บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Levels to the WNBA's First Finals Game 7!

states. Yeah. Literally flipped. 00:06:30 Speaker 3: But. 00:06:31 Speaker 2: The Democrats got to make good on it. You can't just take this and become complacent. You got to make sure that you capitalize on what the people want, what you heard the people say in your campaigns, and literally put an end. I'm talking about Trump, bet not. That man better struggle to do every damn thing. Everything. 00:06:54 Speaker 6: Struggle. 00:06:55 Speaker 4: Struggle. 00:06:56 Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I'm so happy. 00:06:58 Speaker 2: I'm so, so, so happy right now. I will say, though, that I love Abdul El-Sayed. He had his little concession speech, and I was cracking up. As somebody from Detroit, I was cracking up because, if you know, J.D. and Trump was talking shit about him. And so he got him back in his little concession speech, and he said, Habibi, and I died. Because in Detroit, that's what we say to the people in the Arabic community. It's a term of endearment. So he says to J.D. Vance, he says, Habibi. You are constitutionally obligated to swear me in. 00:07:32 Speaker 4: Michigan, one. Ohio State, zero. I died. 00:07:36 Speaker 1: Here's the thing that also got me, right? When he got up there, he said, when he got up there before he started, he said, J.D. 00:07:47 Speaker 3: Yada! 00:07:54 Speaker 4: Told Trump, he. 00:07:54 Speaker 1: Said, I know you have a hard time pronouncing my name, but once... I get sworn in. You ain't got to worry about it because you can just call me Senator. 00:08:05 Speaker 4: Just call me Senator. When I say I was weak, I was so weak. 00:08:11 Speaker 3: I was crying. 00:08:12 Speaker 4: Like, I loved it. I loved it. 00:08:14 Speaker 2: It was a great night. So congratulations to all the winners. Definitely looking forward to seeing all of you. 00:08:21 Speaker 4: Just go ahead. 00:08:22 Speaker 2: And I'm going to shout out because it's Rovember for those who don't know. 00:08:28 Speaker 4: It is Rovember. 00:08:29 Speaker 2: It is a beautiful month of November. We have a soror by the name of Aisha Brave Boy, who was elected to her first full four-year term as Attorney General in the state of Maryland. So, shout out to you, Soror Brave Boy. You better keep doing it because we on the map politically as well. All right, friends. Now, before we get into the next level... Because we're definitely going to have to talk about everything that went down in this WNBA finals. The Valkyries are going to be celebrating their parade today. But before we get there, Cheryl, I'm not going to take it to the streets today. 00:09:06 Speaker 4: I'm going to take it to Houston. What y'all got going on? 00:09:08 Speaker 3: Well, you know we blue now, so we got a lot going on. All right, listen. So, sis, you know social media. 00:09:20 Speaker 1: And cause I don't do a lot on social media. Give me my Twitter X, whatever they call it nowadays, my, my IgE and I'm old school. Cause I probably do more on Facebook than anything, but I know you. 00:09:34 Speaker 3: A few others, Cindy Brunson, a few others have been like, sis, you need to, you need to get on threads. Threads is where it is. 00:09:43 Speaker 4: Oh shit, I know where you going. You need to get on Threads. 00:09:51 Speaker 1: And everybody else out there, I was like, you know what? Let me go see what this Threads thing is all about. So game seven, finals, that's when I decided I'm going to post something on Threads because it was the end of the season, great game, all the things, right? 00:10:09 Speaker 3: Girl, I haven't been on there 24 hours. And for those of you who don't know, let me. 00:10:14 Speaker 1: Just read this for y'all. Because I got something to say. So I go on threads. And the first thing I see is this. 00:10:29 Speaker 3: You know what? I wasn't going to say her name, but I'm petty like that. So I'm going to say it. 00:10:33 Speaker 1: I think it's KB Lifts. 00:10:36 Speaker 4: KB.Lifts. 00:10:38 Speaker 1: Decided she was going to go on threads and say the following. Cheryl Swoops has looked up from her phone like three times this whole game. It was the same for game two. When she was directly across from me, just on her phone. With due respect to the legend, I can't take her current basketball opinion seriously now that I see her not watching the game that's right in front of her. Deeply disappointing me. 00:11:09 Speaker 4: For real. So I read that. 00:11:15 Speaker 3: And I said, Do I let her make it? 00:11:21 Speaker 1: And then my alter ego said, oh no, bitch, you don't let her make it. So I want to read my response for those who may not have seen it. 00:11:33 Speaker 3: And then I just, I want to get your thoughts. 