00:00:00
Speaker 1: It seemed so crazy that the owner of the Golden State Warriors said to Natalie Nakase when he hired her as head coach, I want us to win a title within five years.
00:00:09
Speaker 2: And I was like, this billionaire is smoking fucking crack.
00:00:12
Speaker 1: Remember I made fun of them, Sarah, because they fucking drafted players and then just immediately cut them.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: And then they had the whole visa. Put your visa. I was like, this team's fucking clowns, bro. You guys are clowns. Make the playoffs in their first year. I mean, I was just like, this is nonsense.
00:00:31
Speaker 3: New York cat, Liberty Jersey. I was just listening to their presser.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: Should we call them Liberty Bibberty.
00:00:36
Speaker 3: From now on?
00:00:37
Speaker 2: They're just Bibberty now. They don't even earn the liberty anymore.
00:00:56
Speaker 3: Just liberty.
00:00:57
Speaker 1: What a tough way to go out getting swept on your home court after probably getting a game stolen.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: So before we start, though, because.
00:01:07
Speaker 3: We're going to get into that for sure.
00:01:09
Speaker 2: Because you haven't been around.
00:01:11
Speaker 3: No. I need to explain. Drama.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: Where have you been?
00:01:19
Speaker 3: I was off grid in the mountains in Colorado.
00:01:23
Speaker 2: That doesn't sound like you at all. No.
00:01:25
Speaker 4: No.
00:01:27
Speaker 5: No.
00:01:28
Speaker 2: Is that why you brought camo pants? Yeah.
00:01:31
Speaker 3: I was trying to blend in. Could you tell?
00:01:34
Speaker 4: Good.
00:01:35
Speaker 3: With the culture or the foliage?
00:01:38
Speaker 6: I still don't think I really fit in with the culture there. I think I stuck out like a sore thumb.
00:01:43
Speaker 3: I'm not going to lie. So, okay.
00:01:45
Speaker 6: Actually, literally, that's where I'm going with the story. So it was my best friend's wedding this weekend. And who, of course, you know, and we all know, in the dub club or with it behind the scenes. She's one of our producers, Tori and my college called back. We college roommates and she got married this weekend and I was in the wedding party. And for those who know me know that I'm not a dress person.
00:02:17
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, that would have blown.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: If you would have shown up wearing a dress to a wedding, that would have blown my fucking mind.
00:02:24
Speaker 6: And I would have lost immediate street cred. I think personally, like I cannot be showing up where my legs can touch.
00:02:33
Speaker 3: That's weird. I don't like that. Anyway. So what?
00:02:37
Speaker 2: Go on. Okay. Anyway.
00:02:39
Speaker 3: So when Tori asked me to be in her wedding, she's.
00:02:41
Speaker 6: Like, okay, I'm not going to make you wear a dress, but like you, we like, let's.
00:02:46
Speaker 3: Figure out a way to match.
00:02:47
Speaker 2: So you were a groomsman or you were a bridesmaid?
00:02:49
Speaker 3: No, I was a bridesmaid.
00:02:51
Speaker 2: But you dress like a groomsman?
00:02:53
Speaker 4: No.
00:02:54
Speaker 3: And I'm getting there.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: So, okay.
00:02:56
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:02:57
Speaker 6: So Tori says you can like, it gives me like this thing to order.
00:03:01
Speaker 3: Okay. And it's like this chiffon. I have it. I can show it to you.
00:03:06
Speaker 7: A chiffon?
00:03:09
Speaker 6: Chiffon like pant suit. Okay.
00:03:12
Speaker 3: All right.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: Oh, okay. It's a, it's a, it's a half a shoulder guy. Oh yeah. That's not going to work dog.
00:03:23
Speaker 6: So, okay.
00:03:24
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:03:25
Speaker 3: So that was the outfit and it came in the wrong color. And I was like, well, gosh, shucks.
00:03:33
Speaker 6: I can't wear the chiffon now. And so I was like, can I wear a suit? And they were like, Tori was like, yes, you can wear a suit.
00:03:41
Speaker 3: That's fine. Well, I don't know if, and, and, and you know how much I love Tori.
00:03:47
Speaker 6: But let me tell you, I had beef with her wedding planner this entire week.
00:03:52
Speaker 3: Cause she, yeah, I don't.
00:03:53
Speaker 6: Know if she was like homophobic or like what, but she was trying to get me into a dress until like the morning of this wedding.
00:04:03
Speaker 3: Anyway. So I'm going to go back to a second. I have to get this suit last minute. I'm leaving. My flight is at like 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
00:04:12
Speaker 6: On Monday, we realized that the dress thingy is the wrong color and it's like not going to match.
00:04:18
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, shit, I don't know what to do. So I run, literally run. Did you go to Joseph A.
00:04:24
Speaker 2: Banks?
00:04:25
Speaker 3: No, I went to Men's Warehouse. All right.
00:04:28
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:04:28
Speaker 6: And I walk in and I'm like, surely they have something I can buy like right now.
00:04:34
Speaker 2: So I walk in rack at your five feet. Nothing. Is this a store for ants?
00:04:40
Speaker 3: What is this a store for ants?
00:04:42
Speaker 2: Yeah. This is a store for little people. What are you fucking Tyrion Lannister?
00:04:46
Speaker 6: So I walk in and I'm like, do you do same day Tux Reynolds?
00:04:51
Speaker 3: And they were like, no. And I was like, okay, do you have anything same day?
00:04:56
Speaker 6: And the guy was like, no, like I cannot get you out of here today with a suit. And I was like, Sir, I don't mean to be an asshole, but I'm looking around me and there are suits everywhere. So, and he goes, okay, well, what size are you? And I was like, I have no, I don't even know what the sizes are.
00:05:16
Speaker 3: I'm a two in women's clothes. Does that help?
00:05:20
Speaker 4: And he was like, no.
00:05:21
Speaker 2: Are you a two?
00:05:23
Speaker 3: Okay, are you going to fat shame me right now? Is that really where we're going with this? Are you fat shaming me right now?
00:05:29
Speaker 2: Okay, keep going. I just think honesty is important.
00:05:34
Speaker 3: I'm a four on a heavy day. Okay.
00:05:37
Speaker 6: Anyway, so this guy, like I'm, he's like, he's getting ready to roll.
00:05:44
Speaker 3: Like he's helping me out. And I can tell he's like.
00:05:46
Speaker 6: An older white man, bald. And I'm like, I, this man and I do not connect in any way. I can tell immediately like that. He is not, he's not vibing with me.
00:05:58
Speaker 2: And he's homophobic as well.
00:05:59
Speaker 6: I I'm getting, I'm getting a little bit of like, maybe not capital H, but like maybe like lowercase H homophobia a little.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: Like, Hey, are you sure?
00:06:08
Speaker 3: Are you sure? Just like, Oh, you're going to wear a suit, you know, kind of thing.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: Anyway.
00:06:15
Speaker 6: So this man's like walking away and I notice that he has like a little bit of a Midwest accent.
00:06:23
Speaker 3: And so I say, where are you from? And he says, I'm from Iowa.
00:06:27
Speaker 2: And I go, yes, this is perfect.
00:06:31
Speaker 6: And then I said, you know, if you could help me out today, I will make sure to give you a shout out, David, on my, I have a podcast. And, you know, we have a lot of listeners.
00:06:42
Speaker 3: In the area. I'll be happy to give you a shout out. If you can hook me up with a suit today, I will give you a shout out. And he was like, what's your podcast about? And I said, it's all about Caitlin Clark.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: We only talk about Caitlin. All Caitlin, all the time.
00:07:00
Speaker 3: All Caitlin, all the time. And he goes, I love Caitlin Clark. And I said, I bet you do. I bet you do. And he goes, and you know, but you know who I really love?
00:07:11
Speaker 6: And I said, oh, I know. You're going to say Sophie, aren't you?
00:07:14
Speaker 3: And he was like, I do. I love Sophie. And I go, she's the enforcer for Caitlin. She really is. She's right there with.
00:07:23
Speaker 2: Make some strong points about those trans folks, too. Yep.
00:07:29
Speaker 1: Make some really strong points about men competing in girl sports.
00:07:36
Speaker 6: Needless to say, 30 minutes later, I walked out with not only a suit, but a tailored suit.
00:07:43
Speaker 2: How did he tailor it that fast?
00:07:45
Speaker 6: He got his guy, and he was like, Hey, we need to help her out.
00:07:51
Speaker 3: She's in her friend's wedding.
00:07:52
Speaker 1: She is a massive Sophie Cunningham fan. We need to make this work for her.
00:07:59
Speaker 3: Correct. So, thank you, Sophie Cunningham.
00:08:03
Speaker 7: Wow.
00:08:03
Speaker 2: What a great story.
00:08:04
Speaker 3: Did you see my suit?
00:08:06
Speaker 2: I did. It looked phenomenal.
00:08:08
Speaker 3: It looked great for a same-day suit, right?
00:08:11
Speaker 2: It really did.
00:08:12
Speaker 1: And so this wedding planner, she was pressuring you to get into the dress after you had tailored a suit?
00:08:18
Speaker 6: Yeah, so I get there even with the suit on the day, and she was like, does anybody have an extra dress that Sarah can wear?
00:08:25
Speaker 3: And I said, Sarah is not wearing a dress.
00:08:27
Speaker 6: Sarah has not worn a dress since she was six years old, and she's not going to start now.
00:08:32
Speaker 2: Those are the photos where your mouth were open for no reason?
00:08:36
Speaker 3: That's every photo of me.
00:08:38
Speaker 2: Did Sarah, when she was.
00:08:39
Speaker 1: A kid, her mouth would just for some reason be slack jaw open?
00:08:45
Speaker 2: Always.
00:08:46
Speaker 4: Always.
00:08:47
Speaker 2: I think it's a sinus issue.
00:08:48
Speaker 3: It was the nose. It was why I had to get my nose redone.
00:08:50
Speaker 1: Sarah has bad trouble breathing out of her sinuses.
00:08:54
Speaker 2: She had to breathe out of her mouth.
00:08:56
Speaker 1: I did.
00:08:57
Speaker 3: I was a mouth breather for a long time.
00:09:00
Speaker 6: Let's talk about the mouth breather, Chris DeMarco, who needs to get fired.
00:09:07
Speaker 2: What a great segue. Yeah, I mean, I think he's pretty much already out the door.
00:09:13
Speaker 1: I'm sure anyone watching this podcast or listening to this podcast, if you're new here, you've joined at a phenomenal time where there is controversy and drama, a brewing, and like a conspiracy as well.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: Like that's the kind of crazy thing. Sarah was at a wedding, so she.
00:09:31
Speaker 3: Didn't really get to see. I don't know anything. I really don't. Game two? I just watched everything back.
00:09:38
Speaker 2: So let me set the scene. Game two, the Liberty were fighting.
00:09:43
Speaker 3: It was back and forth.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: The Bibberty were fighting back. I should just get this turned into a B right here. Bibberty.
00:09:52
Speaker 2: So they were fighting back and forth with the dream. They're trading buckets. I want to say, you know, the conspiracy really wasn't. the reason that they lost. And so I'm going to go into why. But first and foremost, the ball goes to Jonquil Jones, who we love.
00:10:08
Speaker 3: Love Jonquil.
00:10:10
Speaker 2: She inexplicably drives into multiple people that are there in the paint waiting for her. Yeah. Like, like waiting.
00:10:20
Speaker 1: They tire up, not like BDSM tire up, but like grab the ball and it's a jump ball now.
00:10:27
Speaker 2: You're like, well, thank God for that. Like, thank God they didn't just steal it. Sure. Take off the other direction.
00:10:32
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:10:33
Speaker 2: They're down one. There's like, Less than 10 seconds left to go. Something like that. Maybe a little bit more. Sabrina gets the ball from the jump ball. So, great. Exciting news. Bibberti get the ball from the jump ball.
00:10:46
Speaker 3: Bibberti.
00:10:46
Speaker 5: Yep.
00:10:47
Speaker 2: Jonquil is in the opposite corner.
00:10:50
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:10:51
Speaker 2: Sabrina sort of turns the corner. And then she's coming around a screen. Jonquil's on the opposite side of the court. And she just... throws the ball out of bounds three feet above Jonquil Jones's head, who's already 6'6. What is happening?
00:11:13
Speaker 6: Well, and I was confused because, so the clip, because of course I couldn't watch these games back in full because I did not have four hours. I've not had four hours since when I landed from my travel day yesterday to now when we're recording to even watch games.
00:11:28
Speaker 3: But what I was gathering was I thought that that was intentional. because she was trying to pass it to Jean-Claude.
00:11:37
Speaker 2: She was.
00:11:38
Speaker 3: But Jean-Claude was like clapping, like the throwing.
00:11:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, she wanted the ball. She was wide open.
00:11:44
Speaker 1: And to be fair, there was rangy, athletic Atlanta Dream folks all around with their fucking octo arms getting into the mix. And so Sabrina was trying not to throw the ball away and turn it over.
00:11:59
Speaker 2: And yet she still did.
00:12:01
Speaker 1: So then now we've got to foul one of the dream players, which they foul Angel because historically not a great free throw shooter.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: She's been nails from the free throw line in the playoffs.
00:12:14
Speaker 3: I want to talk about Angel when we get there, but not right now.
00:12:16
Speaker 1: So now you've got 4.6 seconds left to go.
00:12:20
Speaker 2: And while Angel's at the free throw line, I don't think we really realized what was happening in real time, but Brianna Stewart looks over at the ref and asks whether they have a reset timeout, which means they can advance the ball. Mm-hmm. The ref tells Brianna Stewart he needs to check with his crew chief.
00:12:44
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:12:44
Speaker 1: Crew chief's like, no timeout. They say zero. You can see the little zero sign that they're making.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: Wait, hold on.
00:12:52
Speaker 3: I have a question. Is it really called a crew chief?
00:12:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:12:56
Speaker 3: I never knew that.
00:12:58
Speaker 2: So then... They look over at Chris DeMarco and he's like, I don't know. Like if they say no timeouts, it's no timeouts, I guess. But we don't know any of this is going on.
