- 6 weeks ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00:03what's up everybody welcome back to another edition of liberty lately if you're wondering
00:00:07why things look different yes we have a round table dexter henry here and we got some guests
00:00:11to preview the playoffs obviously my great co-host manla kenny is here but let's introduce our guest
00:00:17who are here at the table my guy lucas kaplan fantastic wmba writer you also see his work with
00:00:22nets daily lucas what's up man what up man thank you for having me i was glad to have you
00:00:25here
00:00:26and then another friend of the program he's been on plenty of videos with me here at the new york
00:00:30post it's my guy miles ehrlich fellow brooklyn knight miles what's going on man how you doing
00:00:34great thanks for having me here i'm glad to have you here too fellow great wmba writer as well also
00:00:38you can catch him on pull up podcast with miles and owen shout out to our guy owen out there
00:00:43too
00:00:43he's fantastic and our wonderful my wonderful co-host the great women's sports reporter for
00:00:49me yeah i gotta dap yeah i usually don't dap up maddie when i see her we give each other
00:00:55a hug
00:00:55but i'm gonna dap maddie how's everybody doing good ready to lock in on playoffs four games on
00:01:01sunday it's like one of the best sports days of the year i'm glad you said that are you gonna
00:01:05be
00:01:05watching more wmba we're not watching any nfl nfl week three there we go come on we're all locked
00:01:10i'm watching like my fantasy app just to see like you can have your phone open that's fair
00:01:17i'm gonna be one of the only people here that's more locked into the w playoffs than like the rest
00:01:21of
00:01:21my co-workers here because you know you know some of y'all don't care but we care and madeline
00:01:25will
00:01:25be actually at the game on sunday there so we're here to talk about the liberty and the links in
00:01:31their first round series this is a very interesting one guys when we look at the liberty because they
00:01:36come in here as the eighth seed we were just talking before we started recording how for some
00:01:40fans some media members it's been a little bit disappointing for this team um this season but this
00:01:46is the 18 that took two out of three from the minnesota links this season we are getting a
00:01:51rematch for the 2024 wmb finals here when you look at the fact that they took two out of three
00:01:58and i'm
00:01:58going to ask this to all of you guys and they are the eight seed even though there's seven games
00:02:03you
00:02:03know over 500 and all all that stuff more than that excuse me does this look like an upset that's
00:02:10waiting to happen when we look at this well i guess i'll start with it i think that uh i
00:02:16wanted
00:02:17to rattle off some numbers because i saw a great tweet this morning from jack maloney from cbs
00:02:20that there are only seven games separating that one and eight seed and that's the lowest number since
00:02:27the playoffs expanded in 2016 and that's they used to play 34 games so now they're playing 44 and still
00:02:33that gap is tighter um last year the docs were 23 and 21 as an eight seed that was the
00:02:38first year in
00:02:38that stretch where the eight seed was over 500 and this liberty team is eight games over 500 new york
00:02:44is seven games back of that one seed they're nine games ahead of portland out at the nine seed so
00:02:49like
00:02:49that gap is tighter for all these playoff teams and that's just to say that like there's more parity
00:02:54than we have ever seen in the wmba and first things first that's just a win that's a win for
00:02:59the league
00:03:00because there was so much talk about are we expanding too fast is there enough talent to what all that
00:03:05all of that's been put to bed and that's what makes this i think all these series are winnable
00:03:10for any of these teams because they've separated so much from the rest of the league it's probably
00:03:14the first time we can say this as fans and people cover the w that we can say that and
00:03:18maybe to some
00:03:19degree i'll ask you this lucas you know i want to hear what maddie has to say too the if
00:03:23you're just
00:03:23looking at the record if you don't take in the nuance that miles just pointed out there when you
00:03:28just look at the record does it tell you a little bit more that this could be a upset and
00:03:33i've got air
00:03:33quotes for those listening sure because it is nearly a 600 winning percentage team that's not
00:03:39to say the season hasn't been underwhelming but this is a legitimately good wmba team there's no
00:03:46two ways about it the links have been great for most of the season and i'm not a voter i
00:03:51know maddie
00:03:51is brianna stewart gonna finish second in mvp voting maybe she was second on my ballot the eighth
00:03:57seed is gonna have the second best player in the league olympia miles is great he's awesome i would
00:04:02say the liberty of the best player in the series that is not a normal eight seed this is a
00:04:05good
00:04:06team and it would be a big upset it would be or it'd be a legitimate upset i shouldn't say
00:04:11big but
00:04:12it's a really good team i think it would actually be a historic upset because the number one seed
00:04:17like at least since it's expanded but like they've never lost the first round so it'd be like historic
00:04:22in that sense but it also wouldn't be surprising i guess just knowing how these teams match up and
00:04:28knowing how the liberty have played now am i picking the liberty i'm sure we're gonna get
00:04:32to predictions later so i i won't tell you what i feel yet but i do think something that also
00:04:37makes
00:04:37it really interesting is the one one one format because that doesn't really allow a team the
00:04:41opportunity to settle in and play the whole like chess match that we see in longer series and so it's
00:04:47gonna you know game one might just determine who's gonna win the series and we'll get to game one in
00:04:53a
00:04:53second what if you're trying to give somebody hope because i feel like you guys have given a little bit
00:04:57of
00:04:57hope to people here what's the strongest reason to believe that the liberty can win this series and
00:05:03pull off the upset i'll start with you maddie brianna stewart i mean come on that's a good answer
00:05:07yeah all season i mean we've seen how she's been doing or how she's played and even ever since the
00:05:12world cup like this whole month you know she leads team usa to the their fifth consecutive world cup
00:05:17gold medal she comes back she's firing all cylinders i mean she's been incredible all season and so i
00:05:23think that just having her on your team gives you an edge and she also plays with this this edge
00:05:29that
00:05:29a lot of players say when you're in the locker room with her you want to win for her because
00:05:33of
00:05:33just the energy that she brings as she is a winner is that the strongest reason for you guys going
00:05:38to
00:05:38the series that the liberty could pull off the upset definitely mixed with the fact that minnesota
00:05:43has probably had their roughest stretch of the season leading into the playoffs you know historically the
00:05:49full season sample matters a little bit more than just the recent run of play this is still
00:05:54plus nine net rating team they won 33 games 32 games so this is a great team but it's hard
00:06:01not to
00:06:01consider the fact that they've lost four their last six the liberty beat them last friday that is another
00:06:07reason to have a little bit of confidence yeah it is what about you boss i mean i'm circling back
00:06:11to
00:06:11just the brianna stewart of it all that's that really is you have a top two top three whatever player
00:06:17in
00:06:17the world uh playing some of her best basketball that we've seen in new york since that first year
00:06:21when she was here and won the mvp her 20.8 points per game is the highest since that 2023
00:06:26mark her field
00:06:27goal percentage is the highest it's been since her rookie year and what i've been really encouraged by
00:06:32is that yes last three years her three point percentage has dipped in these four games the
00:06:37three that she played since this break she's shooting 88 of her shots from two so she knows what
00:06:43she's got to do for this team to be at their best and for her to be at her best
00:06:47and she's coming back
00:06:48and she's averaging 26 points 10.7 rebounds in those three games including a great game against
00:06:53the links right out of the break so she's playing very very good basketball now on top of that just
00:06:58being the most the only consistent thing maybe on this roster this season yeah you know i think it's
00:07:03hard to say that she's not been the only consistent thing on the roster this season and then lucas you
00:07:07just mentioned which is i think a lot of what we do when we look at playoff series right guys
00:07:11we're
00:07:11going to look at the recent form we're also going to look at health um as well too those are
00:07:15factors
00:07:16and then you know how teams finish the season now some people may be underwhelmed with the way the
00:07:20liberty finished losing their last two games to the dream but i kind of want to start with health