00:11:35 Speaker 4: Okay. I dropped the response on there too. 00:11:38 Speaker 3: Go ahead. 00:11:39 Speaker 4: So I just said, let me see. 00:11:43 Speaker 3: Dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. I'm grown. 00:11:48 Speaker 1: Pay my own phone bill, got my own business, I mind my own business unlike yourself, and can tell you everything about the game. I don't know you or anyone else an explanation on what I do during games. Clearly, you weren't watching the game either. As for not valuing my opinion, I care why. Y'all are always looking for something to bitch about. 00:12:15 Speaker 3: So, girl, bye. 00:12:17 Speaker 1: Now, there was so much more I wanted to say, but I felt like that was enough. Girl, it's 18,000 people in this arena and you decided you were going to spot me out and keep your eyes on me the whole time. 00:12:29 Speaker 3: Now, listen, I know. 00:12:30 Speaker 1: Game seven, I was fly as shit. And so you probably couldn't take your eyes off of me. 00:12:35 Speaker 4: Because it was hot as hell. 00:12:38 Speaker 2: You was hot. The fit was hot as hell. Seriously, seriously, here's my thing. 00:12:43 Speaker 1: Why are you watching me to see what I'm doing? 00:12:46 Speaker 3: Here's the other thing. 00:12:48 Speaker 1: If I choose to walk in the game with a fucking blindfold on and

never watch the game, that's my business. 00:12:55 Speaker 3: Did you pay for my ticket? 00:12:57 Speaker 1: Are you the reason why I'm at the game? But I don't think she really expected me to respond because her little attempt at an apology was like, oh, I owe Cheryl Swoopes an apology. Didn't know she was on threads. It don't matter if I'm on there or not. Oh, I didn't even see her say that because she didn't respond back to me either. Because even if I'm not on there, I got people who are. 00:13:27 Speaker 3: Yup. 00:13:28 Speaker 5: Yup. 00:13:28 Speaker 4: Yup. 00:13:29 Speaker 3: So, why? 00:13:31 Speaker 4: Girl, I've seen that response. You tell me, why? 00:13:33 Speaker 3: Why do people feel the need? 00:13:37 Speaker 4: I saw her tweet. I mean, put that post out on threads. 00:13:42 Speaker 5: And. 00:13:43 Speaker 2: I was like, first, I responded back to her and I said, first of all, you a whole ass lie because I sat next to Cheryl in game two and we talked about the game the whole damn time. I don't know if you caught when she was taking pictures. I don't know if you caught when we were posting on Instagram. I don't know if you caught when we were looking at things that people were saying. 00:14:04 Speaker 3: Like everybody does, T. Everybody's on their phone during a game. 00:14:07 Speaker 2: Like everybody does. And like, I don't value her opinion. Girl, Cheryl has forgotten more basketball than you will ever know. 00:14:15 Speaker 4: You better stop. 00:14:16 Speaker 3: That's why I'm like. 00:14:17 Speaker 4: Like, what is wrong with you? 00:14:18 Speaker 2: Do I really even care if you value my opinion or not? 00:14:21 Speaker 3: Not at all. Not at all. 00:14:24 Speaker 1: But you go learn today that you got the right one. Last thing I want to say before we dive into the game, because, you know, there's tons of comments under it. Everybody has something to say. So somebody commented and said, well, she probably was on her phone because she was only there to support Angel Reese. 00:14:47 Speaker 3: Let me clarify something. You're damn right. 00:14:52 Speaker 1: I am always going to support Angel Reese without question. People have this assumption that if you support one player, you can't support other players or you don't like other players. And so to this person who made this comment, yeah, I was there to support Angel, but I was also there to support other players too. For me, it was history. It was a game seven. We've never had a game seven. Last year, if people remember, it was a sweep, so we did not get to a game five, six, or seven. And so it was just important for me to be in the building because I wanted to be a part of history. And it just so happened that one of the players that I have a really good relationship. 00:15:40 Speaker 3: With was playing in the finals. 00:15:43 Speaker 5: So. 00:15:45 Speaker 4: People really need to find something the fuck to do. 00:15:47 Speaker 2: And so I'm going to tie this in because

