Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Hey guys, this is Liz Cambay. This is Nikki Collin. What up guys, this is Eppie Carson. Hey, this is Imani Mee. Hey, this is Jordan Canada. This is Asia Wilson. Welcome to the WNBA Nation. WNBA Nation, hello again.
Welcome to another playoff edition of the show. I'm Steve Schwartzman. I'm kicking it solo yet again. Logan Jones, our resident, I'd say tall person, but Kyle and Jason are also taller than me. So it's more I'm the resident short person and they're all taller. I guess a resident handsome man. No, because you see Kyle and Jason are also handsome. See, I can't do that. I'm kind of like the George with...
Not Georgia, three Jerrys. Because Jerry looks like a goof horse. They're just nice looking people. Our resident Logan Jones is with his family in Europe right now. There was a family trip. Poor thing. I know. So he's out there and still keeping tabs on the playoffs and texting me about them constantly while enjoying the
those lands. And that's why you've got just myself today. Kyle's also busy with family activities. This has been a very, very interesting fall for us for, for all for late summer, early fall for us. So we're trying to keep things on tabs as much as we can.
But I'm Steve. I'm here solo. Me saying that I'm recording by myself took like two full minutes just to explain. This is what you're getting with me. I'm riffing. I got no one here to give me any guidance or boundaries. Normally, there's someone like Logan or Kyle to push a button and flip up the gates on the bowling lane so I don't hit the gutter. But we're going all gutter roll today. So let's see how it goes.
But the first round of the 2023 playoffs are done and dusted. We are now moving on to the WNBA 2023 semifinals.
All chalk, but some very, very hearty matchups. It was a fun first round to kick things off. We'll dive a little bit into that. But first, just some quick news blips around the league. And this one's pretty quick because the awards for the season are rolling in steadily.
We have, I believe, three as official. And as I record this, the day I record this is the day one award will also be revealed. So I'll finish off with that in a sort of indirect way because they'll probably announce it like legitimately the moment I stop recording because that's the joke everyone in sports podcasting does. Like it's every time we're done recording, there's news. But it's true.
It's true. It's the hand we're all dealt. But first and foremost, congratulations to Jonathan Cobb, named 2023 Basketball Executive of the Year. Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White is your Coach of the Year. I like both of those personnel pieces. Cobb put together a juggernaut roster and built...
the Liberty into a mainstay empire all in one off season and has utilized, helped you, you know, working with the organization, the front office to market this team as a big deal to treat this team as a big deal. They really seem to have, um,
Kind of that big league appeal to them. And they've played like it. And they seem to be gelling well under that. I mean, they're the Liberty. They've been great this year. So I think that makes a great deal of sense. Congratulations to Jonathan Cobb of the New York Liberty as far as that's considered. Coach White, your Coach of the Year. This is a fantastic visual of this because, for one, with the talent that went out the door recently,
in Connecticut, namely John Quill Jones, jumping over to the New York Liberty. And then on top of that, Connecticut's on losing Kurt Miller. I don't think many people expected the Sun to play as confidently and as consistently as they have. If you looked at their record, how they played, and how well they have performed, especially in pressure situations, consistently and well-disciplined,
Well balanced. You might not think that much has changed in terms of personnel for this team, but this is Stephanie White stepping up for her first stint. Um,
you know, this year and has performed extremely well. She definitely seems to have the buy-in of that roster, uh, who are well gelled and well put together. And they look like an extremely well coached team. It looks, you know, if you didn't know Kurt Miller hopped over and took a flight to LA and never came back, you, you would, you may not know it watching this team perform. And what that tells me is that, you know, Stephanie white is, um,
Really bought the buy-in of this roster and has continued to put together a performance that many Connecticut fans can be proud of. So congratulations to Coach White. And as always, I'm sorry that Kyle's not here because I know this is an inside favorite for him. Congratulations to Alicia Clark, your WNBA sixth player of the year. This is fantastic. It's funny with Alicia Clark because it's interesting that she
There's kind of a two-way... There's two different roads with the six-player award, right? For one, there's a player who is almost branded as the sixth player, the first key off the bench, the off-bench captain, and that'll happen for a long time. Derek Ahamby had that role and has bounced in between starting roles and bench roles as well. Alicia Clark is a player who...