00:07:24first because we talked about this the other night maddie you got brianna stewart you've got
00:07:27jonkel jones had a little bit of an ankle knock with jj there are what are you hearing about that
00:07:33do
00:07:33you think they both will be good to go for game one yeah my understanding is that you should expect
00:07:38them
00:07:38to play i mean they're going to play whether they're banged up and whatever the situation is
00:07:42it's it's that time of year that you just kind of have to put your body on the line and
00:07:45kind of grind
00:07:46it out um play through some uncomfortableness uh jj she rolled her ankle uh in the last game missed the
00:07:53final like whole fourth quarter and some of the third and everyone after the game said that she was
00:07:58in high spirits spirits and was all right you know sabrina unescu all but said that jj and brianna
00:08:05stewart will play and last year brianna stewart played on a sprained mcl so i wouldn't you know
00:08:10expect her not to play um when she's dealing with some knee soreness i think that that was
00:08:15just looking at the situation knowing that there's no way they could jump all the way to fourth and
00:08:21secure home court advantage you want to give your star player an extra night to rest because she's not
00:08:25feeling her greatest then make sense in that sense especially when we just talked about how much
00:08:29how valuable she is to this team and maybe been the only consistent thing miles when i ask you this
00:08:34let's
00:08:34talk about another miles olivia miles here uh she has also been dealing with injury and cheryl reeve
00:08:41and company with the links they've been cautious with her she didn't play the last couple of games
00:08:45how do you think how if she's not able to be full strength how much will that impact minnesota's
00:08:50offense so i reached out to a couple of people on the links beat because i was we only can
00:08:55hear so
00:08:56much when we're here and both of them that i spoke to were pretty confident that she's going to be
00:09:00good
00:09:00to go this is precautionary and just kind of making sure that she is right if she's limited though
00:09:04that does that does change a lot of the math and i think that we saw the the blueprint for
00:09:10how the
00:09:10liberty could find success in that first game out of the break with how much pressure they were putting
00:09:15on her in the backcourt and and just kind of playing tag team with different bodies that they could throw
00:09:20at her and if there's this calf injury that is she's laboring a little bit and nursing even if she's
00:09:26good enough to go you want to make her uncomfortable and you want to make sure that she's not able
00:09:30to get to
00:09:30the rim as easily because she finishes there but that's also that generates so much of their
00:09:35offense it's just her ability to drive and kick and kind of the liberty would have to be playing
00:09:40behind and in those gaps a lot more so it could change the math but i think i'm confident she's
00:09:44going to go and that this is more about gamesmanship than it is about injury trying to just kind of
00:09:51get
00:09:51to the games that matter in as good a shape as you can after a long season right we all
00:09:55want to see
00:09:55these ladies at their best and healthiest on the court it's the time of year where everybody's a
00:10:00little bit banged up so you're going to have some of that in terms of form lucas the liberty they
00:10:06came to this one they lost their last two i don't know how much you want to take out of
00:10:09the last one
00:10:09because of what maddie said wits do we not playing in that one but was there any cause for concern
00:10:15for
00:10:15you with the way the liberty played in the last two games of the regular season i don't think there
00:10:19was
00:10:19a ton of cause for concern they kept atlanta mostly off the offensive glass which atlanta is a great
00:10:25rebounding team the liberty have been a great rebounding team this year that's a pretty good
00:10:29sign going into the playoffs the one thing that is maybe a yellow flag is that their offense got
00:10:35really stagnant especially in that second game where if they couldn't find something out of their
00:10:42first action stalled pass back to the top of the key what are we running sabrina yanescu trying to
00:10:48create late clock you know five seconds on the shot clock not finding anything good part of that
00:10:53and i'm sure we'll talk about it is sabrina struggling but it just felt like atlanta
00:10:57especially in that last game was able to take away what they wanted to do and the liberty didn't
00:11:01necessarily have a counter punch do you want to read a lot into that without stewie i'll read a
00:11:07little bit into it but overall i felt like their win in minnesota coming out of the break
00:11:13is more of a cause for optimism than the atlanta losses were cause for pessimism that's that's fair
00:11:18there and i want to go back to health guys because we talk about stew we all think stewie's going
00:11:23to
00:11:23play jj is going to play olivia miles is going to play as you said from what you're hearing all
00:11:28indications are to that but let's say one of those three women is limited in what they could provide
00:11:34on the court who do you think that can impact more the liberty or would it be minnesota being
00:11:41impacted more by olivia miles being limited or would the liberty be more impacted by the fact that
00:11:46either jj or brianna stewart are limited i think it depends on who's limited because like olivia is
00:11:52the engine of that entire offense like without her um you know you're gonna have to see more of like
00:11:57courtney williams facilitating and and maybe you get nafisa collier a little bit more involved in what
00:12:02she was uh the first game out of the break um and so i think that that'll impact what they
00:12:08look like
00:12:09offensively and then for the liberty i mean if it's brianna stewart she's your everything so if she's
00:12:14limited in some capacity or she's not playing you know she's on a minute's restriction or something
00:12:19that can change a lot because the liberty are so much better when brianna stewart's out there than
00:12:23when she's off and jj too i mean she she means so much this team and the the front court
00:12:29death with
00:12:29the liberty too is not as deep and i think with the playoffs the rotation's going to get even tighter
00:12:34and you're gonna uh i just i don't know who's gonna step in if jj is limited and can't play
00:12:41a lot of
00:12:41minutes yeah if it are you guys in the same boat with that that you might you trust what minnesota
00:12:46has a little bit more if olivia miles is in full strength than what the liberty have to back up
00:12:51jj
00:12:51and stewie because i agree with maddie on that i think it's a good point yeah i i 100 agree
00:12:56with
00:12:56that and the core of this minnesota team has pre-existed olivia miles getting there so there is
00:13:01some familiarity at what to do with that uh rest of that rotation if you are then playing through fee
00:13:06a
00:13:06lot more than they've had to this season since her return brianna stewart hasn't played in two games
00:13:11this season one was the other night against atlanta and then the other one was the second half of
00:13:16back-to-back against seattle where the storm got one of their eight wins of the entire season
00:13:19so that is how impactful brianna stewart is to this team i feel like this is a i don't know
00:13:25like
00:13:25a multiple choice test and i'm just going to circle stewie every single time every question it's like
00:13:29what's the most important thing and it's brianna stewart and this is one of the advantages that they
00:13:33have though is that new york's front court is is where they can really uh find some ways to beat
00:13:40minnesota
00:13:40so if you're taking either of them out of the lineup i i have some concerns about their their
00:13:47backup post depth um and how much you can lean on han uh mostly on the defensive end against a
00:13:53team
00:13:53that's as athletic as the front court as as minnesota has so you're gonna need not just stewie and jj
00:14:00to
00:14:00be playing you're gonna need them to play heavy minutes if you have any chance at this upset john
00:14:05quell one of her best defensive games of the season was that win over minnesota about a week
00:14:10ago that was a huge reason so i agree you know stewie is the fulcrum of this team but john
00:14:16quell
00:14:16being limited based on what we've just seen against minnesota would be huge it would be huge let me stick
00:14:21with you lucas because you're the film guru here thank you so yeah we're gonna put some respect
00:14:25i'm gonna call you the film guru here yeah what do they know what do they know they don't know
00:14:33let's go back to that friday win after after the fever break over the links was there something in
00:14:40that game that stood out to you was it one maybe one possession on offense maybe a defense that you
00:14:46really liked from liberty was there something that stood out to you that said hey this is repeatable
00:14:49this can work in this series i think the most sustainable aspect you would hope would be their
