Night Night! (WNBA Finals Post-Game Reaction)
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$45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. This is Queens of the Court. Well, welcome to a special episode of Queens of the Court, an Odyssey original podcast produced in partnership with the WNBA. And at whatever time it is, I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoops.

And I'm Jordan Robinson. Court is in session. Late night court edition. Post game court edition. We are coming to you minutes after the Las Vegas Aces clinched a back-to-back championship win.

And I have so many gray hairs. My stomach was hurting. I had a headache. I was surprised I still have my nails because I really was like this. You would have thought I was playing. Girl, oh my gosh. This is the best game. This is the best game. We wanted this. We were having blowouts and we were like, man, we just want a close game. And they gave it to us on the verge of heart attack.

of a game four barely beating the New York Liberty. What a game, what a series, what a season. I am on cloud nine because that was just an incredible game back and forth, back and forth. - It was just great. It was fun. It was exciting. - What are your thoughts girl? Tell me. - All of that, Jordan, it was fun. It was exciting.

I saw Swin Cash tweeted. It's moments like this.

I wish I was still playing. And it was so right on time because I was feeling the same way. I was like, oh, God, put me in, coach. One of you, I don't care, just one of you put me in. And you know what? To me, the best thing, though, is this game was so good for TV. Oh, yeah. Like so many people watched.

All around the world were tuning in to watch this, and they got a treat. It was good. It was so good. But let's be honest. Let's be honest. How many people thought this was going to happen without Chelsea Gray? Because we didn't even talk about Kia Stokes, right? Because I didn't even know she was her. We didn't know that. Yeah, last episode, we didn't know. She said she woke up in pain.

She was out. Chelsea Gray was out. Both foot injuries. We knew Candice Parker was going to be out, but I was still like, can she suit up? Can you just stand on the court, Candice? So that was officially ruled out. And I mean...

you had to call up and we had Sydney Coulson on this very podcast to talk about what she means to this team and how she stays ready and how she is a professional basketball player. And she gave every last foul she had and she gave every minute of effort that she had. It was incredible. Yeah. I can say this because it's it like we have that relationship.

Not only did she try to use every foul she had, she tried to go borrow fouls from her teammates. I was like, Sid, you get six, but you can't use all six in one quarter. I'm like, you don't you. We actually need you. We need you on the court. We can't have you in foul trouble since we're diving right into it. Yeah, because here's the thing. Defensively.

Sid was all up in Sabrina's stuff. She was in whoever she was guarding, right? If it was a switch. And being physical with him. Like, that...

the defensive part was so important, what she brought to the floor. And then offensively, her first little bucket, she got the little runner in the lane. That's up to tone. Listen, and she did that with confidence. But here's the thing, because we did talk about this. Sid's a vet. Like she's a real vet. She's a professional, as you said, and she stays ready when her number is called.

That behind the back pass that she threw to A.C. in transition. Okay, wait. Sid grabbed the mic from Holly Rowe during the trophy ceremony. This is what she had to say. Let's listen. Thank you, Holly. I got something to say, though. People wanted to count us out because we had two of our starters down, but they don't know we got on this team. So I just have to say, night night.

Listen, listen. She got two words to say. I know. Cheryl is wearing a shirt that says night night right now, which is just perfectly timed. But let me tell you something. I have secondhand embarrassment. So I was cringing so bad. I was like, what is she about to say? I was too. And it

And it's, let's not forget it's Sid, right? I know. So when she, she didn't even, listen, she didn't even give Holly an opportunity to ask her a question or to say no. She was just like, give me this mic, girl. Listen, I got something to say. And y'all are going to listen.

I was like, look, I put my head down in my hands and I was like, I was like, keep it clean. Keep it professional. Keep it PG. What you got? It was good though. It was good. It was good. And it was, it was the message that she said, because just like you said earlier, people counted them out. I think it was a lot of us being like, what?

Horrific timing that you have two starters out first time in finals history that you go for one game with starters and the next game they're not there. And, but we also talked about on the previous episode that they have enough pieces and I have to, I, we gave our shout out to Sid, but we have to give a shout out to Alicia Clark because my goodness.

goodness. Yeah, yeah, my goodness stepped into that starting role. She's been there before. She's been in Clint clutch games before she is a champion and played defense on Brianna Stewart like nobody's business all series long, taking charges, getting buckets at the rim like listen, just scoring just big being a leader. And you know what what she said at the end when Holly was talking to her like,

Let me say this before I get into that. Alicia Clark's a pro. She played at Seattle, she played with the Mystics. She's been around the game for a while. She's played with some of the best players, she's played against some of the best players. So this moment isn't too big for her.

