Speaker 1: Welcome to good Game with Sarah Spain, where we can't
Speaker 1: decide whether to cry, puke, or open up a window
Speaker 1: and just scream into the night.
Speaker 2: Becuz this just happened twenty.
Speaker 1: Eight years in the May Games. Good New York Liberty
Speaker 1: WA champions. That's right, the New York Liberty just won
Speaker 1: the first WNBA championship in their franchise history and overtime
Speaker 1: victory over the Minnesota Links in one of the most
Speaker 1: incredible WNBA finals we've ever seen.
Speaker 2: Sixty two sixty.
Speaker 1: Seven, the final score, How we got there, Who did what?
Speaker 2: Why? We're gonna cry if you can scream.
Speaker 1: All coming up next, and we're going to get to
Speaker 1: the headlines and the news and everything else from the
Speaker 1: weekend tomorrow. So when we come back, it's all Links
Speaker 1: and Liberty.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, Slices.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're hungover, exhausted, thrilled, disappointed, but
Speaker 1: I think we're all sort of all of those things.
Speaker 2: Maybe not hungover.
Speaker 1: I try to keep it sober for the game, but
Speaker 1: Misha and Alex are going to join me to talk
Speaker 1: about everything that we just witnessed. We're coming to you
Speaker 1: live at the time right after the podium ceremony. There's
Speaker 1: probably going to be a ton of incredible quotes and
Speaker 1: moments that come in the hours after we record this,
Speaker 1: and we'll get to all of that this week. I
Speaker 1: hope we get some Liberty guests. I hope we get
Speaker 1: some folks to talk about just what this means in
Speaker 1: terms of the history of the league and of this team.
Speaker 1: But let's start with two pretty incredible statistics from this one.
Speaker 1: The New York Liberty won the first major championship for
Speaker 1: Brooklyn since the Dodgers in nineteen fifty five, and the
Speaker 1: first professional basketball championship for the city of New York
Speaker 1: since nineteen seventy.
Speaker 2: She Wow, this is pretty huge.
Speaker 1: The next one May eighth, nineteen seventy and again Brooklyn
Speaker 1: getting its first major championship since back when the Dodgers
Speaker 1: were there. Right after the game ends, we get a
Speaker 1: Nike ad Liberty has a nice ring to it with
Speaker 1: a ring. They so quickly the ring on the statue
Speaker 1: of Liberty before we get into sort of a breakdown
Speaker 1: of how everybody played in all the different things.
Speaker 2: Like Meiche, what's just your first reaction.
Speaker 3: To what you just witnessed, Sarah, My heart is so
Speaker 3: happy right now because I told y'all coming into this series,
Speaker 3: I had the Libs winning it. I will state that
Speaker 3: for the record off top. Okay, so we're all clear.
Speaker 3: But the other thing I really wanted out of this
Speaker 3: series was extra basketball. I wanted us to get our
Speaker 3: money's worth. If you're in the arena, I want us
Speaker 3: to get, you know, our time's worth, and we got that.
Speaker 2: In more so, I'm just so happy.
Speaker 3: For the entire pure basketball community because what we just
Speaker 3: witnessed was easily one of the best finals series NBA
Speaker 3: WNBA period.
Speaker 1: Well timed for the WNBA to have its best season
Speaker 1: ever and have one of, if not its best WNBA
Speaker 1: Finals ever, the only one with multiple overtime games in it,
Speaker 1: clutched moments for five games, all five games right within
Speaker 1: at least five points in the two minutes remaining.
Speaker 2: Alex's first reaction.
Speaker 4: And first time that a title deciding game ever went
Speaker 4: to overtime in WNBA history pretty incredible. Uh oh my gosh,
Speaker 4: initial reaction. I feel like the Liberty both deserved it
Speaker 4: for so many reasons and then did not deserve it
Speaker 4: for so many reasons. Real so it feel so split
Speaker 4: in that way, and yet so excited for them.
Speaker 1: At the same time, I have to tell you a
Speaker 1: weird thing happened to me while watching this game, because
Speaker 1: I also picked the Liberty before the playoffs started to
Speaker 1: win it all. Heading into the game and this whole series,
Speaker 1: I said to myself, I'd like the Liberty to win.
Speaker 1: I'd like them to win their first championship. You know,
Speaker 1: love the Links, you know, friend of the show Cheryl
Speaker 1: Reevenfisa Colliers quickly becoming one of my favorite players to watch,
Speaker 1: But I'd like to see the Liberty finally, you know,
Speaker 1: get there first. And the whole game, my gut was
Speaker 1: cheering for the Links, and I was like, hey, hello,
Speaker 1: excuse me, gut, We've already decided up top in our
Speaker 1: brains that were rooting for the Liberty.
Speaker 2: And I couldn't stop myself from being like, oh.
Speaker 1: That was a foul, that's a travel like, you know,
Speaker 1: and being like, don't let them get back in this
Speaker 1: this is a bit, this is a big moment, you know,
Speaker 1: with like with like Elena Smith on the bench, you
Speaker 1: got to make sure you don't let them come back in.
Speaker 2: Which is exactly what happened.
Speaker 1: And I couldn't figure out why that was happening to me.
Speaker 1: Can either of you explain why you think that was
Speaker 1: happening to me?
Speaker 2: I just wanted it to be real close.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: For me, it was like, I'm rooting for whoever's down
Speaker 3: right now, and that's who I'm rooting for.
Speaker 2: Doesn't even matter.