00:14:55pick and roll defense on olivia miles so if you start with leone febish guarding olivia leo is one
00:15:01of the best perimeter defenders in the league it gives you a real viable chance to switch
00:15:07pick and rolls between olivia and afisa collier because stewie guarding fee leo and stewie are 264
00:15:14rangy can guard all over the court that is a counter to that two-man action that most teams don't
00:15:20have
00:15:20and on top of that with john quail jones guarding natasha howard mostly jj was great in drop coverage
00:15:27olivia miles had a couple finishes around her but really struggled to attack getting downhill and
00:15:33finishing over jj who when she's locked in 6-5 good instincts long arms good rebounder so theoretically
00:15:40the liberty do have more to slow olivia miles in the pick and roll than probably any other team in
00:15:46the
00:15:46league and on that friday win they actually put it together and that's to say nothing of pauline
00:15:52astia rebecca gardner off the bench just coming in to annoy the hell out of olivia picking up 94 feet
00:15:59but liberty have some real defensive options on her so that's the thing and maddie and i've talked all
00:16:04season long about the liberty's defense particularly stopping the point of attack the concerns with that
00:16:08there but i kind of want to ask miles this because if you're cheryl reeve and you're looking at that
00:16:13friday game and you saw some of the bodies that the liberty were able to throw the length of the
00:16:18size able to throw on olivia miles you obviously want to stop her as maddie said being the engine of
00:16:22this offense what's your counter to that and are you trusting your supporting players whether that be
00:16:28courtney williams others to really step up for you here what's your counter to what the liberty can
00:16:33throw at you to try to slow down olivia miles so if i were being pessimistic from a liberty point
00:16:38of
00:16:38view you might have burned your best tape in the regular season right before a playoff series here
00:16:44because olivia miles is a rookie and looked like a rookie in that game there were some uncharacteristic
00:16:49misses early that seemed like they got into her head and she stopped trusting her teammates as much
00:16:55as we're used to seeing she stopped trying to to drive and kick out she was trying to in that
00:17:01second
00:17:01half get to the rim every single time to make up for just how poorly she had played in that
00:17:06first half
00:17:06and that really helped new york that loss of composure is not something that we've seen from her often
00:17:10this year but there are so many weapons on this team so if instead of trying to get that highlight
00:17:15on one instead she's finding kayla mcbride open on the wing who also missed a couple of threes and i
00:17:20have never seen her miss an open three before and she missed several in that game but or you're finding
00:17:26fee who's so good at just kind of uh if that help is coming because the liberty brought a lot
00:17:31of help
00:17:31defense to the rim finding her in those gaps that's big natasha howard is also one of the best rollers
00:17:37in the league so if they can instead of putting jj into a drop coverage because natasha's not shooting
00:17:44threes the way that she used to earlier in a career if they know that that's coming they can make
00:17:48adjustments off of that i think it's really just trusting the depth of this personnel and it might
00:17:53come back to bite the liberty that they played so well that first game out of the break that ended
00:17:57up
00:17:57meaning nothing at the end of it yeah like you said they might have showed their hand a little
00:18:02bit too early showed the tape a little too early it will be interesting um to see what they do
00:18:07there
00:18:07when you look at this maddie you look at the team you've been around the team all year obviously how
00:18:12confident are you that they could play the level of offensive efficiency that we saw from them
00:18:16in that last matchup against the links how confident am i i think this team has been so
00:18:23consistently inconsistent but it's hard to like really strum up confidence that this
00:18:26you know exactly what version of this team is going to come out to play game one but i do
00:18:31think
00:18:31that you know if brianna and sabrina collectively have been have played some of their best games
00:18:38against the links and so i think you can lean on that confidence and um again if sabrina can get
00:18:43going
00:18:44and it's been a really rough year for her she uh isn't really moving the best she's been dealing with
00:18:49a back issue that's like hampered her ability to get going i mean even some like she's been a little
00:18:54bit
00:18:54more turnover prone it seems like just making some of those like rush passes that somebody's already
00:19:00in the passing lane ready to steal the ball and go for a quick fast break opportunity and so i
00:19:05think
00:19:06it's just going to come down to really not getting flustered when option a go you know gets blown up
00:19:14and
00:19:14you can't go for that and really like stick to what you guys are trying to do and um so
00:19:19i think it's
00:19:20possible it's just i'm a little um what's the word i'm looking for a little weary weary yeah about how
00:19:28it just depends on which version of this team is going to show up in minnesota i knew maddie was
00:19:32going to be weary anytime i asked maddie a question she has that pause with a little smile i'm like
00:19:36she's
00:19:36like get some she's worth it understood it's fair for fair cause you have to be weary maddie just brought
00:19:42up sad lucas um she struggled all season she's been dealing with dealing with the back issue
00:19:48you know at times for me she still looked really tentative offensively and then you mentioned
00:19:52even in the couple games against atlanta how we saw her in late shot clock situations where still
00:19:57the ball in the hand it didn't look very decisive or was getting up quality shots
00:20:02how do you think she should approach this series knowing that this season has been a struggle for
00:20:06her if she's if her shot's taken away she can't get it off right should she be trying to be
00:20:11more of
00:20:12a facilitator it's kind of not really been her game but how should she approach this series no i agree
00:20:17it
00:20:17should be more of her game sabrina is going to get late clock opportunities she just is the ball
00:20:22is going to find her she's made too many clutch shots she's made all wmba teams she'll have her
00:20:27opportunities to go get a bucket but really the focus needs to be on getting to two feet in the
00:20:34paint
00:20:34hitting shooters she's always been a good defensive rebounding guard and the liberty have been able to
00:20:40get out in transition against minnesota all three games in the regular season i think sabrina's
00:20:44going to have opportunities to get on the glass outlet passes she's a good passer in the open court
00:20:49but you don't want to see her shoot her way out of it now the defining quality perhaps of sabrina
00:20:58and escu is that she thinks the next one's going in and it's made her great it's also led her
00:21:03to
00:21:03maybe go one of 19 in a finals game so if she can strike that balance between trusting that the
00:21:10ball will
00:21:11come back to her eventually i would like to see her maybe i don't know have a pet game with
00:21:16the
00:21:16staff can you get 10 assists tonight can you get eight assists in the first half so i agree with
00:21:21the premise of your question like facilitation facilitation i think that'll lead to easier looks
00:21:26for her yeah it'll be interesting to see what the adjustment is especially if the shot's not there
00:21:30that that is interesting to me maddie i want to ask you about jj because you and i have talked
00:21:33about
00:21:34her all season long and where she gets the ball and how she should look in the offense what where
00:21:41do you think in this series how should chris demarco use her play her position her on the court
00:21:47how should a good offensive series look for jj i think she's like a healthy diet you don't want to
00:21:52just have her chucking up threes all the time i think that they really need to utilize her and getting
00:21:56like paint touches just to kind of open some things up and she's really aggressive she's a good scorer inside
00:22:01um i i i think that she could be really key into getting things going and especially when it comes
00:22:09to just sometimes you have to manufacture offense we hear that word a lot and usually it's breanna
00:22:14stewart's the one doing that and getting to the free throw line when things aren't clicking and
00:22:18there's been so many throughout the course this season just lulls where they're generating good looks
00:22:23but the shots aren't falling and so i think that's kind of where jj getting inside can help when when
00:22:28the
00:22:28three-point shot isn't isn't there yeah i i agree and then you also mentioned the fact stewie again
00:22:34everybody's mentioned about her being so much part of the offense and miles is where i'm going to go
00:22:37with you she is going to be the focal part of part of the offense she is the person who's
00:22:43been the