But I loved when she, when Holly asked her the question about guarding Stewie, especially down the stretch and, you know, how was she able to stop her? And this is the part I say when, like, you also have to study the game, but she was like, because I know what she likes to do. I played with her and, and I refuse to let her do what she's comfortable doing. And to me, that's why I,

She was able to get that stop down the stretch. But I'll say this because there's another player I want to give flowers to. JJ needed to touch the ball. That's all I'll say. JJ needed to touch the ball. Then we'll go back to the Liberty. But Kayla George, we talked about her as well. Like Kayla George is a professional. Kayla George plays in the Australian League in Australia.

she even said it she's been in big moments so she wasn't afraid of the moment and those threes that she was shooting and some making some missing some but here's the deal obviously Becky said shoot it yes you got a shot shoot it because that's what you do yeah and and yeah she missed some but so did everybody else but the ones she made were crucial they were crucial

Absolutely. I just, man, listen, this Aces team, they just refused to lose.

And excuse me, having Chelsea on the side, Kia on the side, everybody stepped up. We didn't even talk about them. I just tweeted, Jackie Young and Asia Wilson are a problem. Point blank, period. Here's the thing. Kayla George averaged 2.6 minutes a game in the playoffs. Tonight, 32.

30 minutes. She was letting them fly. She said, I can't take these threes with me in the offseason. I'm letting them go now. She said, I'm going to make up for averaging the 2.6 minutes because I'm shooting this thing tonight. I'm making up for everything. I am shooting this thing. We talked about Alicia Clark. Breanna Stewart tonight,

Three for 17. And here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get on my soapbox today. And I'm going to say that Asia Wilson...

just showed us what an MVP performance is. And not only tonight, all season, all playoffs, she put her team on her back. She knew that it was going to be on her if they won this game or not.

And she had a double-double, another one from her career. She just had these buckets that took the wind out of you if you were Liberty or the Liberty fans. She was attacking. She was aggressive. She was getting to her spots. And I just want to put the crown on her head because she deserves this back-to-back championship. She deserves her first WNBA Finals MVP. And it was...

I sat back and I was like, how lucky are we to witness some of the best players in the world rise to this occasion, especially Asia Wilson. And this just feels like the start for her, for this rivalry, for the super team conversation, for this finals. This was the first win for the Aces at Barclays. They knew it was going to be tough.

And Asia Wilson was the leader and the MVP of this team. And it was beautiful. Without question. She had a few moves tonight that made me sit up and say, okay,

what the hell was that it was beautiful but it like it was it and it was it was spot on but i i i wanna i wanna talk a little bit about the liberty i i thought kelsey plum's statement when she was interviewing when holly was interviewing her at the end was

was so good when she was just talking about, you know, the aces haven't always been on top, right? It took some time. And when she said super teams aren't built in two or three months and, and what I, and I totally agree with that because you can have talent, you can have great players because the Liberty has great players, but it's times like this.

When the pressure is on, because the pressure was on the Liberty, right? They've never been here before. Yes, you have players who have. Stewie's been here. Sloot's been here. JJ's been here. But they've been here on different teams. They haven't been here all together. And then you have two players who are crucial to your success. They're crucial to what you're doing who haven't been here in Benajilani and Sabrina. So there were times in this game where

I saw, or at least it looked like,

everybody on the Liberty, they were like, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Like, what do we do? Who, who gets the ball? Who takes the shot? And I, and I think Stewie was like, I got it. Right. Because I've been here. It's all me, but her, her shot, whether it was defense or just her shot, it wasn't there tonight. Yeah. So then you're looking for someone else. And when the game started though, I thought, oh, right. Cause Sloot was hitting, she was looking good, but Nigel Laney was looking good.

Again, I go back to game three. JJ was unstoppable. Yeah. Where was that JJ tonight? Because to me, that's the difference. Totally. Absolutely. Gosh, I'm just like still, I'm replaying the game in my head and the feelings I was feeling while watching it.

But I will say the game was a little bit of a rollercoaster ride, not only because the score was kind of going back and forth. But, you know, at first, this starting lineup for the Aces had never played together and it kind of showed. And it was like, OK, we're just trying our best and the vibes were kind of off. But then the Liberty were kind of letting them figure it out, which I think.

was their first mistake, you got to say, well, we've been playing together, you know, this starting five for all season. We need to take it to them. They're not used to this. So I wanted them to, they got off to a hot start, but they just let them, the Liberty let the Aces back into it and allowed them to figure it out. And then came the second half, they did. But Jordan, you know what usually happens in a situation like this? Everybody knew, even though the Aces didn't put it out until...

Last night, I think everybody knew Chelsea Gray was not playing today. Right. Right. Everybody knew that, including the Liberty and their staff. And so like like like fans, like the rest of us, everybody's like it's probably going to be a game five. Right. They're probably going to go back to Vegas. And so lots of times in moments like this, players.