had it not been for an extremely stacked roster, would be starting on pretty much any other team in this league. And that's what's really intriguing to me. So there's expectations for that. But of course, Clark has been an absolute huge asset for the Vegas Aces all season long. And, you know, really has been a part of what
has made things dangerous for Vegas all year, which is their depth. And she's really led the way in putting that together. And you can look at offensive efficiency and details, but you have to also keep in mind, Alicia Clark is one of the best symbols, consistent full court defenders ever.
all world defenders in this league. And many years we have Tad or Alicia Clark as someone who could easily rise to the occasion of a defensive player of the year, you know, defensive team honors, all of that good stuff. And I think it's been absolutely fun. The ACEs,
Really seem to have the sixth player award on lock. This is their, I believe their fourth in, in four or five seasons. Their fourth and five seasons. Derek Hamby won in 2019 and 2020. Kelsey Plum won in 2020.
21. So there was a break all of last season, and now they pull in another one with Alicia Clark. Congratulations to Alicia and to the Aces for that. The day we record this, at some point later this afternoon, we will have an official announcement as per the winner of the Most Improved Player Award. There are a handful of names that have high potential for this. I've heard Jordan Canada's name.
bounced around. I've even heard Jewel Lloyd's name passed around. If you look strictly at stat sheets in some key or another,
I have a somewhat comfortable feeling as to who this might be, so I'm going to take a flat-out guess. I'm going to go off, you call it an assumption, or maybe just a late prediction, that the most improved player of the season award will be going to Satu Sabli of the Dallas Wings. So, as I noted earlier, fitting.
I had this discourse with Jason, who may correct me if I'm wrong, as he lives out in the Dallas area. But Soboli, just as far as across the stat line, makes a lot of sense. Honestly, when you just look at the overall spectrum of things, I mean, everything across the board has seen a vast improvement. Increased her point total from season on season by...
said points per game by over seven has been pulling in nearly twice as many rebounds, uh, doubled her assist number. And then some tripled her steel number. And then some, if you really want to go that granular, um, not pulling in as many blocks per game, but that's whatever it is. Uh, you know, there can be an argument made that, uh, one piece of this is, uh,
Her availability, where Sabaly only played in 11 games a season ago, and of course played all but two games in this current season. And I understand that point. There are a couple things that really stand out to me. All that said, though, and that's the biggest thing is efficiency and percentage. Sabaly shot 43, almost 44%.
from the field where she shot under 40% in the previous season, improved greatly from three-point line. Shooting 36% was not a very efficient shooter from deep previously.
Um, and overall played at an extremely high proficiency. But the thing about Sobby on top of everything else is I test the, the Dallas wings simply do not sit in a four spot, do not sit in a semifinal situation, do not play at the extremely high level that they have been. If not for saw to Sobby playing at, at a very nearly MVP level,
Type level. And we've talked about how there is the top tier discussion for MVP with Asia Wilson and Brie Stewart. How if there's a tertiary option, you're probably looking at Alyssa Thomas right behind that is Satu Sabali, in my opinion. That's how well she's played. And I think this is kind of a waking up party for.
in terms of her level of dominance within the league, because I think this is just the start of what she's going to be piecing together. And this is kind of going to be a hinge point from here on after this season. But that's my general guess. If that's true, then congrats are due that way. But we'll have to see. That will be announced later today, the 21st of September, and then we will see
For other awards, kick forward to, I believe, the Tuesday of the 26th when the WNBA MVP will officially be announced. So get all y'all's speculation in for who that's going to be when you're interacting with the show, however it is you interact with the show. I'd love to hear your predictions there and your thoughts on other awards as well. And that's your news for across the league. I'm trying to consider what else. We've had some...
uh, premieres for the sit and TP show. I haven't had a chance to lift that up quite yet, but I will. And I, I may dedicate an episode just to reviewing the show. We'll see. Um, I may wait on that until Logan's back. So I have someone that can chew on that discussion with me. We'll have to see how that is put together.