00:13:11
Speaker 3: I have a lot to say. I have a lot. We have no.
00:13:14
Speaker 1: Idea this is happening behind the scenes because Rebecca Lobo and Ryan Rucco are like, okay, so now they have, because you can see in the scorebook that they have that reset timeout. Okay, so then we'll advance the ball.
00:13:26
Speaker 2: We'll set something up. Just like with Fautouks, because this is overtime.
00:13:30
Speaker 1: Fautouks hit a three to send the Bibberty to overtime. So it's like, okay, 4.6 seconds out of bounds, side out right there in your own side of the court.
00:13:40
Speaker 2: We can do this.
00:13:41
Speaker 4: Right.
00:13:41
Speaker 2: But they don't use said timeout because they don't think they have one. And then Ryan Rucco, I think, gives the best call of his life, which I cannot get out of my head. And he goes, they don't use it. Why don't they use it?
00:13:58
Speaker 3: Oh, that is going to go down in the history books. That will go down in the history books for sure.
00:14:02
Speaker 2: And they throw the ball cross court to Brianna.
00:14:06
Speaker 3: That's for the doc. down the line.
00:14:07
Speaker 2: And she has to heave it. That's, like, when the liberty, like, destruct. And she throws it from the parking lot, air balls, game over. And I'm, like, proceeding to eviscerate them online when I walk out and I see my mom's watching the press conference. Good for her. What a real one. Why? She's, like, in. And Brianna looks over at Chris DeMarco because they're asking her, like, hey, what was up? And she looks at Krista Marco's ass and she says, are you going to say it or am I? And I go, what's she about to say? What's this about to be? You know, in my mind, this isn't even a thing. It's like, why didn't you fucking use the timeout, you dumbass?
00:14:51
Speaker 1: Anyway, she's like, well, when I asked the referee at the end of the game if we have a reset timeout and they say no. And so we don't use it. And then we find out we have one at the end of the game.
00:15:04
Speaker 2: We didn't use it. It's like pretty frustrating. But the part that kills me, Sarah, is she looked at Chris and was like, am I going to fight or are you? And he's like, I don't know.
00:15:13
Speaker 3: What do you mean?
00:15:14
Speaker 2: It's like, motherfucker.
00:15:23
Speaker 3: Can I go off about Chris?
00:15:24
Speaker 6: Go.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: I just set the scene for you to just go.
00:15:27
Speaker 3: Christopher?
00:15:29
Speaker 2: Paint, Picasso, paint.
00:15:30
Speaker 6: First of all, I'm still looking for his balls because I don't think he has them.
00:15:35
Speaker 3: This man needed to get up at that press conference.
00:15:38
Speaker 6: And the first thing he needed to do when he sat down was say, the refs lied to us about our timeouts. Needed to be the first thing that came out of his mouth to wait until your star.
00:15:49
Speaker 3: Player is asked about it.
00:15:52
Speaker 2: And then has to say, are you going to say anything or am I? That's so bad. And he was like, what?
00:15:58
Speaker 4: Awful.
00:15:58
Speaker 2: What do you mean?
00:16:00
Speaker 4: I guess you.
00:16:02
Speaker 3: First of all.
00:16:03
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:16:03
Speaker 6: So then that leads me into, I just watched the entirety of his press conference from last night, which I don't know if.
00:16:12
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know, but the Liberty are eliminated.
00:16:14
Speaker 3: The Liberty.
00:16:15
Speaker 4: The Liberty.
00:16:16
Speaker 6: So after they got eliminated last night, I listened to his press conference again. And I thought, again, for sure, at some point in this press conference, this man would take accountability for coaching mistakes, for timeout, for clock management problems, for all of these things.
00:16:34
Speaker 3: And instead, all he does is.
00:16:35
Speaker 4: Go, yeah, I mean, they like really fought hard. Yeah.
00:16:40
Speaker 3: You lost. You got swept. And you just go, yeah, I mean, they played really well.
00:16:47
Speaker 4: It's really nice. I don't know. I mean, yeah, I'm going to be here next year. But I don't know if there's any changes going to be made. I guess it's just really cool, you know.
00:16:58
Speaker 2: It does sound like him. I mean, he did.
00:17:01
Speaker 3: Did you like my Chris DeMarco impression? It was really good. That was good?
00:17:04
Speaker 2: He didn't make any substitutions for, like, it felt like the whole second half. And I get it. It's win or go home. And you don't trust any of these other hoes? Sorry, they're not hoes. But you know what I mean. But, like, there was no Maureen Johannes. She was just dwindling in minutes. She was just sitting.
00:17:23
Speaker 3: Every time I saw her, she was sitting.
00:17:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think she played in that game.
00:17:28
Speaker 3: Which, why? Is there a reason? Do we know?
00:17:30
Speaker 2: She played four minutes. She's just. Okay, and by the way. I think her errant passing wasn't helpful. Here's the thing.
00:17:38
Speaker 1: Pauline Astier, eight minutes. Honchu, six minutes. Maureen Johannes, four minutes. Everyone else, Brianna Stewart, 39 minutes.
00:17:47
Speaker 2: Feebich, 37 minutes. Jon Quelt, 39 minutes. Sabrina, 36 minutes.
00:17:52
Speaker 1: Faux Tux, which is like- 32 minutes.
00:17:55
Speaker 6: Okay, so here's my question is like, why did nobody in that press conference say to him.
00:18:01
Speaker 3: Hey, you didn't play Han, Maureen, or Pauline? How come? Just curious. What was the reason for that?
00:18:09
Speaker 2: I don't know why they don't ask these questions.
00:18:11
Speaker 1: The three person at the podium, three player at the podium plus coach, to.
00:18:16
Speaker 2: Me, after an elimination.
00:18:18
Speaker 3: Wait, who did that?
00:18:19
Speaker 2: That's what the Bibberti had. They had Jonquil.
00:18:21
Speaker 3: No. I just watched it. It was separate.
00:18:24
Speaker 2: Was it separate?
00:18:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, he went first.
00:18:26
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, yeah. It was those three.
00:18:27
Speaker 3: And then they came in.
00:18:28
Speaker 2: It was just those three.
00:18:29
Speaker 3: And then they put them on the spot.
00:18:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Asking, do you think.
00:18:36
Speaker 6: He should be here next year?
00:18:38
Speaker 3: And they're like, I don't really know how to answer that.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: I love that. You always know.
00:18:43
Speaker 3: I don't really know how to answer that.
00:18:46
Speaker 2: You always know. But Jonquil is the real one. Because Jonquil Jones, multiple time, finals MVP, MVP, all-star MVP, just like a consummate bro. Dub clubber.
00:19:00
Speaker 1: You can tell they don't like Chris DiMarco. Like you can just tell based around their body language.
00:19:05
Speaker 2: The vibes are not vibing.
00:19:07
Speaker 1: When they ask her and ask them, like, she's like, I'll step in.
00:19:11
Speaker 2: This is really not what we do.
00:19:13
Speaker 1: We just, play with the coach that we've we've been given it's not really our role to say.
00:19:17
Speaker 2: Which to me means like.
00:19:19
Speaker 1: No we don't want his ass back because if they did want his ass back they would say yes we would love to have chris back he was tremendous obviously not our job and we it's a business and you know who knows what's gonna happen when you get swept that's blah blah blah and like but we've had a lot of injuries but yeah we loved our interaction with chris none of that Well, and this was like.
00:19:42
Speaker 6: Sort of the second question in the press conference that they asked like that, because the first question that was asked, Sabrina answered. and it was, someone had asked basically like, do you felt, did you feel that Jonathan Cole and Krista Marco set you guys up for success? And she was like, assemble the roster, assemble the roster, like that could win a title. Or like, do you think that they have a coaching staff and like blah, blah, blah. And Sabrina again was like, I don't know how to answer that question.
00:20:10
Speaker 2: Let me give a little inside tea here.
00:20:12
Speaker 3: Also, those are really pointed and weird questions.
00:20:14
Speaker 2: I love them, though. That's man sports. Listen, I.
00:20:19
Speaker 3: I love it.
00:20:20
Speaker 1: That's men's sports journalism coming into women's sports because that's the shit.
00:20:25
Speaker 6: You would hear.
00:20:25
Speaker 3: Because there's a very specific bite that they're looking for.
00:20:28
Speaker 1: Because that's what a Philadelphia Eagles beat reporter would do when they.
00:20:34
Speaker 2: So you.
00:20:35
Speaker 3: Want him fired, right?
00:20:36
Speaker 2: Let me... So.
00:20:38
Speaker 1: This team, just to be clear, had the shortest odds to win the title to start the year. They had the highest win total to start the year. This was the team that should, and we thought, was the most set up to contend and compete. Just for people who are new here, this is a team who won a title two years ago, got bounced in the first round, and then fired a multiple time championship winning.
00:21:09
Speaker 2: Coach, Sandy Brondello. Okay. The question was, is still why? And for those who are.
00:21:20
Speaker 1: Not in on the behind the scenes, the sort of the tea, the rumblings of.
00:21:29
Speaker 2: This, and this is not my opinion.
00:21:30
Speaker 1: This is what I've been told by multiple people who do not know one another. is that the call was coming from inside the house, is that Jonathan Kolb had a power struggle issue with Sandy Brondello. And that happens all the time. But his favorite star player, a.k.a. Sabrina Ionescu, who I, as a former Duck, well, as a Duck alum, love Sabrina.
00:21:56
Speaker 2: We'll get there in a second about Sabrina. But that Sabrina wanted the coaching change.
00:22:01
Speaker 1: That Sabrina was all about Jonathan Cole making a change. That Jonathan Cole was trying to make a team that made Sabrina happy. If Jonathan Cole trusted and cared about what the actual persons whose team it is, which is Stewie, thought Sandy Brondella would still be coaching this team.
00:22:25
Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
00:22:26
Speaker 2: So what a miss. What a terrible, terrible miss.
00:22:29
Speaker 1: And now that that coach has flamed out with one year, has become basically a clean-cut version of Man Bun.
00:22:38
Speaker 4: Oh, my God. No, no.
00:22:41
Speaker 3: At least Man Bun has personality.
00:22:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was pretty awesome.
00:22:44
Speaker 3: I mean, a bad one, but still had one.
00:22:46
Speaker 1: He was the togetherness quotes that we got. We don't even get good quotes from Chris DiMarco.
00:22:51
Speaker 3: They were fun.
00:22:51
Speaker 2: Chris DiMarco.
00:22:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, they were just better than us. So offense doesn't... Can we.
00:22:59
Speaker 2: Talk about Sabrina really fast?
00:23:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, we can.
00:23:01
Speaker 1: Two crucial turnovers in back-to-back games that lost you each game and the series. And I've been looking at her playoff performances throughout. And I know that people are going to tell me that she was awesome in the playoffs the year that they won the title. But let me just tell you about the closeout game where she went one for 19 from the field.
00:23:25
Speaker 3: This year.
00:23:27
Speaker 2: 2024, when they won the title. Oh, she hasn't been good, Sarah, in four years.
00:23:35
Speaker 6: No, I remember you saying this last playoffs, last year in the playoffs, that it was like, ooh, Sabrina, are we going to get in the playoffs?
00:23:44
Speaker 3: Because playoffs Sabrina.
00:23:46
Speaker 6: Is like, the opposite direction of where you want it to go. And it just kind of feels like that's been a continuing pattern this season.
00:23:55
Speaker 1: Well, the thing about stars is you're not a star unless you are a star in the playoffs.
00:24:05
Speaker 2: That's just what it is. That's what's what sport is.
00:24:08
Speaker 1: The thing about Sabrina is that she's either going to go for like 10 for 18 from the field and seven for 13 for three.
00:24:16
Speaker 2: Or one for 19 from the field.
00:24:18
Speaker 6: And that's, I guess that's a big difference too. It's like what, how your, what your performance is versus what your team's performance is.
00:24:24
Speaker 3: And that's like, if you don't have the clutch, it's the clutch gene.
00:24:29
Speaker 2: It's no, it's a consistency thing, right?
00:24:32
Speaker 1: Like the only thing that matters is how you do when it's winter and go home. And I, I believe, and I said this right after the game, you got to trade Sabrina.
00:24:45
Speaker 2: When you watch Jordan.
00:24:47
Speaker 1: Canada, and we'll talk about the Dream in a second because they deserve a lot of coverage and a lot of flowers as well. But it's just such a disaster for the Liberty that that's what we have to talk about because they deserve everything. They really should and could. Both of these teams are the two best teams left. Valkyries and the Dream.
00:25:07
Speaker 6: I agree.
00:25:09
Speaker 1: There are players, for example, let me give you an example. There's a player in the NBA. His name is Jalen Duren. He was an all NBA caliber player.
00:25:18
Speaker 2: No, not caliber. He was an all NBA player.
00:25:22
Speaker 3: Where does he play?
00:25:23
Speaker 2: He plays for the Detroit Pistons.
00:25:25
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:25:26
Speaker 1: He was the second best player on his team. This team was number one in the East. He was up for a super.
00:25:33
Speaker 2: Max contract, five years, $ 250 million. And then the playoffs came. And he disappeared. He was ass. He got played off of the floor.
00:25:42
Speaker 1: Literally a minimum guy in Paul Reed stepped in and played crucial minutes instead of him. And when it came time to pay him, they said, when it's winning time, you're like our fourth or fifth best player.
00:25:56
Speaker 2: And so we don't need to pay you $ 250 million. You'll take $ 50.
00:25:59
Speaker 1: Million less and you'll like it. And it became very contentious. He ended up taking the money.
00:26:04
Speaker 2: But like in women's sports, we're just nice. there yet we're not.
00:26:09
Speaker 1: Ready and we'll talk about this on Monday but we don't not we're not criticizing Sabrina enough we're not looking at her like she's slow compared to Jordan Canada Sarah she no.
00:26:19
Speaker 6: She's very slow this is what we've been I mean she's a cone she's a defensive cone we've heard it from people a lot of people who don't want to say those things on air but Sabrina is slow and it has been an Achilles heel of this team because this team in general is kind of slow And so that's where Sabrina should be making up for that speed.
