowd into it, which figures to still be a pretty substantial portion of the crowd, even on a Wednesday, you know, in the middle of the week. This is the series that I think has the biggest potential to go to game three because of Connecticut's history in these moments, because of Indiana's possibility of just running the score up, you know, and the fact that I think they have the least home court advantage, so to speak, to work against.
- [28:34]
Ben Pickman
I like that you came away a little surprised by the scene, Sabrina, because I would have told you, and I guess I should have prepped you that, you know, Game one of the season. Like, it was striking to me being at the, you know, season opener between these two teams, just how many fans, like hours in advance of the game were walking around in Fever 22 jerseys and Fever jerseys. And this isn't the start of the year, so people haven't even had that long of a time to purchase these things. And we all know, you know, people love to complain about WMB merchandise and how it's so inaccessible and things get sold out so quickly. So, like this is in the first wave of purchases. And it was hours before tip off on like a. I think it was a weekday afternoon or a weekday evening and just so many people are walking around. And that was one of the things that struck me. And you know, the arena that night was certainly in anticipation of seeing like Clark's first basket. And I think it took to the second quarter to see it. So the fact that you say that did not surprise me. Did you see the bandwagon cam? Did they do that again in Connecticut? Because that was one of the things. Do you want to say what that is?
- [29:32]
Chantel Jennings
Yeah. So I've seen the bandwagon cam at a couple arenas, actually. I think they even did it in la where they just show people wearing Fever gear or Iowa gear with the tagline underneath. Been fans since 2024, the WNBA. And that definitely made a reappearance before the game at Mohegan sun and as a topic of conversation throughout.
- [29:54]
Ben Pickman
Yeah, Chantel, we have a story that went up on theathletic.com on Monday afternoon about the Caitlin Clark effect. And we talked to a number of different people from Indy, you know, Tamika Catching's pre January. We talked to business people, we talked to fans, and we just looked at all different kinds of ways. Caitlin Clark has changed the business of what's going on in Indiana, in the wnba, in the state. What did we kind of learn about ticket prices through that record, that reporting? And what stuck out to you as we were working through that?
- [30:24]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, I mean, it's what we thought it would be, which is basically that Indiana Fever tickets for road games were significantly higher. The Fever push up prices everywhere. And I think we're seeing that even in the playoffs. We were checking ticket prices this weekend for game one, and it was the highest get in price in terms of $89. But I'm looking right now on Ticketmaster and if you want to go to game two in Uncasville, you can get in for 59 bucks. But if you want to sit courtside, there are seats going for $1,400 right now to sit behind the scores.
- [30:56]
Ben Pickman
A lot of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
- [30:59]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah. If you're spending $1,400 on a basketball ticket, I think you can also afford to buy several Krispy Kreme doughnuts as well. But many of these tickets are like 800, $900, $1,400. There's lower bowl and upper bowl tickets available. Also. I currently have a subtotal of three tickets in my cart for $4,800, so I need to make sure I don't accidentally hit buy. But it's what we've this Caitlin Clark fever effect that is not just impacting Indianapolis where we found some really interesting stats across the board that like after the whole zoobulation thing at the beginning of the season, zoo attendance went up 12% this year. And even across the country there's a women's sports bar in Portland called the Sports Bra. They don't have a WNBA team currently. Their closest team is Seattle, which is a three hour drive. And on fever game days versus any other game day for the WNBA, they were recording 56% higher revenue, which is an incredible stat. Just sort of of the impact of a player and a team on. On women's sports and women's basketball across the country.
- [32:00]
Ben Pickman
I guess we made a prediction for Minnesota and Phoenix. Let's make a quick pick for this one because I think this is an interesting series. Chantelle, who do you think is going to win game two?
- [32:10]
Sabrina Merchant
I think Connecticut gets it done. I just feel like the inexperience is a factor that's really hard to overcome. And in all of those games that Sabrina cited, which, you know, I very rarely will go against Sabrina's basketball brain on anything, but this just feels like none of those teams had, you know, I guess now they have what, 20 total playoff experiences on their roster. But just the lack of experience on this team. I think it's about talent, it's about skill, it's about game plan. But I also think there's something about being there before versus acting like you've been there before. And Connecticut has that in spades. They've actually been there before. And so my money's on Connecticut.