Speaker 3: At one point, you know, people have been asking me
Speaker 3: every game of the series.
Speaker 2: Who I want to win?
Speaker 3: Who I want I'm like, at this point, I said
Speaker 3: what I said, But again, I just want to see
Speaker 3: the most chaos max chaos max out.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's understandable.
Speaker 3: And the way the way that Minnesota played, you wanted
Speaker 3: to root for them.
Speaker 2: I think that's part of it. Yeah, because of how
Speaker 2: they competed.
Speaker 3: I mean New York and Sandy Brondelo had to press
Speaker 3: every button they had, you know what I mean, use
Speaker 3: every tool in the toolbox. In Minnesota, just I felt
Speaker 3: so bad because I know they wanted it so bad.
Speaker 3: Fee the way she approached it as a leader for
Speaker 3: that team, she was composed that whole.
Speaker 2: First half they led.
Speaker 3: You know, they went the way that she went because
Speaker 3: she was unphased, and so it is her unfazed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think though on the other side
Speaker 1: of That is how much credit you have to give
Speaker 1: the Liberty for winning a game that they had no
Speaker 1: business winning. Sabrina and Nescu, as they said on Twitter,
Speaker 1: it was called than a penguin's toes. I don't even
Speaker 1: think penguins have toes, but that's how cold she was.
Speaker 1: And I want to tell you all respect to her
Speaker 1: for her passing ability, that still being able to draw
Speaker 1: defense because she was going to keep shooting. All props
Speaker 1: to her for the incredible shot earlier in the series,
Speaker 1: and for everything she's done for this team all season long.
Speaker 1: We have given her all of her flowers all season
Speaker 1: for stepping up her game in a way some of
Speaker 1: us maybe didn't even know she could this year. All
Speaker 1: that being said, she owes that whole team beers for
Speaker 1: saving her ass from a lifetime of this game haunting her.
Speaker 1: When you shoot that poorly in a winner take all
Speaker 1: championship on the line, You've been one of the leaders
Speaker 1: of the team the whole time and you show up
Speaker 1: like that, Oh boy, you are not getting rid of
Speaker 1: that for life.
Speaker 4: Not even in a winner take all game. So I
Speaker 4: went to across the timeline and ran the numbers. No
Speaker 4: player in WNBA history we're talking regular season, Commissioner's Cup
Speaker 4: Finals playoffs. Has ever taken so many shots and yielded
Speaker 4: such a low no field goal percentage of any game ever,
Speaker 4: any game ever, No one before this for a player
Speaker 4: that had at least nineteen field gold attempts, field gold
Speaker 4: field goal attempts, any gold in there, any gold. She
Speaker 4: did win a gold medal this summer, so we'll give
Speaker 4: her that. The closest was Arik Gunbawalle with an eight
Speaker 4: point six percent field goal percentage that was back in
Speaker 4: twenty nineteen. I think Sabrina finished the night at something
Speaker 4: like five point two percent.
Speaker 2: Oh man, okay.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to the beginning, but first
Speaker 1: a couple more moments at the end there that I
Speaker 1: just want to hit on quick as we're still talking
Speaker 1: and feeling the joy from it, the scene around John
Speaker 1: Qwell Jones, the joy from her and the joy for
Speaker 1: her when she was named MVP. This was her four
Speaker 1: attempt at a WNBA Championship. Her teams came up short
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three. She's
Speaker 1: been the league's most improved player. She's been sixth Woman
Speaker 1: of the Year she's been an All Star, she's been
Speaker 1: an MVP. She is finally a champion, and in doing so,
Speaker 1: she also gets the MVP of the Finals. And I
Speaker 1: mean her story. You briefly heard Holly mention it, but
Speaker 1: for those who aren't familiar, go back and watch some
Speaker 1: of the feature storytelling about her leaving the Bahamas at
Speaker 1: age thirteen, moving in with strangers to pursue this passion
Speaker 1: of basketball.
Speaker 2: The journey that she's been on. You could feel all
Speaker 2: of that.
Speaker 1: In that moment, the way there was surprise and delight.
Speaker 1: I think even she was surprised that it didn't go
Speaker 1: to someone like Brianna or sab even if they had
Speaker 1: rough games tonight. She was deserving and it was really
Speaker 1: cool to see.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think you know, in that moment, for
Speaker 3: everybody that was watching, you saw the reactions from her
Speaker 3: whole team, from everybody who was up there on the podium,
Speaker 3: from the entire arena, that shocking surprise, but also the
Speaker 3: elation on her behalf like, and I would be remiss,
Speaker 3: I'm about to get a little DMV.
Speaker 2: I would be of course.
Speaker 1: I already got texts from people, Okay, we are going
Speaker 1: up Riverdale Baptist stand up, George Washington University.
Speaker 2: Stand up, my Behavians stand up. And also you Bahamian.
Speaker 3: I'm not, but you know what tonight tonight. I was
Speaker 3: at Caine on H Street in DC the other day
Speaker 3: eat jerk chicken wings.
Speaker 2: So we're acting like honorary Bahamian. Honorary honorary tonight, all right.
Speaker 3: But I also have to give a shout out to
Speaker 3: coach Diane Richardson. Folks who are plugged in with DMV basketball,
Speaker 3: with women's basketball as a whole, know that this lady
Speaker 3: right here, she produces players like that, and she is
Speaker 3: one of the big reasons why JJ has gotten to
Speaker 3: the point that she's at. She was at the podium
Speaker 3: on the floor during the celebration.