00:22:43engine for the liberty but what if that isn't working for her how do they make sure they continuously
00:22:48get stewie quality shots and not tougher shots which is what the links are going to want to see her
00:22:53do
00:22:53it's a combination of what you guys have both said it's that they need to get her the ball early
00:22:58and i think that's a lot of being opportunistic in the open court don't let minnesota's defense get
00:23:02set nafisa collier is one of the best vertical defenders in the wnba so you don't want to get
00:23:08into a one-on-one game where the two of them are just you know two heavyweights they're just slugging
00:23:13it out for 40 minutes back and forth uh and i think that's something that brianna stewart has done so
00:23:17well
00:23:18in recent games but also throughout the season is just putting the ball on the ground getting to the rim
00:23:23and now the short jumper is starting to fall we saw a stretch where that wasn't happening
00:23:27um there was that stretch in the middle of the season where she was hitting threes she has hit
00:23:31six of her ten threes against minnesota which i know is a very small sample but there's something
00:23:35to be said about this rivalry and these teams having just a little bit more juice than you normally would
00:23:39have uh and it's good for her to see some shots fall early but going into this into this series
00:23:46i mean
00:23:46she has she hit 5.8 free throws a game which is a career high for her this year so
00:23:52playoff intensity we're
00:23:53going to see what the whistle looks like um because sometimes that'll get tighter sometimes the game
00:23:58will just be more physical and like we don't want to foul out all your best players um but seeing
00:24:03the
00:24:03intentionality there with her not to settle for too many mid-range jumpers not too many turnarounds
00:24:10not too much on the perimeter and i think that comes with starting early and getting her the ball on
00:24:15the move because when she's on the move and has a player on her hip she's one of the best
00:24:19to do it
00:24:20yeah and is going to likely finish either at the rim or get herself a really quality mid-range shot
00:24:25if that's there we're always going to talk about stars but i would like to talk about some of these
00:24:29supporting players here with the liberty because as we know covering sports a lot of times supporting
00:24:34players they can swing a series right it's not just the stars we give a lot of focus to when
00:24:39you look
00:24:39at this liberty supporting cast right i'm going to take out the core starting four guys for folks
00:24:44watching the part of starting five the core forward and starting five we're going to take them out
00:24:48but if you look at you know pauline astier who's a rookie who's shown a lot of promise rebecca
00:24:53gardner rebecca allen of those those roles of those names han ju will throw in there as well too
00:25:00which one of those players do you think could help swing this series or change a swing a quarter it
00:25:05could be a quarter it could be a game who which one of those group of players or the supporting
00:25:10players you think could impact this series in a major way this is for everybody so i want to hear
00:25:13what
00:25:13everybody thinks on it i feel like lucas hasn't talked all right let's do it okay well lucas
00:25:18maddie cared about you that's very nice after i after i insulted her
00:25:24you know pauline astier i think deserves to make an all-rookie team uh the box score numbers haven't
00:25:30been gaudy you know she's not averaging 18 and 10 but is undoubtedly one of the best finishers in the
00:25:38league the liberty have lacked paint pressure for a long time like guards that can get north to south
00:25:44and pauline came in this year as a rookie couldn't just do it one of the best finishers in the
00:25:49league
00:25:49shooting over 60 at the rim and scored 10 points in that fourth quarter when the liberty won in
00:25:57minnesota so her ability to get to the rim is i think pretty ironclad the scouting reports been out
00:26:03on her defenses know what she's trying to do and she can still do it uh i want to give
00:26:08a lot of credit to
00:26:09beck gardner beck allen off the bench demarco's kind of settled into this rhythm of substitution
00:26:13patterns but it's tough to make up for what pauline astier does something that really no other player
00:26:21on liberty can do and that's not a slight to them but she's really had a very unique promising season
00:26:28as you said yeah i could see her she could be a game changer for sure in the series what
00:26:31do you guys
00:26:32say i mean i'm gonna piggyback on that and say that pauline and has had a great season should be
00:26:37all rookie she's been terrific but also we're seeing her hesitate less on those open three
00:26:43opportunities when when teams are going under on her in these four games again small sample since
00:26:48the break but that confidence is big and because everyone knows what she wants to do everyone knows
00:26:54that she wants to get to the rim uh so her shooting 65 of the rim as a rookie guard
00:26:59has never been done
00:27:00before nba wnba and that's how impressive she's been and to come in to a team that has all these
00:27:05stars
00:27:06and make that impact from you know from day one because they needed to is huge uh but marine johannes
00:27:13i think is someone who can get hot and in a flurry and they're going to there's going to be
00:27:18a marine
00:27:18quarter during this series there has to be there has to be they need that and then the other name
00:27:22is rebecca allen who i don't know where the numbers ended up finishing but in the last 16 games or
00:27:27so
00:27:27she basically shot 50 from three and that is something that off the bench you've got a long rangy defender
00:27:33that has made her entire reputation as a pro being how impactful she was defensively and then
00:27:41has kind of continued to grow her game as a shooter and for new york has been the most reliable
00:27:46outside
00:27:46shooter that they've had for most of this year outside of perhaps jj so i think that that's a big
00:27:52thing um for them when they need depth but that's what we saw against atlanta is that the depth just
00:27:57didn't show up for them so they're going to need a big time in this series that's how they got
00:28:01that
00:28:01win against minnesota last week um so it's really kind of an all hands on deck situation for however
00:28:06large the rotation gets yeah i like i like the fact you even mentioned marine uh too you know we
00:28:10all
00:28:10know she can get hot she can have a quarter she can have some crazy shots couple one-legged shots
00:28:15that we can see too who are you going who are you going with for your uh well i just
00:28:19want i'm going to
00:28:20piggyback off both of you guys because you guys already mentioned it's a lot of piggyback we didn't
00:28:24leave you a lot of choices yeah yeah we also picked everybody's yeah yeah yeah i mean i'm not
00:28:28gonna throw rakel in on this right now but i thought you were gonna go with your girl hanju
00:28:33hanju i i think han my biggest concern with han is always on the defensive end i think she can
00:28:40get
00:28:40you some buckets offensively and she's not really much of a facilitator or passer uh which also maybe
00:28:46a little bit of a knock on her but um han you know if she can hit timely shots that's
00:28:52going to be
00:28:52huge for for them um hopefully defensively i just want to see her like in the right position
00:28:57like she has such long arms and just want her to like use them um more you know getting rebounds
00:29:03walking shots all of that but when it comes to marine i think it was in minnesota this last game
00:29:08she scored like 10 on and 10 of 10 straight points for liberty um and it was kind of that
00:29:13like they
00:29:14needed somebody to to get get points and that's exactly what she did so if marine can have those
00:29:20stretches and it's not going to be like that every game you know she she can be very streaky it's
00:29:25what you you love about marine is when she's hot she's so incredibly fun to watch and when she's cold
00:29:31it can be really difficult to watch sometimes but but i think like good marine stretches um making sure
00:29:38chris is like playing her um you know when when she is hot like letting her have that like longer
00:29:44leash
00:29:45and then when things start to cool off i thought he did a really good job in that last minnesota
00:29:49game of
00:29:49knowing when it was time to take marine off the floor um so i think marine's extremely important
00:29:54they've already said everything to say about pauline i think she's incredibly important and
00:29:58then both becks too i think you know beck gardner specifically she took time on 11 miles at time and
00:30:03she can kind of just bring that defensive spark at times and can make some back back door cut layups
00:30:09you know um and i think beck allen three-point hitting timely threes is going to be huge in this
00:30:15type of matchup especially um you got to find your times on how to weather the storms when the
00:30:20starters are resting the one the one thing i would just add that i think chris mark has done a
00:30:24good