00:26:40
Speaker 3: And she should be, you're right. When you compare her to what Jordan.
00:26:44
Speaker 6: Canada and what Ryan Howard were doing on the other side of the ball in this game, it's.
00:26:49
Speaker 3: Really like, you really can't even begin to compare them.
00:26:53
Speaker 1: And I will say that she was awesome in the link series and really good in game one of the Atlanta series, but the disastrous turnovers were, and how bad she was getting cooked on defense where they're just like literally Jordan Canada's going to the, like she's getting to the hoop at will and you are just defensively like impossible.
00:27:17
Speaker 2: You're like basically a matador with the fucking cape. It's tough. It's a tough situation.
00:27:24
Speaker 1: She's not a great shot maker anymore consistently. She can hit shots, but like off the dribble, it's very inconsistent. She's not a great passer. Her decision-making quality has eroded. Like, she tried this pocket pass to Breanna Stewart coming off of a screen, going into the lane, and just blindly turned it over. Like, yo, the move was clearly get it down into the paint to Jon Quell and Breanna Stewart over and over and over. Like, B-button Baraka on Mortal Kombat.
00:27:55
Speaker 2: Just push the same button.
00:27:57
Speaker 3: Over and over and over. Right, over and over. Why are we doing something different?
00:28:00
Speaker 2: Nas Hillman is in foul trouble. She has five fouls.
00:28:03
Speaker 1: Ryan Howard is infallible. Just give the ball to them and they kept making those shots.
00:28:07
Speaker 2: Why, why, why? You got to trade her. You have Fautoux there. You have Astier there. She's making a lot of money. If you can move off of this contract, you move off of this contract. Well. You agree? I do.
00:28:22
Speaker 3: I mean, no, I don't know.
00:28:23
Speaker 2: I don't. Okay.
00:28:25
Speaker 3: I don't feel.
00:28:27
Speaker 2: Sabrina apologist.
00:28:28
Speaker 3: I'm not a Sabrina apologist. I just like Sabrina. But I do.
00:28:33
Speaker 2: Okay. I know.
00:28:35
Speaker 3: I know. That's the fan response. That's the fan response. I totally recognize that. But in men's sports. Would I do that?
00:28:40
Speaker 2: If Terry McLaurin was dropping fucking balls in the middle of the field. I would say trade his ass.
00:28:46
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:28:47
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:28:47
Speaker 3: I mean, yes, I would.
00:28:48
Speaker 2: Let's move on because this could go forever.
00:28:51
Speaker 3: Atlanta dream.
00:28:52
Speaker 6: The one thing I wrote down when I was watching all my little things back again, because I didn't get to watch the full games. But I wrote down, I'm so impressed with Angel Reese's maturity. I feel like I'm watching a player who has like grown up.
00:29:10
Speaker 2: Before our very eyes.
00:29:12
Speaker 6: Like three seasons in the time it took her to fly from Chicago to Atlanta somehow.
00:29:19
Speaker 2: And in the middle of this season.
00:29:22
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:29:22
Speaker 6: Like she's maturing so much in her decision-making, like in her shots.
00:29:29
Speaker 3: Selection in what's in her bag.
00:29:31
Speaker 6: I saw a stat that said the Atlanta dream is undefeated when Angel Reese is making three-pointers.
00:29:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, the thing that I've noticed about her is that while.
00:29:42
Speaker 1: Because if you look at just the counting stats, which is just like.
00:29:47
Speaker 1: She was 7 for 18 from the field. That on its own is not nearly as impressive as actually what she was.
00:29:54
Speaker 2: I mean, she was getting... She was running the floor and.
00:29:59
Speaker 2: Whether that was Dewana Bonner or Naz Hillman or Jordan Canada, delivering the ball to her in stride, running the floor before all of her teammates on a fast break, and making very tough layups.
00:30:14
Speaker 1: I was super impressed. Six for six from the free throw line. This is a 70-something percent free throw shooter. Like I said, she's been nails. I think it's maybe the FIBA break. I think it's her learning from... the vets like.
00:30:29
Speaker 2: Brianna stewart when she came back from the fever break it was like and there's only four more games left she was like blossomed wild above what she had been prior to the and she was great in the fever break but like she's making really really tough shots now hitting threes, her confidence. I feel just Carl Smesko, the head coach of Atlanta, has been just the perfect fit for her.
00:30:57
Speaker 3: Well, I was going to say, that was what I was going to say was, I'm glad you said that.
00:31:01
Speaker 6: Did you see what we posted on our page, their little handshake?
00:31:05
Speaker 2: I love that.
00:31:06
Speaker 6: Like, it just, you can tell how much Angel flourishes when she has a coach that believes in her.
00:31:14
Speaker 2: Well, and is smart.
00:31:15
Speaker 3: And is smart. but mostly one that trusts her and believes in her.
00:31:19
Speaker 6: And like.
00:31:20
Speaker 1: Fam, do you know that he completely changed her shot? He worked with her in the lab and changed her entire shooting motion and then said, hey, you're going to be a three-point shooter.
00:31:33
Speaker 2: I don't care if you miss. I don't care if you're shooting 10% from three.
00:31:38
Speaker 1: It's just going to keep going up. If you can make threes, you will be an unstoppable monster forever. But belief is one thing.
00:31:44
Speaker 2: Being able to give someone the tools to make them better is something, even if Tyler Marsh, the Chicago Sky head coach, even if Teaspoon.
00:31:55
Speaker 3: That's true, because Teaspoon did very much believe in Angel.
00:31:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Angel Reese's development was not nearly as.
00:32:06
Speaker 1: Fast or advanced or didn't really happen to the degree that it has just in this year alone.
00:32:12
Speaker 3: She's just grown so much as a player.
00:32:15
Speaker 6: Like, I cannot understate just how impressed I was watching her in those highlights that I was watching, not the full games.
00:32:24
Speaker 1: Jordan Canada, though, by the way, like, Hasn't been healthy for a very long time. This is her first healthy season. I think I saw something like she hadn't played more than 50% of the games for the Atlanta Dream since she got there until this year. I think she's their most important player.
00:32:40
Speaker 3: At least so far in this finals run.
00:32:44
Speaker 2: Yes, in this playoff series. And listen, they have a lot of really important players. The fact that they swept the Bibberti with no Alicia Gray... Is stunning.
00:32:56
Speaker 3: It's literally the exact same thing I was going to say. Because when I saw that, like, hand, finger, whatever, finger sprain or something.
00:33:05
Speaker 2: Like a jam.
00:33:05
Speaker 3: Jam.
00:33:07
Speaker 2: More than a jam.
00:33:09
Speaker 6: Enough to sideline her. And I was like, ooh, I'm nervous without Alicia. Yeah, where's the shot.
00:33:17
Speaker 2: Making going to come from? And....
00:33:20
Speaker 1: Jordan Canada, five for eight. Ryan Howard, tough efficiency night, but still had 21. You know, they're getting a lot from Izzy Borlase.
00:33:30
Speaker 6: I was just about to say, we have to talk about Borlase, who was phenomenal.
00:33:35
Speaker 2: Two steals.
00:33:37
Speaker 7: Come on.
00:33:38
Speaker 3: And some big, big.
00:33:41
Speaker 6: Buckets when necessary.
00:33:43
Speaker 2: 13 rebounds as well for Dewana Bonner.
00:33:45
Speaker 1: Man, this team is just compiled in a way. That you can easily see them winning a title or you can see the Valks winning a title. I mean, both of them are playing some of the best basketball.
00:33:58
Speaker 6: Defense, and we've been saying this all season, and Stewie even said it in her presser last night after elimination, defense wins championships. And that is going to be the case this year because our finals are set. It's going to be the Atlanta Dream versus the Golden State Valkyries, who are the most defensively dominant teams this season. And so it's very clear that defense is going to win a championship this year.
00:34:22
Speaker 2: Can you change your hat? Oh. It's time.
00:34:26
Speaker 3: Please hold. Okay. Aces are also going home. Staying home.
00:34:34
Speaker 2: Hate to see it, truly.
00:34:37
Speaker 3: No, you don't.
00:34:39
Speaker 1: Well, I'm really glad that I didn't put That money on Aces to win the finals, like it was what, seven to one.
00:34:46
Speaker 2: I put very, very little money on that. I was going to put a lot.
00:34:50
Speaker 1: Of money on Angel, I mean, not Angel, Asia to win finals MVP again.
00:34:54
Speaker 2: That was like 10 to one, nine to one. And that's, remember I did that last year. It was very fruitful. And I was like, I should do it again.
00:35:02
Speaker 3: And I just- Accidentally. Don't act like you did it on purpose.
00:35:04
Speaker 6: I just did it.
00:35:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was an accident.
00:35:05
Speaker 2: It was an accident.
00:35:06
Speaker 1: And then I- Didn't. And then the odds just kept falling. And I was like, I'm not going to do that.
00:35:13
Speaker 2: Like, this is dumb. And now they've been eliminated.
00:35:18
Speaker 3: Angel or Angel or Gabby? Who do you think has the leg up right now?
00:35:23
Speaker 1: I think Gabby right now is minus money to win finals MVP.
00:35:27
Speaker 2: Angel's right behind her. I've actually placed two bets.
00:35:32
Speaker 3: One on each?
00:35:33
Speaker 2: Nope. I have placed a bet on Dewana Bonner.
00:35:38
Speaker 3: Ah, good one.
00:35:38
Speaker 1: 220 to one okay wow that's a crazy price crazy.
00:35:45
Speaker 6: And and and not like that's a wild fucking price it's a wild price like our people people are sleeping on that one.
00:35:54
Speaker 1: People are sleeping and then i put some on uh jordan canada at 22 to 1 As well.
00:36:01
Speaker 2: I like that pick. I think they'll have very likely outcomes. No, no, no.
00:36:04
Speaker 6: I like that Jordan Canada one. I worry that I don't know that she'll get the wreck.
00:36:09
Speaker 2: She's talked about on the broadcast so much, though.
00:36:12
Speaker 3: Maybe it's changing a little bit.
00:36:14
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:36:14
Speaker 2: The media. Yeah, people who will vote.
00:36:16
Speaker 3: Because I feel like people don't give.
00:36:18
Speaker 6: Her a lot of the same respect that they give other guards in the league.
00:36:22
Speaker 7: It's true.
00:36:23
Speaker 2: I'm really, really interested.
00:36:24
Speaker 1: And if you look at the Gabby Williams play, and I think there's a reason that she's... you know, has the shortest odds to win finals MVP. You know, she's taken 16, 17 shots per game. Didn't have the best game last night, but then you had Kayla Thornton showing up. She had a team high in terms of production. The thing that I think is really interesting about the Valkyries that we've been talking about all year that I've been dismissing about them is actually something that's a strength of theirs, which is it could literally be anyone, any night.
00:36:58
Speaker 3: Anyone, any night. Starter or off the bench.
00:37:02
Speaker 6: Right.
00:37:03
Speaker 2: It could be Salon one day. It could be Kayla Thornton one day.
00:37:06
Speaker 3: It could be Kaitlyn Chen.
00:37:08
Speaker 1: It could be Kia Stokes one day. It could be Tip. By the way, Tip, we got to talk about... I had Tip Hayes to have eight or more points, and then she was standing... Standing in the corner, doing nothing for the end of that game.
00:37:24
Speaker 2: It was so egregious. My mom was even noticing, like, why isn't she moving without the ball? How come she's not calling for the ball?
00:37:31
Speaker 3: She has a bucket. A plus 20 when she's on the court.
00:37:35
Speaker 2: She's incredible.
00:37:36
Speaker 1: Had to get to overtime in order for her to get that eighth point.
00:37:41
Speaker 2: I was shaking in my boots. Anyway, it could be Veronica Burton.
00:37:44
Speaker 1: I just thought it was super impressive because the largest lead for the Aces was, 11.
00:37:50
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:37:52
Speaker 1: And they, the Valkyries had what I think like an 18-0 run.
00:37:57
Speaker 3: In the fourth quarter.
00:37:59
Speaker 2: In the fourth quarter.
00:38:00
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:38:00
Speaker 1: And it just, it was stifling for them to force overtime and say, listen, you can't give the Aces any momentum.
00:38:09
Speaker 2: If they win one game.
00:38:11
Speaker 6: I was kind of checked out because I had just gotten home. I got home late last night. And so I got home in the fourth quarter and I was unpacking and like, trying to get myself together. And so I was actually the fourth quarter of an overtime was the only thing I actually watched in full.
00:38:25
Speaker 3: And I was like, Oh wow.
00:38:28
Speaker 6: Okay. I mean, it looks like we're going to at least a game four. Right.
00:38:33
Speaker 3: Like I thought for sure. I was like, okay, well that's one sweep. It won't be two sweeps. Aces will close this one out, put it away.
00:38:40
Speaker 6: Because when you were, when aces are up by 11 in the fourth quarter, I just would expect.
00:38:45
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:38:46
Speaker 3: That they would put it away. At home.
00:38:48
Speaker 4: At home.
00:38:49
Speaker 6: By the way, could you hear in that fourth quarter, could you hear the GSV chants?
00:38:56
Speaker 2: Oh, they travel those Valkyries fans.
00:38:59
Speaker 3: Woo!
00:39:00
Speaker 2: So, okay, can we just get to it? I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
00:39:06
Speaker 1: For undervaluing all year we talked about what the biggest risks are we even did a whole show to be fair for like weeks i was doing a show like are the valkyries the most dangerous team that no one's talking about we did do a show on it it was after a bad loss so i might have discounted them a little bit but this was a team that was flying so far under the radar all year that.
00:39:30
Speaker 2: In their second year, now they're going to the finals.
00:39:32
Speaker 1: It seemed so crazy that the owner of this team, Joe Lacob, the owner of the Golden State Warriors team, said to Natalie Nakase when he hired her as head coach, I want us to win a title within five years. And I was like, this billionaire is smoking fucking crack.
00:39:47
Speaker 2: He's got his pipe out. And here we are in year two. Remember I made fun of them, Sarah, because they fucking drafted players and then just immediately cut them. They cut Caitlin Chen.
00:39:59
Speaker 1: They cut Cheyenne Sellers.
