Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we just
Speaker 1: know all the young hoopers out there are practicing a
Speaker 1: spin in fades so they can pull off a buzzer
Speaker 1: beater like neco Ogumakay. It's Tuesday, August twenty sixth. Then
Speaker 1: on today's show, Big Citrus is jumping on to discuss
Speaker 1: the state of the WNBA MVP race, the behind the
Speaker 1: scenes of how the voting process works, and how the
Speaker 1: term MVP is even defined. Plus winning on your Home
Speaker 1: green a thirty point return. How could we have forgotten
Speaker 1: that the sky is falling? It's all coming up right
Speaker 1: after this welcome back slicays, here's what you need to
Speaker 1: know today. Let's start with the WNBA and that aforementioned
Speaker 1: buzzer beater. Neko ogum Makay led the Seattle Storm to
Speaker 1: an eighty four eighty two win over the Washington Mystic
Speaker 1: Sunday Night, scoring thirty points, including a career high six
Speaker 1: three pointers and that last second clutch jumper to seal
Speaker 1: the win. French phenom Dominique Malonga also had a stellar night,
Speaker 1: coming off the bench to put up her fourth double
Speaker 1: double of the season. The win was Seattle's fourth in
Speaker 1: its last five games, a nice bounce back after they'd
Speaker 1: suffered a six game skid. Continuing this hot streak could
Speaker 1: be crucial for the seventh place Storm heading into the
Speaker 1: final stretch of the regular season. Meantime, the Mystics are
Speaker 1: sitting in tenth after losing four straight and seven of
Speaker 1: their last ten. More WNBA Sunday night also saw the
Speaker 1: highly anticipated return of the Minnesota Lynx's defeast A Collier,
Speaker 1: who had been out since August second, missing seven games
Speaker 1: with an ankle injury. Collier wasted no time in her
Speaker 1: return to the court, picking up her MVP campaign season
Speaker 1: with an eleven of sixteen shooting night for thirty two
Speaker 1: points plus nine rebounds to lead the Links to a
Speaker 1: ninety seven to eighty four winner for the Indiana Fever.
Speaker 1: We'll have plenty more to say on her return and
Speaker 1: the other WNBA MVP contenders later in the show. One
Speaker 1: final w highlight, this one involving the newest member of
Speaker 1: the Good Game Hall of Fame, Page Beckers, and perhaps
Speaker 1: that honor we gave Beckers Jinxter because she saw one
Speaker 1: of her streaks and shortly after we recorded yesterday's episode,
Speaker 1: during the Dallas Wings ninety to eighty one loss to
Speaker 1: the Golden State Valkyrie. Sunday, Becker scored just nine points,
Speaker 1: marking the first game of her pro career that she
Speaker 1: didn't score in double digits. Up until now, Beckers had
Speaker 1: recorded at least ten or more points in her first
Speaker 1: thirty games as a pro, including, of course, last week's
Speaker 1: rookie record forty four point contest. Still, becker streak ranks
Speaker 1: pretty high in WNBA history. Her thirty straight games marked
Speaker 1: the fourth longest stretch of double digit points to start
Speaker 1: a WNBA career, behind only Candae Parker with thirty two straight,
Speaker 1: Asia Wilson with thirty seven, and Cynthia Cooper with ninety two. Yes,
Speaker 1: Cynthia Cooper recorded double digit points for ninety two straight games,
Speaker 1: a streak that lasted from her WNBA debut in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety seven until two thousand now. As we mentioned yesterday's show,
Speaker 1: Cooper already had a lot of pro basketball experience by
Speaker 1: the time she made her WNBA debut in the league's
Speaker 1: inaugural season, but those ninety two games still marked the
Speaker 1: longest double digit streak of all WNBA Pais players.
Speaker 2: Regardless of years of experience. The great.
Speaker 1: Simone Augustus is number two on that version of the list,
Speaker 1: having recorded eighty eight straight double digit games with the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Lynx from six to eight. So while Becker's maybe
Speaker 1: back to zero with the start of a career streak,
Speaker 1: we do have a feeling she'll start a new streak
Speaker 1: very soon.
Speaker 2: To golf.
Speaker 1: The LPGA's Canadian Women's Open wrapped up on Sunday in Ontario,
Speaker 1: with Canadian player Brooke Henderson winning her first victory on
Speaker 1: tour in more than two and a half years. Henderson
Speaker 1: took the win by defeating Minji Lee by one stroke.