Speaker 2: Shout out to her. Shout out to everybody who's ever
Speaker 2: worked with JJ.
Speaker 3: Shout out to anybody who's even tangentially connected.
Speaker 2: We're celebrating were going on tonight.
Speaker 1: Okay, I just want to point out, you know, we
Speaker 1: had Michael Voppelan a couple of days ago, and he
Speaker 1: talked about in the sort of oral history of the
Speaker 1: tortured franchise of the Liberty, saying something like New York
Speaker 1: is the place that you go and you become a
Speaker 1: New Yorker. And interesting to look at such a diverse
Speaker 1: team in the Liberty, Bahamians, Germans, right, this international conglomerate
Speaker 1: coming together in the melting pot that is New York
Speaker 1: City to become New Yorkers, and you're sort of a
Speaker 1: forever New Yorker if you bring them their first title
Speaker 1: in Liberty history and also in professional basketball since nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy and also in Brooklyn for the first time since
Speaker 1: fifty five.
Speaker 2: I mean, these women from all over the globe are
Speaker 2: New Yorkers.
Speaker 1: You know, you're gonna call them DMV and you're gonna
Speaker 1: take credit for him, but I'm sorry, Bahama's, Germany, everywhere
Speaker 1: else that they're from, it's New York now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, It's It's a beautiful thing to see. And I
Speaker 3: feel like that's been the story of the Liberty this
Speaker 3: whole season too. Right, it's from the finn experience, the
Speaker 3: in game arena experience, they've had, you know, different cultural nights,
Speaker 3: different performers. I think the New York Liberty franchise as
Speaker 3: a whole has bought into that concept of being a
Speaker 3: melting pot.
Speaker 2: And look at what the successes that they're reaping from it.
Speaker 1: You just reminded me that game was so good. I
Speaker 1: did not even notice that I got zero. Ellie the
Speaker 1: elephant that tells you how.
Speaker 2: Good the game was. How are her puffer? How are
Speaker 2: we gonna get zero? She was wearing a puffy skirt
Speaker 2: and a puffy jacket. We got zero.
Speaker 1: Codeaways to Ellie. I did not see her celebrating the trophy.
Speaker 2: They tell Ellie, chill out tonight, they tell Ellie cool.
Speaker 1: Out will I will not stand for Ellie Eraser at
Speaker 1: the peak moment of this franchise.
Speaker 2: She was a huge part of this title one.
Speaker 4: I want to propose a new rule. So right now,
Speaker 4: in the WNBA, it is the owner who has handed
Speaker 4: the trophy first. That's not the rule in all leagues,
Speaker 4: but it is in the WNBA. And I think that
Speaker 4: from here on out, Scott first mascot hands off.
Speaker 1: Okay, but only Ellie, because only trash mascots. And I
Speaker 1: want you to know that if Skyguy had been handed
Speaker 1: the trophy when the Sky won it all, that would
Speaker 1: have been the end of my fandom. So I like
Speaker 1: your rule, but only Ellie. Also, speaking of that, I
Speaker 1: did love that it was a woman who has handed
Speaker 1: the trophy first. That is such a rarity in professional
Speaker 1: sports to see a woman be the one that is
Speaker 1: the owner and getting it. I know it's both of
Speaker 1: the size, but still there is some beauty in that.
Speaker 2: And I like that she talked about investment.
Speaker 1: I like that she talked about watching this team grow
Speaker 1: and wanting to put them somewhere bigger where the fans
Speaker 1: could appreciate them. I saw a women's sports reporter that
Speaker 1: I really respect and love say you know what, I
Speaker 1: don't really want to talk of investment right now. Not
Speaker 1: everything has to be a PSA. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I completely disagree. You are telling everyone else show up
Speaker 1: like this team, and this is what you get when
Speaker 1: you care. Would you invest? When you give these women
Speaker 1: what they deserve? You bring the joy the fans. Another
Speaker 1: sell out, another record. This was the biggest crowd in
Speaker 1: Liberty history again eighteen thy and ninety. They just keep
Speaker 1: finding more standing room only, I think is how they're
Speaker 1: doing that, because somehow.
Speaker 2: It keeps going up even though the building stays the same,
Speaker 2: which I love.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's get into some of the nitty gritty of
Speaker 1: a game. We're gonna call gritty because we don't want
Speaker 1: to just say ugly. It's coming up next after this
Speaker 1: quick break.
Speaker 2: We're backslices and you're back too. Love that for us?
Speaker 1: Okay, Like I said, not a pretty game and for
Speaker 1: such a beautiful series, I guess it's to be expected.
Speaker 1: They were tired. They were tight, especially through the first half.
Speaker 1: The reason the Links were ahead was that they were
Speaker 1: getting open looks in the paint layup after layup, and
Speaker 1: that was allowing them to get in some sort of
Speaker 1: offensive rhythm. And then defensively they were great. But also
Speaker 1: the Liberty looked tight and rushed and no one frankly,
Speaker 1: no one could hit a three, but not even mid
Speaker 1: range jumpers dropping for most anyone.
Speaker 2: That was all the Links was getting.
Speaker 1: And at the beginning it really looked like all it
Speaker 1: was going to need was for someone on the Liberty
Speaker 1: to start to hit some shots. Sabrina started, Oh force
Speaker 1: do we started oh of three? After the first it's
Speaker 1: nineteen ten Links, But it didn't feel it felt like
Speaker 1: they had such control of it. But it didn't feel
Speaker 1: like something that was sustainable, because there was just no
Speaker 1: way you were going to see the Liberty give up
Speaker 1: those back cuts and those easy lanes the whole game.