I relate to this, Cheryl, because I relate to this. 00:15:52 Speaker 4: I cover everyone. 00:15:54 Speaker 2: I speak the truth on everyone, whether that is you've had a great game or you've had a bad game. 00:16:01 Speaker 4: And some people tend to think that. 00:16:04 Speaker 2: If you tweet, I really like this person's game. If you take a picture with this person, if you have said, yo, I'm going to retweet this post. If you have done all of that, then all of a sudden that means... you like this player more than you like this player. You like this team more than you like this team. You do this thing more than you like. People have personal relationships outside of what they produce on the basketball court. 00:16:28 Speaker 4: And that is personal. 00:16:30 Speaker 2: But from a business standpoint, from an on-the-court standpoint, I'm here for a good game. I... I'm not getting paid for who wins this game. I'm not going to be the one that's going to walk away with a trophy. I'm not going to be the one that's going to have accolades after who wins or loses this game. I'm here for a good game. I'm here for a good game. This helps the league. Good games help the league. Good play help the league. People with their eyes on it helps the league. That's what I'm here for. Like, it's that simple. Hey, I'm going to do it. 00:17:00 Speaker 4: You wanted Atlanta to win. You wanted the Valkyries. I wanted a good game. And that's what I got. That's it. People are crazy. And speaking of, we got seven good games. 00:17:13 Speaker 3: Seven. 00:17:13 Speaker 4: Seven of them. Seven of them. 00:17:18 Speaker 6: We got 3.3 million people who tuned in on Halloween on a cable network on a Saturday night to watch Game 7. 00:17:33 Speaker 4: And it did not disappoint. 00:17:36 Speaker 2: I had no idea what to expect in this game, Cheryl, because quite honestly, every game has been so different. Every game has been so different. There have been games where Angels has taken over. There have been games where Gabby has taken over. There's been games where Kia Stokes and her defensive effort has led the way. We've seen games where Alicia Gray has dropped 23. It has been so unpredictable. And the coaches have done such an amazing job with making adjustments, switching up matchups, switching up starting rotations. I did not know what to expect in this game seven. So when the Valkyries kicked off this game on a 7-0 run, I said, oh shit. 00:18:22 Speaker 4: Oh shit. 00:18:24 Speaker 2: I don't want this kind of game for a game segment. I don't want to run away for a game segment. Like I want a back and forth. I want a nail biter, right? And then the Atlanta turned it on. And I was like, okay, this right here is getting ready to be a dogfight. And so we have been waiting for a week. 00:18:45 Speaker 4: Because we didn't want to bring it to you last week. 00:18:47 Speaker 2: We did not want to bring this show to you without having seen Game 7 first. So we have been waiting for

a week to dive into this series and really just look back over everything that we've seen over these two teams over the last week and a half. And now we're finally going to get an opportunity to do that. So Cheryl, let's take this thing to the next level. Okay, so Cheryl, first and foremost, you've already, you know, alluded to the fact that you were in the building for Game 7. And I'm not hating, but I'm hating because, you know, I already told y'all that I wanted to be outside for Halloween and I still was. But but at the same time, I was definitely hating that I was not in the building for game seven. 00:19:47 Speaker 4: Which would have been the first time in years that I. 00:19:50 Speaker 2: Missed a closeout championship game in person. 00:19:54 Speaker 4: So there's that. 00:19:55 Speaker 2: But with all that being said, can you give us what the atmosphere was like to be in Bojala in those final moments when I think Golden State probably knew that they were getting ready to win. 00:20:08 Speaker 3: No, because I only looked up from my phone three times. 00:20:12 Speaker 4: I ain't asking you what you felt. 00:20:16 Speaker 3: I can tell you what I felt. Because I can feel something be on my phone, right? 00:20:20 Speaker 4: And be on your phone. Listen, you definitely knew where you were. 00:20:26 Speaker 3: Okay? 00:20:27 Speaker 1: You knew you were in Valhalla because from the time you walked in, you felt the energy. 00:20:34 Speaker 3: Let me say this. So I got there way early, which, you know, I don't like to do that. 00:20:40 Speaker 1: But I got there way early because I had to do some pregame stuff with the cannon, the confetti, all of that stuff. 