- [32:45]
Ben Pickman
I also am going to take Connecticut. Sabrina, what do you think? What are you watching for and who are you picking?
- [32:50]
Chantel Jennings
I said Connecticut and three to start the series. I still feel similarly. I think Indiana is going to pull this one out. I just think that they're due for a one good offensive performance in this building. You know, Ben, you brought up Vegas, New York from last year. I remember Becky Hammond saying before game four, like we've played in this building three times this season. We haven't shot well once. We're due for one. And I kind of feel similarly about Indiana. Just the dam is going to break at some point and I think if they get going, Connecticut doesn't really have the offensive firepower given, you know, that. I think they use their good, you know, shooting game in game one to really keep up.
- [33:26]
Ben Pickman
That game we should say is at on Wednesday at 7:30pm that is game two of that series. Let's go to the late game on Sunday night. And Chantel, you mentioned a team. You know, there's a difference between being there and acting like you've been there and being there and having that experience. And so a team that you know, has been there time and time again is the Las Vegas Aces. Las Vegas takes game one over the Seattle Storm 78 to 67. Asia Wilson, she accepts her unanimous MVP award pregame, has 21.7 rebounds in the win. Tiffany Hayes, 20 points off the bench. Game two of that series is Tuesday at 9:30pm Eastern. I guess. Sabrina, just what stuck out to you? I don't know about the Asia press conference, about the day that was and about, you know, that game in general. Ezzy Magma Gord out for the Seattle Storm or the concussion. People thought the Aces are going to run wild and it was not so fast in the first quarter of that one.
- [34:22]
Chantel Jennings
Yeah, I guess the first thing that stuck out to me is how do people on the east coast do this? Watch a game at 10pm that ends at midnight. It is terrible. I don't care for it. I'm very happy to live on the other side of the country and have my basketball games end before 10pm so just, you know, a nod to Pacific time. Thank goodness more Pacific time teams are being added to the wnba. But as far as the MVP press conference, I thought Asia was just wonderful. Like she clearly has so much love for her teammates and you really feel it every time she talks about them and how much she just wants to perform for them. Also very clear how much the fourth place vote from last year slighted her and how much it has motivated her over the course of this entire season. Like we talk about professional athletes finding every little thing to pick at. And while the rest of the Aces don't seem to have the same fire as they did a year ago, you know, when they were still feeling some sort of disrespect about how their title wasn't really earned and people had still picked them fifth in the preseason. They were like convincing favorites heading into this year. But Asia still had the slight of, oh, someone doesn't think I'm good enough. And we've seen the way that's motivated her. We've seen just the incredible historic things they put together. So for her to have that moment in the playoffs to, you know, honor her teammates, to celebrate this season, to celebrate with her family, you know, her parents were there. Bam Adebayo was there too. So nice, nice moment for the Asia Wilson arc of this 2024 season.
- [35:43]
Ben Pickman
Can we just say, like, I know every week I feel like we're recommending a different piece of content put out by the Las Vegas Aces, but I would give a strong recommend to everyone. Watch the full, I think it's six and a half minute video of Asia kind of being surprised that she's won the WNBA MVP award. It began with a surprise phone call from Kathy Engelbert, I guess through Becky Hammond. And you could see Asia initially not thrilled that the commissioner was on the other line and then learned what the announcer was and was, became very emotional. But then she got up and instead of just giving a speech that you would, you know, expect in a lot of these videos, she started to go one by one and read out, you know, a few sentences or a paragraph of notes, praise that she had for all of her teammates. It's a really touching video. She gets really emotional in it. You see all of her teammates get really emotional. You know, we talked about it. I want to say it was last week about, you know, the connection between, you know, her and her teammates and the love that they have for each other. But a strong recommend for everyone spending just a couple minutes and watching that video to the basketball, you know, the Las Vegas Aces, they scored nine points in the first quarter. And I think my favorite stat from this game is that the 11% they were 11% from the field in the first quarter were the Aces. And it was the lowest shooting output in a single quarter in a WNBA playoff game since Indiana shot 9% in Game 5 of the 2015 WNBA Finals. And that's a pretty crazy number. But spoiler, it wasn't even the worst because within that two hour window, the fourth quarter came around and the Seattle Storm were up by a point and the storm went 0 of 12 in the fourth quarter. And that's a record that is not going to be broken anytime soon. I believe you guys are smarter than me, but the 0% there can't go worse than that. So what did you guys kind of make of the Las Vegas Aces, how they put the clamps on Seattle and just that fourth quarter in general?
