Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're wishing
Speaker 1: all the college basketball teams a happy first week of practice,
Speaker 1: made the preseason be injury free, and the regular season
Speaker 1: for that matter, and the postseason and the rest of
Speaker 1: your lives. Please every Wednesday healthy. We're super croup for
Speaker 1: this season. On today's JOWE, we'll be talking all things
Speaker 1: aces with Las Vegas Review Journal reporter Callie laws and
Speaker 1: Freeman or should we say Callie Finn Get used to it.
Speaker 2: Our girl just got married.
Speaker 1: Plus we get you caught up on WNBA playoff action
Speaker 1: and give you the wise words of one Twitter user
Speaker 1: that we all need to keep close to our hearts
Speaker 1: as this playoff season continues. It's all coming up right
Speaker 1: after this. Welcome back, my Orange slices.
Speaker 2: Here's what you need to know today.
Speaker 1: WNBA Playoffs two games on Tuesday night, and both top
Speaker 1: seeds finished off the sweeps in their first round matchups.
Speaker 1: In the early game, Sabrina and escued tide of franchise
Speaker 1: playoff record with thirty six points and high five Spike
Speaker 1: Lee to help the New York Liberty beat the Atlanta
Speaker 1: Dream ninety one eighty two in advance to the semi finals.
Speaker 1: John qwell Jones added twenty points and thirteen rebounds for
Speaker 1: her nineteenth career playoff double double and one hundred and
Speaker 1: ninth double double of any kind in her career. The
Speaker 1: Dream fought hard to try to extend the series. They
Speaker 1: started off leading twenty eight nineteen, led by eleven in
Speaker 1: the second, and hung on to keep it within a
Speaker 1: point heading into the fourth quarter, but despite twenty six
Speaker 1: points from Alisha Gray and nineteen from Ryan Howard, Atlanta
Speaker 1: just couldn't keep pace with the top seeded Liberty New
Speaker 1: York will go on to face the Las Vegas Aces
Speaker 1: in the semi finals. Asia Wilson and Company defeating the
Speaker 1: Seattle Storm eighty three seventy six in front of baby
Speaker 1: horse Alex Morgan courtside in Vegas. After a tough shooting
Speaker 1: night in Game one, Kelsey Plumb showed out twenty nine
Speaker 1: points in the win. MVP Asia Wilson add in twenty
Speaker 1: four points and thirteen rebounds, and they got twelve points
Speaker 1: nine assist from Chelsea Gray to hold off a Seattle
Speaker 1: team that would not quit. Four of five starters and
Speaker 1: double digits for the Storm, and they fought but couldn't
Speaker 1: finish and force a Game three. Watching how Gabby Williams
Speaker 1: played since being added to that team, man, sure makes
Speaker 1: you wonder what that team could have done if they
Speaker 1: had her all season.
Speaker 2: And we've got some more Game two action.
Speaker 1: Tonight, the Connecticut Sun hosts the Indiana Fever at seven
Speaker 1: thirty Eastern with an opportunity to close out that series.
Speaker 1: Can the Sun force Caitlin Clark and her teammates into
Speaker 1: another bad shooting night like Game one, or will a
Speaker 1: young Fever team come out more poised in Game two?
Speaker 1: Second game Phoenix Mercury looking to win on the road
Speaker 1: and force a Game three with the Minnesota Lynx. That
Speaker 1: game tip's at nine to thirty Eastern. The whole If
Speaker 1: This Is It watch continues because tonight could be the
Speaker 1: end of Dinah Trossi's career If they lose. Will Britney Griner,
Speaker 1: Kalia Copper and the White Momba herself show out and
Speaker 1: make sure DT at least plays at home one last time?
Speaker 2: Find out should be a good one.
Speaker 1: By the way, on Monday and Tuesday on Twitter, I
Speaker 1: asked you all to make your predictions for the first round,
Speaker 1: and as we're starting to see them come to a close.
Speaker 2: Here's how the vote shook out.
Speaker 1: Eighty three point four percent of voters have the Aces
Speaker 1: beating the storm, fifty three point eight have the Sun
Speaker 1: beating the fever, eighty point eight percent see the links
Speaker 1: top in the Mercury, and ninety three point seven percent
Speaker 1: of voters had the Liberty defeating the Dream in the NWSL.
Speaker 1: It's some exciting news for the league's newest club, BAYFC.
Speaker 1: They've signed a letter of intent to build an eight
Speaker 1: and a half acre training facility on Treasure Island, a
Speaker 1: move that will bolster the island's longtime role as a
Speaker 1: sports and.
Speaker 2: Recreation hub in the area. Fun fact, I went to
Speaker 2: a wedding there once.
Speaker 1: The training facility deal was announced during a news conference
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, and will include a twenty thousand square foot
Speaker 1: clubhouse and three practice fields. The club intends to break
Speaker 1: round on the facility in twenty twenty five and begin
Speaker 1: using it in twenty twenty seven. The franchise is also
Speaker 1: considering possible sites for a stadium in the future. Home
Speaker 1: games are currently played at PayPal Park. That's the same
Speaker 1: venue used by Major League Soccer as San Jose Earthquakes. Also,
Speaker 1: after we finished recording. On Monday night, the Portland Thorns
Speaker 1: earned a two to two draw with Angel City that
Speaker 1: snapped a four game losing streak for Portland. The draw
Speaker 1: keeps them in seventh place. They're three points ahead of
Speaker 1: eighth place race Louisville, while Angel City is in tenth,
Speaker 1: three points behind Louisville and BAFC, both teams still in
Speaker 1: the playoff hunt with five weeks to go. College basketball
Speaker 1: Southern Cal just landed another top recruit on Tuesday. Five
Speaker 1: star hooper Jazzy Davidson, the number three player in the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five class according to the ESPN Hoop Girls Rankings,
Speaker 1: committed to play for the USC Trojans next year. Davidson,
Speaker 1: a six foot two guard out of Klacamis, Oregon, will
Speaker 1: join All American star Juju Watkins at USC.