Speaker 1: It just didn't seem possible, right, Alex.
Speaker 4: I had a lot of moments during this game where
Speaker 4: I was like, has anyone checked the rims to make
Speaker 4: sure they're okay? Like, like, it just felt like and honestly,
Speaker 4: I want to throw this question back at the basketball
Speaker 4: folks how much of it was shots not falling and
Speaker 4: that luck factor almost versus good defense, because I struggled
Speaker 4: with that throughout the game where I was like, I
Speaker 4: feel like that should have gone in, and I'm not
Speaker 4: sure why it didn't go in, Like was it just
Speaker 4: that the look wasn't good enough that she wasn't able
Speaker 4: to get it where she wanted it to go?
Speaker 2: Wow, Meshe, I want your answer to for me.
Speaker 1: In the first half, especially the interior defense of the
Speaker 1: Links was strong and making inside shots tough for the Liberty,
Speaker 1: but mid range and three they were perfectly fine shots.
Speaker 1: No one could hit the broad side of a barn.
Speaker 1: On the other side, the defense for the Liberty was
Speaker 1: ass and they were getting whooped in the paint and
Speaker 1: those shots were so easy they almost couldn't miss them.
Speaker 2: That's what I saw.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I saw a little bit of the same I
Speaker 3: think for Minnesota, the defense that they played all season
Speaker 3: was the defense you saw even with the fatigue, because
Speaker 3: they were very clearly to me fatigue that was one
Speaker 3: through line the entire game. But even with that, the
Speaker 3: defense they played, if you watch a little technical here,
Speaker 3: every time New York catches the basketball.
Speaker 2: Minnesota is in their space. There's no room to breathe.
Speaker 3: And once you do that time and time again over
Speaker 3: the course of a possession, that's the kind of stuff
Speaker 3: that gets into an opponent's head. That's the kind of
Speaker 3: stuff that forces a Stewie or a sab or anybody
Speaker 3: to shoot off balanced shots, when if you could pivot
Speaker 3: and calm down and not be as chaotic in your body,
Speaker 3: you could find an open layout. But they didn't have
Speaker 3: that frame of mind because Minnesota was so up in
Speaker 3: their business.
Speaker 2: It's also exhausting. Though.
Speaker 1: Yes, we saw later in the game for the links,
Speaker 1: and we talked about this all series long, the bench
Speaker 1: for the liberty. We'll get into it more in the
Speaker 1: second half, because that's obviously when soabily you really starts
Speaker 1: to make the biggest difference. But early on their defense
Speaker 1: was smothering, and especially inside it was why but they
Speaker 1: were just tight Sabrina all of eight through the second.
Speaker 1: Stewie finally gets her first bucket early in the second,
Speaker 1: shots were just not dropping, and they didn't have any
Speaker 1: easy neither free throws nor easy plays to try to
Speaker 1: get him in some sort of rhythm. Finally, near the
Speaker 1: end of the second quarter, big play relatively speaking, because
Speaker 1: the Liberty fans had almost nothing to cheer for, they
Speaker 1: finally got this moment that the building could release and
Speaker 1: get excited. And unfortunately for New York there was about
Speaker 1: to be halftime. They couldn't take advantage of that momentum
Speaker 1: shift and the fans getting into it, so they needed
Speaker 1: to come out in the second half and try to
Speaker 1: take advantage. It's thirty four to twenty seven at the half.
Speaker 1: It's a miracle for the Liberty that at the half
Speaker 1: was Sabrina and Stewie combining for five points, and the
Speaker 1: ease with which the Links were scoring in the first
Speaker 1: that it was.
Speaker 2: That close of a game. Yeah, and that was a
Speaker 2: bit of a warning for all of us watching.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody was feeling confident or comfortable in
Speaker 1: the Links at this point, and they were just waiting
Speaker 1: for something to come from the Liberty, and what we
Speaker 1: saw ultimately was some bench players step up, the Sobbly huge,
Speaker 1: the biggest Thornton, great, big minutes, getting stops, doing things
Speaker 1: that they needed from hustling hustling, and that's when Minnesota
Speaker 1: started to get tired. To me, in the second half,
Speaker 1: that's where it started to matter. They just couldn't play
Speaker 1: that free, easy, rhythmic offense. You saw a couple plays,
Speaker 1: but other than that, the Liberty started to get stronger.
Speaker 1: And then also I think the Links weren't quick enough
Speaker 1: to take advantage the same way as they did in
Speaker 1: the first half.
Speaker 2: Yeah, New York just turned it up.
Speaker 3: It was do or die time because they knew if
Speaker 3: they did not hit a run sometime in that third quarter,
Speaker 3: their championship hopes were about to be dashed.
Speaker 2: Period. Like you said, Niarisaboli, been talking about this girl
Speaker 2: on here.
Speaker 3: What did you do with Germany and the Olympics, y'all?
Speaker 3: She was like the was it was crazy. She was
Speaker 3: hurt for a little while in there and still was
Speaker 3: like the leading scorer or some craziness like that. I
Speaker 3: can't even tell you this is that right now, but
Speaker 3: she was bawling and she brought that energy to the court.
Speaker 3: You saw her interview with Holly Row during that little stretch.
Speaker 2: She was like, she was so excited by the way she.