Let's see. Any other important news? I'm just scrolling through WMEA's website right now. You're on this journey with me really quickly. Hey, this is random, but I'm just going to say this. This will be a really weird thing to transition out of and into, but I always have fun seeing what our WMEA and women's athletes have in store when it comes to advertising. WMEA Deloitte partnered...
commercials are fantastic if you haven't seen those. And I just want to call those out because those have been rolling out during the playoffs featuring Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles, and then a mixture of
uh, Sid Colson entries, a place on, depending on, um, I don't believe they've been together in a commercial, but there's been one or the other. Uh, that's been, those have been fun. Those are awesome. Um, and they highlight a very important note, which is not just in sports, but in workplaces in general and in, at the very least American society, if not beyond, um, the importance of celebrating and embracing women who continue to work hard, perform and succeed. Um, and, um,
what needs to be done to make that an even more normalized part of our everyday life. And it's done in a very fun way. It's done in a very unique way. Everyone performs well. I just thought I'd shout that out. I like to talk about those things. You know me, I didn't have any new uniforms or anything funny to dive into, which would have been cool, but there you have it. So there's some news and updates around the league. Um,
Before we jump into the semifinal discussion, as always, you can connect with the show WNBA Nation at WNBA Nation pod on pretty much all your socials, Twitter, Facebook, I believe Instagram threads. So check us out on those seats there. Most importantly, though, head over. If you're listening to this right now, feel free to hit pause if you feel the need. If you haven't already skipped this because it's sort of an ad.
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Indeed.com slash blue wire. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. Let's jump into the semifinals. Let's do this thing. We are moving quickly through these playoffs.
We had a very fun first round. We had, if you can call a best of three series a sweep, because it's two games, two wins, but we did have three, you could call them sweeps, 2-0 series. We had one go the distance, that being Connecticut and Minnesota. So, but all things considered, we were shocked. So I will, as I did with the previous episode, be going through these matchups and
based on which one broadcasts first. That's what I did in the last round. We're going to kick things off with the second-ranked New York Liberty hosting the third-ranked Connecticut Sun. This will take place at Barclays. This is 1 p.m. Eastern this coming Sunday on ESPN.
Uh, for, as you look at this immediately, I mean, the Liberty have a four Oh season record with Connecticut. If season records mean anything to you, we'll have to see about that. Uh, just where everyone's feelings and notes are coming from here. Uh, the Liberty, uh,
Sweat through their first series against the Washington Mystics and ended things very explosively and excitedly with an overtime win over Washington, who played phenomenally well in that second game, but kind of ran a little bit out of gas toward the end of the fourth quarter. New York ended up tying things and.
And, uh, ultimately winning by the end of regulation. Um, a special shout out in that game to Natasha cloud who played phenomenally. I believe it was, I believe 33 points on the game. I don't have the sheet in front of me, so sorry if I'm wrong on that, but has played significantly well. Um,
And just had a fantastic performance. It will be very intriguing to see what comes of the Mystics down the road. This is a team that's tried to come together and make this roster work and rekindle some level of the glory that they found in 2019 when they brought home a championship. And ever since they've pulled in that title, they really have not been able to
make things work. And it's been a frustrating road for Washington, all that considered. Cloud has played extremely well along that stretch and has really been a huge team leader as far as that's considered. Consistent, great play out of Elena Deledon when she's healthy, but the health bug has really gotten this team and it really has been... It's made a lot of unfortunate turns for the Mystics. It'll be interesting to see if they...
try to find a way to piece this roster together or if they start a new as far as things are considered what roster changes come into play there. So there's not a lot to say in terms of what to expect down the road with Washington because they could go a lot of different directions. Um,
And could potentially, you could see a lot of new faces with the Mystics next season. Time will tell. But very much honored and, you know, they had a very strong performance, especially in game two against the Liberty. But sometimes it just feels like the New York Liberty can be,
just inevitable, just the way that they put together good performances. Uh, UNESCO taking over in game one, Stuart led the way with 27 points in game two. Um, uh,
And, you know, huge shout out to John Cole Jones, who played very well. I mean, you just go up and down the roster. Everyone played phenomenally. Courtney Vandersloot continuing to be probably the best playmaker in the entire league. Marie Johannes has been huge off the bench. This has just been a huge...