You get that in your head like, oh, Chelsea's not playing. This is going to be easy. Do you know what I mean? Like, we're going to win this. And I thought the Aces came out. Like you said, they, you know, they, I mean, the Liberty came out. They scored. They looked like they were ready. Right. And the Aces stayed in the game. And I think at some point the Liberty was like, oh, we'll still come back. Right. We have plenty of time to win. We're at home. We're on our court. Chelsea's not playing. We got it.

And they just allowed the aces to stay in that thing too long. We're going to take a quick break. We'll come back, wrap up the season and tie up a new week. And now a word from our sponsors at Betterment.

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We're still on a high from Game 4. Yeah, because this is right after Game 4 that we're recording. I am not over it. Selfishly, though, I really was kind of wanting a Game 5. Me too. I was not ready for this series to be over. I want it overtime.

I wanted game five. I am not ready for this season to be over, for the series to be over. You know what I am ready for though? Another Aces parade because you know that's going to be so much fun. You almost want to go to Vegas just for the parade.

Heck yeah. Oh, man. That's going to be a good time. Can we... I know this season's over, but this rivalry right here, especially with all the boos. Did you hear all the boos? I heard them. And I said, oh, this is spicy. This is going to be the next five years going back to back. It's going to be a rivalry. And I think it's also...

You know, you talked about it with the shot, the spoon hit that they were celebrating. And I think that that trophy ceremony being on the Liberty floor and it's not for the Liberty is going to feel so much for them to come back next year and want to try to beat the Aces. And that's when the rivalry start. Like that's when the fun spiciness starts.

Don't you think? Yeah. No doubt about it. It does. This is going to be a good rivalry. That's why I was like, no. You know, I was like, okay, Ace is about to close it out. And then I was like, no, miss it. Okay, fine. Remember those Buffalo Wild Wings commercials where they would like have the ref call a terrible call or something so they can go in overtime, get more time on the clock, give them a redo. I just...

I live for the drama. But how do you know, I know it's it's right after the final buzzer sounds and the Liberty are definitely grieving how they were so close lost by one point. But I know I want to ask you how they should feel going into next season and and how they should feel about this season.

But I will say just seeing that crowd, I've said it probably every episode. And I saw a video earlier this week about a Liberty game, like right when they came to Barclays a few years ago, and it was just nowhere near where it is now. And that is so cool. Like it was a couple of times I just got chills of like, this is awesome. And I love this for our league.

I mean, it's great for our league. It's great for the game. To me, it just shows, yeah, how far we've come and how the league is growing. But I mean, people are paying attention. You know, it's now like it's cool. When the league first started, it was like people were kind of like, OK, I'll watch. But like from a distance, let's see what this thing is about, what's going to happen. And now people want to be a part.

Like, it's cool to go to WNBA game. It's cool to watch WNBA. It's cool to talk about WNBA. It's cool to wear WNBA gear. Like, I love all of that. I love everything about it. You know, listen, I'm not one of those that's like, oh, it's a moral victory. No, no. And because, again, they have, and not just players, coach. Sandy Brandello's been here, right?

And you have players who've been here, who've come out on the other side of it, they want. So it's not a good feeling. They're not feeling good. And if I'm going in the locker room, right, as a player, not saying as a coach, but as a player, my thought right now is, damn, we let one slip away. Because...

You have your entire team, right? You're healthy. The aces are down. I know they're down Kia Stokes. Candice hasn't played in a while. Yeah. But no Chelsea Gray. You have to find a way to win this game. And you're at home. That's the key. Yeah. You're at home. No Chelsea Gray. You have to find a way to win this game. So, of course, they're upset about it. Probably trying to figure out what went wrong. Where did it go wrong?

How could we have fixed it? But then you come back and say, you know what? There's no reason why we shouldn't be back here next year. And with a year under our belt, having played together, we made it to the finals, game four of the finals. Maybe we win it all next year. Like that would be my mindset. Mm-hmm.

I like that. But the other side of that, the aces are saying, "Oh no, no, no, no, no." Yeah, the aces are like, "Ooh, can we get three in a row? That hasn't been done in a while." Right? Yeah. I need the aces to not get three in a row though. You still want to hold on to that? Hold on, Sheryl. Even if they get three, they got to get one more. They got to get one more. They got to get one more, Jordan, but three is a little too close. A little too close for comfort.

It wasn't the first three, though. You guys will still have the first three. But you just reminding me that Chelsea Gray was out just also made me think of the start of the game and how those turnovers were ugly. And it reminded me of just how much the ball is in Chelsea Gray's hands and how it was very apparent, those early turnovers at the beginning of the game. And I think...

