Speaker 1: Before we get started, please rate and review our show.
Speaker 1: It helps people find us. On this episode of Sports
Speaker 1: Illustrated Weekly, the w NBA Playoffs are upon us and
Speaker 1: we have everything you need to know to get ready.
Speaker 1: We are delighted to be joined by Jordan Legans from
Speaker 1: The Spinsters podcast and Buckets for our postseason preview. I'm
Speaker 1: your host, John Gonzalez from Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: This is Sports Illustrated Weekly. Jordan Legans, Welcome back to
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated Weekly. Thank you for having me. So happy
Speaker 1: to be here again. Oh, it's delightful to have you
Speaker 1: on as always. The w NBA Playoffs are here and
Speaker 1: you're gonna help us set the table. Before we get
Speaker 1: I want to run through all of the different matchups
Speaker 1: with you, because nobody's just plugged into the w n
Speaker 1: b a as you are, so it's gonna be great
Speaker 1: for all of us. But I want to talk about
Speaker 1: the change to the format in the playoffs, which I
Speaker 1: find very interesting. Jordan's so no more buys. Every team
Speaker 1: plays in the first round, no receding after the first round.
Speaker 1: This is the component that I find interesting after six
Speaker 1: years of single elimination first and second round games. We
Speaker 1: have now moved to first round matchups as a best
Speaker 1: of three, semifinal and finals best of five the first
Speaker 1: round Jordan's this is the wrinkle. First two games at
Speaker 1: the higher seed at home. If the lower seats somehow
Speaker 1: pulls that off, they get the decisive game three on
Speaker 1: their core. What do you make of all this? Do
Speaker 1: we like it? I like it? I like it. It's
Speaker 1: like the new old format because this is a format
Speaker 1: that the W used to have back in the heyday.
Speaker 1: The single elimination was just chaos and it was fun,
Speaker 1: but it was like March madness at a pro level,
Speaker 1: and some players hated it, like if you have an
Speaker 1: off game and you're a top seed, you don't have
Speaker 1: a chance to redeem yourself. So I like this series.
Speaker 1: It gives us more games just in general, more playoff games,
Speaker 1: which is what we want. But it's time it allows
Speaker 1: for some bounce back games, because that's how the Chicago
Speaker 1: skuy won last year. They had their best games in
Speaker 1: those single elimination games and then they ended up winning
Speaker 1: the finals. They came into the playoffs at five hundred
Speaker 1: and they still won the finals, so it they kind
Speaker 1: of stopped that right after Chicago did that you make
Speaker 1: a compelling point. More basketball is always good. We love
Speaker 1: basketball here. On the one hand, I am an agent
Speaker 1: of chaos in my own life. I also embraced chaos
Speaker 1: as a content creator. However, if you were a basketball
Speaker 1: player and a basketball team, and you were a higher seed,
Speaker 1: you certainly want more games because, as we know, the
Speaker 1: statistics bear it out. If you have an actual series,
Speaker 1: the higher seeds, the more accomplished teams tend to get
Speaker 1: through as opposed to Hey, on any given night, if
Speaker 1: it's just one game, now, all of a sudden, there
Speaker 1: might be an upset. So it is a little bit
Speaker 1: fairer for the teams that are putting the work during
Speaker 1: the regular season, which brings me Jordan's to these matchups.
Speaker 1: We'll start with the one versus the eight. It's the
Speaker 1: Las Vegas Aces versus the Phoenix Mercury. The race. The
Speaker 1: number one Vegas barely held off the Chicago Sky, the
Speaker 1: aforementioned defending champions by a half game. It lost any sass,
Speaker 1: I'm the number one overall. See in the radio playoffs
Speaker 1: Vegas one all three games versus the Mercury in the
Speaker 1: regular season. Uh, what do you see? From Vegas. What
Speaker 1: are their strengths to the Does Mercury have any shot here?
Speaker 1: Vegas is going to win the championship, That is my statement.
Speaker 1: I was gonna save that for the end, but all right,
Speaker 1: let's do it up top. Let's do it up top,
Speaker 1: because they are winning this series and they are beating everyone.