Speaker 1: Henderson has won fourteen times in her LPGA career, but
Speaker 1: her last win came back in January of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: She said after the tournament, quote, this year has not
Speaker 1: gone very well up to this point, and it just
Speaker 1: feels like this was meant to be. She added, Honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm surprised I'm not crying right now because it just
Speaker 1: means so much.
Speaker 2: End quote. There's nothing like winning at home to hockey.
Speaker 1: The pwatails Minnesota Frost has announced the hiring of Brienna
Speaker 1: Decker as an assistant coach to ken Clee. Decker a
Speaker 1: three time Olympic medalist for Team USA, officially retired in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three following a devastating leg injury at the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two Beijing Winter Games. Earlier this summer, she
Speaker 1: was named the Hockey Hall of Fame's Class of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five and will be officially.
Speaker 2: Inducted in November.
Speaker 1: She spent the last few years as an assistant coach
Speaker 1: with both Team USA's U eighteen team and at famed
Speaker 1: hockey prep school shatt At Saint Mary's. In a statement,
Speaker 1: Decker said, quote, it's inspiring to be part of a
Speaker 1: league that sets the standard for women's hockey and a
Speaker 1: team that has been at the top of the league
Speaker 1: two years in a row. I'm excited for what's ahead
Speaker 1: and proud to contribute to a culture of excellence.
Speaker 2: End quote.
Speaker 1: Finally, some NWSL news, Sophia Fuerta is now the all
Speaker 1: time assists leader in the NWSL, moving into first with
Speaker 1: her thirty second career assist, a dish to Jordan Heidema
Speaker 1: in the Seattle Rains won one draw with the Houston
Speaker 1: Dash on Sunday.
Speaker 2: And some more soccer.
Speaker 1: The Orlando Pride announced Monday that the team is loaning
Speaker 1: two time World Cup winner Morgan Gatraw to Newcastle United
Speaker 1: through the end of twenty twenty five. As part of
Speaker 1: the same release, Gatraw, a key member of the Pride
Speaker 1: Shield and Championship wins last season, announced her retirement from
Speaker 1: the NWSL. In an interview with The Athletic, which we'll
Speaker 1: link to in the show notes, Gatra said she's excited
Speaker 1: for the challenge that will come with joining a new
Speaker 1: team as Newcastle looks to get promoted from the second
Speaker 1: tier of the Women's Super League.
Speaker 2: Quote.
Speaker 1: I've always loved joining places that I could help make
Speaker 1: better and where I could leave a lasting impact, and
Speaker 1: this is going to be no different hopefully end quote.
Speaker 1: All right, Selica's it's time to introduce a new segment called.
Speaker 2: God, Damn It, freaking Shit Mother for Blind.
Speaker 1: You may recall that in yesterday's episode, I started daydreaming
Speaker 1: about how easy Fud might end up with the Dallas
Speaker 1: Wings given their brutal record this year, or maybe the
Speaker 1: Wings might select Lauren Betts, leaving Asy available for my
Speaker 1: Chicago Sky, also not doing great this year.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Slice Alexa for bringing me back down
Speaker 1: to earth hard. She wrote, quote, I regret to inform
Speaker 1: you that the Links own Chicago's twenty twenty six first
Speaker 1: round pick. I know it's absolutely ridiculous, but with an
Speaker 1: absolutely stacked draft class, I'm sure there will be plenty
Speaker 1: of depth in the first round. But no way Aisy
Speaker 1: is dropping that big fan of the show so quick.
Speaker 1: Thank you for all you do and for the great
Speaker 1: lengths you go to ensuring the values of the show.
Speaker 1: A favorite episode of mine is the Marina Maybrey interview. Sincerely,
Speaker 1: a longtime Dallas Wings fan who is hoping for Lauren
Speaker 1: Betts over Asy because our front court situation is dire.
Speaker 1: I am loyal till death to our current shooting guard.
Speaker 2: All up to.
Speaker 1: Paisy, but not being an a Rique fan is homophobic,
Speaker 1: and we all know love stories are better with a
Speaker 1: little tension and angst.
Speaker 2: Imagine a Paisy in the finals on different teams. End quote.
Speaker 2: You know what, Alexa, I swear.
Speaker 1: I am preventing my brain from acknowledging the truth about
Speaker 1: that draft pick.
Speaker 2: If y'all are blocking it out or never knew about it,
Speaker 2: here's a refresher.