- [37:38]
Chantel Jennings
I think what's interesting about the Aces is the Storm played about as perfectly as they could have given their roster availability for this game. And just to preface that, Ezzy Magmagor was unavailable. She had a concussion at the end of the regular season, was unable to play in the last two regular season games, did not play in game one. And Jewel Lloyd also missed the last couple games of the regular season with a right ankle injury. She was limited to about 25 minutes. Only took 8 shots in this game against Las Vegas. So considering who they were available to have, Mercedes Russell gets the start. You know, more Jordan Horse in minutes, more Sammy Witcom minutes. Victoria Vivian's even got up in the game. I think they played about as well as they could have through three quarters. You mentioned that incredible defensive performance they put on in the first quarter. Asia Wilson misses seven of her first eight shots. Kelsey Plumb doesn't hit a shot until the fourth quarter. Truly, truly awesome defensive performance. And yet all Vegas has to do is just like, play capable offense for one quarter. Like you mentioned, Asia Wilson's 21 points, 15 of those come in the third quarter. It was just one little breakage, and that's the opening Las Vegas needed because of all of the talent on this team. And it's just really hard to imagine a path forward for Seattle because of how poorly Las Vegas played and the fact that they were still able to come out with a win. Like, it really reminded me of this game one of the finals against Connecticut back in 2022, when I thought Connecticut did everything they could have to win that game. They were right in. And Vegas just sort of kept clawing and clawing and Asia hits a couple big baskets in the fourth quarter, and then you get to game two, and Vegas just blew the doors off of them. So I love watching the Storm play defense. I thought it was just a fantastic showcase for Gabby Williams and Skyler Diggins Smith, but it made me just increasingly bummed about their prospects going forward in this series.
- [39:17]
Ben Pickman
Well, you mentioned the kind of scoring explosions, and we should say, really, the first one was Tiffany Hayes, and she came in off the bench and she scored 12 points in the second quarter, 44 from the field. And she really gave them a jolt of energy and just playmaking that they did not have. And, you know, I don't know, like, is Las Vegas winning game one, if they don't get that Tiff Hayes, 20 points, like, probably not. Like, she really did come in and change the tenor of that game and she deserves a lot of credit for doing so. Taking advantage, you know, playing against some of the reserves on the Seattle Storm that really, you know, first kickstarted them and, you know, helped them get back into the game. They outscribed, outscored Las Vegas in that second quarter. Las Vegas outscored Seattle, excuse me, in that second quarter and sparked the rest of the rally. The two things that stick out to me though, you know, in the defense from the Las Vegas Aces, Seattle, they're all 12 from the field, but they also had six turnovers in the fourth quarter. And, you know, that doesn't help their cause, obviously. And again, you look at the box score and we talked about it on Friday when we were previewing the playoff. Sabrina, the Aces had one turnover in the fourth quarter quarter. They had eight overall in the game. Like, for a team that they might struggle like they did in the first quarter on offense, they might go through these lapses, but they don't beat themselves in terms of turning the basketball over. And so they put themselves in a position to win if they play good defense just because they limit opportunities and they don't give the ball away. And Seattle loves to turn the basketball over. I want to say they leave the league or they're top of the league in steals, but one turnover in the fourth quarter. Credit to the Las Vegas Aces for just, you know, controlling everything that's going on. And even they didn't play their best offensive quarter. I don't think they scored a field goal in the final three minutes of the game or just under that. But nevertheless, they put themselves in a position because of how good they were for those first seven.
- [40:54]
Chantel Jennings
I mean, no field goals in the final three minutes. Neither team scored in the first three minutes of that fourth quarter. It was excruciating, just, you know, creating these open threes for Kelsey Plum, which she's bricking, and Seattle working 24 seconds to try to find a good shot. And all of a sudden it's like Jordan Horst and throwing up a grenade from beyond the three point arc. It was a defensive showcase, if that's something that you're into. But at 11:45pm it's not something that I was, you know, anticipating.