Yeah, there's not much I can say about New York that hasn't already been said, but they've looked really strong. Connecticut had a few skittish moments. Of course, they win game one very handily.
against the Lynx and then end up ultimately dropping game two. I believe Minnesota took over the lead. They went to the half up five, but it was late in the first half and they finally took over the lead and never really lost it. I think it was as much as a two-point game toward the fourth quarter and then Minnesota was pretty consistent, all things considered. But outside of that performance when it seemed like
Certain performances fell a little flat, and Kayla McBride getting red hot late, dropping 28 in that performance. They turned around and righted the ship to a 15-point win and a series clincher in Game 3. Connecticut is looking very much on brand. I mean, Alyssa Thomas playing very consistently. Bonner has been huge. One call out here for Connecticut, which is very huge. This is their fifth game.
Straight their fifth consecutive ride to the semifinals. They've had, I believe, two finals appearances during that run. Still trying to chase that ring. And that'll be interesting to see. What's intriguing here, New York has a 4-0 series against Connecticut this season. So they sweep the season series. And that includes a 31-point win.
Most recently, their most recent game at the start of September, New York really finished the year on a hot streak, trying to get themselves, I think, to peak at just the right time. But right at the end of the year, they really put things together. But I don't think you can necessarily count out the Connecticut Sun immediately, all things considered. I mean, if you want to factor that they were the most tried and tested of the rosters, yeah.
In one way, in the first round, considering they're the only team that had to play three games, if you want to say that New York has won generally comfortably against Connecticut all season, they did have a 5-point and 8-point deficit this season. So there have been closer games. But overall, they've had to handle Connecticut. This is a spot Connecticut is absolutely not going
A stranger to you. This is exactly where they sat last season, sitting in the three spot, upsetting the Chicago sky, the number two seed to make an appearance in the final. So this is a situation they actually find themselves in.
very comfortable in where that's tough is if there is a team where the loss of Brianna Jones is going to be most exposed, it might be this New York roster. It, and you know, Dallas is probably the other one that immediately comes to mind because Dallas is, is very well sized, but, but yeah,
You know, that's a case where there are going to be issues in the front court. You also factor that a part of the recipe that helps the Connecticut make a run, the Connecticut, Steve.
The help can I can make a run to the finals last season was partially, you know, pretty sizably on the back of John Quayle Jones, who is now sitting on the opposite bench for this series. So that immediately makes things fun for just the entirety of the matchup. But even without Jones, the son of played very strong defense throughout the year. Yeah.
And, you know, bringing in players like Beck Allen and whatnot have done well with wing defense. I think that there's some heavy potential here to make this a competitive series as I'm looking through. And I'm just, as you hear me pause and stutter, I'm looking through stats and stuff trying to run this myself. It's a whole different game when you do these episodes on your own. I don't know if y'all know that.
But it changes things dramatically in one way or the other. So what does the Liberty need to do to continue to ride this wave and head to the finals to defeat the Sun? I think it comes down to...
you know, their ability to, I think for one, play consistently defensively, disrupt the passing game that Connecticut brings to store their team that likes to move the ball well. So can you disrupt those passing lanes? Can you, you know, create some sort of chaos on the defensive end? And that's what I think is really going to help them set a tone for
early in this game. They've been known to put teams to bed pretty quickly and early. So can they do that? But also, you know, where their performance comes together, what's been pivotal with Liberty victories all season or, and can also have, have been a linchpin to some of the more frustrating games is their performance in the third quarter. And so do they come out the gate with, with,
some momentum coming into the second half and play with some consistency. Connecticut is a team that can expose, you know, weaknesses or blemishes in a team's offensive output to, to their benefit. When you have a player like Alyssa Thomas really running things, she has the ability to, to find those spots and capitalize on them. So that's where I would see things. I wouldn't, I don't have like a player that I want to call out and say like, this is who needs to,
perform at their highest level. I'll say in New York's run, John Cole Jones is the player I'm most interested in. This is a stage for, you know, you, you won an MVP and went to multiple finals with the team you're facing in this series. Um, you've been third in some cases, fourth, um,
Kind of productive option on a very stacked roster in New York. And I think this is your platform to potentially shine. I'm interested to see if Jones is motivated to have a much more offensive output than she has in previous performances this season and where that will skew things. But
Overall, as I look at things, I would expect the Liberty to win this series. I do get the sense that the Sun are going to pull in one win somewhere along the way. I just see them being able to put those pieces together.