00:20:46 Speaker 5: Right. 00:20:47 Speaker 1: So I got a chance to. 00:20:50 Speaker 3: See Ryan Howard. She was out shooting. 00:20:53 Speaker 1: And for just so people can know, Ryan came up to me and gave me a hug. Again, I have a relationship with her. 00:21:00 Speaker 3: We didn't really. 00:21:01 Speaker 1: Talk about the game. I said good luck to her, and I just said, Rye, you got to be aggressive. 00:21:06 Speaker 3: Right? Just letting you know. There was other stuff being said, but it ain't your business. And the reason why I say that. 00:21:11 Speaker 1: Is because people want to know why am I talking to Ryan and not the Valkyries. Not a single player from the Valkyries was out pregame when I got there. 00:21:20 Speaker 3: Right? 00:21:22 Speaker 1: So anyway, but even being in the arena before it was. 00:21:25 Speaker 3: Full, like you felt.... 00:21:30 Speaker 1: What this was about to be like. The environment, the atmosphere. 00:21:34 Speaker 4: Crazy loud. 00:21:36 Speaker 1: I also want to say this, because Atlanta had some fans in the building. There was one moment where I think I heard a small group of people saying their ATL ho, ATL ho. Girl, they fired me up with that. But I think what really. 00:21:57 Speaker 3: What really got me though, T was from when you, so I'm,

I'm sitting courtside. 00:22:05 Speaker 1: So I get a vision of the entire arena and at the very, very top, you can see people standing up with their towels. 00:22:15 Speaker 3: They're yelling, they're screaming. The place was deafening. 00:22:21 Speaker 1: And when you, you, you talked about a second ago, when, when the game started, And Golden State jumped out on Atlanta early. It was one of those things like, and I said to my brother, I said, Atlanta cannot get too far down because with this crowd, they won't be able to come back. 00:22:45 Speaker 4: You know, you could feel. 00:22:46 Speaker 3: It like, like you could feel it inside. 00:22:50 Speaker 1: It was like, it was so loud and the cheering and the excitement and the energy was Where, you know, I'm sitting on my seat and because I'm not standing up cheering, clapping for anybody, I'm just taking it all in. 00:23:04 Speaker 3: You know, you got the music going, everybody. 00:23:06 Speaker 1: It's like a, it's a family vibe, a family environment. It's game seven, you know, and, and you, and you felt that. It's so crazy to think that only in their second season, Golden State is the WNBA champions. 00:23:26 Speaker 2: T second season in existence that's bananas that's bananas and it takes so much to get that right that like Chemistry has to be right. Culture has to be right. Matchups have to be right. Everything has to be right. And I want to give Natalie Nakase a lot of credit because I believe that she was the right coach for the moment. 00:23:56 Speaker 1: And T, I just want to give a big shout out to Ohema, the general manager of the Valkyries. I just, I remember when the expansion draft happened. 00:24:10 Speaker 3: And I'm looking at the players they're taking. 00:24:13 Speaker 4: Right. 00:24:15 Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, they're building to put something together. 00:24:20 Speaker 3: In the long run. Right. 00:24:24 Speaker 1: And I seriously, I'm like, okay, five to six years, they'll have a squad together where they can make the playoffs first of all, and then potentially win a championship. Because T when you look at the roster during the expansion draft, almost every player on that team, Because I can't remember that far back. 00:24:46 Speaker 3: Almost every player on that team wasn't a starter. They came off the bench. 00:24:54 Speaker 4: At the time. 00:24:54 Speaker 3: Some of them didn't even play a lot of minutes. Do you know what I mean? And so I was like, huh. 00:25:02 Speaker 1: Well, I know there were other free agents available that could help them immediately. 