00:30:24job of this year when marine's in the game they're running stuff for her when marine's in the game the
00:30:28ball's in her hands she has opportunities to take shots so that is a little bit of a source of
00:30:34confidence in her like impacting the series for me yeah and you've seen the confidence and if i can take
00:30:39over the show for a second what do we think what do we think this rotation looks like because that
00:30:46i'm not sure he he hasn't really shrunk it down or on there just hasn't been time because you're
00:30:50trying to re-acclimate after this break how small does it go and who doesn't get those minutes unless
00:30:55he's searching so i think that he settled into post-fiva break a quick beck and beck substitution
00:31:02kind of a facsimile of those depth and length wing lineups from liberty yore uh so those would be
00:31:10like the six and seven rotation players marine is going to get opportunities and then really where
00:31:16it shrinks i think is are you going with han that's that was a question for me or is stewie
00:31:21playing
00:31:21essentially the backup five and you get allen gardner leo out there and you're switching everything
00:31:27what i would say to that though is i wonder how much concern you have about stress is putting on
00:31:33stewie if we're all talking about how important she is to the offense and even if you're not able
00:31:37to give her a blow and have her playing some back of five minutes does that put more stress on
00:31:40her
00:31:40when you're trying to ask her to get buckets when you need it or is it just i mean when
00:31:45people were
00:31:46even suggesting that she might need to rest after the fiva break she was annoyed that that was
00:31:51given a conversation um you know and so i i don't necessarily worry about like i i think that
00:31:58burnout is something to be concerned about to a certain degree but i also think when the playoffs
00:32:02come like brianna's just going to play on another level that engine is not going to run empty and
00:32:08she's going to find a way like she's going to will them to these wins as much as to the
00:32:12best of her
00:32:13capabilities and put the whole team on her back if she has to do that and she played 38 minutes
00:32:17in
00:32:17that first game out of the fever break when she was supposed to be taking it easy that's how important
00:32:21those and i really think that she could be playing like upper 30s easily and that might be to take
00:32:27your show showing your cards and showing the tape that might be some of it too you saw that in
00:32:31the
00:32:31first game out the break and she played 38 minutes and that's just got a test of what you might
00:32:35have
00:32:35to see in the series the time to lighten her load was may june and july and miles said it
00:32:41they lost to
00:32:41the storm without her so that is a knock on their season it's maybe a hair in the soup of
00:32:47their 26 win
00:32:48record but they missed their chance to lighten her load it's like it's go time now and i think it
00:32:53might be an eight and a half player rotation where we see a couple of first half minutes from han
00:32:58and
00:32:59then students got to go the whole way and then be i think that's the most likely rotation i think
00:33:04also
00:33:04it depends on like what han does in those minutes right like if she is playing really well then maybe
00:33:09you trust her a little bit more in the second half but if it's just yeah i could totally see
00:33:14them
00:33:14just running with branda for the last 20 minutes yeah and if not yeah so you either steal some
00:33:19great minutes out of han or you steal some rest minutes for stewie in the first half i can see
00:33:23that i love that we're talking about coaching strategy because all this stuff comes down to
00:33:26and it's also when we get to close games folks that is going to matter so much as well too
00:33:30miles
00:33:30when you look at this just in totality because we talked a little bit about the last game that the
00:33:35liberty played against the links but if you're cheryl reeve and looking at from the other side
00:33:39what is what's the adjustment you're trying to make based on what you've seen from the three games
00:33:43with liberty won two out of them this season so the liberty made 12 threes per game in these
00:33:48matchups and that is that's a lot that that also for a team that rebounds as well as this liberty
00:33:55team
00:33:55has become at they've become a really adept offensive rebounding team that was not true
00:34:00early in the season but if you're getting up these threes you're also getting all these long rebounds
00:34:04these second chance opportunities that's something that minnesota is going to need to clean up they're
00:34:09going to need to because that's been their calling card these last few years is they're playing
00:34:12somewhat undersized but they're rotating they're pre-rotating you know jj gets the ball in the
00:34:16paint and there are two bodies there new york's done a good job of not just having their players settle
00:34:21for what those interior looks are if there's a crowd so i think that's where we're going to mostly need
00:34:26to see them uh minnesota new york averaged 10.23s a game so 12 is ahead of that pace but
00:34:33minnesota's
00:34:34going to need to clean that up and they're going to need new york to be one and done as
00:34:37much as possible
00:34:38that's good that's what they're going to need we talked about rotations but one of the things i
00:34:44think i always look at in postseason basketball is closing lineups who who are coaches willing to
00:34:48close with lucas if you're the liberty what's the closing what do you think is the best closing five
00:34:54for them against this link team you got to trust the starters um there can be things that happen
00:35:00throughout the course of the game that maybe forced demarco to go in a different direction but
00:35:05we're just taking the bird's eye view right now their starting lineup is their best lineup uh if
00:35:10john quell is in foul trouble strong possibility if the ankle is bothering her you probably think
00:35:18stewie at the five and either beck gardner or beck allen whoever is playing better to maybe get some
00:35:24switchability some defense but right now you trust i think their starters the most and i i mean i'd be
00:35:30surprised if you guys have different answers honestly no yeah i i think the obviously without
00:35:35the injury bug caveat and if you're trying to defend up a possession late then i think that you
00:35:41do the the switchability lineup and one of the backs are in there probably for sab because sabrina has
00:35:47struggled defensively all year long all right that's that's the situation maybe if you need a
00:35:51defensive sub in there this this is what you might do back to coaching maddie because there's been so
00:35:57much talk about chris marco in his first year as coach and the job he's done and we talked about
00:36:02the parody and all the w but what does a good first playoff series look like for him in terms
00:36:06of how he
00:36:07handles rotations what closing lineups he decides to go to what do you see for him as a good first
00:36:12playoff series for him coaching this liberty team i mean he's coaching against one of the best wnba
00:36:16coaches so this is the true yeah yeah this is a true test for him like cheryl is the winningest
00:36:22coach
00:36:22uh and for good reason she's won multiple wnba finals um and the links team also not to like
00:36:30sidetrack for a second feels a little bit like this team of i'm between either the valkyries or the links
00:36:36as the team of destiny this season just in terms of like who's going to win this title because it
00:36:41feels like the links have been knocking on the door they've been the best regular season team and
00:36:45then playoffs come and then things don't go their way and they're they go home with heartbreak and the
00:36:50valkyries i mean i feel like they're a little bit of a team of destiny just because they're the
00:36:53number two team and um everyone is going more of an offensive focus they're leaning in on their
00:37:00defense and it's paid off for them and they're trying to win a championship of their first five
00:37:04years when it comes to demarco specifically though to take it back to your question i i think that
00:37:09success obviously comes in the form of winning um and getting this team out of the first round that's
00:37:15the most obvious thing but i think it's also just managing uh your timeouts knowing when to uh
00:37:23let jj play through some foul trouble if if necessary um knowing when to use the the spark
00:37:31plug with like a back and back and knowing when to go back to your starters um knowing when marine
00:37:37is
00:37:37time to be pulled and like when she is allowed to have longer runway and so i think that for
00:37:42him it's
00:37:43going to be um and then also the chess mass of the chess match of adjusting if game one doesn't
00:37:49go
00:37:49your way and you lose you're gonna have to make some severe game two adjustments because you're
00:37:53going to be facing a do or die situation in front of your fans and um there's a lot of
00:37:58pressure on him
00:37:59right now there's a lot of uh sour feelings about what happened last year the fact that they lost in