Speaker 1: Last season, the Sky made a deal with the Links
Speaker 1: to acquire the number seven overall pick in the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four draft in exchange for the number eight overall pick,
Speaker 1: a second round pick in twenty twenty five, and a
Speaker 1: first round pick swap in twenty twenty six. Then this
Speaker 1: year they made a trade to acquire the number eleven
Speaker 1: pick in the twenty twenty five draft, ceding the rights
Speaker 1: to that twenty twenty six pickswap instead giving Minnesota outright
Speaker 1: ownership of their first rounder next year. This guy used
Speaker 1: all those moves to grab Angel Rees at seven in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four and Hailey Benlitth at eleven in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. Good moves, but despite talent on the roster,
Speaker 1: they're still near the bottom of the standings, and now
Speaker 1: the links are poised to benefit. No matter how many
Speaker 1: times I reminded of this, I still let myself daydream
Speaker 1: about this shitburger of a season paying off in the
Speaker 1: form of an exciting young star joining my team at
Speaker 1: fixing everything.
Speaker 2: Instead the rich get richer. Damn, damn, damn. We got
Speaker 2: to take a quick break. When we come back, it's
Speaker 2: time for Big.
Speaker 1: Citrus Welcome back slices.
Speaker 2: It's time to reconvene. Big Citrus, get in here.
Speaker 1: Alex and meish, what's up, Hey, y Let's talk some
Speaker 1: WNBA MVP, and let's start with what the hell even
Speaker 1: is at MVP?
Speaker 2: Because I feel like this is.
Speaker 1: The problem that we have in every sport anytime an
Speaker 1: MVP conversation comes up. Is it the best player on
Speaker 1: the best team. Is it the player that means the
Speaker 1: most to their team? Is it the best player on
Speaker 1: the best team who also wasn't recently named the MVP
Speaker 1: because we like to switch the rules around and tell
Speaker 1: you that you can't win it over and over to
Speaker 1: even if you deserve it, Like, what the hell is
Speaker 1: even an MVP?
Speaker 3: Mache Oh well, that's t okay, Clockett. That's t For
Speaker 3: me personally, I've gravitated towards a combination of, like what
Speaker 3: you just said, a player that a team would absolutely
Speaker 3: fall apart without and a player who's just got the
Speaker 3: most unbelievable stats. I think if you try to do
Speaker 3: it one way, you're always going to run into an
Speaker 3: issue where two people are well qualified because of the
Speaker 3: same things.
Speaker 2: So for me, it's helpful to have two tiers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, think about the name of the award
Speaker 3: most valuable player, literally the most valuable player to any
Speaker 3: particular team, and the more stat heavy people. I'm not
Speaker 3: one of those people, but they can do the stats
Speaker 3: on what makes a player valuable, like plus minus and
Speaker 3: offensive rating and defensive rating and all that, and that
Speaker 3: stuff matters. But I hear a lot of like the
Speaker 3: best player on the best team approach, and I hear
Speaker 3: a lot of the person who would be most valuable
Speaker 3: to any team you place them on, and those are
Speaker 3: hard for me. Those are hard for me. I don't
Speaker 3: know if those agree with my logic. And at the
Speaker 3: same time, it's really difficult because I feel like no
Speaker 3: matter what approach you take, there's always going to be
Speaker 3: some disagreement in discussion, Like we just have to concede
Speaker 3: that point at the beginning.
Speaker 1: Alex, do you use a different tier or set of
Speaker 1: tiers to decide? Well.
Speaker 4: It's so funny because as I was preparing for this conversation,
Speaker 4: I was reminiscing back on high school and my field
Speaker 4: hockey coach didn't believe in MVP awards, and so every year,
Speaker 4: at like the annual False School Sports Assembly, when they
Speaker 4: would award all the MVP trophies, it would go to
Speaker 4: the field hockey team like literally just the team as
Speaker 4: a whole, and so like in the school auditorium there
Speaker 4: were just all these plaques where a year after year
Speaker 4: the field hockey MVP was just the team and.
Speaker 1: As a multi time field hockey MVP, that would have
Speaker 1: pissed me the.
Speaker 3: Hell off exactly because if you did the work, if
Speaker 3: you did the work, you beout to give me my ward,
Speaker 3: give me my war.
Speaker 4: Was the most valuable as somebody that was never close
Speaker 4: to being named MVPs like this seems right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean me, I agree with what you said.
Speaker 1: I do think for me, m VP has lost its
Speaker 1: semantical meaning.
Speaker 2: Semantical a word.
Speaker 1: It's a weird thing to ask, I know, semantics, but
Speaker 1: semantical anyway, it has lost its meaning to me in
Speaker 1: the sense of like nitpicking word by word. I think
Speaker 1: what it has come to mean across pretty much all
Speaker 1: sports is the best player. That's how we seem to
Speaker 1: talk about it, not who is the most valuable, because
Speaker 1: we've seen players on teams who have other great players
Speaker 1: who probably would step up, but they're still the best player.