Speaker 1: Was excited that she got her first in game interview
Speaker 1: in Game five of the WNBA Finals, talk about it
Speaker 1: time to show up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it didn't phase her.
Speaker 3: I was watching the game with my parents and my
Speaker 3: dad was like, she's just out there having fun. None
Speaker 3: of the pressure that everybody else on the court seems
Speaker 3: to be dealing with is.
Speaker 2: Zero expectations, zero expectations. And that's the beauty of that.
Speaker 1: They needed that because to be honest, look at what
Speaker 1: happened to the two people with the biggest expectations period
Speaker 1: dewiye and.
Speaker 2: Sab period yep.
Speaker 3: And then, like you said, Kayla Thornton, I do not
Speaker 3: want her to go under the radar, her or foe.
Speaker 3: Even though Phoebish is a starter now and all that
Speaker 3: good stuff, she's still I consider her supporting cast.
Speaker 2: But let's start with Thornton.
Speaker 3: Her defense, her defense and that bulldog mentality because one
Speaker 3: play it was it was her closing out on the
Speaker 3: FISA call you're and deflecting a ball out of bounds.
Speaker 3: She could have just left it there. And some people
Speaker 3: might call this dirty, and I'm leaving space for that
Speaker 3: because depending on how you watched it.
Speaker 2: And what your vantage point was, Hey, that's on you.
Speaker 3: But she dies for that basketball out of bounds, knocks
Speaker 3: and the VISA call you're over and then sprints back
Speaker 3: to the huddle in the paint with her team, And
Speaker 3: those are the kind of plays you need your bench
Speaker 3: players to make in a moment like that. She wasn't
Speaker 3: the leading score, she probably wasn't even the best defender
Speaker 3: on the floor, but that kind of stuff from her,
Speaker 3: and then Leoni phoebsh she was just misconsistency like she
Speaker 3: has been this entire playoffs. I mean, hats off to her.
Speaker 3: They owe everybody on that team a bonus. Everybody on
Speaker 3: that roster was a hero at some point in this
Speaker 3: series or in this game.
Speaker 1: There are a couple of things that stood out to
Speaker 1: me in this one. Lenna Smith is a freakin' fighter.
Speaker 1: I mean, you could tell she was dragging around that
Speaker 1: one leg from the start of the game, not to.
Speaker 2: Mention midway through, and her back was killing her half
Speaker 2: a spine.
Speaker 1: And what sucked was that there was no opportunity really
Speaker 1: for them to say, all right, someone else step up,
Speaker 1: because no offense to dorkat Yuas.
Speaker 2: But when she was.
Speaker 1: Out there, turnovers, defensive struggles, over committing on defense, leaving
Speaker 1: players either to do and up and under and you know,
Speaker 1: score or put pressure on other defenders to have to
Speaker 1: step up and play help and then their their you know,
Speaker 1: primary offensive player and assignment was open. It just was
Speaker 1: so such a clear difference the way that they defensively
Speaker 1: had to change what they were doing with her out.
Speaker 2: There instead of Smith.
Speaker 1: So, I mean, Smith deserves the world's biggest couch and
Speaker 1: the world's biggest heating pad for the next two weeks
Speaker 1: because you could tell, especially after that play with John
Speaker 1: Quell where she hit the deck and didn't have her
Speaker 1: arm available to cushion her fall, landed right on her spine,
Speaker 1: was immediately in tears, and that was a big difference.
Speaker 1: You just you talk about the bench being important. Corney
Speaker 1: Vanderslud had three.
Speaker 2: Minutes in this game. I was a three minutes of playing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they the balls, the ovaries, I should say the
Speaker 1: ovaries on Sandy Brondello to say, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go with Niara SOBEI and Kayla Thornton, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go big and guess what. In certain moments
Speaker 1: in particular, that was huge because someone like Court Williams,
Speaker 1: who wants to get hot and feeds off of getting hot,
Speaker 1: was getting blocked into tomorrow because she could not hang
Speaker 1: with the size. Natisha hid him and made some big plays.
Speaker 1: Court made some big place but like they're trying to
Speaker 1: play amongst the trees and New York is coming out
Speaker 1: there with Sab being their shortest player and everybody else
Speaker 1: like six to four and up, And you could do
Speaker 1: that when you've got the kind of depth they had it.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately for the Links, I think they were tired and
Speaker 1: then they didn't have anybody to come.
Speaker 2: Off and be a spark.
Speaker 1: There was no one coming off that bench that you said,
Speaker 1: this is going to be a change maker if someone's
Speaker 1: tired or injured.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And it's tough because we saw early minutes for Mayisha
Speaker 3: heines Allen early on in this series, right, and so
Speaker 3: between Dorka Uhas, between heinz Allen, I thought maybe there
Speaker 3: was an opportunity to put heinz Allen in even though
Speaker 3: she is still undersized.
Speaker 2: You gotta mix it, you gotta do something right.
Speaker 1: She's too slow for me, both of them, I think,
Speaker 1: too slow for the style of play that was working
Speaker 1: for the Links.
Speaker 2: But for for Mayisha.
Speaker 3: At least you got fouls you can use, right, And
Speaker 3: what did it come down to at the end of
Speaker 3: the game. Fee had five fouls, You had Bridget Carlton
Speaker 3: with five fouls, because what are they both in there doing?