00:40:03
Speaker 2: And then they had the whole visa. Put your visa. And I was like, well, we made fun of the flage thing.
00:40:09
Speaker 3: We were like, what are you all doing? Getting rid of flage.
00:40:13
Speaker 1: And they sent her back to Lithuania.
00:40:16
Speaker 2: And I was like, this team's fucking clowns, bro.
00:40:18
Speaker 1: You guys are clowns. Makes the playoffs in their first year. I mean, I was just like, this is nonsense. And then we've got Bahala. We've got like the, what.
00:40:31
Speaker 2: Do they call it? Something island. It was like they had another fucking crazy... The Valkatraz. Called it Valkatraz.
00:40:41
Speaker 3: I have not heard of Valkatraz.
00:40:43
Speaker 2: Great, right? Great. And I'm just really impressed.
00:40:47
Speaker 1: I'm really impressed with the dream. I'm really impressed with the Valkyries. I was so wrong thinking that the star-powered teams would win. That's normally what happens is like the Asias take over and it's just too much for... even a complete team and they deserve all the credit.
00:41:03
Speaker 6: But I'm glad because like, I think that it was going to be a tough conversation.
00:41:09
Speaker 3: We were all going to have to have with each other.
00:41:11
Speaker 6: If we had gotten yet another aces championship, just so tired of them, like, and not even tired, but like, okay, well what's the rest of the league going to do?
00:41:23
Speaker 3: Cause I hate nothing.
00:41:25
Speaker 2: I hate more than dynasties. Yes.
00:41:29
Speaker 6: I really, and not that like, and not because like, and because I am a hater.
00:41:34
Speaker 3: Like I hated.
00:41:34
Speaker 6: Steph Curry when he was good. Like when he was winning every year. I hated LeBron for a period with the Heat. I hated Tom Brady at the Patriots. Like you just start hating it. And it's not because of them as people.
00:41:48
Speaker 3: It's just like, I'm just tired of it.
00:41:52
Speaker 2: I wanted to say something about that in terms of dynasties. Okay. Becky Hammond, she knew, Becky Hammond.
00:41:58
Speaker 1: Knew this year they didn't have it. Like there's a way to win even when you don't have it. But their defense was cheeks pretty much all year. And they didn't have size and rebounding outside of Nelissa Smith and Asia Wilson.
00:42:15
Speaker 2: And then Nelissa Smith goes down and you don't have anyone to replace her. And we said that was going to be a potential issue.
00:42:22
Speaker 1: With depth and maybe we could pull up some of the things that Becky Hammond had to say after the game.
00:42:27
Speaker 5: Look, if you want to win championships, you need to be a top three, top four defense.
00:42:33
Speaker 3: And we weren't this year.
00:42:34
Speaker 5: We weren't, we had moments where we were pretty good, but we weren't good enough to be at a championship level. You gotta be clicking on all cylinders on both ends. And we were not.
00:42:42
Speaker 7: Coach, obviously the glass was an issue all three games. And you knew that, you know, going.
00:42:46
Speaker 3: Into game one, because you knew that coming into this season.
00:42:49
Speaker 4: Right.
00:42:49
Speaker 7: So I was just going to ask you kind of from an adjustment standpoint.
00:42:52
Speaker 3: He said not just this game, sir. To kind of not.
00:42:54
Speaker 7: Work all three games. What does that boil down to for you?
00:43:00
Speaker 5: Honestly, you know, there's people that have a knack for the glass. It just kind of is in their DNA just like, you know, passing is in Chelsea's DNA, you know. There's a knack for offensive rebounding. Like Kayla Thornton is– She has a knack for that. She's, like, relentless in that area and really came up big in all those games just by hitting the glass, getting her team extra possessions. I wouldn't say we have, like, that Dennis Rodman person with that. It just is in their DNA. We have people with other great strengths. That comes natural to them. But somebody that just hammers the offensive glass like that, we didn't really have that, you know, on our team.
00:43:46
Speaker 2: That makes me so uncomfortable.
00:43:50
Speaker 3: But you know what I appreciate?
00:43:51
Speaker 6: Honestly? Yes, because that's the difference between Becky and Chris DeMarco.
00:43:57
Speaker 2: Don't go back to him. Don't do it.
00:43:59
Speaker 3: But I'm just saying. How did it sound again? Yeah.
00:44:03
Speaker 4: Yeah. We just, they really tried hard to win, and I'm really happy with where we ended up.
00:44:10
Speaker 3: And then there's Becky, who's like, we were asked.
00:44:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's going to be.
00:44:16
Speaker 3: We're lucky we got this far.
00:44:18
Speaker 6: Like, it's night and day difference in attitude, and that is why the Aces will come out next year, and we will be having the exact same conversation again, and going, the Aces are going to win another title.
00:44:29
Speaker 2: They're going to make some changes, Sarah.
00:44:31
Speaker 3: Exactly.
00:44:32
Speaker 2: Let me look at this Aces roster really fast for you before we go, because here's the real struggle... is that you don't have size.
00:44:45
Speaker 1: In terms of size, the tallest player is Kalani Brown, and I thought Kalani Brown did an excellent.
00:44:51
Speaker 2: Job, really.
00:44:52
Speaker 1: She's 6'7, and everyone else is pretty small. You've got Nelissa, who's 6'4. Outside of her, you've got Stephanie Talbot.
00:45:05
Speaker 2: Who's 6'2. You've got Asia Wilson, who's 6'4.
00:45:10
Speaker 1: But also on top of that, so you need some size and someone with the knack for getting on the glass, like she said.
00:45:16
Speaker 2: But you also are old. Chelsea Gray, how old do you think Chelsea Gray is?
00:45:21
Speaker 3: Is she my age?
00:45:23
Speaker 2: She's 34. Cheyenne Parker-Tias, 34. Jewel Lloyd, 33.
00:45:30
Speaker 3: Can I just tell you this?
00:45:32
Speaker 6: The second best rebounder on this Aces team is... Stephanie Talbot, who is the 77th rated player in the league. And that's their second best rebounder. Every other team has three to four players ahead of them.
00:45:56
Speaker 2: That's a tough pill to swallow because what do you really do? I mean, you got to go out and get... It's kind of crazy that they let Kia Stokes... go. I can't remember. Did they, did Kia Stokes go in the expansion draft?
00:46:12
Speaker 6: Yes.
00:46:13
Speaker 3: I'm almost positive.
00:46:14
Speaker 2: Yes. She was left unprotected. Yeah. And I get that. Like that's really hard when you have so many star players. Yeah. I mean, cause that's really hard.
00:46:23
Speaker 3: Were they not going to, Yeah.
00:46:25
Speaker 2: I mean, I get that. I'm not going to actually bang on them for that.
00:46:28
Speaker 6: Yeah, because there's really no one that they, there wasn't another option.
00:46:32
Speaker 1: I'm not going to bang on them for that, but she would be really, really good on this team right now. Like you looked at how important she was for the Valkyries in game one, where she had 14 rebounds. Like she would have been amazing on this Aces team. They need to get young. Yeah, they need to get younger.
00:46:48
Speaker 2: They need to get more athletic and they need to get better at rebounding. And to me, that's like, What does that look like?
00:46:55
Speaker 6: I mean, could they bring Kia back?
00:46:59
Speaker 2: Is she a free agent? I don't think she is.
00:47:01
Speaker 3: No. She probably wasn't on a one year.
00:47:04
Speaker 6: You're right.
00:47:05
Speaker 3: What about Camilla? What's Camilla on?
00:47:07
Speaker 2: Camilla fucking sucks. Sorry. I'm sorry.
00:47:12
Speaker 3: No, I think that was funny.
00:47:16
Speaker 2: Sorry.
00:47:17
Speaker 3: Camilla fucking sucks.
00:47:20
Speaker 2: Okay, so this is what's happening for next year before we go. They have a lot of cap space. It's really Asia, Wilson, Chelsea Gray. God, woof. Jewel Lloyd is making $ 840, 000 next year.
00:47:37
Speaker 3: Next year?
00:47:38
Speaker 2: Yes. At the age of what? How old? They have cap space. They have $ 2.
00:47:45
Speaker 1: 7 million in cap space, but they have only five players on their roster.
00:47:51
Speaker 2: That are not yeah like it's.
00:47:53
Speaker 1: Kind of scary ours they only have five players on their roster to start next year looks like jackie is a free agent okay.
00:48:02
Speaker 3: I feel like we're getting way too into the weeds.
00:48:04
Speaker 1: Anyway i just think they they're gonna we're talking about just in general like a lot of changes are going to.
00:48:11
Speaker 6: Be made there's definitely gonna be be changes made um before we go who do you like in the series.
00:48:18
Speaker 2: I couldn't tell you. I'm like, my predictions have been wrong.
00:48:21
Speaker 1: And in fact, like as much as the WNBA probably will hate this matchup. And as much as the ratings, this is such a bad ratings matchup.
00:48:30
Speaker 2: Like you need at least one. No, it is Sarah. You'll see. It is. Angel will do some work.
00:48:36
Speaker 3: I'm sure.
00:48:38
Speaker 2: Angel will bring the, the trolls and the haters and the like Jake Paul, wait, wait for them to fail crowd. But like, Don't get it twisted.
00:48:47
Speaker 1: There's a reason that Gabby Williams said, now we're going to get some bandwagoners and nobody respected us all year because this team, put your V's up, was like the most boring brand of team nationally.
00:48:59
Speaker 2: Like they were not a national team. I love the Valkyries. I think they play awesome basketball. I love the Dream.
00:49:04
Speaker 1: I think they play phenomenal basketball. We're going to get the best matchup we can possibly get. Like two teams that are almost... Like, I don't think there's really, like, significant flaws on either one of those teams right now with how they're playing and.
00:49:18
Speaker 3: They're no I don't see I don't see any.
00:49:20
Speaker 1: And I think Alicia Gray could have played if they didn't think that they would we're gonna see.
00:49:23
Speaker 3: Well she now has a full week to rest.
00:49:26
Speaker 1: Yeah she'll be back she'll be fine so but like this is an awesome for basketball sickos this is gonna be.
00:49:32
Speaker 3: An awesome matchup it's gonna be really good I'm excited.
00:49:36
Speaker 2: Give me the Valkyrie's.
00:49:41
Speaker 3: I think I'm taking the dream.
00:49:44
Speaker 2: Of course. One of us will win. One of us will be right.
00:49:46
Speaker 3: I think it's going to five. I think it's going to seven. I think it's going to seven.
00:49:51
Speaker 4: Sorry.
00:49:51
Speaker 3: I forgot that we extended.
00:49:53
Speaker 2: We got to get off the air. Great show.
00:49:55
Speaker 1: I'm so excited for the finals. I'm bummed that we have a week off. You know what we're going to do next week? We don't have a week off of the show. I want to talk about some college stuff. I want to break down some of these rosters for the teams that we're going to talk about once the season is over.
00:50:11
Speaker 2: Like, college basketball's here!
00:50:13
Speaker 3: Yes, that was the thing.
00:50:14
Speaker 6: I was actually like, for all of the people who are new to us and have joined this season, we do not go away when the finals are over. We are going straight into college basketball.
00:50:25
Speaker 2: So.
00:50:26
Speaker 3: Make sure that you got your team.
00:50:27
Speaker 1: Are we going to cover Unrivaled this year? I think we feel like we always say we're going to.
00:50:31
Speaker 3: We never do.
00:50:31
Speaker 2: How could we really?
00:50:33
Speaker 3: We don't really ever cover it. When it becomes like, never mind, I'm not going to say it.
00:50:38
Speaker 2: We're not covering Project B either, chat.
00:50:42
Speaker 3: We cover competitive basketball here.
00:50:44
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:50:46
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:50:46
Speaker 2: We got to go. We got to go. I'm not, that was her opinion, not mine.
00:50:51
Speaker 3: No, that's a joke. It's just, I know I do. I do really like unrivaled like as a product.
00:50:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was fun.
00:50:57
Speaker 1: You're going to have to go to some games. They're coming in New York. They're going to Philly. I'll go to the West coast games. You go to the East coast games. They're going to be all around the nation. I think there's nine locations, eight locations in total.
00:51:07
Speaker 3: Not in DC, but that's fine.
00:51:08
Speaker 2: Not in Portland or Seattle.
00:51:10
Speaker 6: I think that's honestly, that's, I'm just salty about that.
00:51:12
Speaker 2: You're a salty bitch. All right. Well, great show, Sarah. On a Saturday. We'll be back Tuesday. Thank you so much. I need to get... We need to get Will on from Big Brother. Yes.
00:51:22
Speaker 1: Maybe we can get him next week to talk about South Carolina.
00:51:25
Speaker 3: Maybe we'll... Some Gigi. We'll talk to him about Gigi.
00:51:29
Speaker 2: Correct.
00:51:30
Speaker 1: If you're just watching us on YouTube, download us on Spotify and Apple. If you're listening to us on Spotify and Apple, find.
00:51:36
Speaker 2: Us on YouTube.
00:51:37
Speaker 1: We're just as dynamic, if not more, in visual form. There's lots of gyrations and.
00:51:44
Speaker 2: All kinds of.
00:51:45
Speaker 3: Trista's feet. Trista just holds her feet up.
00:51:48
Speaker 2: I just show my toes for the whole show.
00:51:51
Speaker 3: Just foot lifted, raised in the.
00:51:54
Speaker 2: Just foot on show. Not an unsocked foot, but foot remains. And thank you so much if you're new to us. We're crazy. We're opinionated.
00:52:06
Speaker 1: We're going to get on to the Tuesday show about how soft women's sports have become and its participation trophy. I saw something on Skim, Sarah. that I need to get your fucking thoughts on. And I didn't have the time or energy for us to extend this show on a Saturday, but, like, I got multiple texts from women who have covered men's sports, like.
00:52:25
Speaker 2: Is this WNBA going to just, like, continue to be a novelty with this soft-ass shit or what?
00:52:30
Speaker 3: But we'll talk about it on Tuesday. Anyway, okay. All right, one, two, three.
00:52:34
Speaker 2: Lettershoot!
00:52:35
Speaker 4: Lettershoot!