Speaker 2: Jazzy and Juju print the shirts now please.
Speaker 1: Davidson already has a stacked resumes, who most recently won
Speaker 1: gold in the Phoeba three x three U eighteen World
Speaker 1: Cup and in the Phoeba U eighteen AMERICAUP with Team USA.
Speaker 1: Speaking of those Trojans, that young squad fought mightily last season,
Speaker 1: reaching in number three, ranking their highest since nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 1: and posting a twenty nine and six overall record us
Speaker 1: He made it all the way to the Elite eight
Speaker 1: before losing to Yukon. We'll certainly be keeping an eye
Speaker 1: on them this season. That rivalry with UCLA is going
Speaker 1: to be so much fun this season. College volleyball at
Speaker 1: packs late of games tonight, including the number one ranked
Speaker 1: perfect Pittsburgh Panthers putting their nine oh to O record
Speaker 1: on the line against UMBC at five eastern. There are
Speaker 1: five games across ESPN platforms tonight that you can watch,
Speaker 1: including the number nine Kansas Jayhawks taken on UCF at
Speaker 1: seven eastern on ESPNU. We'll link to the full ESPN
Speaker 1: schedule in our notes. By the way, Sunday's Nebraska Louisville
Speaker 1: matchup on ABC did numbers, becoming the most watched regular
Speaker 1: season volleyball match on all ESPN platforms and the second
Speaker 1: most watched regular season volleyball game on any network, with
Speaker 1: six hundred and eighty four thousand viewers, peaking with eight
Speaker 1: hundred eight thousand. Tennis, the China Open Gets started today
Speaker 1: at the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center. The same venue
Speaker 1: that was used at the two thousand and eight Olympic Games.
Speaker 1: The top names on the WTA Tour are competing in
Speaker 1: the tournament, including Americans Jessica Pagoula, Coco Goff, and Emma Navarro.
Speaker 1: Poland's egas Fontec took home the trophy in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: defeating Ludmila Samsonova.
Speaker 2: In straight sets.
Speaker 1: QUI out to friend of the show Lindsay dark Angelo,
Speaker 1: who you heard here talking about her women's football book,
Speaker 1: Hail Mary Well. She also does a great job of
Speaker 1: covering women's hoops for awful announcing, and our interview with
Speaker 1: Cheryl Reeve inspired her to write a column this week.
Speaker 1: Now you remember the Minnesota Link's head coach came on here,
Speaker 1: talked about trying to preserve the WNBA space as one
Speaker 1: that's inclusive, welcoming and empowering for people no matter their gender,
Speaker 1: sexuality identity.
Speaker 2: And as a gay sports writer.
Speaker 1: Who is masculine leaning, Lindsay really felt that she echoed
Speaker 1: Reeve in her column, writing quote, I've often felt out
Speaker 1: of place when covering men's sports and or interviewing male athletes.
Speaker 1: I always had the sense that I didn't fit some
Speaker 1: particular mold of how a female sports reporter should be
Speaker 1: and look. More often than not, I felt awkward, self
Speaker 1: conscious and out of place. But when I ventured into
Speaker 1: the women's sports space, particularly the WNBA, I never.
Speaker 2: Felt more at home. End quote.
Speaker 1: What Lindsay wrote after that about how the league and
Speaker 1: the w space will respond to increasingly toxic rhetoric and
Speaker 1: a changing vibe really stood out to me.
Speaker 2: I totally agree. She wrote, quote the eyes, the rise in.
Speaker 1: Viewership, the increased attention, the additional coverage across mainstream media,
Speaker 1: the heightened conversation. It's all been amazing. It's what the
Speaker 1: WNBA community, WNBA media, players, and the league have wanted
Speaker 1: and hoped for. The troubling part is that we're now
Speaker 1: expected to be okay with and accept the influx of
Speaker 1: toxicity that has come along with it. I know growing
Speaker 1: pains are a thing, but this isn't a pain. That's
Speaker 1: a natural part of the growing process. The WNBA is
Speaker 1: one of the most, if not the most, progressive major
Speaker 1: sports league in history. It raised the bar when it
Speaker 1: came to diversity and acceptance. It changed and evolved over
Speaker 1: time because the players use their platforms and autonomy to
Speaker 1: demand better. Now it's supposed to lower the bar just
Speaker 1: because it's more popular. New fans, media, personalities, and voices
Speaker 1: to the space should instead rise to the occasion and
Speaker 1: meet the standards of where the bar is at. Taking
Speaker 1: steps backward just because that's been the status quo in
Speaker 1: men's leagues isn't how the WNBA operates. It shouldn't be
Speaker 1: how any women's sports league operates.