I knew that Becky was going to put Kelsey Plum more in the point guard role tonight. I think she's played a point guard. She's used to having the ball in her hands as well, but I think it kind of, she didn't know how to get her shots that she normally does while running the offense. That's what it kind of looked like. She didn't have a great game. Like she's had the previous three games.

but she still, they still pulled it out. And I think that makes it even more incredible. She didn't have a great game. Yeah, you're right. And, you know, and that goes back to what we were talking about before with Chelsea being out, because when Chelsea is playing the majority of the time, she has the ball. Chelsea's dictating, Chelsea's making stuff happen. And as a shooter, a scorer, I'm not worried about handling the ball. I'm worried about getting to my spot because I know Chelsea is going to find me.

Tonight, it was point guard by committee because there were a few times Asia was bringing the ball up. Oh, okay. That's what we're doing. She went close to close that one time. Yeah. And Jackie and Alicia. So I do think the fact that Kelsey had to play more defensively.

point guard with the ball in her hands. I feel like that kind of took her out of her scoring mentality. Now, not to say she wasn't looking to score because she was, but I think there were times where it was like, dang, do I attack? Do I shoot? Or do I get other people involved? Listen, Asia Wilson made a move tonight on the block

where she went left, did a little shimmy crossover back right, went by JJ and finished. I was like, oh, that was stanky. It was beautiful basketball. It was beautiful. I wish we were still watching the game right now. Me too. I was just thinking that.

it's one of those i don't want this game to ever end i want to go back and re-watch it i think i need to go back and re-watch it just for fun especially since i know the outcome now i'll be a little less stressed but man when flute took the that was suit that took the three from the corner at the end yeah part of me was like go in but then the other part was like no because if it does that means they win like we're still not going to overtime

How did you like that play? How did you like that play at the end, that play call? I don't know if that was the play call because to me it looked like what they wanted to do, which was go to Stewie and Stewie attack and score. And Alicia Clark was like not having it. So it was a broken play. So at that point it was like, let's move the ball. We got to get a shot up.

I just don't know how you don't find a way to at least get JJ a touch because when she gets the ball in the paint, if they don't go double her, she's going to score. And when they do go double her, she sees the floor so well that she passes out of, I don't know how many times she found Sabrina slew everybody just going back door. So, and the fact that you're only down by one,

Right. Like you didn't need a three. You didn't need you didn't need a three.

And that's why you would go to JJ. I think if you needed a three, you, you swing it around the horn, but to me, if you need a three, you're going to find Sabrina. Right. And Benaja to me, Benaja had a better look and she did a extra pass to slew in that corner. I would have wanted Benaja to take that shot, but I mean, you got to kind of live and die with it. It was eight seconds. You do, but yeah,

But you're down by one point. JJ has proven she's dominant in the paint. If nothing else, give her the ball and tell her you're going to score or you're going to get fouled and go to the free throw line. Oh my God. Talk about nerves. I would have been a wreck if it came down to free throws. Oh my gosh.

Oh, man. Man, oh, man. Okay. Well, we're going to reflect on this season in the next episode. We're still going to record on Monday to kind of wrap things up with a bow. But this has been so fun, Cheryl. This has been a blast. The season's ending. Queens of the Court is ending.

What to do? What to do? Don't remind me. I'm not ready for the season to be over. I think that also hit me when they were celebrating. I'm like, wait, we don't have more games? That's it. That's it. That is it, man. Okay, well, we do have one more to record, so I won't be sad today. We won't be. We'll probably take some mailbag questions. We'll get all in our feels for the season ending. But I'm so glad we just hopped on real quick today.

To record this, our initial thoughts. Congratulations to the Aces. Back-to-back world champions. Asia Wilson showed out, got WNBA Finals MVP, and...

Yeah, I can't wait for other franchises to be like, how can we get a practice facility? How can we how can we pour more money into our team? Like it's coming. We're really close to that. That gets me really excited. Yeah, we are. We we are coming. Yeah. Congrats. I mean, to the aces and like like Sid said.

Night night. Night night. As always, send your comments, questions to our listener email address, queensofthecourt at odyssey.com. If you also want to just send us night night to our email, we will love it as well. Please continue to follow, rate, review the show available on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Yep. And y'all know where to find us. You can find me on social media at air swoops, 22 and she, her Jordan is that. I think it'd be a little different way to give you a different way. We're delirious. It is an Odyssey original created in partnership with the WNBA.

The show is produced by Alex Ozzie. The executive producer is Lena Mos Glazer. Social media assistance from Isabella Apple. Imaging from T-Storm Battle. And court is adjourned. Night night. Night night.