Speaker 1: It seemed so crazy that the owner of the Golden State Warriors said to Natalie Nakase when he hired her as head coach, I want us to win a title within five years.
00:00:09
Speaker 2: And I was like, this billionaire is smoking fucking crack.
00:00:12
Speaker 1: Remember I made fun of them, Sarah, because they fucking drafted players and then just immediately cut them.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: And then they had the whole visa. Put your visa. I was like, this team's fucking clowns, bro. You guys are clowns. Make the playoffs in their first year. I mean, I was just like, this is nonsense.
00:00:31
Speaker 3: New York cat, Liberty Jersey. I was just listening to their presser.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: Should we call them Liberty Bibberty.
00:00:36
Speaker 3: From now on?
00:00:37
Speaker 2: They're just Bibberty now. They don't even earn the liberty anymore.
00:00:56
Speaker 3: Just liberty.
00:00:57
Speaker 1: What a tough way to go out getting swept on your home court after probably getting a game stolen.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: So before we start, though, because.
00:01:07
Speaker 3: We're going to get into that for sure.
00:01:09
Speaker 2: Because you haven't been around.
00:01:11
Speaker 3: No. I need to explain. Drama.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: Where have you been?
00:01:19
Speaker 3: I was off grid in the mountains in Colorado.
00:01:23
Speaker 2: That doesn't sound like you at all. No.
00:01:25
Speaker 4: No.
00:01:27
Speaker 5: No.
00:01:28
Speaker 2: Is that why you brought camo pants? Yeah.
00:01:31
Speaker 3: I was trying to blend in. Could you tell?
00:01:34
Speaker 4: Good.
00:01:35
Speaker 3: With the culture or the foliage?
00:01:38
Speaker 6: I still don't think I really fit in with the culture there. I think I stuck out like a sore thumb.
00:01:43
Speaker 3: I'm not going to lie. So, okay.
00:01:45
Speaker 6: Actually, literally, that's where I'm going with the story. So it was my best friend's wedding this weekend. And who, of course, you know, and we all know, in the dub club or with it behind the scenes. She's one of our producers, Tori and my college called back. We college roommates and she got married this weekend and I was in the wedding party. And for those who know me know that I'm not a dress person.
00:02:17
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, that would have blown.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: If you would have shown up wearing a dress to a wedding, that would have blown my fucking mind.
00:02:24
Speaker 6: And I would have lost immediate street cred. I think personally, like I cannot be showing up where my legs can touch.
00:02:33
Speaker 3: That's weird. I don't like that. Anyway. So what?
00:02:37
Speaker 2: Go on. Okay. Anyway.
00:02:39
Speaker 3: So when Tori asked me to be in her wedding, she's.
00:02:41
Speaker 6: Like, okay, I'm not going to make you wear a dress, but like you, we like, let's.
00:02:46
Speaker 3: Figure out a way to match.
00:02:47
Speaker 2: So you were a groomsman or you were a bridesmaid?
00:02:49
Speaker 3: No, I was a bridesmaid.
00:02:51
Speaker 2: But you dress like a groomsman?
00:02:53
Speaker 4: No.
00:02:54
Speaker 3: And I'm getting there.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: So, okay.
00:02:56
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:02:57
Speaker 6: So Tori says you can like, it gives me like this thing to order.
00:03:01
Speaker 3: Okay. And it's like this chiffon. I have it. I can show it to you.
00:03:06
Speaker 7: A chiffon?
00:03:09
Speaker 6: Chiffon like pant suit. Okay.
00:03:12
Speaker 3: All right.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: Oh, okay. It's a, it's a, it's a half a shoulder guy. Oh yeah. That's not going to work dog.
00:03:23
Speaker 6: So, okay.
00:03:24
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:03:25
Speaker 3: So that was the outfit and it came in the wrong color. And I was like, well, gosh, shucks.
00:03:33
Speaker 6: I can't wear the chiffon now. And so I was like, can I wear a suit? And they were like, Tori was like, yes, you can wear a suit.
00:03:41
Speaker 3: That's fine. Well, I don't know if, and, and, and you know how much I love Tori.
00:03:47
Speaker 6: But let me tell you, I had beef with her wedding planner this entire week.
00:03:52
Speaker 3: Cause she, yeah, I don't.
00:03:53
Speaker 6: Know if she was like homophobic or like what, but she was trying to get me into a dress until like the morning of this wedding.
00:04:03
Speaker 3: Anyway. So I'm going to go back to a second. I have to get this suit last minute. I'm leaving. My flight is at like 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
00:04:12
Speaker 6: On Monday, we realized that the dress thingy is the wrong color and it's like not going to match.
00:04:18
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, shit, I don't know what to do. So I run, literally run. Did you go to Joseph A.
00:04:24
Speaker 2: Banks?
00:04:25
Speaker 3: No, I went to Men's Warehouse. All right.
00:04:28
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:04:28
Speaker 6: And I walk in and I'm like, surely they have something I can buy like right now.
00:04:34
Speaker 2: So I walk in rack at your five feet. Nothing. Is this a store for ants?
00:04:40
Speaker 3: What is this a store for ants?
00:04:42
Speaker 2: Yeah. This is a store for little people. What are you fucking Tyrion Lannister?
00:04:46
Speaker 6: So I walk in and I'm like, do you do same day Tux Reynolds?
00:04:51
Speaker 3: And they were like, no. And I was like, okay, do you have anything same day?
00:04:56
Speaker 6: And the guy was like, no, like I cannot get you out of here today with a suit. And I was like, Sir, I don't mean to be an asshole, but I'm looking around me and there are suits everywhere. So, and he goes, okay, well, what size are you? And I was like, I have no, I don't even know what the sizes are.
00:05:16
Speaker 3: I'm a two in women's clothes. Does that help?
00:05:20
Speaker 4: And he was like, no.
00:05:21
Speaker 2: Are you a two?
00:05:23
Speaker 3: Okay, are you going to fat shame me right now? Is that really where we're going with this? Are you fat shaming me right now?
00:05:29
Speaker 2: Okay, keep going. I just think honesty is important.
00:05:34
Speaker 3: I'm a four on a heavy day. Okay.
00:05:37
Speaker 6: Anyway, so this guy, like I'm, he's like, he's getting ready to roll.
00:05:44
Speaker 3: Like he's helping me out. And I can tell he's like.
00:05:46
Speaker 6: An older white man, bald. And I'm like, I, this man and I do not connect in any way. I can tell immediately like that. He is not, he's not vibing with me.
00:05:58
Speaker 2: And he's homophobic as well.
00:05:59
Speaker 6: I I'm getting, I'm getting a little bit of like, maybe not capital H, but like maybe like lowercase H homophobia a little.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: Like, Hey, are you sure?
00:06:08
Speaker 3: Are you sure? Just like, Oh, you're going to wear a suit, you know, kind of thing.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: Anyway.
00:06:15
Speaker 6: So this man's like walking away and I notice that he has like a little bit of a Midwest accent.
00:06:23
Speaker 3: And so I say, where are you from? And he says, I'm from Iowa.
00:06:27
Speaker 2: And I go, yes, this is perfect.
00:06:31
Speaker 6: And then I said, you know, if you could help me out today, I will make sure to give you a shout out, David, on my, I have a podcast. And, you know, we have a lot of listeners.
00:06:42
Speaker 3: In the area. I'll be happy to give you a shout out. If you can hook me up with a suit today, I will give you a shout out. And he was like, what's your podcast about? And I said, it's all about Caitlin Clark.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: We only talk about Caitlin. All Caitlin, all the time.
00:07:00
Speaker 3: All Caitlin, all the time. And he goes, I love Caitlin Clark. And I said, I bet you do. I bet you do. And he goes, and you know, but you know who I really love?
00:07:11
Speaker 6: And I said, oh, I know. You're going to say Sophie, aren't you?
00:07:14
Speaker 3: And he was like, I do. I love Sophie. And I go, she's the enforcer for Caitlin. She really is. She's right there with.
00:07:23
Speaker 2: Make some strong points about those trans folks, too. Yep.
00:07:29
Speaker 1: Make some really strong points about men competing in girl sports.
00:07:36
Speaker 6: Needless to say, 30 minutes later, I walked out with not only a suit, but a tailored suit.
00:07:43
Speaker 2: How did he tailor it that fast?
00:07:45
Speaker 6: He got his guy, and he was like, Hey, we need to help her out.
00:07:51
Speaker 3: She's in her friend's wedding.
00:07:52
Speaker 1: She is a massive Sophie Cunningham fan. We need to make this work for her.
00:07:59
Speaker 3: Correct. So, thank you, Sophie Cunningham.
00:08:03
Speaker 7: Wow.
00:08:03
Speaker 2: What a great story.
00:08:04
Speaker 3: Did you see my suit?
00:08:06
Speaker 2: I did. It looked phenomenal.
00:08:08
Speaker 3: It looked great for a same-day suit, right?
00:08:11
Speaker 2: It really did.
00:08:12
Speaker 1: And so this wedding planner, she was pressuring you to get into the dress after you had tailored a suit?
00:08:18
Speaker 6: Yeah, so I get there even with the suit on the day, and she was like, does anybody have an extra dress that Sarah can wear?
00:08:25
Speaker 3: And I said, Sarah is not wearing a dress.
00:08:27
Speaker 6: Sarah has not worn a dress since she was six years old, and she's not going to start now.
00:08:32
Speaker 2: Those are the photos where your mouth were open for no reason?
00:08:36
Speaker 3: That's every photo of me.
00:08:38
Speaker 2: Did Sarah, when she was.
00:08:39
Speaker 1: A kid, her mouth would just for some reason be slack jaw open?
00:08:45
Speaker 2: Always.
00:08:46
Speaker 4: Always.
00:08:47
Speaker 2: I think it's a sinus issue.
00:08:48
Speaker 3: It was the nose. It was why I had to get my nose redone.
00:08:50
Speaker 1: Sarah has bad trouble breathing out of her sinuses.
00:08:54
Speaker 2: She had to breathe out of her mouth.
00:08:56
Speaker 1: I did.
00:08:57
Speaker 3: I was a mouth breather for a long time.
00:09:00
Speaker 6: Let's talk about the mouth breather, Chris DeMarco, who needs to get fired.
00:09:07
Speaker 2: What a great segue. Yeah, I mean, I think he's pretty much already out the door.
00:09:13
Speaker 1: I'm sure anyone watching this podcast or listening to this podcast, if you're new here, you've joined at a phenomenal time where there is controversy and drama, a brewing, and like a conspiracy as well.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: Like that's the kind of crazy thing. Sarah was at a wedding, so she.
00:09:31
Speaker 3: Didn't really get to see. I don't know anything. I really don't. Game two? I just watched everything back.
00:09:38
Speaker 2: So let me set the scene. Game two, the Liberty were fighting.
00:09:43
Speaker 3: It was back and forth.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: The Bibberty were fighting back. I should just get this turned into a B right here. Bibberty.
00:09:52
Speaker 2: So they were fighting back and forth with the dream. They're trading buckets. I want to say, you know, the conspiracy really wasn't. the reason that they lost. And so I'm going to go into why. But first and foremost, the ball goes to Jonquil Jones, who we love.
00:10:08
Speaker 3: Love Jonquil.
00:10:10
Speaker 2: She inexplicably drives into multiple people that are there in the paint waiting for her. Yeah. Like, like waiting.
00:10:20
Speaker 1: They tire up, not like BDSM tire up, but like grab the ball and it's a jump ball now.
00:10:27
Speaker 2: You're like, well, thank God for that. Like, thank God they didn't just steal it. Sure. Take off the other direction.
00:10:32
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:10:33
Speaker 2: They're down one. There's like, Less than 10 seconds left to go. Something like that. Maybe a little bit more. Sabrina gets the ball from the jump ball. So, great. Exciting news. Bibberti get the ball from the jump ball.
00:10:46
Speaker 3: Bibberti.
00:10:46
Speaker 5: Yep.
00:10:47
Speaker 2: Jonquil is in the opposite corner.
00:10:50
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:10:51
Speaker 2: Sabrina sort of turns the corner. And then she's coming around a screen. Jonquil's on the opposite side of the court. And she just... throws the ball out of bounds three feet above Jonquil Jones's head, who's already 6'6. What is happening?
00:11:13
Speaker 6: Well, and I was confused because, so the clip, because of course I couldn't watch these games back in full because I did not have four hours. I've not had four hours since when I landed from my travel day yesterday to now when we're recording to even watch games.
00:11:28
Speaker 3: But what I was gathering was I thought that that was intentional. because she was trying to pass it to Jean-Claude.
00:11:37
Speaker 2: She was.
00:11:38
Speaker 3: But Jean-Claude was like clapping, like the throwing.
00:11:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, she wanted the ball. She was wide open.
00:11:44
Speaker 1: And to be fair, there was rangy, athletic Atlanta Dream folks all around with their fucking octo arms getting into the mix. And so Sabrina was trying not to throw the ball away and turn it over.
00:11:59
Speaker 2: And yet she still did.
00:12:01
Speaker 1: So then now we've got to foul one of the dream players, which they foul Angel because historically not a great free throw shooter.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: She's been nails from the free throw line in the playoffs.
00:12:14
Speaker 3: I want to talk about Angel when we get there, but not right now.
00:12:16
Speaker 1: So now you've got 4.6 seconds left to go.
00:12:20
Speaker 2: And while Angel's at the free throw line, I don't think we really realized what was happening in real time, but Brianna Stewart looks over at the ref and asks whether they have a reset timeout, which means they can advance the ball. Mm-hmm. The ref tells Brianna Stewart he needs to check with his crew chief.
00:12:44
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:12:44
Speaker 1: Crew chief's like, no timeout. They say zero. You can see the little zero sign that they're making.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: Wait, hold on.
00:12:52
Speaker 3: I have a question. Is it really called a crew chief?
00:12:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:12:56
Speaker 3: I never knew that.
00:12:58
Speaker 2: So then... They look over at Chris DeMarco and he's like, I don't know. Like if they say no timeouts, it's no timeouts, I guess. But we don't know any of this is going on.