Speaker 2: End quote. Couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1: Lindsay Well said, terrible people will exist in every space
Speaker 1: in life, on social and sports. Fans are notoriously the world,
Speaker 1: but we can't just accept it, whether from fans, media,
Speaker 1: or players. Simply shrugging our shoulders, or even worse, lowering
Speaker 1: ourselves to contribute to it cannot be the answer. If
Speaker 1: you want to read the full story, we put a
Speaker 1: link to it in our show notes. We got to
Speaker 1: take a quick break when we come back. Cali laws
Speaker 1: In Freeman Finn is our ace in the hole stick around.
Speaker 1: She's a Las Vegas ass and UNLV sports reporter for
Speaker 1: the Las Vegas Review Journal, with previous stops at Yahoo Sports, ESPN,
Speaker 1: Front Office Sports, and The Sacramento Observer. She was a
Speaker 1: college track athlete at uc Riverside and San Francisco State,
Speaker 1: and she's.
Speaker 2: A newlywed, like new new It's Cali laws and Freeman.
Speaker 2: What's up CALLI.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, that was such a great intro. I
Speaker 3: didn't know that you would have all that info, but
Speaker 3: thank you so much.
Speaker 2: You know I went dig in. You know you already
Speaker 2: have three names? Do we have a fourth?
Speaker 3: Now? Are we sticking with these three? No, it'll be changed.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna take kids so professionally, I'll have a shorter
Speaker 3: last name soon It'll just be Cali Finn fi nd,
Speaker 3: which is easier. The hyphen was from both of my parents, so.
Speaker 2: Perfect fi and in French. Perfect.
Speaker 1: You literally got buried last weekend, so we got to
Speaker 1: start there first. Give us the one minute wedding recap.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, it was amazing. We so his grandmother
Speaker 3: has an apple orchard in New Mexico, so we got
Speaker 3: married there. It was a very like intimate family affair
Speaker 3: and it was so fun. Our DJ went hard, We
Speaker 3: had a photo booth. It was just a really fun time.
Speaker 3: It felt like a big party after the serious romantic
Speaker 3: stuff was over.
Speaker 2: That sounds amazing, so fun.
Speaker 1: It's right in the middle of your beat, though, I mean,
Speaker 1: this is your first year on the Aces beat. The
Speaker 1: playoffs get going and you're like, let me just sneak
Speaker 1: away real quick to get married and then come back.
Speaker 1: Which I love that you pulled it off because now
Speaker 1: you're back already working. I'm hoping for a nice long
Speaker 1: honeymoon once you know you get a break.
Speaker 2: But let's talk about the Aces.
Speaker 1: Two time defending WNBA champs got off to a rough
Speaker 1: star this season, but they've got the talent, They've got
Speaker 1: the experience to go the distance. We are talking to
Speaker 1: each other just before Game two between the Aces and
Speaker 1: the Storm, so folks hearing this will either be processing
Speaker 1: a Vegas sweep or readying themselves for a Game three
Speaker 1: on Thursday. So let's back up a little and do
Speaker 1: big picture what you saw from the Aces in the
Speaker 1: regular season. What went right for this team when they
Speaker 1: won and what went wrong when they lost?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think what went wrong when they
Speaker 3: lost is the easier question to answer because it was
Speaker 3: so obvious their defense was really struggling, and so that
Speaker 3: was clear. It didn't seem like they were on the
Speaker 3: same page defensively, even sometimes offensively. Becky Hammond would sometimes
Speaker 3: say that the Aces were struggling from kind of like
Speaker 3: a main character complex, like everybody on the team was
Speaker 3: wanting to have their moment and that was really making
Speaker 3: the offense disjointed. And obviously they've kind of moved past that,
Speaker 3: like they have really gotten to the point where running
Speaker 3: through Asia is what's working and makes sense, and you're
Speaker 3: not seeing a lot of a lot of you know,
Speaker 3: differing from that. But then you're also seeing you know,
Speaker 3: Chelsea Gray looking like the point god that we know
Speaker 3: and love. We're getting you know, sparks off the bench
Speaker 3: from Tiffany Hayes. We're seeing Jackie Young looking more like herself.
Speaker 3: So I think, I mean, yeah, when things were going wrong,
Speaker 3: it was definitely the defense and just kind of miscommunications
Speaker 3: and lack of trust and things like that on both
Speaker 3: sides of the ball. And I think when things are
Speaker 3: going right, it's the opposite of that, like everything you
Speaker 3: know is firing on all cylinders. And I think that's
Speaker 3: what you're starting to see, Like they they're clicking. They
Speaker 3: just held the Storm to two points in the fourth
Speaker 3: quarter like that, and some of that obviously is on
Speaker 3: the Storm, right, but you kind of want to give
Speaker 3: the ACYSM credit for their improved defense at this point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think you know, obviously, Chelsea Gray was
Speaker 1: out with injury for a while. Her return was a
Speaker 1: huge boost for the team, and then she needed some
Speaker 1: time to catch back up. But it was one of
Speaker 1: those situations where Asia Wilson was having insane season, but
Speaker 1: the numbers were down for great Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum
Speaker 1: from last year. And I don't know if that's the
Speaker 1: inevitable result of a player like Asia being as dominant
Speaker 1: as she's been and just everyone getting the ball a
Speaker 1: little less, getting fewer looks, or if Asia's compensating for
Speaker 1: those players not having as great as a start.