and making that interesting. It's hard for me to say that this is a team that will completely get swept. And I think that, in a way, can be its own motivation. We lost four straight to this team in the regular season. We can't make this 0-7. So let's put that together. Not that I'm saying that's what they're going to do. They're not coming into a series to win one game. They want to win the whole thing. But I think there's going to be a level of motivation as far as things get considered. But all things told, I would expect the Liberty to win this in four games.
And what do you guys think? Let me know what you think. If you disagree with that prediction, if you have any additional thoughts on how things are going to shake out with the Connecticut-New York semifinal sound off, let us know what you think. And finally, let's talk about the 1-4 semifinal matchup. The top-seeded Vegas Aces boasting the four-seeded Dallas Wings at DMJ Arena.
Whatever it's currently... Did the rating change? Is the name different? I don't remember exactly. It's going to be in Las Vegas, though. Time will tell. I don't know if whoever's there is going to be able to use slots or anything in the casino area, but you should be able to watch a basketball game. I don't know if that cyber hack business is happening. Apparently, the Strip is also heinous right now because they're setting up for the F1 stuff. So...
watch basketball, go eat at a buffet and have a good time. That's kind of what I do anyway. I'm not a gambler and I don't drink. So Vegas isn't like, like fun for me. Like if I had extra cash, maybe I'd catch a blue man group show or like, I don't know. What's a good exhibit. Is that Titanic exhibit any good over in Vegas? I was walked by that one whenever I'm in town and it's okay. It looks fun.
And I'm weirdly about, I weirdly am into the history of the Titanic. That's kind of my, I can't believe I'm about to say this freaking tick tock. That's kind of, that's one of my, I'd call it Roman empires. Just that meme going on that dudes think about the Roman empire. And I don't, unless it's the bloodline WWE storyline, but like, um, you know, I don't really think I'm more so probably I'd say, I think about the Titanic significantly more than I think about the Roman empire.
And I don't know if there's really a Roman, like a capital R, capital E Roman Empire exhibit in Vegas anywhere. I don't know where there would be one. But like a Caesar's Palace type thing. But like, I mean, I know there's like theming, but the Titanic exhibit has just a huge Titanic looking thing right at the start. That's just like, this looks like a big boat. Come check this out. And I've always wanted to see that.
I'm talking about a fake Titanic exhibit so much more than I should be because we were just starting to talk about basketball. Attention, deficit, hyperactivity disorder people. Let's jump into the Aces wings. 5 p.m. Eastern Sunday on ESPN2. I guess ESPN at that slot has like cornhole or some crap going on. They can't just do the second game. I don't know. I'm going to save that rant, but it's there.
But Vegas hosting the Wings. Las Vegas has the series 3-1. This has been a really interesting run-up because the Wings have, there was a run of two straight games, both I think within a single score or maybe two score games. The Wings had a two-point victory in that run. Otherwise, the Aces have pulled this together, and that includes the most recent run.
performance, which I believe was right around, it was either a 20 or an 18 point win, a fairly comfortable victory. But that was back in early August. I think that was even right before the,
The Aces went on what some people call their skid. They had a week to maybe, if you could call it that, two-week run where things looked a little human for the Aces. And it was really before that case. So these teams have changed a little bit in attitude and flow. A lot has happened since the start of August. So it's really no telling what this matchup is going to look like. And I'll tell you something. The Wings have a lot going.
in their coffers to potentially make this an interesting matchup. Because one thing that I've touted all season long with Dallas that is most intriguing to me, they have one of the most intimidating front courts in the entire league. They boast a very high-quality front court really across the board as far as things are considered. You're talking Satu Sabli, Tierra McCowan, Natasha Howard,
You know, this has been extremely impressive output. Brian, when she's been able to get playing time. I mean, this is a very, very stout front court who has played extremely well.