00:38:04the first round and if the liberty uh only two years removed have back from winning a championship have
00:38:10back-to-back first round exits there's going to be a lot of questions with this this team um beyond
00:38:16chris i mean even just when you look at the roster are there questions about you know the big three
00:38:21so
00:38:22yeah if they lose in the first round i feel like we're going to be doing another round table here
00:38:25with a lot a lot of a lot of questions and it's good we have a round table i like
00:38:29that we have a round
00:38:29table too you know what you know what i'm glad you mentioned that because sometimes people do round
00:38:33tables they don't have an actual round table but we have a round table so there we go um you
00:38:39just brought up
00:38:39maddie the possibility of losing and we talked about the 1-1-1 format here in the first round
00:38:47this is for everyone is there an extra sense of urgency with this format for the liberty to win
00:38:53this first game on the road so they have a chance to potentially close it out back at the barclays
00:38:57do
00:38:57you look at this as game one is a must win for this liberty team for for sure yeah you
00:39:03have to set
00:39:03that tone and if you uh i i just this team hasn't really dealt with pressure very well this season
00:39:10um and i just think that yeah you really have to set that tone you have to steal one on
00:39:15minnesota
00:39:15because then if you come back and win in front of your home crowd now they did that last year
00:39:19in phoenix
00:39:19and then they came and got embarrassed and then obviously lost even though stewie gave it her all
00:39:26playing on one knee but i think that yeah you really got to steal game one to feel good about
00:39:32heading back home yeah whoever wins game one is probably the overwhelming favorite to go on to
00:39:38win the series you know it's not impossible by any means but think about a seven game series
00:39:43you're starting on game five it's a lot of pressure right that's basically how it is right we can't
00:39:49just have consensus for everything and so be a contrarian miles be a contrarian go ahead what's funny
00:39:55is that we asked leo about this at a scrum the other day and leo said that the most important
00:39:59game is game one um i just think with this one one format this liberty team might need to be
00:40:06pushed
00:40:06because what happened last year is they went they go on the road they win game one and it almost
00:40:10felt
00:40:11like they thought they had they got embarrassed at home yeah so yeah you've got to like as a team
00:40:16that's gone through a chair of adversity having their back against the wall is not going to be like
00:40:20the first time that they've been pushed this year so i think you know defending home court
00:40:24is super important so if i had to pick between one or two i think that game two and showing
00:40:31that
00:40:31pride at home is more important than one and that could build confidence so i don't know it's it's
00:40:36hard do you need to win two in whatever way you can yeah but i don't know but also winning
00:40:41two
00:40:41at minnesota's would be a tall task i i wonder though how much if they let's say they win game
00:40:46one
00:40:47again let's say they win on sunday i wonder how much last year will be in the minds of the
00:40:52players that we
00:40:53don't want this to happen so let's say they win the game when they come back to barclays and they're
00:40:57like hey we can't get embarrassed because that was over real quick last year in game two and i
00:41:01remember us doing our show after that just been like we didn't have that much to say because it
00:41:05was like it was such a beat down i just wonder if there's anything to that that it's more of
00:41:09a
00:41:10if we're going to pull off this upset we really have to take care of our business not just in
00:41:14game
00:41:14one but regardless of when we come back in game two whether we're up one or down one we really
00:41:18have
00:41:18taken care of it's such it's going to be a really tall task for demarco to go from having much
00:41:24nba
00:41:25playoff experience to this you can't see what works you can't try a defensive coverage for a half
00:41:31or a matchup for a half you don't have the time the series might be halfway over like if you're
00:41:35down
00:41:3520 after the first half not only have you not learned much but you've also thrown away a game
00:41:40it is an incredibly hard format to coach in so the mix of okay what's working and okay what gives
00:41:48me
00:41:49the best chance to win right now it's a tough line to walk in a 1-1-1 format but
00:41:54that's kind of what
00:41:55maddie's saying that's cd's biggest challenge it's this it's just kind of funny to me that now i'm
00:42:01trying to like rack my brain over when the liberty have had these opportunities and they've won game
00:42:06one on the road twice and the first time was 2021 against chicago and then and then chicago goes on
00:42:13to where's the the marine over the head pass to natasha howard to do like a 13-0 run or
00:42:18something
00:42:18to finish that game then they lose two and three and then there's last year so like these are two
00:42:22instances where they won game one on the road and then lost these best of three series so i don't
00:42:26know
00:42:26yeah recent history is not uh encouraging yeah well and i would just say like both these teams are
00:42:33playing for different levels of pride like i think that the links probably still feel some type of
00:42:38way about the 2024 finals and how all that shook shook out they feel some type of way about the
00:42:43fact
00:42:43that they failed to get to the finals a year ago after being the best team all season the best
00:42:47team
00:42:48all season this year i just think that there's a lot of pride that the links are going to have
00:42:52to be
00:42:52playing for and then on the same note the liberty feel some type of way too they feel like they
00:42:58have
00:42:59not played their best basketball all season they feel like they have another level to unlock they are
00:43:03hoping that they can well sabrina said they don't want to just like rely on flipping a switch come
00:43:07playoffs it kind of feels like that's what's going to happen if this team is going to make any type
00:43:11of
00:43:11sort deep deep playoff run um and there's also pride in the sense that this is a rivalry and they
00:43:18also
00:43:18i mean leo couldn't even talk about what happened last year in the first round like somebody asked her
00:43:22after the last game about her feelings about the first round game like match up a year ago and and
00:43:28she just
00:43:29said she don't want to talk about it so i think that tells you just how sour and how fresh
00:43:35some of
00:43:35that pain still feels with this team yeah i do want to see how that translates over into the series
00:43:40and now you've given me now we have a nickname for the series this is the feel some kind of
00:43:44way series
00:43:45this is the feel some kind of rolls right off the tongue yeah i like it feel some kind of
00:43:48way series
00:43:49is what we can do all right we're going to close with this i'm going to give you guys i
00:43:52just want
00:43:53short answers we'll just go around really quick so number one i want to know from everybody what's
00:43:57the most important key for new york in the series one key is they've been able to get out in
00:44:02transition
00:44:03against minnesota if that continues they can steal some easy ones and play well in transition
00:44:08it just changes the whole feel of every game i like it transition mouse they got to cut down the
00:44:13live
00:44:14ball turnovers 8.0 steals for minnesota and across these three games and 15.7 i believe turnovers for the
00:44:21liberty in these games and that's been an issue all year and then demarco talks about we play fast
00:44:26we're going to get some turnovers but they can't be bad ones right can't have the live ball turnovers
00:44:30that could turn into points for the opposition don't want that what do you say agree with your
00:44:33first two but i'm going to go with uh get to olivia miles early and just really smother her and
00:44:38try to
00:44:39frustrate her i mean with that with that physicality in the last game like that really got to her
00:44:43you know when she felt like she was getting fouled and the calls weren't going her way and that kind
00:44:47of
00:44:47started the unraveling a little bit and then also just making it difficult for her to get to the rim
00:44:51because you know what she wants to do all right those are all good keys frustrated olivia miles
00:44:55transition cut down to turnovers i like that now on minnesota's side what's the most important key
00:45:01for them for me it's can you attack sabrina when phoenix destroyed new york in game two last year
00:45:09sabrina high pick and roll elissa thomas every time we didn't see it a lot in that matchup on friday
00:45:14she's guarding kayla mcbride more guard to guard screens how do we attack sabrina i think that's
00:45:20a big key for them what do you say i'm gonna go with courtney williams we haven't talked about
00:45:24courtney enough and in that 2024 finals game five she goes to a 14 and we know that she was
00:45:32wearing