00:25:07 Speaker 3: Like, why didn't you go? 00:25:08 Speaker 1: And I know I am not the only one because I had these conversations with people. But my point is, Ohima knew exactly what the fuck she was doing. They just won a championship in year two, season two. 00:25:27 Speaker 2: And also add to that, this year at the draft, there was criticism. I was one of them because they picked Flage and then traded her to Seattle instantly. She knew the secret sauce that we didn't. There were so many things about this particular... Number one, Gabby Williams. I cannot talk about Game 7 without talking about Gabby Williams and how... She literally put the team on her back. Gabby had two points in the first half. And fun fact, the team that had been leading at the half in every game prior to game seven had been the team that won. And at the time, Golden State was down 30 to 24. So Atlanta had a six point lead at the half. And if the trend had continued, that would have meant that Atlanta was well on their way towards winning a championship. But Gabby Williams turned it on. I mean, of all the things that people have said about Gabby, and again, I always keep it honest when I'm critical because I was. I was critical to the point of saying Gabby can be a team's closer. Gabby can be the person that can be the go-to, but it has to be consistent. And Golden State just has not found consistency when it comes to their offensive firepower because in this game, it could be Gabby. In this game, it could be Tiffany Hayes. In this game, it could be Janelle Salon off the bench. And then it could just not happen at all. And they just so happen to be the better defensive team and that's how they win. 00:26:55 Speaker 4: Like, it was so inconsistent. But this playoffs... shut us all up. 00:27:01 Speaker 2: Game seven, shut everybody up. Gabby Williams absolutely can be a closer. Absolutely can be the person that you can call on to be your go-to when she gives you 28 damn points and a half. 00:27:15 Speaker 4: 28 and a half, my dog. Stop playing with her. 00:27:18 Speaker 3: Stop playing with her. 00:27:20 Speaker 1: Every time she did something, I was elbowing Brandon like, damn. 00:27:24 Speaker 3: Yeah, I was like, damn. 00:27:26 Speaker 4: Brandon was sick of you. 00:27:27 Speaker 3: And Can we move over to Atlanta? 00:27:32 Speaker 1: Because I need to move to Atlanta while we talk about Gabby. 00:27:35 Speaker 3: 28 points and a half. 00:27:40 Speaker 1: Gabby Williams said, if y'all don't know my name, you don't know my name after tonight. 00:27:46 Speaker 3: Because I refused to let. 00:27:50 Speaker 1: My team lose. And she did exactly what she needed to do. Now, here's my question to on Atlanta's side. Gabby Williams is destroying you. Like, what defensive adjustments are you making right now? Because whoever it was, whether it was Ryan, Alicia, Nas, Angel, Jordan, whoever it was, they could not stop her. So as a coach, you've got to make some type of a defensive adjustment. I don't care if it's, let's go into a triangle and two, a box and one. Anytime Gabby touches it, listen to double, make her get rid of it. Because Gabby has shown you in the second half that she can beat you. 00:28:46 Speaker 3: She can. 00:28:47 Speaker 1: So at some point, you have to force her to get rid of the basketball and make somebody else beat you. 00:28:54 Speaker 3: That was my

issue or. 00:28:56 Speaker 1: Concern with Atlanta or with coach down the stretch, I'm like, okay, okay. You, you, you, you have to make, you have, everybody in here can see what's going on. 00:29:08 Speaker 3: Everybody in here knows where the ball is going. Except you. 00:29:15 Speaker 4: Except you. 00:29:15 Speaker 2: And on top of that, they didn't do themselves any favors on the opposite end to offensively because they, Angel wasn't able to control the glass as it like how they typically control the glass. And that did not allow Golden State did not allow Atlanta to get defensively set like they were breaking off, trying to speed the game up, getting in. 00:29:40 Speaker 4: Transition. 00:29:41 Speaker 2: And in doing so, it allowed them to move the ball. And Gabby was caught at least three times in the third quarter. Gabby was left open over there at the top of the key. Well, basically on the right side, on the right side, top of the key and went back to back three, three. I said, damn, she hitting it from the same spot. 00:30:01 Speaker 4: The same spot. 00:30:02 Speaker 1: See, I was sitting there like, as much as I was enjoying the show, there was a part of me that was getting frustrated because I'm like, y'all. Right. 00:30:11 Speaker 4: From a player's perspective and a coach. 00:30:13 Speaker 3: Like, as a player, you have to know who has the hot hand right now. 00:30:17 Speaker 1: I don't care if you leave, if you send five players to Gabby, send all five. 00:30:21 Speaker 2: Right? 00:30:21 Speaker 4: Leave somebody else wide open. You cannot leave her wide open. 00:30:24 Speaker 3: Yeah. And it never came. 00:30:29 Speaker 1: It just, it never came. So I was like, okay, y'all are going to get beat because Gabby Williams is doing that. I think my other questions are this. So Natalie made an adjustment with her starting lineup and I believe. 