If you know, I've talked all up and down about Sabali as recent, but this is a very solid roster. Sabali's led the way so far in the postseason. She, you know, 22 and a half points a game. Agum Bawale has 22 a game to her credit. They've really been leading the way offensively as far as things are considered offensively.
But here McCowan's averaging 14 points a game is has averaged 15 rebounds a night has just been huge in terms of overall production on both sides of the court for this roster. So that front court is something that has potential to make these matchups very interesting for Dallas. Dallas,
has been known even in recent seasons, not just this year, to play a very different tempo and energy against top teams in the league. They always seem to jump into that occasion and play really well, and I think putting it in a playoff setting makes it all the more interesting. Winning the first series was a huge thing for Dallas, given the recent output we've seen from them in playoffs past as of recent years.
If you look at the clip of Latisha Trammell, their head coach, right after things went final against Atlanta and her emotion and everything that it's meant to that roster, I mean, you get a feel for how important that is. But they have the potential to put some production on the table. I think Soboli is a player who can match up extremely well against the Vegas frontcourt and play at high level and play
Try to put something intriguing up against Asia Wilson and company and what they're going to have to piece together. McCowan crashing the boards really well. I mean, there's a lot that they can piece together here. The backcourt matchup is really intriguing, probably even more so intriguing than some people may be ready to give credit to.
Oh, hold on. I got to say, on top of, sorry, we'll talk backcourts in two seconds. I can't sit here and talk about this juggernaut frontcourt matchup and just pretend that Kia Stokes wasn't a thing. She's averaging 12.5 rebounds a night in the post. It's two games, but she averaged in that series against Chicago 12.5 rebounds a night.
Ten and a half of them on the defensive side of the court has had really, really crashed the boards. Well, obviously, Asia Wilson also with 12 of her own. So Stokes has stepped up in a very big way on that end. And if that momentum keeps up, that's a that's a huge way to potentially stymie the advantage that Dallas has in their frontcourt.
But getting to the backcourt, this is a very intriguing mashup, really on both sides. Obviously, Dallas with that mix-up of Agumboale, Odyssey Sims, Crystal Dangerfield. There's a lot of potential maneuvering, a lot of playmaking. They all play very unique. They play in a very unique style. They're not necessarily perimeter players.
in their shot selection. They will shoot from three, but they all have playmaking ability and can play to the mid-range, get to the wing, and even try to make plays to the basket. It's going to be interesting to see how much we're playing to the basket because Vegas is a similar front court in that way where they can shoot well, but they love to crash the rim where they can.
But that matchup with, you know, Agumawale, Aussie Sims, Krister Dangerfield and company up against that plum young and Chelsea Gray set up that elite backcourt is going to make things interesting and how well not even just on the defensive side, but to see really where
You know, each side puts things together. So position to position, these rosters actually match up better than some might assume they would. And I think some of the close performances we've seen from these teams earlier in the season are indicative of that. What is going to be important for Dallas? We could talk about the importance of
Of trying to rein in Asia Wilson wherever you can. That's obvious. But at some point, Asia's going to do what Asia's going to do. We have talked at length all season about Chelsea Gray being the human dagger. And what do you do to stymie that as much as possible or frustrate her to a point where she has inefficiencies? And somehow...
put a body on her at the end of a game if it's close. That's going to be intriguing. To me, one of the biggest impetuses tonight, or in this series tonight, is going to be Jackie Young. Does Dallas have the ability to keep Jackie Young from sneaking up and...
And tearing hearts on the offensive. She's great in terms of shot selection. She finds open court really well. She can shoot from distance when needed. She's the second highest scorer in the first round. You have Asia Wilson with 16 points at 16 and a half is Jackie young. Now she's one of five players averaging double figures. So that's not to say that such a heavy load is going to be put on Jackie young outside of Asia Wilson. This is a team that shares their scoring responsibility extremely well and
But all things considered...