Speaker 3: Battling with Finals MVP John Quell Jones, And if nothing else,
Speaker 3: I would have just liked to see it because my USA,
Speaker 3: I still got a little bit of DC Homerism, you know,
Speaker 3: Erica la Ala and Black Rosy media already know I.
Speaker 2: Find a way to make it about the mystics, Okay.
Speaker 3: But it felt like there might have been maybe one
Speaker 3: or two opportunities to get her in there, let her
Speaker 3: at least bang use her body as opposed to Fee.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was just a tough situation. Both these
Speaker 2: teams came into the series evenly matched. Folks. You can't
Speaker 2: see my hands, but I mean I think the Liberty
Speaker 2: were a better team. I've said this throughout.
Speaker 1: It was a matter of strategy and who showed up,
Speaker 1: and the Liberty on paper to me, are the super.
Speaker 2: Team on paper? Yes, okay, I'm glad the better team.
Speaker 2: I think both way.
Speaker 3: Minnesota was playing coming in that put them neck and neck.
Speaker 1: In terms of actual performance, in terms of actually being
Speaker 1: effective in the plays and the system and the way
Speaker 1: the coaches called things up evenly matched, but the Liberty
Speaker 1: should have been I think a more dominant team. But
Speaker 1: listen the percentage shoot it for some of these stars
Speaker 1: on for the series, not just tonight.
Speaker 2: Woof.
Speaker 1: Okay, we could be honest about this, Holly Roe said afterwards.
Speaker 1: This is some of thost beautiful basketball we've ever seen.
Speaker 2: Yes, and mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Also some real turns in the punch bowl throughout this
Speaker 1: series and in this game in particular.
Speaker 2: I do want to while we're on the topic of turds.
Speaker 1: I hate when there are moments of incredible excitement, enthusiasm,
Speaker 1: celebration and we shit on them by talking about things
Speaker 1: like officiating.
Speaker 2: Yeah, talk about this game.
Speaker 1: And not talk about how mostly throughout it felt like
Speaker 1: New York was getting away with being more physical, but
Speaker 1: especially down the stretch. Stewie made it from the three
Speaker 1: point line to the free throw line without a single
Speaker 1: dribble and then did not get fouled, and somehow there
Speaker 1: was no travel call and there was a fowel call.
Speaker 2: Now it made for a better finish.
Speaker 1: No one wanted the game to end with a travel
Speaker 1: or we were sending the followl call give the ball.
Speaker 1: You know that's not as fun. But man, we watched
Speaker 1: that replan every time. I was like, we're calling this,
Speaker 1: and then you didn't call any of the other stuff,
Speaker 1: and you didn't call the travel, which was like a
Speaker 1: five starter step if I were a Links fan.
Speaker 4: Ooh mm hmm.
Speaker 3: She traveled from from Barclays to her hometown in Syracuse
Speaker 3: and back before she before she put that ball on
Speaker 3: the floor. I have to say it, it is true,
Speaker 3: but what I think happened there, and I'm glad actually
Speaker 3: that it happened, because it wasn't just that call, but
Speaker 3: a couple of calls down the stretch where I felt
Speaker 3: like the referee team decided, we are not gonna be
Speaker 3: the the topic of this game. We're not gonna be
Speaker 3: the center of attention. We're not going to, like you said,
Speaker 3: rescind a call.
Speaker 2: How's that working out for him?
Speaker 1: Wow?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Cheryl Reeve has some thoughts on that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Cheryl Reeve's gonna be like I should have been
Speaker 1: the one putting the bug in their ear after the
Speaker 1: last because Sir felt like Sandy Brondello gave him a
Speaker 1: talking to and then things went their way.
Speaker 2: It did, I will say that it was looking real lopsided.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now, I'll say this much in the overtime the links.
Speaker 1: You know, I love Courtney Williams. I love that she
Speaker 1: was feeling like she was going to get the job done.
Speaker 1: But fobitch hits the three immediately, and then three misses
Speaker 1: for court There's a lazy turnover for McBride that leads
Speaker 1: to that Tobbaly breakaway. Now they're up five, and then
Speaker 1: it was pretty much sixty five sixty for almost the
Speaker 1: whole lot After that, people were not finding their way
Speaker 1: to scoring. But I don't know about the common foul. Again,
Speaker 1: a tough call, a tight call. I'm not saying it's wrong.
Speaker 1: I think the calls on Brienna were wrong. I think
Speaker 1: this was not a wrong call, but another tight call
Speaker 1: that does.
Speaker 2: Not go their way safe.
Speaker 1: Then fee gets frustrated on the lob pass turnover that
Speaker 1: she felt she was getting pushed on. Sure looked like
Speaker 1: there was a lot of contact there on her trying
Speaker 1: to establish position. Now you've got spike on his knees
Speaker 1: as we're coming down the stretch here, Basically he's all
Speaker 1: of us. We're puking, we're peeing our pants, we're crying,
Speaker 1: we're doing everything. He always has to make it about him,
Speaker 1: and in this case it's funny to me, So I'm
Speaker 1: okay with it.
Speaker 2: My knees would have been hurting on that hard withek.
Speaker 2: I know, right, yeah, right, I agree. Impressive. I guess
Speaker 2: at his age to still be able to do that.
Speaker 1: But then you've got a couple moments where you do
Speaker 1: see that Sable's age and inexperience comes into play. She
Speaker 1: gets a couple of fowls into pretty important moments. There's
Speaker 1: the fowl after that McBride steel, but then the charge
Speaker 1: where Carlton's got five fouls and boldly takes that charge
Speaker 1: and they make.