- [41:19]
Sabrina Merchant
So I think everyone can probably sense our tenor here that we aren't expecting this to go to game three. But I'm going to give Sabrina the tough task of Playing a little bit of a devil's advocate here. You were the only person that thought maybe the Connecticut Indiana series gets to game three because of a big offensive output from certain players on that team. If you look at the Seattle roster, which again, the cupboard is not 100% full there, but based off who they have and who will be available for game two, like, is there one player that you think could move the ceiling enough to potentially force a Game three?
- [41:51]
Chantel Jennings
You know, there were all these really great bench performances on the first day of the playoffs. We talked about, you know, Marina Mabry and Tiffany Hayes. Fun Tiffany Hayes thing, actually. She said this was the first time that her mother had ever flown on a plane and she did that to come see her play in this game. And she got to witness this just masterclass of Tiffany Hayes, you know, bringing this jolt of life to the Las Vegas Aces when they really needed it. So just very fun story there, but you look at Seattle's bench and I guess it would have to be Sammy Whitcomb putting that together. And yet this just hasn't been a very good shooting season for Sammy Whitcomb. It hasn't been a very good season for anybody on the Seattle Storm. So I think, like, that's your only hope, is you just have like this random person who Vegas is not guarding who just pops up for like three three pointers and, you know, just that hasn't been the case for Seattle all season. Like we've mentioned this stat over and over again. They shot under 30% from 3 point range for the entirety of the regular season. That seems implausible to me considering this is a team that has Jewel Lloyd, that has Sammy Wickham, and I don't know where the points are supposed to come from. Like, they played about as well as they could have defensively and they still lost by double digits to Las Vegas. So I guess Jewel Lloyd could get healthier, the ankle could get better. Important to keep in mind that this series is one that doesn't have two days off before game two. Game two is going to come on Tuesday, so less time for Jewel to potentially get better. But I mean, Vegas was basically just doubling Neko Gumake, denying Skyler, digging Smith the ball, and saying, any of the rest of you on the court, you do what you want to do and we're going to live with the results. And it was just a lot of Mercedes Russell jumpers, a lot of Gabby Williams. It's going to stop there. Just a lot of Gabby Williams. And it may have almost worked in The Olympics. But I thought it was just an over indexing on what she's capable of in terms of running a WNBA offense. And God, I like the Seattle team a lot. I think, you know, they gave us one of the great Seattle Vegas series in 2022 is just an all time playoff series. But the offensive talent just isn't there and it's not going to be there unless Jewelry takes a dramatic turn for the better. And as he's available to we should.
- [43:51]
Ben Pickman
Say, you know, Jewel Lloyd 2 of 8 from the field, 6 points. Like as you mentioned it again, Seattle is a team 25% from three. Like they need to find a way to muster any kind of offense and energy, especially from 3. And look the quotes from them after the game. Neck Okuma K was pretty candid, like just about how tired they were. She used the phrase like we were gassed out. She was asked about, you know, a fourth quarter huddle and she kind of said like I didn't say much to the team in one huddle. I probably should have but I was like catching my breath for air. And that's obviously a paraphrase but you know, it just speaks to how that game went, how much energy was exerted early on and just what the aces can do when they have the firepower to just, you know, throw body after body and playmaker after playmaker. They're so hard to slow down. It's why they are, you know, the two time defending champions who you know are closing in on a potential semifinal berth and who knows, maybe a third finals appearance. That game we should say is on Tuesday, as Sabrina mentioned, Tuesday night at 9:30pm Eastern. I think we are all picking a clean sweep here. All right, let's go to the fourth and final game of the day which in chronological order was actually the first game of the day. The New York Liberty and the Atlanta Dream. It was an 8369 win by the New York Liberty. Leonie Fevich inserted into the starting lineup for New York. She finished with A game high 21 points. Brianna Stewart 20 and 11. Game two we should say is Tuesday at 7:30pm I guess I was at that game. So I don't know if anyone has thoughts they want to know from me. But Chantel, I guess from tv, what did you kind of catch of this game? What were your first impressions? And then I can kind of paint the picture in reverse order here.