Speaker 2: Can you tell if one caused the other.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great point. Like,
Speaker 3: I don't know correlation causation, but I do think. I mean,
Speaker 3: even Becky has said herself, like she said last year
Speaker 3: that if she utilized Asia more in fourth quarters, that
Speaker 3: Asia would have been, you know, the unanimous MVP. There
Speaker 3: would have been no way to kind of discount the
Speaker 3: season that Asia had last season. So this year, obviously
Speaker 3: the Aces weren't performing on the same level. Like you said,
Speaker 3: the numbers were down kind of from the core four
Speaker 3: and even the bench early in the season, and so
Speaker 3: then it was on Asia to really carry the team.
Speaker 3: And that's not my words. I've heard Becky say that,
Speaker 3: I've heard other players say that Asia really put the
Speaker 3: team on her back, and so I mean you could
Speaker 3: say that that's because of the way that the season
Speaker 3: has gone. I mean, I think a lot of that
Speaker 3: has to do with like Chelsea Gray's early the absence
Speaker 3: that put Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum out of position. Early,
Speaker 3: Like Jackie Young was finding herself facilitating the offense, which
Speaker 3: was a position she wasn't super comfortable with, but Chelsea
Speaker 3: Gray was gone, so that's what she had to do,
Speaker 3: and that kind of shifted things for the whole teams.
Speaker 3: Like if you have one player playing out a position,
Speaker 3: then everybody has to adjust. And so Asia was really
Speaker 3: carrying the brunt of that weight.
Speaker 2: She's been otherworldly.
Speaker 1: We know, getting her the ball is always the move,
Speaker 1: but you got to have those other folks who step
Speaker 1: up as the season has gone on and as they've
Speaker 1: entered this postseason, who is that person that you know
Speaker 1: will step up if Asia is having an off day
Speaker 1: or if AG's on the bench, who's the go to?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love this question. I think that's what makes
Speaker 3: the Aces so dangerous is because you don't really know
Speaker 3: the answer to that any given game, Like they're obviously
Speaker 3: you know what the options are. You have the core four,
Speaker 3: which is outside of Asia, you have you know, Chelsea Gray,
Speaker 3: you have Jackie Young, you have Kelsey Plum like, you
Speaker 3: have these incredibly talented players, and then you have somebody
Speaker 3: like Tiffany Hayes coming off the bench and it's not
Speaker 3: just her, like, they have a pretty significant bench. We
Speaker 3: could even start talking about Cydny Golesen and things like
Speaker 3: that and kind of the options that they have. But
Speaker 3: I think, I mean, Becky Hammond has said this, it's
Speaker 3: kind of a pick your poison thing, and you see
Speaker 3: this a lot when defenses really concentrate on Asia, they
Speaker 3: double triple team her and they focus all of their
Speaker 3: defensive attention on her. That puts somebody like a Kelsey
Speaker 3: Plumber Jackie Young open and that's how you know, we
Speaker 3: have had thirty four thirty two point games from from
Speaker 3: from KP and Jackie this season because of situations like that,
Speaker 3: where you know, you try to take Asia out of
Speaker 3: the equation. But you gotta that means that you got
Speaker 3: to leave somebody else open, and they have plenty of
Speaker 3: options offensively.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they sure do.
Speaker 1: You know you you mentioned Tiffany Hayes after she went
Speaker 1: off in Game one, Becky Hammond talked about getting to
Speaker 1: snag her out of retirement. How important has she been
Speaker 1: to this team this season and how important is it
Speaker 1: to have a player that hasn't been on the team
Speaker 1: for the previous two titles, because that's a big thing,
Speaker 1: is finding motivation, finding drive when you've just come off
Speaker 1: back to back wins. And I think Tip brings that
Speaker 1: coming from a team like the Sun that haven't won.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, yeah, you're right. Tip has a level
Speaker 3: of hunger that is just unreal for someone who you know,
Speaker 3: seemed I mean, who was retired, who you would think
Speaker 3: was ready to be done with the game. But she's
Speaker 3: so aggressive. She sacrifices her body on so many different plays,
Speaker 3: like and it's just incredible to see. Becky was telling
Speaker 3: me recently that sometimes she just watches Tiffany Hayes highlights
Speaker 3: because they're so aesthetically pleasing, and I think that that
Speaker 3: makes total sense. It's like the energy that she plays with.
Speaker 3: I think sometimes like if you just look at the
Speaker 3: games where Tiffany Hayes excels, it's also games where Asia
Speaker 3: is playing really well, and so they work as like
Speaker 3: this really impressive tandem with like Tip off the bench
Speaker 3: and then Asia kind of I don't know, it seems
Speaker 3: like they kind of build on each other's energy, and
Speaker 3: so it's really important. I think that, like you said,
Speaker 3: I think you don't amount of retirement for no reason,
Speaker 3: like she wants a ring and she has the hunger
Speaker 3: that the Aces were kind of missing. Like you heard
Speaker 3: Becky Hammond say during that rough you know, six and
Speaker 3: six start without Chelsea Gray, that she didn't like the
Speaker 3: Aces energy from day one. She didn't like their deepense,
Speaker 3: and she didn't like their vibes. And it's crazy to
Speaker 3: hear a Hall of Famer like her use the word
Speaker 3: vibes to describe kind of how she's taking the team's temperature.
Speaker 3: But I mean, she was pretty clear about that she
Speaker 3: didn't like it. She didn't.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's just.
Speaker 3: Exactly Sometimes it really is just vibes. And so it's
Speaker 3: so funny that you know, Tip has that like she
Speaker 3: has that hunger. It's innate for her and not to
Speaker 3: say that, you know, the Aces don't have it now,
Speaker 3: but there definitely was a point starting where it just
Speaker 3: wasn't there, and so she always brings it every single night.