Speaker 1: Asia Wilson last season was probably one of the least debated.
Speaker 2: Us of the m v P s in the w
Speaker 2: n B a of late.
Speaker 1: Because she just dominated and it was of course valuable
Speaker 1: for her team, and also just the best player, who
Speaker 1: had the best season, who scored the most points, who
Speaker 1: did the best things. So yes, I think the tears
Speaker 1: can help in moments where it feels real head to head,
Speaker 1: where it's hard to decide.
Speaker 2: But ultimately, to me, it's sort of a little bit
Speaker 2: of vibes. I mean a thousand percent.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Vib's definitely factor in there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think that's how I kind of want
Speaker 4: it to be, too, Like when we look back at
Speaker 4: a previous season, so often we're not talking with the
Speaker 4: same in the moment context, and so I kind of
Speaker 4: want to know, Hey, whoever got MVP in twenty fifteen,
Speaker 4: they were the best player that year. Yes, I don't
Speaker 4: want to have to kind of take into account, oh
Speaker 4: well but their team did this and that. Like, I
Speaker 4: just want to know who was considered the best player
Speaker 4: that year. So I appreciate that definition of it.
Speaker 1: And I think it's possible to win MVP on a
Speaker 1: bad team, but you have to be so frickin' good.
Speaker 1: I don't know why, but my brain goes to, like
Speaker 1: Ernie Banks, with the Cubs, who was like an MVP
Speaker 1: on a team that didn't even make the playoffs. Easier
Speaker 1: in baseball, because your stats are so isolated and independent
Speaker 1: of all the other things that are going on in basketball,
Speaker 1: it's almost impossible.
Speaker 2: Like Paige Beckers mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is most valuable on her team because like Ari
Speaker 1: k has been in and out, that team blows and
Speaker 1: she's still doing amazing things every night. But she's not
Speaker 1: the best player in the league. And it wouldn't tell
Speaker 1: the story of this season for Page Beckers to be
Speaker 1: the MVP.
Speaker 2: And that's that's what makes it so hard for me.
Speaker 3: I'm not I'm not advocating.
Speaker 2: For Paige to win MVP. Let me be clear.
Speaker 3: Okay, she's having a she's having a great season, great
Speaker 3: rookie season. I don't think she's the MVP. But I
Speaker 3: think what you're pointing out here is why this is
Speaker 3: so difficult for me, because I love to make space
Speaker 3: for those quote unquote underdog MVPs because there will be
Speaker 3: every once in a blue moon, somebody who statistically blows
Speaker 3: it out of the water and who frankly, like Alex,
Speaker 3: like you're saying, when you look back on the season,
Speaker 3: they are the best player, even though their team might
Speaker 3: have gone five and twenty five or whatever the case
Speaker 3: may be. And so I guess my point in saying
Speaker 3: that is whatever tier, whatever calculus people use, I just
Speaker 3: want to make sure that we're doing due diligence for
Speaker 3: folks who aren't on the Minnesota leagues or aren't on
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, top two teams in the league.
Speaker 2: It was interesting.
Speaker 4: I was trying to look back at some of the
Speaker 4: coverage of Candice Parker's MVP season in two thousand and eight,
Speaker 4: when she was named both Rookie of the Year and
Speaker 4: MVP in her first year in the league, because I
Speaker 4: really wanted to figure out, like, were people just saying like,
Speaker 4: she's a really good rookie who's like good enough that
Speaker 4: she deserves MVP. It speaks to maybe something of the
Speaker 4: media coverage that I wasn't able to come across too
Speaker 4: much that I don't want nuance and insight. So if
Speaker 4: any slices out there have anything that you think could
Speaker 4: shine a light on this for somebody that didn't pay
Speaker 4: too much attention to the WNBA back in the day,
Speaker 4: I'd love to see it, because, yeah, it was one
Speaker 4: of those things where I was like, Okay, what would
Speaker 4: Page have to do to be in the MVP conversation?
Speaker 4: And part of me is like, I don't know how
Speaker 4: much of it comes down to her and how much
Speaker 4: of it just comes down to not having gotten drafted
Speaker 4: to that team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, somebody who fell in love with the WNBA around
Speaker 3: that time, range CP three was different. If anybody's got
Speaker 3: any issues, come hit my DMS we could talk about it.
Speaker 1: Please, Well, let's talk about who's a little different this year,
Speaker 1: because we are finally and belatedly really introducing Alyssa Thomas
Speaker 1: into this conversation, and I'll fully admit that we're we're late.