- [45:27]
Sabrina Merchant
Well, I feel like as a good reporter we should start with the person who is in the room. So I'll toss it back to you immediately and just say you were in Barclays Center. What was your day like showing up pre game?
- [45:37]
Ben Pickman
Yeah, I mean, it was a 1 o'clock start and the crowd, you know, Barclays has had a ton of great crowds this year. This one was no different though. I would say it was slightly more late arriving than in some past. Other crowds, I would say they tried to get a new chant going pre game. John Qual Jones has been breaking huddles pregame with a chant that says we all we got, we all we need. And you know, the PA in the arena was trying to get the arena to kind of enter, welcome the fans or welcome, welcome the team with this chant and get it going right before tip. I don't think it really caught on starting a chant too long and starting a chant right before the postseason as people are filling in. You know, I think I could criticize that. But one thing I definitely couldn't criticize is Sandy Rondello's choice to go with Leonie Fibich into the starting lineup. And that was really the big story coming out of Game one. I talked to Courtney Vandersloot on Saturday actually at Liberty practice, and she kind of told me that she had just had a conversation with Sandy about, you know, her role changing in the postseason. And we saw in the portion of practice that was open to the media that Feebic was just running with the ones and that was something she had done a lot throughout the season. Leonie Fibich is a 24 year old rookie from Germany, but she had started 15 games this season because of Benija Laney Hamilton's absence at one time and Vandersloot's absence as well. So she's had some experience, but this was definitely the most intense practice and, you know, right ahead of the postseason, Fibich is running with the one. So we noticed it and I talked to Vandersloot about it and she was talking about how Brandello had voiced to her that New York always kind of wanted to have two ball handlers on the court and that with Benijah Delaney Hamilton sometimes needing some quick breaks, that this was a way also to keep, you know, playmakers and versatile defenders on the court at all times. What happened in this game? Well, New York punched first and that was what Tanisha Wright kind of admitted. The physicality of New York was very present. Leonie Feverish is guarding Ryan Howard. Ryan Howard struggled a little bit to navigate some of these staggered screens that Atlanta likes to run her off of. Howard missed her first seven shots on the other end of the floor, New York made their first seven, Feebich made her first five. Everything was clicking for New York right away and it looked like an unbelievable adjustment right out of the gate. New York jumps out to an early. They scored 29 points in the first quarter just a few nights after scoring 13 points against the Atlanta Dream on Thursday. That was their worst offensive quarter of the first quarter of the season. So a lot changed and a lot of it hinged on that one lineup decision to slide fever into the starting lineup and move Andersloot off the bench.
- [48:02]
Sabrina Merchant
So I think my takeaway from this game, and it didn't happen until, you know, we got further into the night and sort of saw how all the other games shook out. But like, obviously New York earned the number one overall seed. They get the best possible matchup in this first round going against the eighth seed of the Atlantic Dream. But just how much more they were able to rest their starters than any other team that we expect to move on. You look up and down sort of those game ones and you know, even Minnesota, they're the number two seed. But Nafisa Collier played 39 minutes and like 25 seconds type of a thing. And after the game she was asked about that and she said she really, you know, prides herself on being in great shape to be able to go longer than she needs to. But that's still a player, your best player who's going basically 40 minutes. And that is certainly different than what New York had to do where Beni Shalaney Hamilton and Brianna Stewart both played 30 and 32 minutes respectively. But then Sandy Brandella was able to sit JJ Fibich and Unescu for, you know, 15, 20 minutes apiece. And what that means to their legs after a 40 game season. Same thing with the Aces where you have basically all of those starters except Keith Stokes playing heavy, heavy minutes into the high 30s. And you look through this playoff series down the road to the finals and you know, thinking about players who've already talked about being gassed and being tired and what it means on their legs and the prehab and rehab that needs to happen. And I think that was my, you know, it obviously didn't happen during Game 1 because it couldn't because we didn't know how everything else would shake out. But, you know, immediately going to watch the links thinking to myself like, oh, you know, this is a team that overall their starters will have a lot more miles on their legs than the Liberty.