Young has looked very good, shooting 41.7% from the line in that first series. So if that energy persists on six attempts a game, it's going to be extremely hard for Dallas to get a game under control against the Aces. And that's one of those players that they may need to double up a few more times. They may need to put tight man-to-man at the perimeter just to try and keep
this offense honest and get key stops. This is stops and consecutive stops are going to be probably the biggest impetus to what Dallas is going to need to try and pull together wins in this series. If they're going to do this at all, they need to get stops and those need to immediately transition into points. They need to have a great ability to transition into
From defense, they need to work quickly down the court and find open looks where they can get them. It's going to make things very intriguing, all things considered. As far as the aces are considered, for me, it's really simple. I think if you stop Sobley, you stop Dallas. McCowan has been...
One of their biggest players in terms of on the boards and defensive prowess. Obviously, Agumawale is going to get shots up and is going to score and is going to be a huge threat from all across the court in terms of getting buckets.
But I feel like that's a strategy that the wings that play teams have been used to with playing at the wings in a rookie is going to get what a re-kick gets. But if you can find a way to force this Dallas offense from, from working through Satu Sabali, um,
As Jamie Tartt might say, if Sabli were Jamie Tartt, I guess, stop going to me. Start working through me.
I don't have a good Mancunian accent, but it's that same idea. When this team is flowing well through Satu Sabli, they're very efficient. If they can deflect that and force Dallas to center their offense otherwise or try to find alternatives, I don't know what that is. Do you try to get Sabli in foul trouble and get her on the bench early? Maybe. Do you try and...
play very stout man defense against her so that the option of moving things down low is tough. You know, call Dallas' bluff, make him take shots from distance and see if they put that together. And until they turn you honest by making those shots, you continue to stick it down low. If they...
Calm down, Sodleaf. They reign her in. This is an easy series for them. We'll see how that goes. I'm going... I'm really intrigued by these matchups. I really am. Especially in the starters, like the one to five on each end. There's a lot of interesting narratives across the board. I'm going to do... I'm going to be just a tiny bit bold. This is like...
L L Scorch or Dell Scorcho sauce, but not Dell Inferno sauce. I believe that's the hottest of the Dell taco sauces. Um, and I believe Dell Scorcho is the one just under that. I caramba. Um, that's me quoting Weezer by the way. I'm not giant. I'm sorry if that was weird, but I said L Scorcho to start. So now I have Weezer in my head.
The reason I say that is I'm going to be very lightly bold. I have Vegas winning this series, but I have them winning in five. I really wonder if Dallas is going to make this very interesting for the Aces and is going to take them to the brink because I see this Dallas team potentially building around themselves for quite a while. This is going to be a huge playoff threat in the future. That's how I see it.
I'd love to be right. I think a lot of WAB fans would like to be like that to be correct because I think they play a very exciting brand of basketball as things are considered right now. And I think that that could start here with the really competitive performance of
I could easily see them pulling in two games. I don't know if those are at home. I don't know if they steal one on the road early on. I'm not sure. But that's where I'm going to take this. I'm going to take this one to the brink. I'm going to say Aces in five. But Dallas very much leaving with...
you know, some gold doubloons out of the chest to say, you know, they've got a lot to chomp at for the following season. But overall, I think this will be a fun series with very fun matchups. These teams actually from position to position all the way up and down the court pair up really well. And I think that's going to turn into just an onset of a lot of really fun performances across the board. Very excited about it. So again, 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. specific. Steve! Steve!
Pacific time, 2 p.m. Pacific time, 5 Eastern Sunday, ESPN 2. Check that out. There's your predictions for the playoffs, or at least for the semifinals. Sound off, let us know, wherever you follow us on socials, comments, you know, in chat. You can email us, I guess, however you communicate. I don't know if any of us has a beeper, but beeper us.
and have us call you via pay phone. You know, we'll send a facsimile, something. Let us know what your thoughts are on these predictions, uh, and where you see this one shaking out. Uh, we have a lot of exciting basketball ahead to best of five series to determine our finalists. And before long, we just might be crowning a WNBA champion. Uh,
This is always just a crazy quick moving time of year, but I'm excited to see it. And we are very excited and always grateful to have each and every one of you with us along the way. Until all of that, thanks again for listening to this edition of WNBA Nation. I'm Steve Schwartzman, and we'll see you next time.