00:30:50 Speaker 4: Game four, maybe? She added Tip. 00:30:53 Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, she added Tip and Kyla Charles. 00:30:57 Speaker 5: Right. 00:30:57 Speaker 1: She removed Kayla Thornton and Zanda Lassini to the bench because she was like, we need more energy. 00:31:03 Speaker 3: We need more scoring. 00:31:04 Speaker 1: We need to be able to get up and down and run, whatever it is, whatever the reason she made it. 00:31:10 Speaker 3: What I love. 00:31:10 Speaker 4: About that is especially. 00:31:14 Speaker 1: Not just the playoffs, it's the finals, but I think the players respect Natalie so much that they're like, all right, coach, whatever you feel is best for the team. And Natalie wasn't worried about stepping on toes, hurting feelings. She was like, y'all, I'm telling you, just ride with me. This is going to win us a championship. 00:31:33 Speaker 3: And it did. 00:31:35 Speaker 1: My question is on Atlanta's side. Because I'm still trying to understand. Like, you actually have a pretty good bench. My question is this. I would have loved to have seen, and tell me if I'm wrong, because

I don't remember seeing this. I would have loved to have seen Angel and Medina in the game at. 00:31:58 Speaker 3: The same time. 00:32:01 Speaker 4: I don't think I've ever seen it. 00:32:02 Speaker 1: And here's why I'm saying this. And it doesn't have to be for a long time. But first of all, do something different. Try something different. But if you have Okot and Angel in at the same time, you now. 00:32:15 Speaker 1: Kia Stokes is going to have to guard Medina. 00:32:19 Speaker 4: She's got to guard Medina. She's got to choose. 00:32:21 Speaker 3: And if. 00:32:22 Speaker 1: if she doesn't, then you go put Medina on the block and she should go to work because they don't have another big body, her size that can guard her on the block. So you got to put Kia on her, which is going to allow Angel to move away from the basket, right? And use her speed, her quickness, put the ball on the floor. And even if she doesn't, who's guarding Angel right now? 00:32:43 Speaker 2: I was just going to say, you leaving Angel wide open because can't nobody guard Angel. Literally nobody's going to guard her. Angel, Atlanta plays different when Angel gets touches. She doesn't necessarily have to shoot it. She doesn't necessarily have to be, it doesn't necessarily have to be the play call for her, but you got to get the ball in her hands. It just so happens that Nakias posted a tweet after game seven of all of Angel's touches. 00:33:11 Speaker 4: And game seven, Angel touched the ball 37 times. 37 times. 00:33:22 Speaker 2: Every other game, the numbers were 70, 60, you. 00:33:26 Speaker 4: Know, somewhere up in there, 37. 00:33:29 Speaker 2: Now only Nakias can be the one to put these type of numbers together because that's what he does. 00:33:34 Speaker 4: He's a data guy, an analytical guy. 00:33:36 Speaker 2: But the point is, you did not put the ball in her hands enough in game seven. Even if she's not the person that the play is called for, folks have to defensively account for her in the spacing that she requires when the ball is in her hands. I did not like that from a coaching standpoint. How is it that Angel doesn't touch the ball on every possession? 00:34:00 Speaker 4: How is it? 00:34:01 Speaker 2: Like, unless there's a fast break, she's wide open or somebody else is wide open. That ball needs to go through her on every possession. And it's not about her shooting. 00:34:08 Speaker 1: At every possession, but it's about her touching it because she's going to command so much attention. 00:34:13 Speaker 4: She has to. 00:34:13 Speaker 3: That it's going to open things up for other players. 00:34:16 Speaker 4: I totally agree with that. 00:34:19 Speaker 2: And you bring in, and to your point of having her and Medina on the court at the same time, even for a second, that just plays right into the point of that gives you an opportunity to ensure that Angel gets the ball every single possession. 