- [49:36]
Ben Pickman
It's funny, you make that you pull that out because it was one of the, I don't know, most striking things that I've seen in a playoff game of this magnitude. Where Tina Charles, for instance of the Atlanta Dream, she played the first 20 minutes of the game, did not sit. And Tina Charles, we know, you know, a storied career, an mvp, a future hall of Famer, just, you know, set the all time rebound record and all time WNBA double doubles record. She played the first 20 minutes, the entire first half. Then she played the first four minutes of the second half and then we didn't see her again. And the Atlanta Dream, who Sabrina and I talked about, their starting lineup is really, really good. I actually they were 8 and 7 heading into the postseason. A positive, I want to say 15 net rating around there, a really quality starting 5. The dream basically turned to their bench for the second half of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter and didn't exactly punt this game. But like we're trying things out and I think trying to conserve energy, see what was working. And so New York really wasn't pushed that much in the second half. And that's a big reason why you look at some of these minute totals like, like why Sandy Rondella was able to, you know, cut back on some of her star players and not having to play that much. The scoreline is 14. But like this game wasn't really ever that close. Atlanta never led. New York led, you know, wire to wire here and look like the better team. I will say though, like John Quill Jones, 21 minutes, you know, nine points, seven rebounds. They got her involved early on in this game and it was something I asked Courtney Vandersloot about post game in a scrum was did she think they got JJ involved enough? And SLU kind of paused for a second. When I asked her, she kind of laughed and said, you know, I don't think we ever get JJ involved enough. And it was something where New York talks so much about, you know, good to great paint to great. And I did get some clarification on that phrase because Sabrina and I had been talking about it last Friday. Sandy Brandello actually uses both variations. So I was actually correct here. But you know, they feed JJ so often and they did initially to start this game and then they kind of went away from her a little bit. And you know, if I'm New York, I still want more from John qual Jones. The 9 and 7 is, you know, a good game. New York wins by 14. It's a comfortable victory. Stewart plays really well and she's been awesome of late. Feebic stars, 21 points. That's her career high. Unescu shoots the ball at almost 50%. You know, a good game for her shooting the ball after a slump over the last last month. But that is still the area where, where I have some pause if I'm a fan of the New York Liberty because I want to see a little bit more John Qual Jones involved in all the action. Though Niar Sabley, give her some credit too. Seven rebounds off the bench. She's provided New York with a lot of good energy of late.
- [52:11]
Chantel Jennings
Yeah, I mean, I don't think there was really anything from the Liberty's perspective like we can nitpick, you know, but I think this was just a comfortable, do what you have to do type of Game one victory. Way more of the Atlanta bench than I ever expected to see. But hey, long live Leticia Ameer and Maya Caldwell. They're fun to watch. Yeah, this unfortunately was just not a super illuminating game. Right. Like, we thought New York was going to be favored. We thought Atlanta was going to struggle. These things sort of happened. And you know, as Chantel did in the previous series, I'm just going to ask you, Ben, what is the case for Atlanta extending this to Game three?
- [52:45]
Ben Pickman
A little bit more physicality. I think they know what now New York is going to bring in terms of Fibich in the starting lineup and the different looks that that provides. I think Ryan Howard needs to have obviously a superstar level game. We've seen it from her in the postseason before, but I think a lot is going to be on her shoulders. She ends up leading Atlanta in scoring, but as I mentioned it, she didn't get a field goal until early on in the third quarter. They're going to need to get her involved a little bit more and you know, Atlanta is going to play with some desperation. They've been, you know, really resilient team all year, battling so many injuries. But, you know, I do think I have a hard time seeing this one flip back to Atlanta. You know, we should say game two of this series is at 7:30 on Tuesday. So it will be the first one in theory that could be decided. Overall, guys, before we close out this episode, I just want to throw out two or three quick takes and get your reaction to them. It's some stuff I was stewing over as these games were going on. So tell me if this is. You know, I'm not sure I believe these takes, but they're just some hot takes. You know, I was you know, marinating over as these games were going on. First one, six player of the year was the award that we should have been talking about this whole time as the most important award of the WNBA postseason. Sabrina, I know you wrote about this. Do you agree with this take?