00:13:11
Speaker 3: I have a lot to say. I have a lot. We have no.
00:13:14
Speaker 1: Idea this is happening behind the scenes because Rebecca Lobo and Ryan Rucco are like, okay, so now they have, because you can see in the scorebook that they have that reset timeout. Okay, so then we'll advance the ball.
00:13:26
Speaker 2: We'll set something up. Just like with Fautouks, because this is overtime.
00:13:30
Speaker 1: Fautouks hit a three to send the Bibberty to overtime. So it's like, okay, 4.6 seconds out of bounds, side out right there in your own side of the court.
00:13:40
Speaker 2: We can do this.
00:13:41
Speaker 4: Right.
00:13:41
Speaker 2: But they don't use said timeout because they don't think they have one. And then Ryan Rucco, I think, gives the best call of his life, which I cannot get out of my head. And he goes, they don't use it. Why don't they use it?
00:13:58
Speaker 3: Oh, that is going to go down in the history books. That will go down in the history books for sure.
00:14:02
Speaker 2: And they throw the ball cross court to Brianna.
00:14:06
Speaker 3: That's for the doc. down the line.
00:14:07
Speaker 2: And she has to heave it. That's, like, when the liberty, like, destruct. And she throws it from the parking lot, air balls, game over. And I'm, like, proceeding to eviscerate them online when I walk out and I see my mom's watching the press conference. Good for her. What a real one. Why? She's, like, in. And Brianna looks over at Chris DeMarco because they're asking her, like, hey, what was up? And she looks at Krista Marco's ass and she says, are you going to say it or am I? And I go, what's she about to say? What's this about to be? You know, in my mind, this isn't even a thing. It's like, why didn't you fucking use the timeout, you dumbass?
00:14:51
Speaker 1: Anyway, she's like, well, when I asked the referee at the end of the game if we have a reset timeout and they say no. And so we don't use it. And then we find out we have one at the end of the game.
00:15:04
Speaker 2: We didn't use it. It's like pretty frustrating. But the part that kills me, Sarah, is she looked at Chris and was like, am I going to fight or are you? And he's like, I don't know.
00:15:13
Speaker 3: What do you mean?
00:15:14
Speaker 2: It's like, motherfucker.
00:15:23
Speaker 3: Can I go off about Chris?
00:15:24
Speaker 6: Go.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: I just set the scene for you to just go.
00:15:27
Speaker 3: Christopher?
00:15:29
Speaker 2: Paint, Picasso, paint.
00:15:30
Speaker 6: First of all, I'm still looking for his balls because I don't think he has them.
00:15:35
Speaker 3: This man needed to get up at that press conference.
00:15:38
Speaker 6: And the first thing he needed to do when he sat down was say, the refs lied to us about our timeouts. Needed to be the first thing that came out of his mouth to wait until your star.
00:15:49
Speaker 3: Player is asked about it.
00:15:52
Speaker 2: And then has to say, are you going to say anything or am I? That's so bad. And he was like, what?
00:15:58
Speaker 4: Awful.
00:15:58
Speaker 2: What do you mean?
00:16:00
Speaker 4: I guess you.
00:16:02
Speaker 3: First of all.
00:16:03
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:16:03
Speaker 6: So then that leads me into, I just watched the entirety of his press conference from last night, which I don't know if.
00:16:12
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know, but the Liberty are eliminated.
00:16:14
Speaker 3: The Liberty.
00:16:15
Speaker 4: The Liberty.
00:16:16
Speaker 6: So after they got eliminated last night, I listened to his press conference again. And I thought, again, for sure, at some point in this press conference, this man would take accountability for coaching mistakes, for timeout, for clock management problems, for all of these things.
00:16:34
Speaker 3: And instead, all he does is.
00:16:35
Speaker 4: Go, yeah, I mean, they like really fought hard. Yeah.
00:16:40
Speaker 3: You lost. You got swept. And you just go, yeah, I mean, they played really well.
00:16:47
Speaker 4: It's really nice. I don't know. I mean, yeah, I'm going to be here next year. But I don't know if there's any changes going to be made. I guess it's just really cool, you know.
00:16:58
Speaker 2: It does sound like him. I mean, he did.
00:17:01
Speaker 3: Did you like my Chris DeMarco impression? It was really good. That was good?
00:17:04
Speaker 2: He didn't make any substitutions for, like, it felt like the whole second half. And I get it. It's win or go home. And you don't trust any of these other hoes? Sorry, they're not hoes. But you know what I mean. But, like, there was no Maureen Johannes. She was just dwindling in minutes. She was just sitting.
00:17:23
Speaker 3: Every time I saw her, she was sitting.
00:17:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think she played in that game.
00:17:28
Speaker 3: Which, why? Is there a reason? Do we know?
00:17:30
Speaker 2: She played four minutes. She's just. Okay, and by the way. I think her errant passing wasn't helpful. Here's the thing.
00:17:38
Speaker 1: Pauline Astier, eight minutes. Honchu, six minutes. Maureen Johannes, four minutes. Everyone else, Brianna Stewart, 39 minutes.
00:17:47
Speaker 2: Feebich, 37 minutes. Jon Quelt, 39 minutes. Sabrina, 36 minutes.
00:17:52
Speaker 1: Faux Tux, which is like- 32 minutes.
00:17:55
Speaker 6: Okay, so here's my question is like, why did nobody in that press conference say to him.
00:18:01
Speaker 3: Hey, you didn't play Han, Maureen, or Pauline? How come? Just curious. What was the reason for that?
00:18:09
Speaker 2: I don't know why they don't ask these questions.
00:18:11
Speaker 1: The three person at the podium, three player at the podium plus coach, to.
00:18:16
Speaker 2: Me, after an elimination.
00:18:18
Speaker 3: Wait, who did that?
00:18:19
Speaker 2: That's what the Bibberti had. They had Jonquil.
00:18:21
Speaker 3: No. I just watched it. It was separate.
00:18:24
Speaker 2: Was it separate?
00:18:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, he went first.
00:18:26
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, yeah. It was those three.
00:18:27
Speaker 3: And then they came in.
00:18:28
Speaker 2: It was just those three.
00:18:29
Speaker 3: And then they put them on the spot.
00:18:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Asking, do you think.
00:18:36
Speaker 6: He should be here next year?
00:18:38
Speaker 3: And they're like, I don't really know how to answer that.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: I love that. You always know.
00:18:43
Speaker 3: I don't really know how to answer that.
00:18:46
Speaker 2: You always know. But Jonquil is the real one. Because Jonquil Jones, multiple time, finals MVP, MVP, all-star MVP, just like a consummate bro. Dub clubber.
00:19:00
Speaker 1: You can tell they don't like Chris DiMarco. Like you can just tell based around their body language.
00:19:05
Speaker 2: The vibes are not vibing.
00:19:07
Speaker 1: When they ask her and ask them, like, she's like, I'll step in.
00:19:11
Speaker 2: This is really not what we do.
00:19:13
Speaker 1: We just, play with the coach that we've we've been given it's not really our role to say.
00:19:17
Speaker 2: Which to me means like.
00:19:19
Speaker 1: No we don't want his ass back because if they did want his ass back they would say yes we would love to have chris back he was tremendous obviously not our job and we it's a business and you know who knows what's gonna happen when you get swept that's blah blah blah and like but we've had a lot of injuries but yeah we loved our interaction with chris none of that Well, and this was like.
00:19:42
Speaker 6: Sort of the second question in the press conference that they asked like that, because the first question that was asked, Sabrina answered. and it was, someone had asked basically like, do you felt, did you feel that Jonathan Cole and Krista Marco set you guys up for success? And she was like, assemble the roster, assemble the roster, like that could win a title. Or like, do you think that they have a coaching staff and like blah, blah, blah. And Sabrina again was like, I don't know how to answer that question.
00:20:10
Speaker 2: Let me give a little inside tea here.
00:20:12
Speaker 3: Also, those are really pointed and weird questions.
00:20:14
Speaker 2: I love them, though. That's man sports. Listen, I.
00:20:19
Speaker 3: I love it.
00:20:20
Speaker 1: That's men's sports journalism coming into women's sports because that's the shit.
00:20:25
Speaker 6: You would hear.
00:20:25
Speaker 3: Because there's a very specific bite that they're looking for.
00:20:28
Speaker 1: Because that's what a Philadelphia Eagles beat reporter would do when they.
00:20:34
Speaker 2: So you.
00:20:35
Speaker 3: Want him fired, right?
00:20:36
Speaker 2: Let me... So.
00:20:38
Speaker 1: This team, just to be clear, had the shortest odds to win the title to start the year. They had the highest win total to start the year. This was the team that should, and we thought, was the most set up to contend and compete. Just for people who are new here, this is a team who won a title two years ago, got bounced in the first round, and then fired a multiple time championship winning.
00:21:09
Speaker 2: Coach, Sandy Brondello. Okay. The question was, is still why? And for those who are.
00:21:20
Speaker 1: Not in on the behind the scenes, the sort of the tea, the rumblings of.
00:21:29
Speaker 2: This, and this is not my opinion.
00:21:30
Speaker 1: This is what I've been told by multiple people who do not know one another. is that the call was coming from inside the house, is that Jonathan Kolb had a power struggle issue with Sandy Brondello. And that happens all the time. But his favorite star player, a.k.a. Sabrina Ionescu, who I, as a former Duck, well, as a Duck alum, love Sabrina.
00:21:56
Speaker 2: We'll get there in a second about Sabrina. But that Sabrina wanted the coaching change.
00:22:01
Speaker 1: That Sabrina was all about Jonathan Cole making a change. That Jonathan Cole was trying to make a team that made Sabrina happy. If Jonathan Cole trusted and cared about what the actual persons whose team it is, which is Stewie, thought Sandy Brondella would still be coaching this team.
00:22:25
Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
00:22:26
Speaker 2: So what a miss. What a terrible, terrible miss.
00:22:29
Speaker 1: And now that that coach has flamed out with one year, has become basically a clean-cut version of Man Bun.
00:22:38
Speaker 4: Oh, my God. No, no.
00:22:41
Speaker 3: At least Man Bun has personality.
00:22:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was pretty awesome.
00:22:44
Speaker 3: I mean, a bad one, but still had one.
00:22:46
Speaker 1: He was the togetherness quotes that we got. We don't even get good quotes from Chris DiMarco.
00:22:51
Speaker 3: They were fun.
00:22:51
Speaker 2: Chris DiMarco.
00:22:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, they were just better than us. So offense doesn't... Can we.
00:22:59
Speaker 2: Talk about Sabrina really fast?
00:23:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, we can.
00:23:01
Speaker 1: Two crucial turnovers in back-to-back games that lost you each game and the series. And I've been looking at her playoff performances throughout. And I know that people are going to tell me that she was awesome in the playoffs the year that they won the title. But let me just tell you about the closeout game where she went one for 19 from the field.
00:23:25
Speaker 3: This year.
00:23:27
Speaker 2: 2024, when they won the title. Oh, she hasn't been good, Sarah, in four years.
00:23:35
Speaker 6: No, I remember you saying this last playoffs, last year in the playoffs, that it was like, ooh, Sabrina, are we going to get in the playoffs?
00:23:44
Speaker 3: Because playoffs Sabrina.
00:23:46
Speaker 6: Is like, the opposite direction of where you want it to go. And it just kind of feels like that's been a continuing pattern this season.
00:23:55
Speaker 1: Well, the thing about stars is you're not a star unless you are a star in the playoffs.
00:24:05
Speaker 2: That's just what it is. That's what's what sport is.
00:24:08
Speaker 1: The thing about Sabrina is that she's either going to go for like 10 for 18 from the field and seven for 13 for three.
00:24:16
Speaker 2: Or one for 19 from the field.
00:24:18
Speaker 6: And that's, I guess that's a big difference too. It's like what, how your, what your performance is versus what your team's performance is.
00:24:24
Speaker 3: And that's like, if you don't have the clutch, it's the clutch gene.
00:24:29
Speaker 2: It's no, it's a consistency thing, right?
00:24:32
Speaker 1: Like the only thing that matters is how you do when it's winter and go home. And I, I believe, and I said this right after the game, you got to trade Sabrina.
00:24:45
Speaker 2: When you watch Jordan.
00:24:47
Speaker 1: Canada, and we'll talk about the Dream in a second because they deserve a lot of coverage and a lot of flowers as well. But it's just such a disaster for the Liberty that that's what we have to talk about because they deserve everything. They really should and could. Both of these teams are the two best teams left. Valkyries and the Dream.
00:25:07
Speaker 6: I agree.
00:25:09
Speaker 1: There are players, for example, let me give you an example. There's a player in the NBA. His name is Jalen Duren. He was an all NBA caliber player.
00:25:18
Speaker 2: No, not caliber. He was an all NBA player.
00:25:22
Speaker 3: Where does he play?
00:25:23
Speaker 2: He plays for the Detroit Pistons.
00:25:25
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:25:26
Speaker 1: He was the second best player on his team. This team was number one in the East. He was up for a super.
00:25:33
Speaker 2: Max contract, five years, $ 250 million. And then the playoffs came. And he disappeared. He was ass. He got played off of the floor.
00:25:42
Speaker 1: Literally a minimum guy in Paul Reed stepped in and played crucial minutes instead of him. And when it came time to pay him, they said, when it's winning time, you're like our fourth or fifth best player.
00:25:56
Speaker 2: And so we don't need to pay you $ 250 million. You'll take $ 50.
00:25:59
Speaker 1: Million less and you'll like it. And it became very contentious. He ended up taking the money.
00:26:04
Speaker 2: But like in women's sports, we're just nice. there yet we're not.
00:26:09
Speaker 1: Ready and we'll talk about this on Monday but we don't not we're not criticizing Sabrina enough we're not looking at her like she's slow compared to Jordan Canada Sarah she no.
00:26:19
Speaker 6: She's very slow this is what we've been I mean she's a cone she's a defensive cone we've heard it from people a lot of people who don't want to say those things on air but Sabrina is slow and it has been an Achilles heel of this team because this team in general is kind of slow And so that's where Sabrina should be making up for that speed.
00:26:40
Speaker 3: And she should be, you're right. When you compare her to what Jordan.