Speaker 1: Asia Wilson is my m v P, so I don't
Speaker 1: think the Mercury have a chance. Diana Trassi is is out.
Speaker 1: She was out for the regular season. It's a question
Speaker 1: mark if she's playing in the playoffs. Skylar Diggins didn't
Speaker 1: finish the regular season for personal reasons. So this Mercury
Speaker 1: team him is kind of stitched together barely. They don't
Speaker 1: have their all stars Superstar and Britney Griner right now.
Speaker 1: The Aces also have some injuries with Derick A. Hanby,
Speaker 1: but they are rolling Kelsey Plum. If Asia wasn't the
Speaker 1: m v P, Kelsey Plum might be the m v P.
Speaker 1: Becky Hammond has his team moving like a machine and
Speaker 1: they're gonna beat everybody. So the Mercury are first up
Speaker 1: and they're gonna beat them too. I like it. I
Speaker 1: like how declarative and definitive. This is as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: that first round matchup for the Aces doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: a tall order because of all the things that Phoenix
Speaker 1: has had to go through this season. There were five
Speaker 1: games under five hundred, they finished fifteen and twenty. As
Speaker 1: you mentioned, Diana Tarassi has a quad strain. Who knows
Speaker 1: if she'll be back. And then the entire Britney Grinder situation,
Speaker 1: which has been just a really awful situation. Her lawyers,
Speaker 1: we should mention, just appealed her sentence while the US
Speaker 1: government tries to arrange a prisoners swap. There's no real
Speaker 1: good transition here. It's just like a weight that's that's
Speaker 1: over everybody. Uh and that that, obviously and rightly so,
Speaker 1: is a massive distruction because there's more important things in basketball.
Speaker 1: But because we're discussing basketball here, Jordan's just imagine you
Speaker 1: made the case for the Aces rolling and they're gonna
Speaker 1: win the championship, and they're they're playing so well, what
Speaker 1: would a Mercury upset have to look like? What would
Speaker 1: they have to pull off? They would have to score
Speaker 1: a hundred and fifteen points each game. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of points, especially in the debut. The Aces are scoring
Speaker 1: so easily and so much, and they're going they're the
Speaker 1: fastest team in the league pace wise, so it's like
Speaker 1: you have to score more than them and you have
Speaker 1: to be faster than them for three games or two games.
Speaker 1: I don't see that happening, especially for the Mercury team.
Speaker 1: So if they would, if they were to win, they
Speaker 1: don't have to take it to the whole series and
Speaker 1: probably shoot from three breaks. As a basketball fan, I
Speaker 1: feel like is a tall order, uh, from or from
Speaker 1: anywhere on the court. So got speed to the Mercury.
Speaker 1: You've got some nice parting gifts coming your way. Let's
Speaker 1: go to number two Chicago Sky versus the number seven
Speaker 1: New York Liberty. Chicago almost got the top slot. They're
Speaker 1: the defending champs for the first time in franchise history,
Speaker 1: the Chicago Sky champions. We know that their interior with
Speaker 1: Candice Parker is excellent, and yet you're already saying that
Speaker 1: this is a rap. It's gonna go to the Aces.
Speaker 1: Tell me more though about the Sky before we get
Speaker 1: to the Liberty and why the Sky could maybe up
Speaker 1: end your Aces in your prediction. The Sky have that
Speaker 1: championship experience, right like going back to back you know
Speaker 1: what it takes to get there. The Aces have been
Speaker 1: to the finals before, but this pretty much same unit
Speaker 1: with the Sky. We're just there so they know what
Speaker 1: it takes. They have great leadership in Canus Parker. They
Speaker 1: have Courtney bandersup, they have Khalia Copper and they're they're
Speaker 1: just have their mindset there, like we know what it
Speaker 1: takes to get there. We're going to get back whoever
Speaker 1: is in our way. We're gonna bulldoze them. But when
Speaker 1: they meet the Aces again, that's where it stops. I
Speaker 1: have Chicago going all the way up until but we
Speaker 1: just had the Commissioner's Cup not too long ago, which
Speaker 1: is basically they're in season tournament for the w n
Speaker 1: b A and the Chicago Sky and the Aces met there.