00:34:36 Speaker 4: Crazy, crazy to me. 00:34:38 Speaker 2: But yeah, last but not least, before we have to get out of here, because there's a couple of other things that I just want to bring up, but I loved Dewana Bonner's contribution leading to the finals. But as the vet that has been in the finals before, I truly expected a tad bit more production from her offensively throughout this entirety of the series, and I didn't get that. And I don't want to say that I know what it is. I mean, shooters shoot. Sometimes shooters just get cold. They don't have the games. I get that. But... I was just a bit disappointed in the production drop-off from the semifinals to the finals and truly believe that what she brings to a team could have changed the trajectory of how offensively this series could have played out in general. 00:35:33 Speaker 3: I do agree with you on that. 00:35:37 Speaker 1: You know, that's why you brought Dawana in. At the time you brought her to help you, one, make the playoffs, hopefully get to the finals. 00:35:47 Speaker 3: She's been there. She's one of the best that's played the game. She's a vet. 00:35:50 Speaker 1: She has experience. And I still think it was a great move. So I kind of feel like a couple of things. Now, I'll say the first time he put Dawana in and she took one shot, she missed it, and he took her right back out. 00:36:08 Speaker 3: And I looked over and she was just like, she had this confused look on her face. Like, like really? 00:36:19 Speaker 1: And I only bring that up because. 00:36:23 Speaker 3: I felt like her confidence was down. 00:36:27 Speaker 1: And when your confidence is down, the only way T you can get it back up and get out of that is to play. 00:36:37 Speaker 3: Right. Like, You got to leave her in the game and give her a shot, right? If she's been in the game for 10, 12. 00:36:47 Speaker 1: 15 minutes and she ain't done nothing, I get it. Then you now have to take her out and say, all right, let me go with somebody else. But especially game seven, I just don't really feel like he had the confidence in her. Or she had the confidence in herself. So I do think that's why her shot was off. 00:37:10 Speaker 3: Yeah. But I do agree with you. 00:37:12 Speaker 1: I expected a little bit more out of Dawana during the playoffs. And, you know, there were a couple games where she really did show up. And I was like, okay, this is why they brought her here. 00:37:25 Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. 00:37:29 Speaker 3: But overall, I thought it was a great series. Golden State. 00:37:37 Speaker 1: They are a hard, tough-nosed, defensive-minded team that I love watching because you know they're going to have some possessions where they're going to go without scoring. But they don't stress over that because they know defensively they're going to stop you from scoring. And we saw a lot of that in this series. But yeah, I really was hoping to see a little bit more adjustments. from Carl Smesko with Atlanta than we saw. Not saying that would have

made a difference in the outcome, but when you have a bench and you've got some players over there who have helped you during the season and made a difference in some of the games during the season. 00:38:24 Speaker 3: I don't understand why they weren't even given an opportunity. 00:38:27 Speaker 4: Why you don't use them. 00:38:29 Speaker 5: Yes. 00:38:30 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:38:30 Speaker 4: Yeah. No, for sure. 00:38:32 Speaker 2: Well, I definitely want to make sure that I give credit to the Atlanta fan base because honey game six was at 1230 in the afternoon on a Thursday and that game sold out within an hour and a half. Um, they basically. 00:38:51 Speaker 4: Blew the ratings out of the water. 00:38:53 Speaker 2: Um, It was one of those moments where you will look back later and say, you just had to be there. But they definitely... The fans showed up for both of these teams, both in person. Every game was sold out. Every game sold out within minutes. The atmosphere was great. But also television ratings wise as well. Every game was over 1.2 million with the final game hitting 3.3. Even the game that was at 1230 in the afternoon. was at 1.7 million viewership. And so that was incredible. Again, the amount of records that were broken from Kia Stokes breaking a record to Angel Reese breaking records to Ryan Howard breaking a record with the amount of steals in one game. It was a record breaking performance from so many different people. So certainly want to make sure that that's understood. And I think more importantly, the fact that it was two teams that had never won a championship before ever that was competing continues to show the parity of the league. We talked about the parity of the league the entire season, the entire season. So much so to where we had an eight seed playing in the semifinals. 