Speaker 2: The right call.
Speaker 1: But then she comes right back and soably gets the
Speaker 1: block on Fee the very next play to make up
Speaker 1: for that, like this back and forth, and then good
Speaker 1: lord if sabrina Inescu doesn't take two more shots to
Speaker 1: get from one for seventeen to one for eighteen, and
Speaker 1: then one for nineteen.
Speaker 2: And then the final shot. There's a couple things.
Speaker 1: For one Carlton misses before you even get to the
Speaker 1: McBride one with fourteen seconds to play. And I watched
Speaker 1: that replay multiple times and I said, good person, good shot,
Speaker 1: good look. And yet you're coming out of a timeout
Speaker 1: with that, and not a single person crashed the boards.
Speaker 2: They all watched the shot, and there was a chance.
Speaker 2: You had fourteen seconds on the clock.
Speaker 1: There's a chance for you to get the ball, set
Speaker 1: it up, get another shot, and instead Nafisa ends up
Speaker 1: fouling out.
Speaker 2: You know it. Just that kind of stuff is what
Speaker 2: kills you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that made me mad too, Like Alex when you
Speaker 3: see your star player running to foul, you still got
Speaker 3: twelve however many seconds were left.
Speaker 2: You see feet, she's got five fouls running to go foul.
Speaker 2: You say, feet, get your work. Somebody else, somebody else.
Speaker 3: And then on the not crashing the glass part, that
Speaker 3: again is what fatigue.
Speaker 2: It's fatigue and it's looking up.
Speaker 1: Please hit this, please shot And then you know McBride's shot.
Speaker 2: There was more time left, you know that for that attempt.
Speaker 2: I thought that was in regulation. It was a good look.
Speaker 1: She just she had more time, and then we didn't
Speaker 1: talk about this. This is the end of regulation. When McBride
Speaker 1: had a couple more seconds, it could have set it up,
Speaker 1: a good look at it, and then New York could
Speaker 1: have called time.
Speaker 2: You didn't.
Speaker 1: So there's just the stakes in this game that are
Speaker 1: just I think tired getting lost in the moment. Listen,
Speaker 1: we have to talk about those calls, but the focus
Speaker 1: needs to be on You won a title with two
Speaker 1: of your best players poop in the bed. You won
Speaker 1: a title with bench players stepping up in a moment
Speaker 1: that they had absolutely no right to be so certain
Speaker 1: and confident and secure during, and you won your first
Speaker 1: title in history in front of an insane crowd. You
Speaker 1: saw uswin Ca and T Spoon and T Spoon and
Speaker 1: Angel Reese. We saw one of our bosses, Laura Corenti,
Speaker 1: who were definitely gonna mention as the founder and creator
Speaker 1: of Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment, the mastermind behind the
Speaker 1: Iheartwomen's Sports audio network because we know where our cash,
Speaker 1: our checks are cashed, and who invented this whole thing.
Speaker 1: Saw her court side next to Angel, Sue Bird, Megan Arpino.
Speaker 2: They did the double double. They went to go see Kelly.
Speaker 1: O'Hara in her final game being honored at Gotham and
Speaker 1: then hustle the crosstown to get over there.
Speaker 2: Spike Lee, Jason Sadeikis.
Speaker 1: You know all the regulars, Robin Roberts in the house,
Speaker 1: common Jay Hudd, you know, the stars were out on
Speaker 1: so Liberty Row.
Speaker 2: And I'm excited for them.
Speaker 1: I'm excited for I hope will be a parade, will
Speaker 1: be what I hope will be some cool you know, press.
Speaker 1: I want to see these players on all the late
Speaker 1: night shows. I want to see them get the full
Speaker 1: car wash as we call it in the business, going
Speaker 1: to do all the different shows and interviews.
Speaker 2: Misha, Who's going to be the star in.
Speaker 1: Your opinion of the partying slash victory tour footage that
Speaker 1: we're gonna get from this team.
Speaker 2: The star? That's a tough question.
Speaker 1: I mean we remember, like US women's national team had
Speaker 1: some breakout stars that were the ones. We're like, this
Speaker 1: is who we know, we need to follow their insta live,
Speaker 1: this is who's dancing on top of the bar and
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know, I don't know who.
Speaker 3: They've got a lot of cool characters on this team.
Speaker 3: What I mean by that is like, even Q, I'm
Speaker 3: not you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So, I think we're gonna get a little bit of
Speaker 2: that Jackie.
Speaker 3: Young esque kind of vibe where she doesn't usually say
Speaker 3: too much, but now she's running her mouth because she
Speaker 3: just won a championship. I think we're gonna get that
Speaker 3: from JJ Stewie. Obviously Sab is probably the one who
Speaker 3: already does kind of do a little bit of yapping.
Speaker 3: But yeah, i'd say I'd say JJ and Stewie are
Speaker 3: are talking reckless for the next for the next until
Speaker 3: an unrivaled starts in the lock back in.
Speaker 1: Alex Who you got being the breakout star of the
Speaker 1: of the media coverage?
Speaker 4: Well, okay, first I want to say this, I want
Speaker 4: John Quell Jones to get all of her flowers because
Speaker 4: we have seen far too many times in the history
Speaker 4: of this league that black players, that gay players, and
Speaker 4: players that are more masculine presenting don't get the love,
Speaker 4: the respect, the pr that they deserve. And I want
Speaker 4: to make sure she gets all of her flowers during
Speaker 4: this title celebration. I also, you know, it's interesting when
Speaker 4: when people have conversations about like the Links would have
Speaker 4: become the first WNBA team to win five titles. The
Speaker 4: Liberty one there first as a franchise, because there's also
Speaker 4: such a difference between a player winning her first title
Speaker 4: or their first title in a franchise.