00:45:32that for a long time she was saying for a long time that she hates new york although she revised
00:45:36that when she came here to brooklyn for the first time this year and she said no i have no
00:45:40hate in my
00:45:40heart i got over it i got past it but she's still chasing that first championship and thinks about it
00:45:46a
00:45:46lot and is just such a game changer for them with how they score in transition and also taking some
00:45:52of that pressure off of olivia miles i think i'm going to use one of the keys for the liberty
00:45:56as a
00:45:57key for the links in the sense that capitalize on the liberty's mistakes because this team has proven to
00:46:03be turnover prone at times um sometimes the shot quality isn't always there and so you know get ready
00:46:09to push the ball in transition and get out and um again if the liberty are willing to throw the
00:46:15ball
00:46:15away be the one to get it and run it on the other end how to capitalize off of those
00:46:19mistakes if you
00:46:20are the links maza because you brought up courtney williams is she your series x factor come ask i want
00:46:25one series x factor for anybody would she be one for you um on the liberty it's sabrina sabrina has
00:46:32just not played well lately and there's and she's aware of it everyone's aware of it she's 15 for 77
00:46:38from three in her last 13 games and during that stretch just once has she shot over 50 percent
00:46:45from the field just four times so she shot over 40 from the field so they're going to just need
00:46:49a
00:46:50lot more out of one of their stars in the last since this fibra break since she came back in
00:46:54these
00:46:55four games she's one of nine inside of eight feet and that that includes over four layups and she's
00:47:00that's when we're talking about the back injury and is she shying away from contact on the year
00:47:04she's shooting 53 inside of eight feet so this 11 is not going to get it done and that the
00:47:11ceiling of
00:47:11this team is sabrina being healthy i agree with you i for me personally i'll just say my thing i
00:47:18think she is the series x factor because if she looks not even she's all the way back sabrina if
00:47:23she even looks close to right it's a game changer it changes everything do you guys agree or is it
00:47:28somebody else you have is your series x factor i'll pick a second one because sabrina is the x factor
00:47:33yeah she's playing like this they're not going to win she needs to play better but for me for the
00:47:37liberty at least it it is pauline you know we've sung her praises but not a great outside shot all
00:47:45year she's a little bit one dimensional in sort of her scoring it's a great dimension just being
00:47:50able to finish at the rim all the time but we've seen quarters halves where two shot attempts and an
00:47:55assist can't be that way this series like she needs to be attacking the rim at all times she can't
00:48:01be discouraged by an oh of three start she needs to be able to shoot a pull up three when
00:48:06a defense
00:48:07goes under a screen they need someone else other than stewie jj sabrina to drive the offense you
00:48:14can drive and kick but someone else to get it going and pauline is the best bet and she's going
00:48:19to have
00:48:20to fight through struggles she's going to have to get over missed shots turnovers but she is to me a
00:48:25huge x factor in addition obviously to sabrina and just to add to that when maddie talked about how
00:48:31consistently inconsistent this liberty team is where they're generating good looks but shots aren't
00:48:36falling pauline is the one player on this team that will just will them back into games by getting
00:48:41to the rim and that's what they need that's what they need somebody break down the d get to the
00:48:44rim
00:48:44get to finish at the high rate she is doing at the rim who's your series x factor maddie i
00:48:49mean i
00:48:50agree with this is sabrina obviously but i'll take a links player just to make things different um
00:48:54i think kayla mcbride like you know she can really hit some time and three she can get hot i
00:48:58mean she can be
00:48:59like that offensive x factor to really help the links blow the game open um and then yeah i think
00:49:06i'm going kayla mcbride somebody different yeah no i like i like that like the choices there sunday
00:49:11afternoon when we are all sitting around watching this game you will be at the game watching very
00:49:16intently what's the one thing you're going to look at that tells you okay i see this early on may
00:49:21first you know first quarter this is how this series is going to go is there something you're watching
00:49:26early on is going to tell you this is going to tell me how this series is going to go
00:49:29so this is
00:49:30for everybody i'll start i'll say jonquil inside on the glass there's going to be a bad call that the
00:49:36referees miss there's going to be maybe she gets stripped going up for a layup how does she respond
00:49:43is she posting up quickly and then if it's not there getting out spacing to the corner is she dominating
00:49:49the glass which she has done against minnesota and can do what's her engagement and the overall
00:49:55engagement of the liberty down low on the glass it starts with her but i just feel like you can
00:50:01tell where they're at via jonquil jones within the first five minutes of a game so i'll go with that
00:50:07it's a good one i mean i'm kind of adding to that but the whistle in general early on because
00:50:11this is
00:50:12going to be the first game of the playoffs and there has been a lot of talk about physicality freedom
00:50:16of movement but like while you haven't been able to breathe on somebody outside inside jj in that last
00:50:22game shout out to her for her composure because she was getting hacked down low a whole bunch
00:50:27they're bringing three bodies that's what the liberty's advantage is is they have that size in
00:50:30the post and if she can keep that composure that's huge but how are the refs calling this and that
00:50:35goes
00:50:35both ways because we saw minnesota very very frustrated with the whistle in that last game and
00:50:40we know dating back to the 2024 finals this might become a conversation post game that we are forced to
00:50:47ask and the coaches are are volunteering or forced to answer why did something happen 24 so i i think
00:50:54watching early on because this is the tone setter for the playoffs and because these teams identities
00:50:59are so different that who's who's going to find the advantage with the physicality and with the
00:51:05corresponding whistle i think jj is definitely like the motor of this team like she can tell you if
00:51:11this team it has drive because as much as brianna stewart can like will this team as much as she
00:51:15can like jj is kind of that temperature check but also the way that sabrina is engaged and being
00:51:22aggressive from the jump um and and making some of the shot like this sounds so crazy but there's been
00:51:28times where she's like getting these good looks at the rim and it's just like rolling out it's like
00:51:32she can hit everything but you know net and so it just if she is hitting those easy shots early
00:51:38on and
00:51:38kind of settles into the offense and doesn't feel like she's like necessarily forcing things i think that
00:51:44that can also swing things yeah i'm hoping i'm hoping for sab i'm hoping she could have
00:51:48a good series here it's been a rough year for sab here before we go this has been great guys
00:51:53we're
00:51:53at the actual round table i know we're all going to be yeah i'm glad to touch the table
00:51:58i know we're all going to be enjoying the rest of the wma playoffs and miles you mentioned at the
00:52:05top
00:52:06you were talking about the parody and how when you look at these series these four series for the first
00:52:10round you kind of feel like anybody can win these series how excited are you guys about the rest of
00:52:15the series and which of the series you think has the best chance for us to see upset it could
00:52:20be this
00:52:20one that we're talking about but which of the four series do you think provides the best chance for
00:52:24wma fans to see an upset for me uh i think vegas indiana that that's the one where it really
00:52:31is a high-powered offense versus the best player in the world in in asia wilson and um we saw
00:52:39nalissa
00:52:39smith go down and so those rotations are going to be interesting uh alia boston went out with an injury
00:52:46and it doesn't sound like it's severe but these teams are a little bit banged up and there's so much
00:52:52we talk about the parity in the league you also talk about the variants in this 1-1-1 format
00:52:55that you can have a game where caitlin and kelsey each have 30 points and okay now vegas needs you
00:53:03know to needs asia and jackie to respond with 30 apiece and then it's a coin flip after that so
00:53:08that
00:53:08i'll pick that one all right i like that i like that pick what you got i hate picking the
00:53:13same series
00:53:13but i do so don't no you can't you can pick it it doesn't make for great it doesn't make
00:53:22for great
00:53:22television but i will pick that series just because for all the reasons that miles said uh