Speaker 1: The Aces were up by thirty in the first quarter,
Speaker 1: Like it's a lot of points. They score a lot
Speaker 1: of points. That's what I'm getting at. So if the
Speaker 1: Sky can match them there and kind of prep each
Speaker 1: series like Okay, this is what we need to work
Speaker 1: on to beat the Aces, then that's what's going to
Speaker 1: get them there. First up for the Liberty, they are
Speaker 1: a tough team and they barely made it into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: If you guys didn't know, the last regular season games
Speaker 1: all decided the last three spots of the playoffs. So
Speaker 1: the Liberty got that spot because they beat the Atlanta Dream.
Speaker 1: So the Liberty got that spot two times in a row.
Speaker 1: They've squeaked in. But you have Sabrina Esque, which you're
Speaker 1: gonna bet money on. You're gonna bet money on that.
Speaker 1: She's going to have a great game, She's gonna have
Speaker 1: a good series. But Nigel Laney, Um, so many players
Speaker 1: on this Liberty team are going to fight till the end.
Speaker 1: But I still don't think they make it past Chicago
Speaker 1: and their experience. Yeah, as you mentioned, Liberty just snuck in.
Speaker 1: They finished at sixteen and twenty. Uh. Doesn't look good
Speaker 1: for them either, in the same way that it doesn't
Speaker 1: look good for Phoenix. But now we get into some
Speaker 1: of these matchups that could potentially be slightly more competitive.
Speaker 1: You have number three Connecticut Sun versus the sixth seed
Speaker 1: the Dallas Wings. The Son had a really good season
Speaker 1: and eleven just a half game behind this guy in
Speaker 1: a game behind the Aces eleven and three. Since the
Speaker 1: All Star break, they're playing their best basketball right now.
Speaker 1: What do you think maybe a potential spoiler somewhere in here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Connecticut Son. I always say this about them. They
Speaker 1: are the bride'smaids, but never the bride. They have wonderful
Speaker 1: regular seasons top top three for the past like four years,
Speaker 1: but they when it gets to the postseason, it gets
Speaker 1: a little shaky. So if I'm yes, and if you're
Speaker 1: the Wings, you want the Connecticut Son. I'm excited for
Speaker 1: this series because the Wings are a team that will
Speaker 1: blow up everyone's bracket. Like they are really good and
Speaker 1: they're peeking at the right time. Without their superstar, Rique
Speaker 1: gomal A, one of the best players in the league,
Speaker 1: is injured right now and she is expected to miss
Speaker 1: the first round. I hate to see it for such
Speaker 1: an awesome player. Plus, don't forget she's just came back
Speaker 1: from that ankle injury. But the Dallas Wings have actually
Speaker 1: been playing better without her, which is very interesting. Usually
Speaker 1: that doesn't happen. Well, so let me let me stop
Speaker 1: you then, because there they were a game under five hundred.
Speaker 1: They finished at seventeen and eighteen. As you mentioned, they
Speaker 1: don't have their top score the best player Rique, She's
Speaker 1: got an abdominal injury and yet You're excited for the
Speaker 1: series and think that the Wings want the Sun. So
Speaker 1: what are the Wings doing to the Sun or what
Speaker 1: do you think the Wings can bring that could potentially
Speaker 1: spell an upset. The Sun are really good inside in
Speaker 1: the paint. Most of their points are right in the middle.
Speaker 1: They have Alyssa thomas Um, they have Bree Jones who
Speaker 1: just clog it up. But the Dallas Wings have Tierra McCowen,
Speaker 1: who is having a breakout season on this new team.
Speaker 1: She was with the Fever before, now she's with Dallas
Speaker 1: and we're really were able to see her blossom into
Speaker 1: this dominant post player that we knew that she could be.
Speaker 1: So they have that matchup in the in the paint,
Speaker 1: it's it's not going to be so easy for them
Speaker 1: where they have John Quo Jones typically you know feasted inside,
Speaker 1: but they have Tierra McCowan to at least be a
Speaker 1: barrier and stop them. They also have Izzie Harrison, who
Speaker 1: is a post player. So I think that matchup in
Speaker 1: the paint is usually where Connecticut's son beats everybody else.
