Angel Reese Does It Again !

Welcome to the Ruger WNBA show. I'm Sierid Sohee, and I'm joined today by DJ Treesy Trees, the host of the post up. And she's also streaming live during and after every WNBA game, I know we're from just yapping after Spark's games. We've never actually done a podcast together, though. So I'm super excited. And honestly, what a great day to do it. Because I think after this Atlanta dream win, they go up to one in the series, State Farm. They were, they showed how Angel Reese does it again, demolition Derby, a soul stealing performance truly from Angel Reese, who is just putting together Pantheon performance after Pantheon performance is absolutely the favorite right now for WNBA finals MVP, which if you don't mind skipping ahead a little bit, let's go. We could talk we could talk about it. We could like we could talk about what that means. Yeah, in the general like it, like in the in the general sort of like sports ecosystem of the WNBA 21 points today 12 rebounds, three assists, um, had a whole lot of I took that personally moments. Yep. Was entertaining was going into the crowd into it. Um, just an absolute showwoman. Mm hmm. On and off the court has been the most entertaining thing about these Derby, WNBA playoffs is the main character of these Derby NBA playoffs. This episode is presented by Walden University, whether you're on the court or building your career, getting better takes work. That's why Walden University helps working professionals get the W with tempo learning, so you can earn your degree at your own pace while gaining practical skills through real world scenarios. You'll also learn from faculty with real world experience and have support start to finish. Walden University set a course for change. Ready to start, visit walldenu.edu today, certified to operate by chef, tempo learning available and select programs. What I love about the injury story, the most is the under estimation. Oh my goodness. When I posted, uh, I don't know, I don't remember when Angel came to crypto, but when she came there, I got a chance to talk to her pregame. And we had already known that Atlanta dreamer in the playoffs and I asked her, you know, like, what was it like to develop in season, um, especially with that three point shot that we've been seeing her take a lot more of and she credited her coach. She like, he worked with me constantly. If I don't do it, he's going to call me on it. So she's been doing a lot of growing. Then I asked her where she was looking forward to in the playoffs and she said, winning. And when I tell you everything that she said happened and she is even inspiring people to make vision boards talking about manifestations are different things. But people said I was crazy when I said she's getting better silently. She's taking those shots. She's doing the thing she's showing up as a leader. So I love the UKF with me. Give me the F and ball kind of mentality that's here because that's the entertainment factor we've all been waiting for. And so many people doubted Angel Reese and the the lack of coverage, the unfavorable coverage, everything. She's coming for that championship. Oh, you can't clip form someone when they're hitting all their lips. Yeah, absolutely. And then that makes the clip farm and look even crazier because it's like, okay, you put together a montage of me missing these lips, but watch me win this championship. Like the actual full circle of that all what that means for the WMBA, especially in her third season in her third season fresh off world. And then she just tried it. It is your after a trade. It's it it gets me so excited because Atlanta's going to have a beef HS moment. Like a parade is coming to the city from this from this win that we see today. The moment, the moment is definitely in their favor. I'm glad that you brought up the idea of her sort of like developing quietly behind the scenes. I think that there have been a couple of loud inflection moments. One of the ones I've talked about is after that miss against Indiana, that could have won the game. She's shooting like I haven't checked after this game after the last game. She was shooting 67% for the restricted area since that game. Yeah, that's a huge change. The 40 40% from three hits another one today. It's another one. Then hits a jab step three. Like, oh my god, Angel, the jab step three. The streak is alive. Still 50 to know when Angel resets at least one three pointer. That's still going. And the manifest station. So this is one thing that I thought was really interesting in the post game press conference. She's making when not if statements. And I think that if you aren't familiar with the way that Angel Reese operates in the world, you could be looking at her and thinking, oh no, like she's being too arrogant. They still have two more games to win. But she had a couple of things where it's like talks about like, oh, when we win the title and talking about just her mentality that she tries to give the whole team of like, you're not taking this from us. Yeah. And I think the thing is it goes back to the manifestation. Like she talks a lot about the power of tongue. And I think this might be a generational thing. I think like 10 years ago, a star would have never done that because they wouldn't want to tempt the wrath of the basketball gods by calling their shot before it went in. And then we have this new generation, the vision boards, the manifestation, everybody's a little bit woo, woo. And she's very much of that nature. But look, she also said she said sitting at home one year ago during the WNBA finals, she was watching them. She textically a copper who's in the WNBA finals at the time says, "Give me the playoffs once I'm going to go to the finals." Manifest that. Yeah. And she tweets out manifest in the playoffs or manifest in the finals rather. And she makes the finals. So that is her notice operandi. That is what has gotten her here. And it is something that I think that has filled the Atlanta Dream team with belief. And I think it's also part of her mental game mentality where she doesn't only want to fill her team with confidence. She wants you to look in the mirror and wonder who the hell you are after the game. Like she wants to steal your confidence. Theresa Weatherspoon said after, let me pull it up. I had to write it down after because I was like, "Yo, that's so what Angel does in these games." She wants to snatch your confidence, that's what she says. That's your confidence. And you know, I think a part of that speaking, you know, positively about herself and using those wind statements. The media already, traditional media. I'll say traditional. Media already speaks so negatively about Angel Reese. There are so few times where she's given the accolades that she deserves. So I just think she doesn't care