Speaker 2: Winning their first title, and.
Speaker 4: So so even though the Links as a franchise were
Speaker 4: going for their fifth title, only two players on that
Speaker 4: team had previously won a title. Same is actually true
Speaker 4: on the Liberty in terms of Courtney Vanderslut winning with
Speaker 4: the Sky before stewing with Seattle twice. And so for
Speaker 4: ten of these players, this is their first title, and
Speaker 4: so I really hope that they're enjoying it too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, the one thing I will say
Speaker 1: is that you're right. It's an even split for both
Speaker 1: teams in terms of the players currently on the team
Speaker 1: getting their first But this was a win for every
Speaker 1: player in Liberty history.
Speaker 2: You want to be a part of.
Speaker 1: The dynastic group that people think of with the Links.
Speaker 1: If you're on the current team, you want to you
Speaker 1: want to try to catch up to some of those players,
Speaker 1: the Maya Moors and you know, Lindsay Whalin's that have
Speaker 1: won all these titles.
Speaker 2: But if you're a Liberty player, you feel like you were.
Speaker 1: Carrying t Spoon and Rebecca Lobo and all these players
Speaker 1: from the past on your back. And I have to
Speaker 1: say I got to give props to Lobo for keeping
Speaker 1: it pretty chill on the broadcast, because you know, she
Speaker 1: was probably thinking.
Speaker 2: To herself, we know we did it.
Speaker 1: We did it, And I look forward to seeing some
Speaker 1: of that celebration too. When you do get the monkey
Speaker 1: off the back of a team twenty eight years in,
Speaker 1: you get to be the ones that hold it up
Speaker 1: for all the people that came before you, and that's
Speaker 1: pretty cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean Rebecca, Yeah, she.
Speaker 3: I would have been in tears had I been calling
Speaker 3: that game, and had I lived the life that Rebecca
Speaker 3: Lobo has lived, I would have been crying my eyes out.
Speaker 3: Talk about somebody who was expected to be the person
Speaker 3: to do this first right, the kind of pressure that
Speaker 3: she felt. I don't know if y'all have seen the
Speaker 3: doc about her playing for tar Vanderveer on Team USA
Speaker 3: and all that that stuff that she had to do,
Speaker 3: Like Rebecca Lobo went through the mud as a member
Speaker 3: of the Liberty and her public facing basketball career and
Speaker 3: then to be on the broadcast for a moment like this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really cool, so cool. Oh my gosh, there's
Speaker 1: so much to say about the same. Okay, we got
Speaker 1: to take one more quick break when we come back.
Speaker 1: More on the New York Liberty winning their first ever title,
Speaker 1: Enfranchise History.
Speaker 2: Come on back, okay, Welcome back, slices, Sarah.
Speaker 4: I really want to talk about the spiciest moment of
Speaker 4: the game. I think, wasn't it?
Speaker 2: Oh, do tell?
Speaker 4: Right before the foul got called on, Brienna Stewart, sand
Speaker 4: Brondello in the huddle was telling the players, if they foul,
Speaker 4: you embella shit and then the audio got cut off.
Speaker 4: Did y'all hear that?
Speaker 3: Actually I did hear the audio in the time out
Speaker 3: get cut. I thought it was because I was half
Speaker 3: listening because I was doing I figured there was a swear. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I thought it was either a swear or she was
Speaker 3: talking X and o's like, because I don't know what
Speaker 3: the deal is.
Speaker 2: I've never been on a live broadcast like that.
Speaker 3: But I don't know if when they get too deep
Speaker 3: into their playbook, if there's a out point, like all right,
Speaker 3: we don't want to give away industry secrets.
Speaker 4: I felt like they were giving away industry secrets before
Speaker 4: she told them to embellish.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, period.
Speaker 1: I ain't peeped that, but you at leave it to
Speaker 1: Alex to always catch the most minute details, the spiciest
Speaker 1: minute details.
Speaker 2: I know you do love gossip.
Speaker 1: Speaking of gossip, we are going to have so much
Speaker 1: more gossip about this game and this series, and frankly,
Speaker 1: this entire WNBA season. It has been a sprint down
Speaker 1: the stretcher with so much to get to that we
Speaker 1: will want to look back on the entire season and again,
Speaker 1: what a fitting and beautiful ending for the best WNBA
Speaker 1: season to date. We'll have hopefully some guests to talk
Speaker 1: about this big win and also just to look back
Speaker 1: on the season. We're not done with the dub just yet.
Speaker 1: Lots more to get to this week and moving forward,
Speaker 1: But for tonight, it's late. We're tired, and I frankly
Speaker 1: want to go watch some more pressers and celebrations because
Speaker 1: I love watching happy people be happy.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: Good game, Misha, good game, Alex, good game, Liberty, fuck you.
Speaker 1: This series is over, which means this season is over.
Speaker 1: Good game with Sarah's Yane is an iHeart Women's Sports
Speaker 1: production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
Speaker 1: can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
Speaker 1: our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive
Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and
Speaker 1: Lindsay Cradowell. Production assistants from Lucy Jones and I'm Your
Speaker 1: Host Sarah Spain