Speaker 1: You mentioned sid Colson, great basketball player, somehow an even
Speaker 1: better comedian just not only there for the lightness and
Speaker 1: the vibes that we mentioned, also obviously brings a ton
Speaker 1: of energy and skins on the court.
Speaker 2: But how do you.
Speaker 1: Really just evaluate or sum up what she brings to
Speaker 1: a team because of what she brings with her personality
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think that, like you said, the
Speaker 3: comedy is I think hard for some people to overlook
Speaker 3: because they're just like, wow, she just must be, you know,
Speaker 3: a joker through and through, but she's really not. I've
Speaker 3: seen sid very serious, like I think a lot of
Speaker 3: people probably saw. When Asia accepted her MVP award or
Speaker 3: when she was informed of it privately, she read these
Speaker 3: letters that she wrote to each player on the team,
Speaker 3: and Sidney Colson's letter she said that Sidney taught her
Speaker 3: how to be a leader. And I can totally see
Speaker 3: that because I've seen Sidney, like she has this switch
Speaker 3: that she can flip where it's very funny, it's very playful,
Speaker 3: and then the next thing, you know, she's being very
Speaker 3: serious and you know that you need to like really
Speaker 3: listen to what she's saying. And so I think that
Speaker 3: that's a big part of it. It's like she has
Speaker 3: a personality that is so magnetic and like, yes, so fun,
Speaker 3: but she also is is crucial to like the culture
Speaker 3: of the team, and so I think you pair that
Speaker 3: with the way that she is absolutely fearless on the court.
Speaker 3: I mean you look at she's not a tall player,
Speaker 3: but she plays like she's giant. Like she gets in
Speaker 3: the game and these for a lot of times fourth
Speaker 3: quarter situations, they'll kind of utilize her as like a
Speaker 3: closer of sorts, and then she'll bring the defensive spark.
Speaker 3: She's getting steels, she's going up for layups. Sometimes she's
Speaker 3: smoking the layups, but it doesn't matter because she just
Speaker 3: like does not get nervous. And that's something that I
Speaker 3: think is huge for the aces because when you're not scared,
Speaker 3: there are a lot of things that you can that
Speaker 3: you can do that that others can't. You know, like
Speaker 3: she'll go for behind the back pass and the WBA Finals,
Speaker 3: like it's literally that's crazy. That's a crazy thing to do,
Speaker 3: and it's something that only Sidney Colson would do. But
Speaker 3: I think it really matters for the team, Like she's
Speaker 3: just such a spark for them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think what you're describing to is sort of
Speaker 1: like flow state where you let your body and your
Speaker 1: reps take over instead of being in your head. And
Speaker 1: that comes from a real place of confidence. And that's
Speaker 1: tough to have when you're tight, because you're stressed about
Speaker 1: trying to repeat or whether your team has been playing
Speaker 1: up to up to expectation. And I think sid has
Speaker 1: been able to show the other players how to do
Speaker 1: that and how to stay in that state of like
Speaker 1: just playing ball. Another person I think that's had a
Speaker 1: really interesting impact on this team is Kate Martin. She's
Speaker 1: got real Golden Retriever energy, which is one of my
Speaker 1: favorite sayings these days because some people just have it,
Speaker 1: and she's such a team and fan fave. She's gotten
Speaker 1: a lot of minutes that Kirsten Bell got last season.
Speaker 1: Bell has had those ankle and achilles injuries, and Kate
Speaker 1: Martin is just like I think also besides the minutes
Speaker 1: that she's gotten, we've seen so many clips of the
Speaker 1: team interacting with her in free time.
Speaker 2: What is it about her? Why does everyone love Kate
Speaker 2: Martin so much?
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness. I mean, I've heard so many different
Speaker 3: rating reviews about Kate, and I think the main thing
Speaker 3: is that they love who she is as a person,
Speaker 3: Like they feel like she's a kind, genuine competitor and
Speaker 3: who wants to learn and grow, and so I think
Speaker 3: that's one thing. But they also really admire the way
Speaker 3: that she knows how to play with superstars, Like she
Speaker 3: played with Caitlin Clark at Iowa.
Speaker 2: That's no easy feed.
Speaker 3: That means that every single game they played was prime viewing.
Speaker 3: There was a lot of pressure on her. But also
Speaker 3: like it's a skill in itself to play with a superstar,
Speaker 3: you know, you have to kind of approach the game
Speaker 3: differently knowing that, and that's something that everybody on the
Speaker 3: ACES needs to know how to do because they're playing
Speaker 3: with Asia Wilson, who is a legend in the making,
Speaker 3: a legend now already with her third MVP a unanimous
Speaker 3: one at that, and so you kind of hear about
Speaker 3: the intricacies of that. Even like Telsea Gray and I
Speaker 3: talked about this recently, just how like, you know, there
Speaker 3: are certain things that are just different when you're playing
Speaker 3: with somebody like Asia Wilson, Like if she wants the ball,
Speaker 3: you need to give it to her immediately, things like that.
Speaker 3: And so Kate Martin knows exactly what that's about, and
Speaker 3: like she does it well. And Becky Hammond also, I
Speaker 3: think probably sees a little bit of herself and Kate Martin.
Speaker 3: If you look at the way that Becky Hammond started,
Speaker 3: she was undrafted, you know, when she started in the league,
Speaker 3: she was undersized and things like that, and so that's
Speaker 3: Kate Martin in some ways. But what Kate, what Becky had,
Speaker 3: and what Kate and Martin both have is like this tenacity,
Speaker 3: you know. And so I think that Kate really made her.