Speaker 2: Part of it is her style of play.
Speaker 1: It is insanely efficient and she puts up crazy numbers,
Speaker 1: but it's not really flashy in the same way or
Speaker 1: maybe as graceful as some of the players that we
Speaker 1: tend to lean towards when we're talking MVP. And also
Speaker 1: new team, we took most of our time just being
Speaker 1: surprised that the Mercury were playing so well after the
Speaker 1: retirement of Ben Tarassi the departure of Britney Grinery, were like, wait.
Speaker 2: What's happening?
Speaker 1: And then to be frank, we were also just really
Speaker 1: focused on her relationship status and her being separated from
Speaker 1: Dewana Bonner and then reunited. And meanwhile she was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll just be over here just putting up crazy stats
Speaker 1: every night. You let me know when you come around
Speaker 1: to the basketball side of things, and sorry, Alyssa, but
Speaker 1: we're here now.
Speaker 2: So really, what it.
Speaker 1: Feels like to me is Asia Wilson, Nafisa Kyllier, and
Speaker 1: Alyssa Thomas. Is there anybody else that you think, within
Speaker 1: the last stretch of the season can make a true
Speaker 1: bid for this?
Speaker 3: Oh truly no, But I do think there are some people.
Speaker 3: There's always there's always benefits of being in that conversation, right,
Speaker 3: whether it's talks for your next contract, whether you know
Speaker 3: all that stuff, your own personal legacy.
Speaker 2: I think that's important.
Speaker 1: I do. Once again, you want to make space, yeah,
Speaker 1: people in the converse, and I get that. I get that,
Speaker 1: And you're right though, it is necessary to shout out
Speaker 1: the people who are on the perimeter, because to your point,
Speaker 1: if we don't sometimes put them in these articles, have
Speaker 1: them in these conversations, people really miss I think Kelsey
Speaker 1: Mitchell is a great example of that someone who is
Speaker 1: not really in these conversations and always should be even
Speaker 1: if she's not gonna win.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I definitely have Kelsey Mitchell in that bucket.
Speaker 2: Also have Kelsey Plumb in that bucket. Both of them
Speaker 2: are among the.
Speaker 3: League's top five scorers, both leading their team in scoring.
Speaker 3: Both have carried their teams on their backs at different
Speaker 3: points during this season. And again, why I don't think
Speaker 3: this necessarily win. We got to give credit where credit
Speaker 3: is due, man, because otherwise, what are folks on other teams?
Speaker 3: I mean, you're obviously playing to win, but individually, in
Speaker 3: terms of your legacy, what else are you fighting for?
Speaker 1: Then? Ali Shagray, you could maybe argue Sabrina and Nascue
Speaker 1: with a team that's had John Quell out now Brianna
Speaker 1: out and keeping them in the mix.
Speaker 2: But I do think it's it's a three women race
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, And honestly, this is going to ruffle
Speaker 3: some feathers following my logic, I got Asia and Alyssa
Speaker 3: ahead of fee fian A, Lissa our neck and neck,
Speaker 3: their neck and neck.
Speaker 2: Okay, walk me through that.
Speaker 3: But if we're talking about what Asia Wilson has done again.
Speaker 2: This season, the.
Speaker 3: Las Vegas Aces were bad. Okay, we don't need to
Speaker 3: sugarcoat that they were bad until two weeks ago. Pretty much,
Speaker 3: Asia Wilson has been doing her damn thing the whole time, regardless.
Speaker 2: Of what anybody else has done.
Speaker 3: If we talk again about my approach of a player
Speaker 3: that a team would actually fall apart without, imagine the
Speaker 3: Aces without Asia Wilson this season. Yeah, they're bottom five
Speaker 3: in the league to me. And then for Alyssa the
Speaker 3: reason why this is what you were alluding to earlier.
Speaker 3: It's not flashy because she doesn't score a lot of points,
Speaker 3: because she's not putting up twenty points to night. And
Speaker 3: I've never been up a person or a player, frankly
Speaker 3: who has been point centric. Because I love to pass
Speaker 3: the ball, I love to rebound the ball, I love
Speaker 3: to do all other shit, every defense everything. Okay, I
Speaker 3: took charges, all right, I took charges and I talked
Speaker 3: a lot on Yeah.
Speaker 1: Because you were too lazy to get out of the way,
Speaker 1: and that counts for something. You didn't want to move
Speaker 1: your feet on defense, either to get in position or
Speaker 1: out of it.
Speaker 3: That's my key, okay, and it is what it is.