- [53:55]
Chantel Jennings
They're not six players. If you put them in the starting lineup, okay, they're no longer six players. I think Sandy was sandbagging us this whole time trying to get feebage eligibility for an award that she did not even consider her a six player. I refused to entertain the possibility, but no, I think, I think most of players were more flat. I think improvement is more interesting than, you know, which player is not good enough to make the starting lineup.
- [54:16]
Ben Pickman
Chantel, any reaction to the six player take?
- [54:18]
Sabrina Merchant
I just love how succinctly Sabrina answers questions that she thinks are ridiculous. Like, I think this is like us turning the tables on ourselves. But it's like when you're in a scrum or you're talking to someone and you ask an athlete or a coach a question and you're like, God, that was a dumb question. And then they give you an answer that makes them, makes you realize, yes, they also thought it was a dumb question. I just had like flashbacks to several press conferences with Sabrina right now.
- [54:42]
Ben Pickman
All right, that's take number one. Take number two. The Minnesota Links have reached their ceiling.
- [54:47]
Sabrina Merchant
I don't think so. I feel like there's still another level to tap into. I think Cheryl Reeve is a coach who won four titles in seven years and obviously had just an immense amount of talent and you know, four retired jerseys in that starting lineup for most of that stretch and perhaps this starting lineup doesn't look exactly the same, but, but, you know, I think when you have a player like Nafisa Collier, who we saw raise her game to a different level, had a new career high on Sunday night against the Mercury and the players around her. I think there are opportunities here to continue to raise their level. I'm not saying it's like significantly higher, but I still feel like through the playoffs and I think they're going to make it to the finals. Like, I think through the next few weeks we're going to see an even better Minnesota Links team, certainly a better team through four quarters in terms of defensive commitment.
- [55:34]
Ben Pickman
Sabrina, what do you think?
- [55:35]
Chantel Jennings
So this is a take. Just, you know, take our, our listeners behind the curtain that Ben has been thrown at me for like the last two months of the season that, you know, Minnesota came out so hot and they had this scheme that people weren't familiar with and people just kept dribbling the ball into their defense. That regard for how Minnesota is going to play them, I don't know. I kind of agree with Chantel here where, like, we saw Fee take it to another level. You know, Courtney Williams in a team Heideman have all of that playoff experience playing with Connecticut. They, they know what it's like to be on this stage. They're clearly unfazed by the pressure. Courtney Williams made so many big plays down the stretch of that fourth quarter against Phoenix. Kayla McBride has playoff experience back when she was with Las Vegas. I just don't think that, like a team with this level of talent, even if it's not, you know, dynasty, Minnesota links level of talent is going to cap out. I do think that like Chantel said, their ceiling probably is little bit lower than the New York Liberty or the Las Vegas acs. Like they're not going to be able to make a starting lineup change that instantly improves their, you know, ability to come out strong in games like the New York Liberty are. But I think that their level is high enough, you know, that it's been over the course of regular season, they've consistently hit, you know, a higher level than some other teams have, especially over the second part of the season. So I don't necessarily think they've hit their ceiling, but I do think it's worth noting that their ceiling is probably lower than New York in Las Vegas.
- [56:49]
Ben Pickman
Very fair. We'll continue to workshop that take then as the postseason goes on. Okay, take number three. After one game of the postseason, we should declare that the Las Vegas Aces are the title favorite and that they will be holding up the trophy in just over three weeks time as the league's best team.
- [57:04]
Chantel Jennings
I did think it was interesting. You know, a lot of websites and a lot of college programs put out these like lists prior to the playoffs where all of their players pick who they think is going to be the WNBA championship. And there was a lot more Las Vegas than I expected in all of these. Just, I'm gonna say popularity votes, for lack of a better word. Because, you know, watching the 2024 season, it was very clear that Las Vegas was not as good as New York. They were not as good as Minnesota. They struggled against, you know, more opponents than just that over the course of this regular season. And at a certain point, I think you, you are who you are. Like, I don't necessarily believe in flipping the switch. Like, that's not something that can just happen for a team in the playoffs, especially when the playoffs are so short and like, one bad game can completely throw you off in the course of a playoff series. So I thought Las Vegas, you know, had a, an impressive win against Seattle. They obviously had the most challenging opponent of any of the teams that we would consider title contenders in this particular postseason race. But I still saw a team that like, struggled to play the way Becky Hammond wanted them to play for the majority of that game and didn't look as imposing as New York did for stretches or as Minnesota even did for stretches or as Connecticut did for long stretches of that game against Indiana. So, you know, in the immortal words of Denny Green or whoever that was, like, they are who we thought they were. You know, I think they've been a certain team over the course of 40 games and I don't think that that is worthy of being a favorite.