Speaker 3: I love that Comparisonah so smart, kay, I mean, Kate
Speaker 3: made her bread and butter from doing the little things.
Speaker 3: That's what Becky Hammond kept saying. And if you like
Speaker 3: listen to Becky Hammond talk about how she was as
Speaker 3: a player, she'll say the same things. I did the
Speaker 3: little things because like I couldn't do the big stuff.
Speaker 3: I couldn't like do all the highlight plays. I would
Speaker 3: focus on the little things, the fundamental things, and that's
Speaker 3: what Kate Martin did early, and she found herself in
Speaker 3: some really you know, serious games early in the season,
Speaker 3: and I think that that experience will come and clutch
Speaker 3: in the postseason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Kate Martin's been obviously huge for this team, just
Speaker 1: in a vibe sense. Again, maybe not as much on
Speaker 1: the stat sheet, but there are a couple subs and
Speaker 1: bench players that have gotten an opportunity and made the
Speaker 1: best of it. I mentioned Kirsten Bell, you know, she
Speaker 1: hadn't played more than eight minutes all season, and that
Speaker 1: final game of the regular season she put up twelve
Speaker 1: points in twenty four. We saw Megan Gustafson in that
Speaker 1: last game twenty four points, a career high.
Speaker 2: You don't want to necessarily have to go too deep
Speaker 2: on your bench in a series. You want your core
Speaker 2: players to light it up and make things easy. But
Speaker 2: knowing that the Aces have those players further down the bench,
Speaker 2: you know, do you think that they'll be important to
Speaker 2: this third title run?
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I think it's huge. I think that. I mean,
Speaker 3: if you look at how they won the title last season,
Speaker 3: it was important. We just talked about Sidney Colson and
Speaker 3: she was crucial for the Aces winning that title last year.
Speaker 3: And I think that kind of what you talked about is,
Speaker 3: you know, you want to know that you have that depth,
Speaker 3: and I think that there was a point in this
Speaker 3: season where the Aces didn't really know. I think they
Speaker 3: knew that they had something in Tiffany Hayes, they knew
Speaker 3: that they had kind of a defensive spark in Sidney Colson,
Speaker 3: and then things were kind of up in the air,
Speaker 3: which is why Becky was kind of rotating through that
Speaker 3: fifth starting spot. So you saw Megan Gustison get some
Speaker 3: starts in place of Kia Stokes, you saw Alicia Clark
Speaker 3: get some starts, and then also you know, start on
Speaker 3: the bench some games, like they were really trying to
Speaker 3: figure out what they were working with, and I think,
Speaker 3: like you mentioned, that last regular season game was a
Speaker 3: good opportunity for them to showcase like, no, we have
Speaker 3: a good amount of bench players, like we have strength,
Speaker 3: we have people that can come off the bench and
Speaker 3: make a difference, And I think that that was important
Speaker 3: also just for the bench, like in a confidence sense.
Speaker 3: But there was definitely a moment in this season where
Speaker 3: it was unclear kind of what they were working with.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Becky Hammond. She's beloved by her players.
Speaker 1: What makes the relationship between the Aces players and their
Speaker 1: coach so special?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the phrase that I always hear in
Speaker 3: reference to Becky, just like around Ace's HQ, is that
Speaker 3: she's a player's coach, like she loves her players. And
Speaker 3: it's so interesting because I think in light of every thing.
Speaker 3: You know, you have the Aces, their current well the
Speaker 3: Aces and the u NBA being sued by Dereka Hanby
Speaker 3: and this discrimination matter, and so I think that Becky
Speaker 3: has felt like attacked on that front. I think she
Speaker 3: really prides herself on being a player's coach, But then
Speaker 3: now you're seeing herself like kind of defend herself unprompted,
Speaker 3: like she'll be asked questions that don't really require an
Speaker 3: answer about her philosophy as a coach, but like recently
Speaker 3: she she will go into these like kind of long,
Speaker 3: I don't know, postgame answers where she she'll talk about
Speaker 3: how much she cares about our players and how she
Speaker 3: wouldn't have gone into coaching if she didn't, and it's like,
Speaker 3: you know, nobody's kind of asking her those questions. But
Speaker 3: I think it's like she really wants people to know
Speaker 3: that that's how she feels. And I think, you know,
Speaker 3: her players have been very vocal about that, Like recently
Speaker 3: it was like the I don't know, maybe the fourth
Speaker 3: anniversary of her Jersey retirement of like the San Antonio
Speaker 3: Stars would which you know, used to be part of
Speaker 3: the Aces organization, and so she was asked postgame kind
Speaker 3: of I don't know, like her reflections of the time
Speaker 3: since she's been a player of whatever else, And that
Speaker 3: was a time where she just talked about how she
Speaker 3: really wanted to be a coach because she wanted to
Speaker 3: make a difference and she could have gone into TV,
Speaker 3: but she specifically did coaching. And then in that same
Speaker 3: postgame press conference, separately, Kelsey Plumb and Chelsea Gurray talked
Speaker 3: about how Becky Hammond changed their careers, like how they
Speaker 3: don't feel like they would be the level of you know,
Speaker 3: like they wouldn't have the talent or the success that
Speaker 3: they've had without Becky. And I think a lot of
Speaker 3: that is because she wants to get to know them personally.