Speaker 3: But I put Alissa a little bit ahead of Fee
Speaker 3: because and this is this is also probably controversial. Fij
Speaker 3: just missed however many games, right, and Minnesota did perfectly
Speaker 3: fine without her. They secured a number one spot in
Speaker 3: the playoffs. Imagine again the Phoenix Murky without Alyssa Thomas
Speaker 3: ooh a.
Speaker 1: Right, And this is where the conversation comes down to
Speaker 1: is it the best player or is it the most valuable?
Speaker 1: Because to your point, so when Asia Wilson was not
Speaker 1: putting her foot on the gas like she has been,
Speaker 1: She's got eighteen straight games in double figures right now,
Speaker 1: and she's hit at least thirty points eight times in
Speaker 1: that stretch. She is going off and during that time
Speaker 1: the team has gotten significantly better. Back on July tenth,
Speaker 1: they were out of a playoff spot, sitting at nine
Speaker 1: and eleven. We were all asking how you could have
Speaker 1: that much talent on one team and not win. And
Speaker 1: then Asia sort of was like, all right, fine, let
Speaker 1: me throw you all my back again. And now fifteen
Speaker 1: and three run ten game win streak, they would be
Speaker 1: the three seed if the season ended right now, right
Speaker 1: So she has basically figured out that she needs to
Speaker 1: do more for them to win. Now, you could also
Speaker 1: make an argument that she was on a team, she
Speaker 1: was playing and they weren't good, and we're gonna take
Speaker 1: away credit for Nafisa Kalier being on a team and
Speaker 1: then being good, Like we're gonna get her credit for
Speaker 1: her not doing enough early and then turning it on later.
Speaker 3: Now, that's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying he
Speaker 3: hasn't had an MVP caliber season. I'm saying she's just missed,
Speaker 3: however many games. And I think there's also something to
Speaker 3: be said stat wise for somebody who shows up every night,
Speaker 3: every night, every night. Again, not a disrespect to Fee,
Speaker 3: it's just been the situation.
Speaker 4: But also in the game that Fee got injured, there
Speaker 4: were questions about whether Cheryl Reefs should have even kept
Speaker 4: her in the game because that was what end of
Speaker 4: the third It was like a fourth carter and they
Speaker 4: were winning guy a lot.
Speaker 2: I remember.
Speaker 4: I think it was a couple of years ago when
Speaker 4: Asia didn't win MVP and Becky Hammond got mad being like, well,
Speaker 4: I'm not keeping her in the game all the time,
Speaker 4: Like I'm not patting her stats. If I was keeping
Speaker 4: her in the game, then her stats would have been higher,
Speaker 4: and so I think it leads to one of those conversations,
Speaker 4: like the sport of basketball is at such a stats
Speaker 4: heavy conversation right now that sometimes folks aren't watching the game,
Speaker 4: you know, Like that's why you'll never hear me be
Speaker 4: like this is who deserves MVP. Like, I just don't
Speaker 4: watch the game that way. I don't watch enough of
Speaker 4: the teams that way to be so confident in who
Speaker 4: I I'm gonna pick. And so I think though means
Speaker 4: to your point, like, we see both sides of that, right,
Speaker 4: if she hadn't been playing those final minutes to maybe
Speaker 4: get those additional points, then who knows that she would
Speaker 4: have even gotten injured.
Speaker 3: And that's tough because that's one of those things that
Speaker 3: is not in her control or any player's control ever, right, Like,
Speaker 3: there are certain elements to the MVP conversation.
Speaker 1: Well, I was gonna say, injuries in general, that's not
Speaker 1: in their control. And yes, of course, if somebody is
Speaker 1: out for the majority of a season, but it's seven games.
Speaker 3: It's seven games, But it matters to me. It does
Speaker 3: matter to me, And like you said earlier, there's also
Speaker 3: a matter of vibes. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 3: I just feel like AG's got a leg up. Okay now,
Speaker 3: but again, there are still, however many games left in
Speaker 3: this season. We're coming towards the end a couple of
Speaker 3: weeks now, But I don't know.
Speaker 2: Let me just give you some stats to counter the vibes, okay.
Speaker 1: Nafisa Collier's leading the league in scoring twenty three and
Speaker 1: a half points per game. She second in steals, fourth
Speaker 1: and block seven and field goal percentage night than rebounding.