00:26:44
Speaker 6: Canada and what Ryan Howard were doing on the other side of the ball in this game, it's.
00:26:49
Speaker 3: Really like, you really can't even begin to compare them.
00:26:53
Speaker 1: And I will say that she was awesome in the link series and really good in game one of the Atlanta series, but the disastrous turnovers were, and how bad she was getting cooked on defense where they're just like literally Jordan Canada's going to the, like she's getting to the hoop at will and you are just defensively like impossible.
00:27:17
Speaker 2: You're like basically a matador with the fucking cape. It's tough. It's a tough situation.
00:27:24
Speaker 1: She's not a great shot maker anymore consistently. She can hit shots, but like off the dribble, it's very inconsistent. She's not a great passer. Her decision-making quality has eroded. Like, she tried this pocket pass to Breanna Stewart coming off of a screen, going into the lane, and just blindly turned it over. Like, yo, the move was clearly get it down into the paint to Jon Quell and Breanna Stewart over and over and over. Like, B-button Baraka on Mortal Kombat.
00:27:55
Speaker 2: Just push the same button.
00:27:57
Speaker 3: Over and over and over. Right, over and over. Why are we doing something different?
00:28:00
Speaker 2: Nas Hillman is in foul trouble. She has five fouls.
00:28:03
Speaker 1: Ryan Howard is infallible. Just give the ball to them and they kept making those shots.
00:28:07
Speaker 2: Why, why, why? You got to trade her. You have Fautoux there. You have Astier there. She's making a lot of money. If you can move off of this contract, you move off of this contract. Well. You agree? I do.
00:28:22
Speaker 3: I mean, no, I don't know.
00:28:23
Speaker 2: I don't. Okay.
00:28:25
Speaker 3: I don't feel.
00:28:27
Speaker 2: Sabrina apologist.
00:28:28
Speaker 3: I'm not a Sabrina apologist. I just like Sabrina. But I do.
00:28:33
Speaker 2: Okay. I know.
00:28:35
Speaker 3: I know. That's the fan response. That's the fan response. I totally recognize that. But in men's sports. Would I do that?
00:28:40
Speaker 2: If Terry McLaurin was dropping fucking balls in the middle of the field. I would say trade his ass.
00:28:46
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:28:47
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:28:47
Speaker 3: I mean, yes, I would.
00:28:48
Speaker 2: Let's move on because this could go forever.
00:28:51
Speaker 3: Atlanta dream.
00:28:52
Speaker 6: The one thing I wrote down when I was watching all my little things back again, because I didn't get to watch the full games. But I wrote down, I'm so impressed with Angel Reese's maturity. I feel like I'm watching a player who has like grown up.
00:29:10
Speaker 2: Before our very eyes.
00:29:12
Speaker 6: Like three seasons in the time it took her to fly from Chicago to Atlanta somehow.
00:29:19
Speaker 2: And in the middle of this season.
00:29:22
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:29:22
Speaker 6: Like she's maturing so much in her decision-making, like in her shots.
00:29:29
Speaker 3: Selection in what's in her bag.
00:29:31
Speaker 6: I saw a stat that said the Atlanta dream is undefeated when Angel Reese is making three-pointers.
00:29:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, the thing that I've noticed about her is that while.
00:29:42
Speaker 1: Because if you look at just the counting stats, which is just like.
00:29:47
Speaker 1: She was 7 for 18 from the field. That on its own is not nearly as impressive as actually what she was.
00:29:54
Speaker 2: I mean, she was getting... She was running the floor and.
00:29:59
Speaker 2: Whether that was Dewana Bonner or Naz Hillman or Jordan Canada, delivering the ball to her in stride, running the floor before all of her teammates on a fast break, and making very tough layups.
00:30:14
Speaker 1: I was super impressed. Six for six from the free throw line. This is a 70-something percent free throw shooter. Like I said, she's been nails. I think it's maybe the FIBA break. I think it's her learning from... the vets like.
00:30:29
Speaker 2: Brianna stewart when she came back from the fever break it was like and there's only four more games left she was like blossomed wild above what she had been prior to the and she was great in the fever break but like she's making really really tough shots now hitting threes, her confidence. I feel just Carl Smesko, the head coach of Atlanta, has been just the perfect fit for her.
00:30:57
Speaker 3: Well, I was going to say, that was what I was going to say was, I'm glad you said that.
00:31:01
Speaker 6: Did you see what we posted on our page, their little handshake?
00:31:05
Speaker 2: I love that.
00:31:06
Speaker 6: Like, it just, you can tell how much Angel flourishes when she has a coach that believes in her.
00:31:14
Speaker 2: Well, and is smart.
00:31:15
Speaker 3: And is smart. but mostly one that trusts her and believes in her.
00:31:19
Speaker 6: And like.
00:31:20
Speaker 1: Fam, do you know that he completely changed her shot? He worked with her in the lab and changed her entire shooting motion and then said, hey, you're going to be a three-point shooter.
00:31:33
Speaker 2: I don't care if you miss. I don't care if you're shooting 10% from three.
00:31:38
Speaker 1: It's just going to keep going up. If you can make threes, you will be an unstoppable monster forever. But belief is one thing.
00:31:44
Speaker 2: Being able to give someone the tools to make them better is something, even if Tyler Marsh, the Chicago Sky head coach, even if Teaspoon.
00:31:55
Speaker 3: That's true, because Teaspoon did very much believe in Angel.
00:31:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Angel Reese's development was not nearly as.
00:32:06
Speaker 1: Fast or advanced or didn't really happen to the degree that it has just in this year alone.
00:32:12
Speaker 3: She's just grown so much as a player.
00:32:15
Speaker 6: Like, I cannot understate just how impressed I was watching her in those highlights that I was watching, not the full games.
00:32:24
Speaker 1: Jordan Canada, though, by the way, like, Hasn't been healthy for a very long time. This is her first healthy season. I think I saw something like she hadn't played more than 50% of the games for the Atlanta Dream since she got there until this year. I think she's their most important player.
00:32:40
Speaker 3: At least so far in this finals run.
00:32:44
Speaker 2: Yes, in this playoff series. And listen, they have a lot of really important players. The fact that they swept the Bibberti with no Alicia Gray... Is stunning.
00:32:56
Speaker 3: It's literally the exact same thing I was going to say. Because when I saw that, like, hand, finger, whatever, finger sprain or something.
00:33:05
Speaker 2: Like a jam.
00:33:05
Speaker 3: Jam.
00:33:07
Speaker 2: More than a jam.
00:33:09
Speaker 6: Enough to sideline her. And I was like, ooh, I'm nervous without Alicia. Yeah, where's the shot.
00:33:17
Speaker 2: Making going to come from? And....
00:33:20
Speaker 1: Jordan Canada, five for eight. Ryan Howard, tough efficiency night, but still had 21. You know, they're getting a lot from Izzy Borlase.
00:33:30
Speaker 6: I was just about to say, we have to talk about Borlase, who was phenomenal.
00:33:35
Speaker 2: Two steals.
00:33:37
Speaker 7: Come on.
00:33:38
Speaker 3: And some big, big.
00:33:41
Speaker 6: Buckets when necessary.
00:33:43
Speaker 2: 13 rebounds as well for Dewana Bonner.
00:33:45
Speaker 1: Man, this team is just compiled in a way. That you can easily see them winning a title or you can see the Valks winning a title. I mean, both of them are playing some of the best basketball.
00:33:58
Speaker 6: Defense, and we've been saying this all season, and Stewie even said it in her presser last night after elimination, defense wins championships. And that is going to be the case this year because our finals are set. It's going to be the Atlanta Dream versus the Golden State Valkyries, who are the most defensively dominant teams this season. And so it's very clear that defense is going to win a championship this year.
00:34:22
Speaker 2: Can you change your hat? Oh. It's time.
00:34:26
Speaker 3: Please hold. Okay. Aces are also going home. Staying home.
00:34:34
Speaker 2: Hate to see it, truly.
00:34:37
Speaker 3: No, you don't.
00:34:39
Speaker 1: Well, I'm really glad that I didn't put That money on Aces to win the finals, like it was what, seven to one.
00:34:46
Speaker 2: I put very, very little money on that. I was going to put a lot.
00:34:50
Speaker 1: Of money on Angel, I mean, not Angel, Asia to win finals MVP again.
00:34:54
Speaker 2: That was like 10 to one, nine to one. And that's, remember I did that last year. It was very fruitful. And I was like, I should do it again.
00:35:02
Speaker 3: And I just- Accidentally. Don't act like you did it on purpose.
00:35:04
Speaker 6: I just did it.
00:35:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was an accident.
00:35:05
Speaker 2: It was an accident.
00:35:06
Speaker 1: And then I- Didn't. And then the odds just kept falling. And I was like, I'm not going to do that.
00:35:13
Speaker 2: Like, this is dumb. And now they've been eliminated.
00:35:18
Speaker 3: Angel or Angel or Gabby? Who do you think has the leg up right now?
00:35:23
Speaker 1: I think Gabby right now is minus money to win finals MVP.
00:35:27
Speaker 2: Angel's right behind her. I've actually placed two bets.
00:35:32
Speaker 3: One on each?
00:35:33
Speaker 2: Nope. I have placed a bet on Dewana Bonner.
00:35:38
Speaker 3: Ah, good one.
00:35:38
Speaker 1: 220 to one okay wow that's a crazy price crazy.
00:35:45
Speaker 6: And and and not like that's a wild fucking price it's a wild price like our people people are sleeping on that one.
00:35:54
Speaker 1: People are sleeping and then i put some on uh jordan canada at 22 to 1 As well.
00:36:01
Speaker 2: I like that pick. I think they'll have very likely outcomes. No, no, no.
00:36:04
Speaker 6: I like that Jordan Canada one. I worry that I don't know that she'll get the wreck.
00:36:09
Speaker 2: She's talked about on the broadcast so much, though.
00:36:12
Speaker 3: Maybe it's changing a little bit.
00:36:14
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:36:14
Speaker 2: The media. Yeah, people who will vote.
00:36:16
Speaker 3: Because I feel like people don't give.
00:36:18
Speaker 6: Her a lot of the same respect that they give other guards in the league.
00:36:22
Speaker 7: It's true.
00:36:23
Speaker 2: I'm really, really interested.
00:36:24
Speaker 1: And if you look at the Gabby Williams play, and I think there's a reason that she's... you know, has the shortest odds to win finals MVP. You know, she's taken 16, 17 shots per game. Didn't have the best game last night, but then you had Kayla Thornton showing up. She had a team high in terms of production. The thing that I think is really interesting about the Valkyries that we've been talking about all year that I've been dismissing about them is actually something that's a strength of theirs, which is it could literally be anyone, any night.
00:36:58
Speaker 3: Anyone, any night. Starter or off the bench.
00:37:02
Speaker 6: Right.
00:37:03
Speaker 2: It could be Salon one day. It could be Kayla Thornton one day.
00:37:06
Speaker 3: It could be Kaitlyn Chen.
00:37:08
Speaker 1: It could be Kia Stokes one day. It could be Tip. By the way, Tip, we got to talk about... I had Tip Hayes to have eight or more points, and then she was standing... Standing in the corner, doing nothing for the end of that game.
00:37:24
Speaker 2: It was so egregious. My mom was even noticing, like, why isn't she moving without the ball? How come she's not calling for the ball?
00:37:31
Speaker 3: She has a bucket. A plus 20 when she's on the court.
00:37:35
Speaker 2: She's incredible.
00:37:36
Speaker 1: Had to get to overtime in order for her to get that eighth point.
00:37:41
Speaker 2: I was shaking in my boots. Anyway, it could be Veronica Burton.
00:37:44
Speaker 1: I just thought it was super impressive because the largest lead for the Aces was, 11.
00:37:50
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:37:52
Speaker 1: And they, the Valkyries had what I think like an 18-0 run.
00:37:57
Speaker 3: In the fourth quarter.
00:37:59
Speaker 2: In the fourth quarter.
00:38:00
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:38:00
Speaker 1: And it just, it was stifling for them to force overtime and say, listen, you can't give the Aces any momentum.
00:38:09
Speaker 2: If they win one game.
00:38:11
Speaker 6: I was kind of checked out because I had just gotten home. I got home late last night. And so I got home in the fourth quarter and I was unpacking and like, trying to get myself together. And so I was actually the fourth quarter of an overtime was the only thing I actually watched in full.
00:38:25
Speaker 3: And I was like, Oh wow.
00:38:28
Speaker 6: Okay. I mean, it looks like we're going to at least a game four. Right.
00:38:33
Speaker 3: Like I thought for sure. I was like, okay, well that's one sweep. It won't be two sweeps. Aces will close this one out, put it away.
00:38:40
Speaker 6: Because when you were, when aces are up by 11 in the fourth quarter, I just would expect.
00:38:45
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:38:46
Speaker 3: That they would put it away. At home.
00:38:48
Speaker 4: At home.
00:38:49
Speaker 6: By the way, could you hear in that fourth quarter, could you hear the GSV chants?
00:38:56
Speaker 2: Oh, they travel those Valkyries fans.
00:38:59
Speaker 3: Woo!
00:39:00
Speaker 2: So, okay, can we just get to it? I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
00:39:06
Speaker 1: For undervaluing all year we talked about what the biggest risks are we even did a whole show to be fair for like weeks i was doing a show like are the valkyries the most dangerous team that no one's talking about we did do a show on it it was after a bad loss so i might have discounted them a little bit but this was a team that was flying so far under the radar all year that.
00:39:30
Speaker 2: In their second year, now they're going to the finals.
00:39:32
Speaker 1: It seemed so crazy that the owner of this team, Joe Lacob, the owner of the Golden State Warriors team, said to Natalie Nakase when he hired her as head coach, I want us to win a title within five years. And I was like, this billionaire is smoking fucking crack.
00:39:47
Speaker 2: He's got his pipe out. And here we are in year two. Remember I made fun of them, Sarah, because they fucking drafted players and then just immediately cut them. They cut Caitlin Chen.
00:39:59
Speaker 1: They cut Cheyenne Sellers.