00:40:18 Speaker 4: That's crazy. An eight seed. That's crazy. Playing in the semifinals. 00:40:23 Speaker 3: Crazy. 00:40:23 Speaker 4: Like, where they do that at? 00:40:26 Speaker 3: Right? 00:40:27 Speaker 4: Where they do that at? And so, it was a lot. 00:40:32 Speaker 2: a lot that happened throughout the course of this WNBA season. But I think the two teams that eventually ended up making it and the performance that they gave and the reception that people took to how great the series. 00:40:42 Speaker 4: Was, was well-earned. 00:40:44 Speaker 2: So, Congratulations to the Golden State Valkyries on a historic season, the best defense that this league has ever seen numerically. And kudos to the Atlanta Dream. You guys got to the finals for the first time in 13 years. Y'all sold out. Y'all just literally did any and everything to continue to tell the naysayers that they need to stop playing on y'all name in Atlanta for facts. So I'm very much looking forward to this WNBA offseason. There's already a lot of shit that we're going to have to get into. We didn't talk about it on today's episode, but honey, Chris DeMarco is out of New York and that's wild. So we got some coaches opening. There's openings in L.A. and opening in New York. It's just interesting, right? We got some other things that need to be addressed, like what's happening in Indiana. I believe they've hired a general manager, but I don't think they've hired a team president just yet. 00:41:45 Speaker 4: So that is still something that is up for discussion. Just a lot. 00:41:50 Speaker 2: We still haven't had a coaching hire for our team. expansion franchises yet. So Cleveland still need a coach. Detroit still need a coach. Philly still need a coach. 00:41:58 Speaker 3: It is. 00:41:59 Speaker 4: It's a lot going on. It's exciting. 00:42:01 Speaker 1: It's a lot going on. And I'm going to put this out there before we go. Of all of these openings, we better have some black female head coaches. You ain't never lied. It's too many openings and too many great candidates out there. 00:42:20 Speaker 4: Too many, too many. I think the Sparks still need a coach. 00:42:23 Speaker 3: Come on now. 00:42:24 Speaker 4: It's way too much going on. 00:42:26 Speaker 2: So with that, hang on with us. We'll be right back to close this thing on out. All right, this was a great episode, great conversation. I always love kicking it with you, Cheryl, especially when we talking hoops, but even when we not. 00:42:51 Speaker 3: I like it when we telling people to stay up at our business. 00:42:54 Speaker 2: Stay the fuck up about my business, my business. 00:42:58 Speaker 5: Oh, sorry. 00:42:59 Speaker 4: Roll out. I don't know. We talking about Atlanta. Ludacris came in my head. 00:43:03 Speaker 3: Roll out. 00:43:05 Speaker 4: Yes. Roll out. That's so crazy. Okay. 00:43:11 Speaker 2: So with that being said, we love when you're dropping gems to close us on out of our shows. 00:43:16 Speaker 4: What gems do you have for us today? 00:43:18 Speaker 1: This is a gem for me, but it's real simple. 00:43:21 Speaker 3: It's not motivational words. But it's something to think about. 00:43:31 Speaker 1: There are two things we get every day. A chance and a choice. That's all it is. 00:43:38 Speaker 2: Yep. 00:43:39 Speaker 4: Right? Yep. Yep. I love that. I love that a lot. 00:43:44 Speaker 2: Because sometimes we don't use our chances wisely because we make very bad choices. 00:43:52 Speaker 4: So I like that. 00:43:54 Speaker 3: I like that a lot. 00:43:56 Speaker 2: So with that, friends, thank you guys so much for continuing to tune in with us here on Levels to This. We love, love, love, love hearing from you. Because remember, this is not just our show. It is our show. So we want to continue to hear from you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. You can send us an email at levelstothispodcast at gmail.com. And you can also tap in with us on Instagram at lttpod. We just gonna keep doing what we do. We gonna keep giving y'all what we give y'all. We love that y'all are tapping in with us the way that y'all are. 00:44:29 Speaker 4: So don't stop. 00:44:30 Speaker 2: Tell a friend and keep showing up and showing love. Until next time, guys, keep your mentals brown level and. 00:44:35 Speaker 4: We'll be back next week. Ride in the blue wave. 00:44:41 Speaker 1: Listen to Levels to This on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search Levels to This with Sheryl Swoops and Tarika Foster-Brasby and start listening.