Speaker 1: She's shooting almost thirty seven percent from beyond the arc
Speaker 1: and making about four or three pointers a game, so
Speaker 1: she is deadly from anywhere on the court. She is
Speaker 1: a tremendous defensive player. She is insanely efficient. If she
Speaker 1: is able to finish the season, which she'll have to
Speaker 1: up her three points, but if she can finish the
Speaker 1: season with fifty forty ninety, it would be unbelievable. There's
Speaker 1: only three players in WNBA history to average at least
Speaker 1: twenty points while shooting at least fifty percent from the
Speaker 1: field and at least thirty five percent from three with
Speaker 1: at least one attempt per game, and she would be
Speaker 1: the fourth behind just Cheryl Swoopslow and Jackson and Brienna Stewart,
Speaker 1: and each of those players won the MVB Trophy in
Speaker 1: the season that.
Speaker 2: They did that.
Speaker 1: Again, it's a stat heavy argument because of the injury
Speaker 1: stretch that makes it vibe bliss. Right now, she's one
Speaker 1: game back in, but she was thirty plus points, nine
Speaker 1: rebounds in her first game back, and get the feeling
Speaker 1: she might go on a little tear here to try
Speaker 1: to get the vibes back on her side.
Speaker 4: I want to talk for a minute about how this
Speaker 4: award is even determined. So for folks who don't know,
Speaker 4: there are basically a panel of sixty voters that are
Speaker 4: selected from both regional and national media outlets that includes
Speaker 4: writers and broadcasters. They rank five players, and then those
Speaker 4: players are assigned values. And in the same way that
Speaker 4: I think folks should be having conversations about elections in
Speaker 4: their hometowns, about jerrymandering, about how all of those things
Speaker 4: are happening, whether they're using mail in ballots or go
Speaker 4: into the polls, I want to have more of a
Speaker 4: conversation about that in the WNBA. And I'm going to
Speaker 4: point to the year twenty twenty three, and that was
Speaker 4: a year that it was a super tight race between
Speaker 4: Brianna Stewart, Elisa Thomas, and Asia Wilson, and Stewie ended
Speaker 4: up winning it because she got the most total points,
Speaker 4: but she didn't get the most first place votes.
Speaker 2: That was At.
Speaker 4: She didn't even get the most second place votes, that
Speaker 4: was Asia. She didn't get the most third place votes again,
Speaker 4: that was At. But she just accumulated the largest total
Speaker 4: number of points. In the way that the WNBA awards
Speaker 4: these points is first place gets ten points, second place
Speaker 4: gets seven, third place gets five, fourth place gets third,
Speaker 4: fifth place gets one. To me, I want to know
Speaker 4: how they came up with those, Like those values are
Speaker 4: kind of arbitrary and back in twenty twenty three, I
Speaker 4: actually ended up crunching the numbers to see, like if
Speaker 4: you were to award different points to those five ranks,
Speaker 4: would it alter the results? And I was shocked that
Speaker 4: it didn't alter them more. But if you did award
Speaker 4: first place more points, there did come a time where
Speaker 4: At would have won it over Stewie that year. So
Speaker 4: I don't know necessarily, like what's the cracked option here?
Speaker 4: I'd also be curious to see it with Like I
Speaker 4: don't know a ranked choice option, like see how that
Speaker 4: weighs out, so if somebody can get a super majority.
Speaker 4: Because it just seems weird to me that Stewie could
Speaker 4: win in a year when she still wasn't necessarily getting
Speaker 4: the most of any of those three categories, but not
Speaker 4: saying she wasn't deserving. I just thought it was an
Speaker 4: interesting little caveat on that win.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of elections could use some choice moving. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, I agree, Alex.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that they have a pretty in depth system
Speaker 1: for figuring out how to a lot each you know.
Speaker 2: Are we sure? I know? Are we? Are we assuming there?
Speaker 2: You know what? I do?
Speaker 1: Assume the best far too often. It's it's useful for life,
Speaker 1: not always useful for business or otherwise. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I do think it helps revenge voting and bias voting
Speaker 1: and things like that, and helps make it so that
Speaker 1: someone who is consistently considered among the best by everyone
Speaker 1: is more likely to win, as opposed to like a
Speaker 1: bunch of people think someone and then a bunch of
Speaker 1: people don't have them anywhere on the list. It's complicated.
Speaker 1: I think you're right, Alex. Maybe we should reach out
Speaker 1: to a representative for the WNBA and ask exactly how
Speaker 1: they came up with the point system.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, I think.
Speaker 1: We're in for a really, really fun final stretch of
Speaker 1: the season where we're going to see these players who
Speaker 1: are battling it out for MVP, and also see a
Speaker 1: bunch of teams battling it out for the playoff spots.