Speaker 3: Like Becky recently said, she doesn't feel like she needs
Speaker 3: to be, you know, her player's first call when they
Speaker 3: need to think. But she hopes that she is a
Speaker 3: call that they make, like she hopes that they feel
Speaker 3: that they can rely on her for support and things
Speaker 3: like this. And so it's really interesting seeing that dynamic
Speaker 3: somebody who really cares about the way that they're perceived
Speaker 3: as a coach, who cares about their players during a
Speaker 3: time where maybe that could be in question, you.
Speaker 2: Know, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's not surprising that she's talked
Speaker 1: about that even when not asked, because that lawsuit does
Speaker 1: have questions swirling about how she does treat her players.
Speaker 2: It's not the only controversy this year.
Speaker 1: The Aces kicked off the season with the big you
Speaker 1: know ring ceremony for their second title, and not long
Speaker 1: after that the league anounce an investigation to determine if
Speaker 1: they were providing impermissible benefits and circumventing the salary cap
Speaker 1: because they had this Las Vegas tourism sponsorship. They gave
Speaker 1: every player on the team one hundred thousand dollars sponsorship deal.
Speaker 1: This is huge, big, great news, but there are questions
Speaker 1: about whether they're getting around paying players in interesting in
Speaker 1: different ways to try to lure them to the team.
Speaker 1: Then there was the federal lawsuit filed by Hanby alleging
Speaker 1: discrimination due to pregnancy, and another instance of her claiming
Speaker 1: that the team was promising things that they would pay
Speaker 1: for outside of the contract. Has there been a lot
Speaker 1: of conversation internally player staff coaches about pushing through some
Speaker 1: of these quote unquote distractions as we called them in
Speaker 1: sports or communication with Hamby, even as a former teamate,
Speaker 1: like how much does that come up this season?
Speaker 2: Have you heard much about it?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean I think that you know, you mentioned
Speaker 3: the one hundred thousand dollars sponsorships with the LVCVA, and
Speaker 3: I was like, really, kind of, I don't know. I
Speaker 3: guess one of the primary reporters in that situation like
Speaker 3: talking to the LVCVA and then trying to get answers
Speaker 3: from the aces, and when I would ask questions like
Speaker 3: obviously their stances, you know, we don't know anything about this,
Speaker 3: we're not involved, et cetera, et cetera, which is fine,
Speaker 3: But then I think one of my questions became, well,
Speaker 3: like how is this impacting the season? Like you're trying
Speaker 3: to start a year. Is this a distraction? And you
Speaker 3: have players like Asia saying like, no, we're professionals like
Speaker 3: we we have to you know, ignore these types of things,
Speaker 3: and we're used to it by now. Like there's definitely
Speaker 3: I can say it's been clear to me internally that
Speaker 3: there's almost a frustration. I think the Aces feel targeted.
Speaker 3: And I you know, again like I'm not saying that
Speaker 3: that's the reality. I'm just saying, like, how, how what
Speaker 3: seems to be the case? I think Mark Davis when
Speaker 3: they were kind of trying to figure out their uh
Speaker 3: season ticket pricing and things like that, Mark Davis sat
Speaker 3: down with a bunch of media and he spoke about
Speaker 3: how when he was asked basically like what has the
Speaker 3: response from other owners across the league been like surrounding
Speaker 3: these LVCBA sponsorships and these one hundred thousand dollars deals,
Speaker 3: And he was like, Oh, their response is let's investigate
Speaker 3: the Aces. Like he he felt he has made it
Speaker 3: clear like that. He feels like there's a target, he
Speaker 3: said himself, he feels like the Aces have been what
Speaker 3: do you call it? Not game changers is not the
Speaker 3: word that he used, but like people who have, you know,
Speaker 3: broken the norm and when you do that, like there's
Speaker 3: a target on your back. In his perspective, and he
Speaker 3: feels like that's what the ace aces have had to
Speaker 3: deal with. And so I think you hear that a
Speaker 3: lot from the players at large, like on Twitter sometimes
Speaker 3: when they they'll they'll like tweet out kind of vague
Speaker 3: messaging about being investigated and things like that, Like I
Speaker 3: think they feel like there's been like a punishment for
Speaker 3: being at the cutting edge of so many things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think first of all, if they
Speaker 1: are found to be guilty of any of those things,
Speaker 1: that's still the best attitude to take if you're trying
Speaker 1: to win and play a season. Is everybody against us,
Speaker 1: We're being targeted, right, That's the kind of idea that
Speaker 1: you have to have in your head if you're going.
Speaker 2: To move forward either way.
Speaker 1: But also there are instances across sports, whether it's nil
Speaker 1: to the changing investment in women's sports, where you are
Speaker 1: trying to push the envelope. You're trying to figure out
Speaker 1: where's the line when do I cross it? How do
Speaker 1: I maybe cross it to get away with it, or
Speaker 1: how do we change the way things have always been done,
Speaker 1: Particularly in women's sports, where we've seen such a dearth
Speaker 1: of resources and opportunities, the bar is so low for
Speaker 1: the expectation of what these players would be paid, how
Speaker 1: they're treated, how the resources and facilities are that I
Speaker 1: think it's great that the Aces are pushing that we'll
Speaker 1: find out if they push far and whether you know,
Speaker 1: they're wrong to feel persecuted as opposed to accurately criticized.
Speaker 1: But I do think they've been able to rally around that.
Speaker 1: The inside of their rings last season said you know,
Speaker 1: Aces versus everybody, So they're just continuing that kind of mindset.