Speaker 1: Dallas has that marked. And then on the outside, Dallas
Speaker 1: has Marina Maybury who's having an incredible season, and it
Speaker 1: is really stepping up while Rique is out and Connecticut
Speaker 1: is a little inconsistent on the outside with their guards.
Speaker 1: I think Heidelman is doing well. Courtney Williams is great,
Speaker 1: but I think Marina Maybrey is gonna drop a thirty
Speaker 1: point game on them, and they're not gonna see it
Speaker 1: coming because they're expecting a Rique to do that, and
Speaker 1: since she's not here, maybe they fall back a little
Speaker 1: bit um and Dallas kind of strikes. That's what I'm
Speaker 1: hoping for. Are you gonna do it? Are you going
Speaker 1: to pick the upset? Oh? Yeah, let's do it. Let's
Speaker 1: do it. Let's do it. Yeah, there we go. You're
Speaker 1: gonna hear first on Sports Illustrator Weekly, Jordan's picking the upset? Alright?
Speaker 1: Last one for you, number four Seattle Storm versus the
Speaker 1: number five Washington Mystics. Uh, they finished with the same record,
Speaker 1: both were fourteen tiebreaker and home court go to the Storm.
Speaker 1: Super even what are we looking for here? Aside from
Speaker 1: farewell to Supper who was like one of the great,
Speaker 1: not just great all time basketball players, but one of
Speaker 1: the great all time athletes. Ever. I can't believe she's retiring.
Speaker 1: I can't believe it either. I'm so old. I'm so old.
Speaker 1: It's it's bizarre. I don't know a w B A
Speaker 1: without super like shea going to college. She has been
Speaker 1: winning at every level for so long. But this has
Speaker 1: been a wonderful farewell tour to her every game, her
Speaker 1: last home game, her last regular season game, like everything
Speaker 1: has really been this. We love you, Sue, we love you.
Speaker 1: Now is the playoffs, and uh, I don't know if
Speaker 1: the Washington Mystics are going to be so so nice
Speaker 1: to you on her farewell tour. But it really helps
Speaker 1: that Sue is on a Seattle Storm team with Brianna
Speaker 1: Stewart and Jue Lloyd and all of these one Tina Charles,
Speaker 1: like all of these really great basketballers. I watched the
Speaker 1: Seattle Storm the other day and I was like, they
Speaker 1: could win it all. Like they're that good. They are
Speaker 1: so good. And when we talk about experience in the postseason,
Speaker 1: this is a core that has won multiple championships together,
Speaker 1: have been to the playoffs almost every season, have been
Speaker 1: to the finals, so they know what it takes. They're like,
Speaker 1: you know, a regular season, Yeah, yeah, we're the fourth seed,
Speaker 1: but we're going to turn up in the playoffs. This
Speaker 1: Washington Mystic team is trying to figure that out. Atlanta
Speaker 1: de Ladon was a part time player during the regular
Speaker 1: season just to save her for this moment um. Natasha
Speaker 1: Cloud is a little bit of a question mark. I
Speaker 1: know she got banged up in the last the last game,
Speaker 1: Zone Philly Zone. Natasha contractually obligated to mention that anytime
Speaker 1: anybody for Philadelphia appears, So yes, very excited for you.