- [58:23]
Ben Pickman
Chantal, what says you about this hot take?
- [58:26]
Sabrina Merchant
I feel like I actually shouldn't let Sabrina go first on these because then she makes all the points and I'm left to being like, uh, huh, Yep. Huh, Yep, she's right. Yeah, I think it's like, like if you play a 10 game season and then you go into the playoffs, there's a lot more uncertainty there in terms of who these teams are. And, and we spend a lot of time on this podcast talking about how single players can sort of raise the ceiling of their team. It's like what we were talking about getting to a game three. But I think there's a difference between one player having an amazing game and pushing a series one game further than there is for a single player or sort of a change of the identity of a team overnight to suddenly make them the favorite in this playoff race. And so I disagree with this take, Ben.
- [59:05]
Ben Pickman
You know, that's super reasonable. I should preface again, or I guess it's no longer a preface because we've just talked about it. These are not necessarily arguments I'm fully getting behind, just things that I'm kind of workshopping and thinking about. You know, we have the Minnesota Lynx hot sauce a little spicy and nicey here, if you want to think of about it that way. Some spice to end out, close out these episodes. And we should say, you know, that kind of wraps up this, this episode of the athletic women's basketball show. We hope you enjoyed our reactions. And then at the very end, overreactions to some of the games that we saw. We'll throw back the schedule one more time. New York and Atlanta, they play Tuesday night at 7:30pm Eastern followed by the Aces and the Storm at 9:30pm Eastern. Wednesday's schedule Sun Fever game two at 7:30 Eastern and then Mercury Lynx at 9:30pm Eastern. So those are your game twos and then we'll see how those series, you know what happens and if there are game threes later in the week. But Sabrina Chantel, it was great chatting with you guys from all across the country and across these various different arenas with Krispy Kremes in them and no Krispy Kremes in them. This episode we should give special shout outs. Chantel is a great call to the Visit Connecticut. Visit Connecticut deserves a special shout out here. We've given them a lot of publicity on this show and we look forward to bringing them more publicity of the Connecticut Sun Continuum in this postseason. But for now, we Hope everyone enjoyed Game 1 of the postseason and enjoys the game twos coming later this week. And speaking of later this week, we'll have plenty more reactions to all these games. So continue to read our stories on the athletic.com newyorktimes.com athletic and check back wherever you get your podcast feeds for another reaction podcast because we will be coming to you soon as the playoffs continue with more episodes just like this one, just like our playoff preview last Friday, breaking it all down. So we hope you enjoy all the extra content we're putting out. And yeah, that is all we got for now. So enjoy the game twos and we will talk to you soon.
- [61:06]
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- [61:32]
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- [62:25]
Chantel Jennings
ACAST powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.
- [62:33]
Marc Maron
Hey folks, it's Marc Maron from WTF. It's been more than 15 years now, and I'm still talking to all kinds of people in my garage every week. Sometimes it's Bill Burr, sometimes it's Ariana Grande. She just looks at me because she's always going like, dad, it's not that big a deal. Yeah. I go, sorry, I lost my temper. I go, I still love you. You know, Daddy has issues.
- [62:55]
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Are you afraid of it?
- [62:56]
Marc Maron
Of death?
- [62:57]
Ben Pickman
Well, I don't know.
- [62:58]
Marc Maron
I think about it all the time.
- [62:59]
Ben Pickman
How are we here already?
- [63:01]
Marc Maron
Listen to WTF with Marc Maron twice a week on your favorite podcast app. Or get more WTF with a WTF plus subscription. Just go to wtfpod.com and click on WTF Plus.
- [63:15]
Chantel Jennings
Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.