00:53:27indiana takes a ton of threes they have some of the best jump shooters in the world obviously
00:53:30vegas's depth is is a big question mark and i would maybe pick this series but minnesota i i just
00:53:38have to respect the the body of work okay that is fair maddie i'll pick something different i'll go
00:53:43atlanta and washington and i only say that i think atlanta's playing some of its best basketball right
00:53:47now which is what's giving me confidence that they'll be able to take care of business and i think
00:53:51you know um we were talking about this before we started like the pressure is on atlanta what the
00:53:56fact washington is even in the playoffs and in their seating like they are they've already won
00:54:00the season for them like this is already can be considered an accomplishment they're playing with
00:54:05house money exactly they're playing with house money while the dream you have that stigma that you
00:54:10guys can't get out of the first round and so there is pressure on them to get out of the
00:54:14first round
00:54:14and then after they get out of the first round house money again um and so i think that you
00:54:19know it's
00:54:19going to be really interesting to see like these this front court matchup duel between washington and
00:54:26atlanta i think it can be really exciting really fun and so you know for the for the sake of
00:54:30just
00:54:31different different picks i'm going to go that series but i also will say this i would not be
00:54:36surprised there's only one series that i'd be surprised if the lower seed won and that would be
00:54:41the golden state series i agree versus dallas that would that would shock me too and that says a lot
00:54:45about the injuries that dallas is exactly that's why i would say like if if dallas was able to get
00:54:50that that job done with all the injuries that they have and how good golden state has been all season
00:54:55that would be shocking i agree i agree with you on that also i like your pick for the four
00:54:59or five
00:54:59matchup as well too we can see there all right but we got to make our picks for this series
00:55:02that's
00:55:03the last thing i was gonna i was gonna do that before but i said you know we're just switching
00:55:05around we got to make our picks what are we picking best of three series new york minnesota who are
00:55:11you
00:55:11going with lucas you first i'm definitely going first so they copy me i mean you guys know my pick
00:55:19but i'm going no i don't i'm going minnesota in three i think that it's going to be a great
00:55:25series
00:55:25i think that minnesota has played not great in the last couple weeks but again gonna say it again the
00:55:32body of work is too strong i just haven't seen the consistency from new york and i would love to
00:55:36believe
00:55:37like the team with the best player in the series is going to get it done and that sabrina is
00:55:41going to
00:55:41have a rebound series because she does show up in the big moments i just can't get there it's it's
00:55:46tough for me to pick them to beat the best team in the league two out of three times so
00:55:52i'm going
00:55:52to go minnesota in three links in three for lucas miles what you got i mean we i have to
00:55:59zag a little
00:55:59bit i you didn't bring me on links lately right this is liberty lately we're going to talk about
00:56:04this local team you know what's going to happen now somebody's going to watch the show in minnesota
00:56:08they're going to hear you say that and they're going to start links lately which is fine we can
00:56:12do we'll have to do a collab show somehow go ahead no i think that um everything has to break
00:56:17right
00:56:17for new york but this is as we've been saying throughout this entire conversation that the
00:56:22margin is so slim and these teams know each other so well and it comes down to brianna stewart being
00:56:28the best player in the series for me so i i am doing the fully unconventional thing where i think
00:56:33that they drop game one and then win two and three and the liberty take this in three i also
00:56:38like that your prediction was specific to how the games are going to go so i like that you need
00:56:41to
00:56:41score or are we good on this yeah all three of them yeah all three of them don't forget that
00:56:46okay
00:56:47miles going with the liberty to win the final two games in the series maddie i actually don't know
00:56:51you're picky i think i need a pick but i don't know i'm gonna give my picture delivery so then
00:56:57it
00:56:57could potentially be all tied up yeah the liberty have won two of their three games during the regular
00:57:02season this is a setup but i think when it comes down to just like the the connectivity within a
00:57:12team and you know cheryl reeve has been the head coach in the wnba she understands this three this
00:57:17one one one format very well this is so new to chris and i just have to say i think
00:57:23the links get their
00:57:24link back links in three okay so we've got two for the links pressure on me mox pressure on me
00:57:32here
00:57:33um i'm with all you guys said i do not i have not liked the connectivity of this team all
00:57:39season
00:57:39i've not liked the defensive energy around this liberty team all season i think we're going to get
00:57:44a great series though i do in fact i think we're going to get it's gonna be a game winner
00:57:48in the
00:57:48series that's my prediction one of these games is going to have a game winner game three game
00:57:52winner i would love a game three game winner i would love that who's making the shot
00:57:56you're asking you're asking a lot for me here who's making because she'll tell you who's gonna win
00:58:03olivia miles wow going with the rookie i think the liberty fall in a heartbreaker i think this is
00:58:10going to be a tough series sorry i couldn't i couldn't make it a tie um i think it's gonna
00:58:15be a tough
00:58:15series i also think we will see some good moments from sab i have i've got this feeling that we're
00:58:20going
00:58:20to see some good moments i don't know if it'll be enough i think it's going to be a tight
00:58:23game
00:58:24three i think the liberty lose heartbreaker olivia miles buzzer beater in game three the moment's not
00:58:29gonna be too big for the rook there's so many good narratives in this because i'm like you could have
00:58:33gone there i was thinking about yeah you could have gone k-mac k would be good because of how
00:58:37cold
00:58:38she was in game five a couple years ago and i think that wouldn't wouldn't be a bad one either
00:58:41but
00:58:41i'm gonna go with the rookie kayla mcbride missed a wide open three in the dying seconds of game
00:58:47five that i was floored floored that she missed yeah and and she was the one that sab hit that
00:58:54shot over in game three so like k-mac's got a lot of juice in this rivalry too feels some
00:58:59kind of way
00:58:59series like no way series hey i will say this if the liberty were to advance you get the short
00:59:04series
00:59:05against the best team in the league maybe better than a best of five or seven atlanta washington in
00:59:10their in their bracket probably i'd pick them over both of those teams hopefully they're not looking
00:59:16ahead hopefully yeah hopefully hopefully there's no dream we can look ahead but but they can't look
00:59:21ahead they're supposed to keep it one game at a time i don't know we can look ahead all right
00:59:24so
00:59:24our picks you're picking the links you got links in three liberty in three links in three links in
00:59:29three links in three no sweeps no nobody picked this one all right respect i only i think delivery
00:59:35are going to get one i'd be stunned if they didn't get one yeah i'm actually going to go with
00:59:39something miles i would be stunned if they played bad at the barclays center i'd be stunned if they
00:59:44dropped game two it's like yeah i'd be stunned if that happened i think they'll have some pride
00:59:48have some pride this time they should have some pride all right we got our picks everybody let
00:59:53us know what you think your picks are let us know the picks do you agree with do you agree
00:59:57with the
00:59:57guys here do you agree with me do you agree with maddie you can let us know in the comments
01:00:00we would
01:00:00love to hear this has been fun guys the first ever liberty lately out links lately playoff preview
01:00:07round table this was a good idea that we all decided to come together uh everybody please check out
01:00:12the work of lucas kaplan he does fantastic work for nets daily and his sub stack which is wonderful
01:00:17you can also check out miles and the great work he does in the podcast he hosts with the great
01:00:22owen
01:00:22miles and owen on the pull up podcast fantastic job that they do there and you can check out the
01:00:28great madeline kenny covering the liberty for us here at the new york post she will be on a flight
01:00:33again
01:00:34to minneapolis very soon uh once again maddie safe travels thank you guys uh everybody stay safe and dry
01:00:41this weekend with the north that's coming maddie's gonna get out of here before that bad weather
01:00:44uh hits the region uh knock on wood knock on the round table i'm dexter henry we will catch you
01:00:50next
01:00:51time on another edition of liberty lately peace