Speaker 1: Got Khalia Copper to North Philly. She's on the Chicago
Speaker 1: skuy so you you'll love her too. But the Washington
Speaker 1: Mystics are close. I don't think this is their year
Speaker 1: to make it past Seattle, but they're close. They're like
Speaker 1: a season or two from winning it again. So it
Speaker 1: sounds to me like you're going with the storm though,
Speaker 1: or are you wavering? I'm going with the storm. I'm
Speaker 1: going with the storm here. Jula Lloyd had thirty eight
Speaker 1: I think in the last game, and every time I
Speaker 1: watched her play basketball, I'm just in awe and she
Speaker 1: is wonderful at the sport, and I think this is
Speaker 1: her time to shine. She wants People have kind of
Speaker 1: only been talking about Sue's farewell tour and not really
Speaker 1: about how good Seattle Storms team is. And I think
Speaker 1: she wants to kind of prove like, yeah, we're good
Speaker 1: and we're gonna we're gonna go far. And you've got
Speaker 1: me excited for that series. You've got me excited for
Speaker 1: these playoffs. You've already mentioned that the finals are gonna
Speaker 1: be chalk, and then you've got the Aces winning. So
Speaker 1: we've covered all that. Less exciting probably for them, maybe
Speaker 1: not for us, are the teams that were eliminated. I
Speaker 1: just want to rattle off a couple here with you
Speaker 1: that did not make the playoffs. The Sparks, Jordan's, the
Speaker 1: Sparks missing back to back postseasons for the first time
Speaker 1: since the first two years as a team, traded away
Speaker 1: their first round pick, Grimm, Grimm and l A. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I was at the last home game last night,
Speaker 1: and um, how did that go? It did not go
Speaker 1: well because you know that Dallas team that I was
Speaker 1: telling you about, Yeah, they beat us by about forty
Speaker 1: It was not good. A friend of mine Jordan's a
Speaker 1: friend of mine went to a game recently and said
Speaker 1: there was no energy in the building. It was kind
Speaker 1: of dead. People are like only the hardcore Sparks fans
Speaker 1: like you go, now, yeah, it's kind of rough. I
Speaker 1: think me and my fiance were there and we were
Speaker 1: looking around and we were like, it isn't Sparks basketball.
Speaker 1: Like it was actually bad basketball. They didn't know what
Speaker 1: they're doing. I've interviewed so many Sparks players this season,
Speaker 1: and it was turnover with coaches and players and egos.
Speaker 1: And you can make all the shots on the court,
Speaker 1: but if everything behind the scenes isn't working out and
Speaker 1: isn't jelling together, then it kind of doesn't matter. And
Speaker 1: that's what's going on with the Sparks right now. It
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like anyone is like, hey, remember when we
Speaker 1: were good. I panned up to the championship banners while
Speaker 1: I was there, and I zoomed in to just remember
Speaker 1: the good times that, like, we were good at one point, right,
Speaker 1: so we got to get back there. We have to
Speaker 1: get back there. I don't know what it's gonna take,
Speaker 1: but this season was pretty awful, Like it was pretty bad.
Speaker 1: How long I mean when you say you don't know
Speaker 1: what it'll take, I mean ball park me Like, like,
Speaker 1: how grim do you think it is? Like when do
Speaker 1: you think they're back in the mix. Are we talking
Speaker 1: about like a full hard reset? Your you know, this
Speaker 1: season was the reset. It was pretty much a whole
Speaker 1: new roster. And then I saw a tweet the other
Speaker 1: day that said, like six players are free agents or
Speaker 1: unrestricted free agents. So will they come back to this
Speaker 1: fire storm? I don't know, are they going to go
Speaker 1: somewhere else? I think we need a new coach. Derek
Speaker 1: Fisher was fired and then we had an interim with
Speaker 1: Fred Williams, I believe, and no one really bought into
Speaker 1: what he was doing because it just seemed like it
Speaker 1: was temporary. So if we come in, have a coach
Speaker 1: come in and say this is our identity, this is
Speaker 1: what we're gonna stand for, this is what we're gonna
Speaker 1: play for. Hey, let's watch some old game film of
Speaker 1: the Lisa Leslie sparks and how packed it was in
Speaker 1: Staples in the forum, Like let's get back to how
Speaker 1: great we can be. Then I think they'll be buy
Speaker 1: in because the players want to play at a high level,
Speaker 1: they want to win, and individually they're all great players.
Speaker 1: They just have to figure out how to jail them together.
Speaker 1: Small small things. I mean, it's just so tiny count
Speaker 1: the organization change. Yeah, one more team that I wanted
Speaker 1: to mention to you that didn't make it. The links
Speaker 1: were eliminated, which means we say goodbye to the great
Speaker 1: Sylvia Fouls a lot of media attention, obviously and rightly so,
Speaker 1: as she's leaving. Highly recommend by the way Ben Pickman
Speaker 1: story on her in s I, Sylvia is a legend.