00:40:03
Speaker 2: And then they had the whole visa. Put your visa. And I was like, well, we made fun of the flage thing.
00:40:09
Speaker 3: We were like, what are you all doing? Getting rid of flage.
00:40:13
Speaker 1: And they sent her back to Lithuania.
00:40:16
Speaker 2: And I was like, this team's fucking clowns, bro.
00:40:18
Speaker 1: You guys are clowns. Makes the playoffs in their first year. I mean, I was just like, this is nonsense. And then we've got Bahala. We've got like the, what.
00:40:31
Speaker 2: Do they call it? Something island. It was like they had another fucking crazy... The Valkatraz. Called it Valkatraz.
00:40:41
Speaker 3: I have not heard of Valkatraz.
00:40:43
Speaker 2: Great, right? Great. And I'm just really impressed.
00:40:47
Speaker 1: I'm really impressed with the dream. I'm really impressed with the Valkyries. I was so wrong thinking that the star-powered teams would win. That's normally what happens is like the Asias take over and it's just too much for... even a complete team and they deserve all the credit.
00:41:03
Speaker 6: But I'm glad because like, I think that it was going to be a tough conversation.
00:41:09
Speaker 3: We were all going to have to have with each other.
00:41:11
Speaker 6: If we had gotten yet another aces championship, just so tired of them, like, and not even tired, but like, okay, well what's the rest of the league going to do?
00:41:23
Speaker 3: Cause I hate nothing.
00:41:25
Speaker 2: I hate more than dynasties. Yes.
00:41:29
Speaker 6: I really, and not that like, and not because like, and because I am a hater.
00:41:34
Speaker 3: Like I hated.
00:41:34
Speaker 6: Steph Curry when he was good. Like when he was winning every year. I hated LeBron for a period with the Heat. I hated Tom Brady at the Patriots. Like you just start hating it. And it's not because of them as people.
00:41:48
Speaker 3: It's just like, I'm just tired of it.
00:41:52
Speaker 2: I wanted to say something about that in terms of dynasties. Okay. Becky Hammond, she knew, Becky Hammond.
00:41:58
Speaker 1: Knew this year they didn't have it. Like there's a way to win even when you don't have it. But their defense was cheeks pretty much all year. And they didn't have size and rebounding outside of Nelissa Smith and Asia Wilson.
00:42:15
Speaker 2: And then Nelissa Smith goes down and you don't have anyone to replace her. And we said that was going to be a potential issue.
00:42:22
Speaker 1: With depth and maybe we could pull up some of the things that Becky Hammond had to say after the game.
00:42:27
Speaker 5: Look, if you want to win championships, you need to be a top three, top four defense.
00:42:33
Speaker 3: And we weren't this year.
00:42:34
Speaker 5: We weren't, we had moments where we were pretty good, but we weren't good enough to be at a championship level. You gotta be clicking on all cylinders on both ends. And we were not.
00:42:42
Speaker 7: Coach, obviously the glass was an issue all three games. And you knew that, you know, going.
00:42:46
Speaker 3: Into game one, because you knew that coming into this season.
00:42:49
Speaker 4: Right.
00:42:49
Speaker 7: So I was just going to ask you kind of from an adjustment standpoint.
00:42:52
Speaker 3: He said not just this game, sir. To kind of not.
00:42:54
Speaker 7: Work all three games. What does that boil down to for you?
00:43:00
Speaker 5: Honestly, you know, there's people that have a knack for the glass. It just kind of is in their DNA just like, you know, passing is in Chelsea's DNA, you know. There's a knack for offensive rebounding. Like Kayla Thornton is– She has a knack for that. She's, like, relentless in that area and really came up big in all those games just by hitting the glass, getting her team extra possessions. I wouldn't say we have, like, that Dennis Rodman person with that. It just is in their DNA. We have people with other great strengths. That comes natural to them. But somebody that just hammers the offensive glass like that, we didn't really have that, you know, on our team.
00:43:46
Speaker 2: That makes me so uncomfortable.
00:43:50
Speaker 3: But you know what I appreciate?
00:43:51
Speaker 6: Honestly? Yes, because that's the difference between Becky and Chris DeMarco.
00:43:57
Speaker 2: Don't go back to him. Don't do it.
00:43:59
Speaker 3: But I'm just saying. How did it sound again? Yeah.
00:44:03
Speaker 4: Yeah. We just, they really tried hard to win, and I'm really happy with where we ended up.
00:44:10
Speaker 3: And then there's Becky, who's like, we were asked.
00:44:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's going to be.
00:44:16
Speaker 3: We're lucky we got this far.
00:44:18
Speaker 6: Like, it's night and day difference in attitude, and that is why the Aces will come out next year, and we will be having the exact same conversation again, and going, the Aces are going to win another title.
00:44:29
Speaker 2: They're going to make some changes, Sarah.
00:44:31
Speaker 3: Exactly.
00:44:32
Speaker 2: Let me look at this Aces roster really fast for you before we go, because here's the real struggle... is that you don't have size.
00:44:45
Speaker 1: In terms of size, the tallest player is Kalani Brown, and I thought Kalani Brown did an excellent.
00:44:51
Speaker 2: Job, really.
00:44:52
Speaker 1: She's 6'7, and everyone else is pretty small. You've got Nelissa, who's 6'4. Outside of her, you've got Stephanie Talbot.
00:45:05
Speaker 2: Who's 6'2. You've got Asia Wilson, who's 6'4.
00:45:10
Speaker 1: But also on top of that, so you need some size and someone with the knack for getting on the glass, like she said.
00:45:16
Speaker 2: But you also are old. Chelsea Gray, how old do you think Chelsea Gray is?
00:45:21
Speaker 3: Is she my age?
00:45:23
Speaker 2: She's 34. Cheyenne Parker-Tias, 34. Jewel Lloyd, 33.
00:45:30
Speaker 3: Can I just tell you this?
00:45:32
Speaker 6: The second best rebounder on this Aces team is... Stephanie Talbot, who is the 77th rated player in the league. And that's their second best rebounder. Every other team has three to four players ahead of them.
00:45:56
Speaker 2: That's a tough pill to swallow because what do you really do? I mean, you got to go out and get... It's kind of crazy that they let Kia Stokes... go. I can't remember. Did they, did Kia Stokes go in the expansion draft?
00:46:12
Speaker 6: Yes.
00:46:13
Speaker 3: I'm almost positive.
00:46:14
Speaker 2: Yes. She was left unprotected. Yeah. And I get that. Like that's really hard when you have so many star players. Yeah. I mean, cause that's really hard.
00:46:23
Speaker 3: Were they not going to, Yeah.
00:46:25
Speaker 2: I mean, I get that. I'm not going to actually bang on them for that.
00:46:28
Speaker 6: Yeah, because there's really no one that they, there wasn't another option.
00:46:32
Speaker 1: I'm not going to bang on them for that, but she would be really, really good on this team right now. Like you looked at how important she was for the Valkyries in game one, where she had 14 rebounds. Like she would have been amazing on this Aces team. They need to get young. Yeah, they need to get younger.
00:46:48
Speaker 2: They need to get more athletic and they need to get better at rebounding. And to me, that's like, What does that look like?
00:46:55
Speaker 6: I mean, could they bring Kia back?
00:46:59
Speaker 2: Is she a free agent? I don't think she is.
00:47:01
Speaker 3: No. She probably wasn't on a one year.
00:47:04
Speaker 6: You're right.
00:47:05
Speaker 3: What about Camilla? What's Camilla on?
00:47:07
Speaker 2: Camilla fucking sucks. Sorry. I'm sorry.
00:47:12
Speaker 3: No, I think that was funny.
00:47:16
Speaker 2: Sorry.
00:47:17
Speaker 3: Camilla fucking sucks.
00:47:20
Speaker 2: Okay, so this is what's happening for next year before we go. They have a lot of cap space. It's really Asia, Wilson, Chelsea Gray. God, woof. Jewel Lloyd is making $ 840, 000 next year.
00:47:37
Speaker 3: Next year?
00:47:38
Speaker 2: Yes. At the age of what? How old? They have cap space. They have $ 2.
00:47:45
Speaker 1: 7 million in cap space, but they have only five players on their roster.
00:47:51
Speaker 2: That are not yeah like it's.
00:47:53
Speaker 1: Kind of scary ours they only have five players on their roster to start next year looks like jackie is a free agent okay.
00:48:02
Speaker 3: I feel like we're getting way too into the weeds.
00:48:04
Speaker 1: Anyway i just think they they're gonna we're talking about just in general like a lot of changes are going to.
00:48:11
Speaker 6: Be made there's definitely gonna be be changes made um before we go who do you like in the series.
00:48:18
Speaker 2: I couldn't tell you. I'm like, my predictions have been wrong.
00:48:21
Speaker 1: And in fact, like as much as the WNBA probably will hate this matchup. And as much as the ratings, this is such a bad ratings matchup.
00:48:30
Speaker 2: Like you need at least one. No, it is Sarah. You'll see. It is. Angel will do some work.
00:48:36
Speaker 3: I'm sure.
00:48:38
Speaker 2: Angel will bring the, the trolls and the haters and the like Jake Paul, wait, wait for them to fail crowd. But like, Don't get it twisted.
00:48:47
Speaker 1: There's a reason that Gabby Williams said, now we're going to get some bandwagoners and nobody respected us all year because this team, put your V's up, was like the most boring brand of team nationally.
00:48:59
Speaker 2: Like they were not a national team. I love the Valkyries. I think they play awesome basketball. I love the Dream.
00:49:04
Speaker 1: I think they play phenomenal basketball. We're going to get the best matchup we can possibly get. Like two teams that are almost... Like, I don't think there's really, like, significant flaws on either one of those teams right now with how they're playing and.
00:49:18
Speaker 3: They're no I don't see I don't see any.
00:49:20
Speaker 1: And I think Alicia Gray could have played if they didn't think that they would we're gonna see.
00:49:23
Speaker 3: Well she now has a full week to rest.
00:49:26
Speaker 1: Yeah she'll be back she'll be fine so but like this is an awesome for basketball sickos this is gonna be.
00:49:32
Speaker 3: An awesome matchup it's gonna be really good I'm excited.
00:49:36
Speaker 2: Give me the Valkyrie's.
00:49:41
Speaker 3: I think I'm taking the dream.
00:49:44
Speaker 2: Of course. One of us will win. One of us will be right.
00:49:46
Speaker 3: I think it's going to five. I think it's going to seven. I think it's going to seven.
00:49:51
Speaker 4: Sorry.
00:49:51
Speaker 3: I forgot that we extended.
00:49:53
Speaker 2: We got to get off the air. Great show.
00:49:55
Speaker 1: I'm so excited for the finals. I'm bummed that we have a week off. You know what we're going to do next week? We don't have a week off of the show. I want to talk about some college stuff. I want to break down some of these rosters for the teams that we're going to talk about once the season is over.
00:50:11
Speaker 2: Like, college basketball's here!
00:50:13
Speaker 3: Yes, that was the thing.
00:50:14
Speaker 6: I was actually like, for all of the people who are new to us and have joined this season, we do not go away when the finals are over. We are going straight into college basketball.
00:50:25
Speaker 2: So.
00:50:26
Speaker 3: Make sure that you got your team.
00:50:27
Speaker 1: Are we going to cover Unrivaled this year? I think we feel like we always say we're going to.
00:50:31
Speaker 3: We never do.
00:50:31
Speaker 2: How could we really?
00:50:33
Speaker 3: We don't really ever cover it. When it becomes like, never mind, I'm not going to say it.
00:50:38
Speaker 2: We're not covering Project B either, chat.
00:50:42
Speaker 3: We cover competitive basketball here.
00:50:44
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:50:46
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:50:46
Speaker 2: We got to go. We got to go. I'm not, that was her opinion, not mine.
00:50:51
Speaker 3: No, that's a joke. It's just, I know I do. I do really like unrivaled like as a product.
00:50:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was fun.
00:50:57
Speaker 1: You're going to have to go to some games. They're coming in New York. They're going to Philly. I'll go to the West coast games. You go to the East coast games. They're going to be all around the nation. I think there's nine locations, eight locations in total.
00:51:07
Speaker 3: Not in DC, but that's fine.
00:51:08
Speaker 2: Not in Portland or Seattle.
00:51:10
Speaker 6: I think that's honestly, that's, I'm just salty about that.
00:51:12
Speaker 2: You're a salty bitch. All right. Well, great show, Sarah. On a Saturday. We'll be back Tuesday. Thank you so much. I need to get... We need to get Will on from Big Brother. Yes.
00:51:22
Speaker 1: Maybe we can get him next week to talk about South Carolina.
00:51:25
Speaker 3: Maybe we'll... Some Gigi. We'll talk to him about Gigi.
00:51:29
Speaker 2: Correct.
00:51:30
Speaker 1: If you're just watching us on YouTube, download us on Spotify and Apple. If you're listening to us on Spotify and Apple, find.
00:51:36
Speaker 2: Us on YouTube.
00:51:37
Speaker 1: We're just as dynamic, if not more, in visual form. There's lots of gyrations and.
00:51:44
Speaker 2: All kinds of.
00:51:45
Speaker 3: Trista's feet. Trista just holds her feet up.
00:51:48
Speaker 2: I just show my toes for the whole show.
00:51:51
Speaker 3: Just foot lifted, raised in the.
00:51:54
Speaker 2: Just foot on show. Not an unsocked foot, but foot remains. And thank you so much if you're new to us. We're crazy. We're opinionated.
00:52:06
Speaker 1: We're going to get on to the Tuesday show about how soft women's sports have become and its participation trophy. I saw something on Skim, Sarah. that I need to get your fucking thoughts on. And I didn't have the time or energy for us to extend this show on a Saturday, but, like, I got multiple texts from women who have covered men's sports, like.
00:52:25
Speaker 2: Is this WNBA going to just, like, continue to be a novelty with this soft-ass shit or what?
00:52:30
Speaker 3: But we'll talk about it on Tuesday. Anyway, okay. All right, one, two, three.
00:52:34
Speaker 2: Lettershoot!
00:52:35
Speaker 4: Lettershoot!