Speaker 1: I was curious, though, if you ever talked to the
Speaker 1: players about the fans booing Hamby when she came back
Speaker 1: to play in Vegas with her new team, the La Sparks.
Speaker 1: We talked to dea Erica about that, and she said
Speaker 1: it was really hard on her emotionally.
Speaker 2: I was surprised.
Speaker 1: I guess not that I thought maybe an Ace's player
Speaker 1: would like hop on the Mike Popovich style and say something,
Speaker 1: but I thought maybe that they would motion to the crowd,
Speaker 1: or that there would be some sort of sign to
Speaker 1: say like, hey, we're not doing that to someone to
Speaker 1: help us win a title.
Speaker 2: But I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe there are lingering resentments for Hamby, for what she's
Speaker 1: said about Hammond and the team.
Speaker 2: Have you asked the players about that moment?
Speaker 3: No, you know, I didn't have an opportunity to ask
Speaker 3: the players. I think immediately after that game, a lot
Speaker 3: of the media were kind of, I want to say,
Speaker 3: stunned by Becky's immediate postgame comments because I think that
Speaker 3: was that was like the logical next question. I think
Speaker 3: she was initially just kind of asked about the tone
Speaker 3: of the game as it related to the allegation stemming
Speaker 3: from Derka, since it was like, since it was her
Speaker 3: return to the Aces, it wasn't her first time back
Speaker 3: in Las Vegas though, since these allegations. I remember, like
Speaker 3: the Sparks played the Aces very early in this season
Speaker 3: and it was fine. She was she was received really
Speaker 3: well by Aces fans and things like that. So I
Speaker 3: think that things were a little bit thrown off.
Speaker 1: I think it was the difference between the initial allegations, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then the secondary federal lawsuits of filing. Right, this
Speaker 1: was the first time I think after the it became
Speaker 1: a federal suit.
Speaker 3: I grew with that one hundred percent. I think a
Speaker 3: lot of fans were reacting to the most recent filing
Speaker 3: and that was going to be My next thing was
Speaker 3: like I didn't get to talk to the players. I
Speaker 3: think that we were all just kind of like thrown
Speaker 3: off because Becky Hymmond went on a little bit of
Speaker 3: a tirade about her perspective of what happened. But I
Speaker 3: was able to talk to some fans, and I think
Speaker 3: a lot of them. Two fans that I spoke too
Speaker 3: specifically said that they regretted booing Deerica, and I think
Speaker 3: that some of them did not know the context. And
Speaker 3: that's not to speak for everybody. Obviously, I couldn't speak
Speaker 3: with every fan, but some fans felt like because if
Speaker 3: you go to an ACES game, like a lot of
Speaker 3: players will get booed. Deerka was not the only player
Speaker 3: being bowed, but she was the most consistent player being booed,
Speaker 3: and it was clear, like it was hard to ignore.
Speaker 3: It was every single time she touched the ball. But
Speaker 3: she wasn't the only one, Like there were other Sparks
Speaker 3: players that were being boed and like and lots of
Speaker 3: games you come into the ACES house like you're it's
Speaker 3: not going to be a welcoming environment, like you They
Speaker 3: want to make it tough for the opposing team, and
Speaker 3: so some of the fans that I spoke to said
Speaker 3: that they regretted when they thought about the context of
Speaker 3: it all and how like difficult that could have been
Speaker 3: for Dereka that they regretted booing. So I think that,
Speaker 3: you know, I would love to kind of get a
Speaker 3: player perspective. It's just things move so quickly on the
Speaker 3: eighth s bet, it's always there's always something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Becky stole the headlines on that day, she absolutely did,
Speaker 1: for sure. And I also think to your point, there
Speaker 1: is this group mind. Think at a game, everybody starts
Speaker 1: booing a player and you're like, oh, yeah, you're the opponent,
Speaker 1: and then later you're like, oh, wait, what were we
Speaker 1: you know, So I'll give a couple fans that excuse,
Speaker 1: but obviously a lot of them knew what they were
Speaker 1: doing there, and that's an interesting dynamic to look at.
Speaker 1: We're so excited to keep watching this team. We don't
Speaker 1: know yet if they have swept this first round or
Speaker 1: there's a third game coming, but we so appreciate you
Speaker 1: coming in and giving us context for the season as
Speaker 1: we continue to watch them in this postseason. Thanks so
Speaker 1: much for the time and promise us you're gonna take
Speaker 1: some sort of honeymoon and break to celebrate that wedding
Speaker 1: sometime soon.
Speaker 3: Oh, fingers cross, fingers.
Speaker 1: Cross, fingers cross is not a plan, girl, fingers cross
Speaker 1: is will see.
Speaker 2: I'm not accepting that.
Speaker 1: I need you to say right now, I'm going to
Speaker 1: takes some time for myself and my new husband, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna figure out some time for us to just
Speaker 1: be alone and not think about sports.
Speaker 3: Right now, I'm thinking about Asia and this MVP season.
Speaker 1: Oh man, all right, we'll take this offline.
Speaker 2: Callie, We're gonna take this offline. We're gonna have to talk.
Speaker 2: You need to learn this, young Thanks so much for
Speaker 2: your time. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much to Kelli for hopping on with us,
Speaker 1: especially right after getting married.
Speaker 2: We got to take another break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, Bots, Trolls, and shit stirs a
Speaker 1: helpful and handy guide to dealing with the WNBA playoffs.
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