Speaker 1: She's got a very unique life story which I want
Speaker 1: to touch on with you, but real quick. Uh as
Speaker 1: a basketball player, fifteen year career to w NBA titles,
Speaker 1: two finals, MVPs for Olympic Golds, go on and on
Speaker 1: about total rebounds and field goal percentage and double doubles.
Speaker 1: Member of the WS Anniversary team, just dunked in the
Speaker 1: most recent All Star Game. It put her career in perspective.
Speaker 1: Explain her greatness to people, man Sweet Silk. First of all,
Speaker 1: she is the nicest person I've ever met. Like sweet
Speaker 1: Sill just is the perfect moniker for her because she
Speaker 1: is so nice. But her career is really dominance, like
Speaker 1: pure dominance for a really long time, like a fifteen
Speaker 1: year career. She's still the league leader in rebounding. Her
Speaker 1: last season, she has the all time leader in rebounds.
Speaker 1: And it's so interesting because when you see her play
Speaker 1: even this season, you say, she's still dominant. Why is
Speaker 1: she hanging it up? But she wanted to end on
Speaker 1: this note, and I think as basketball fans we can
Speaker 1: always appreciate that. We didn't want her to go down
Speaker 1: an injury or um she was going to retire in
Speaker 1: when she had a hip surgery, but she don't want
Speaker 1: to go out like that. She wanted to still go
Speaker 1: out as this dominant, most decorated player, and for an
Speaker 1: organization like The Links where she helped, you know, really
Speaker 1: create their dynasty and help with that. But the game
Speaker 1: is going to miss her. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people are going to be able to get more layups
Speaker 1: now that she's not in there blocking and uh, share
Speaker 1: the rebounds somewhere else. But just as fans, you know,
Speaker 1: she plays with such tenacity and energy, but it's also
Speaker 1: super super kind and really nice. We're just gonna miss her.
Speaker 1: We love Sylvia. Foul's here right to the last, as
Speaker 1: you said, still dominant on the boards, still cleaning the glass,
Speaker 1: still burying people, which is appropriate because she's going to
Speaker 1: spend her next phase of her life as a mortician. Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean this is a wild component. Again, I recommend
Speaker 1: people go read Ben Pickman's story, but it's all about
Speaker 1: how she was like into death from an early age
Speaker 1: and she like just decided to have a side hustle
Speaker 1: where she like showed up at a funeral home and
Speaker 1: was like, I'll help you beautify these corpses, and that's
Speaker 1: gonna be her life. It's wild. It's so wild. She
Speaker 1: is probably the most interesting person ever because also she
Speaker 1: like knits, and she like knit everyone a homemade gift.
Speaker 1: On her last home game, while she was receiving all
Speaker 1: these flowers and gifts, she knitted everybody something personal, like
Speaker 1: that's who she is. But also yes, she says that
Speaker 1: people just aren't educated in the mortician area and that
Speaker 1: it's actually great and she loves it. So more about
Speaker 1: to a great retirement plan. Honestly, Wow, I wish her
Speaker 1: the best. She was a delight to watch. I'm excited
Speaker 1: about the playoffs now because we've previewed them with you,
Speaker 1: so we wish you the best as well. Listen to
Speaker 1: Jordan on the Spinsters with Haley, who is also a
Speaker 1: friend of the program, and watch her at w NBA
Speaker 1: commentary on buckets. She's our number one seed and a
Speaker 1: sure fire Hall of Famer. Jordan leggands, thank you for this,
Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for listening everybody, and a reminder to
Speaker 1: please rate and review the show that helps people find us.
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated Weekly is a production of Sports Illustrated and
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Speaker 1: episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly was produced by Jordan Rosieri,
Speaker 1: Jessica Armoski, and Isaac Lee, who was also our sound engineer.
Speaker 1: Our senior producers are Dan Bloom and Harry sward Out.
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Speaker 1: stuck around this long, we leave you with this. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm preparing for people to just show up and be like, oh, well,
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Speaker 1: how me and Jordan are going to show up soon.
Speaker 1: We were invited come to Santa Clarita, come on down.
Speaker 1: All Jordan's are invited for sure.