Speaker 1: And how will coaches factor in how long to play
Speaker 1: their stars and blowout games if there's someone who might
Speaker 1: be in the mix for MVP, or will they prioritize
Speaker 1: being healthy for the playoffs and sit them And will
Speaker 1: there be some tension between those top players and their
Speaker 1: coaches about playing time when it comes to that. So
Speaker 1: always worth keeping an eye and you'll always hear the
Speaker 1: players afterwards say the most important thing to me is
Speaker 1: the title. You could keep your MVP. But deep down,
Speaker 1: I think we all know they want to be in there,
Speaker 1: they want to be getting those stats up, So it'll
Speaker 1: be fun to watch. If you want to read more
Speaker 1: about the MVP Racelu Orlando wrote a good piece for
Speaker 1: SI dot Com about and if you Saka, you're needing
Speaker 1: to fend off Asia in the tight race and had
Speaker 1: some really good stats in there, and Shane Jackson wrote
Speaker 1: one for WNBA dot com that also has a bunch
Speaker 1: of the statistics around the players that are contending and odds.
Speaker 2: If any of y'all.
Speaker 1: Want to dabble or become a degenerate and put your
Speaker 1: entire life savings on the WNBA MVP, we wouldn't recommend it,
Speaker 1: but go for it, all right. We got to take
Speaker 1: another break, but we come back when a few turns
Speaker 1: into a good game in real life.
Speaker 2: Welcome back slices.
Speaker 1: We love that you're listening, but we want you to
Speaker 1: get in the game every day too. So here's our
Speaker 1: good game play of the day. You heard our MVP picks,
Speaker 1: well at least betion mine. Now we want to hear yours.
Speaker 1: If you had to say which player would you vote for?
Speaker 1: Hit us up good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or
Speaker 1: leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two four
Speaker 1: fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review, y'all.
Speaker 2: It's easy.
Speaker 1: Watch Serena Williams inducting Maria Sharpova into the International Tennis
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, rating ten out of ten Feel Good
Speaker 1: Moments review Maria Sharpova's tennis career was sort of always
Speaker 1: linked to Serena Williams. In fact, Cheripova's first of five
Speaker 1: Grand Slam victories was a Wimbledon win over Serena. But
Speaker 1: she didn't enjoy being on the winging side of that
Speaker 1: rivalry for very long, because Serena came out on top
Speaker 1: in their last eighteen meetings and twenty of twenty two
Speaker 1: meetings overall. They were pitted against each other for Shripova's
Speaker 1: entire career, So it was sort of a shock and
Speaker 1: a surprise to see Serena do the honors at the
Speaker 1: International Tennis Hall of Fame ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island
Speaker 1: on Saturday, said Serena.
Speaker 2: Quote.
Speaker 1: A few months ago, Maria texted me that she needed
Speaker 1: to talk. When I called her, she asked if I
Speaker 1: would introduce her into the Hall of Fame. Before she
Speaker 1: could even finish her question, I said yes loud, immediately,
Speaker 1: with my whole chest, because of course it's Maria.
Speaker 2: End quote. Serena continued quote.
Speaker 1: Marie and I were once the fiercest of rivals. We
Speaker 1: had our differences to the world. We looked miles and
Speaker 1: miles apart, but the truth is we weren't. We wanted
Speaker 1: the exact same thing at the exact same time, to
Speaker 1: be the very best. That's what made our rivalry so
Speaker 1: electric and so iconic.
Speaker 2: End quote.
Speaker 1: On her Instagram on Sunday, alongside photos of the two
Speaker 1: former rivals embracing, Serena wrote quote, I'm probably the last
Speaker 1: person you expected to see standing here tonight. Honestly, a
Speaker 1: few years ago I would have said the same thing,
Speaker 1: But years after getting to know her better, we now
Speaker 1: call each other friends, and when a friend calls, you answer.
Speaker 1: This is women supporting each other and respecting each other's greatness.
Speaker 1: Congratulations Maria Sharapova. It is my honor, as her former rival,
Speaker 1: her forever fan, and now her forever friend, to welcome
Speaker 1: Maria Sharapova into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: End quote. Beautiful. We love that.
Speaker 1: Now it's your turn, y'all Rate and review, scroll down,
Speaker 1: click five stars, tell us you love us, Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow. Good game, Maria and Serena. Good game,
Speaker 1: Mekka and the FISA you Semantakole?
Speaker 2: Are you a word? Talvey?
Speaker 1: Good Game with Sarah Spain 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 Rutterer.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rutter, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch and
Speaker 1: Gianna Palmer.
Speaker 2: Our associate producer is Lucy Jones.
Speaker 1: Production assistance from Avery Loftus and I'm Your Host Sarah
Speaker 1: Spain