if people are going to think she's arrogant or what people think at all at this point because the feedback since LSU, since those moments, you've seen the media kind of shift and twist different narratives and the way that they speak about her in conversations and comparisons. And after the game, you know, like ESPN is not covering the WNBA finals at all like on the morning shows and those different things. So I think it's really hard just taking control of that narrative and speaking life into herself and her circumstance because if you're not going to speak positively about yourself, then how can you expect others to start to do that? So she's just kind of modeling the way with her speech. I do think that's changing a little bit now. For sure. You're forced. You can't really speak negatively about her with the outcomes that have happened. But before people are into it, like game one of the WNBA finals 2.1 million viewers, most watch finals game, I think since the first finals game ever. That's a huge number. That's way bigger than last year's number is 1.112. Yeah. So that's her. That's her direct impact. That's obviously that's also the both of the safe athletes who have to give them credit to the way that they feel that bad. And based on just the incremental growth of the WNBA since Caitlyn Clark came in a couple of years ago, there's a lot of different factors. But that's a huge jump from last year's finals. And a lot of that has to do with Angel. You're seeing I'm seeing honestly add sports center on today. Yeah. Look, this is the second day of the NBA season. Andrea Carter is all over my television covering. Angel Reese. Like there is. This is a moment. Yeah. This is surely a moment. This is definitely a moment. But you know, I love if you were excited about Andrea Carter because there are so many sisters in media who are leading those conversations and bringing it up and not to mention that Angel Reese is also the top most followed WNBA player in the league. Sure. So the eyes are there. It's been there. The controversy. All of the things that you're talking about. The sassyness, the mean every mean every game we get at least two to three Angel Reese means. Yeah. Yeah. So the the latest is her her beef with Amanada guy on the on the Golden State Valkyries. I find this endlessly entertaining. The most entertaining 81 seconds of game two. Yes, the 81 seconds if they were going up against each other. How many to guy has been all she's actually frankly she's an amazing success story for the Valkyries. She is this player who came over from France. She played on the French national team with the Valkyrie star Gabby Williams and after FIBA, which was like in August, they brought her over the team and in the course of six weeks, she has gone from playing overseas to now being a huge part of what the Valkyries do and was actually was actually sport their first field goal today. I know we'll get we'll get into the problem. I was like oh good yeah um I want to ask do you know who Le Bradford Smith is? Name sounds familiar but I don't I don't think I Le Bradford Smith played three seasons in the NBA from 1991 to 1994. His claim to fame or infamy is he was featured in the last dance documentary on Michael Jordan Chicago bowls. And it was one of the most interesting examples of MJ manufacturing motivation from a relatively anonymous player. So in his best season in the NBA, Smith scores 37 points against the bowls. Jordan then claims that Smith approached him afterwards and said nice game Mike which he interpreted as disrespectful. Now I'm going to take that personally, right? Jordan then vows that he's going to score 37 points in the first half of their rematch the following night. He scores 36 and then finishes with 47 in three quarters. The crazy part about this is that he then admits down the line. I think it was in the documentary that he never like Smith actually never said anything to him like he made this whole thing up and Smith also denied saying it but he had to create this like grievance to give himself an edge. Yep. And like that was the only thing I could think of watching Angel Reese do this to someone who has been in the WNBA for like five minutes. Yeah. Yeah. I see where you were going there. And that's where I heard that name from. That is hilarious. And you know what? Who cares? As a competitor. If you need to manufacture it, make it up. Just watching the bands are back and forth. It's fun. They're chirping. So it's not a one way chirp. You know what I mean? Watch us tonight. Here's the thing. Well, okay. So they're chirping back and forth now, right? The first thing that we get on the broadcast last game is I'm gonna need it on the free throw line telling Reese to shut the bleep up. Yeah. That was a mistake. Angel Reese was probably the one that started it. Yeah. Here's the thing. So I was going for a walk today. You live in LA. I think I think going for a walk in LA. You get the full spectrum of the human experience. For sure. Prior to this, I had a lovely interaction with a stranger, right? But I'm walking. I'm walking. There's this guy sitting on a bench. He's staring at me. And I'm kind of trying to like, I'm looking at him because I'm like, if you're looking at me, I have to kind of, I have to be aware of you at the very least. But I'm also trying to like look around a little bit. I don't want to get into a staring contest with this guy, right? I get closer and closer. He's sitting on a bench. As I'm walking by him, he gives me big middle finger and he's like, what the fuck are you looking at, bitch? And here's the thing. Like, well, yeah. And here's, here's, here's, here's the thing. Like, if you're her, if you're on Anita, do you want to fight or do you want to live to fight another day? Yeah. Like, you got, I get it. You probably didn't start it and you don't like it. You keep it. I kept it moving. I kept it moving because there's no fucking point. There's no point. There's no point. So I haven't swearing a lot in this podcast already. You got to keep it moving, man, because she gets, she gets into this game. Angel Reese up until I don't think Angel even scored until I'm gonna need to go into the game. Kyah Stokes is guarding her. She has like three blocks straight. Oh, for sure. The second I'm gonna need to get into the game. Angel gets a ball. Like, on the nail where she likes it for her faceups, drops to the rim and one talking shit. You can't fuck with me. You can't guard me. Hit the three over her later in the game. You can't guard me. Hit that jab set three on her. Yep. Then, okay. Now guys got to give her a space. Yeah. And she gets the balls. Get some bump. Get's the end one. Yeah. You can't go. No, that didn't get the end one, but she's backpedaling and she's doing it again. You can't guard me. You can't guard me. Look, eight. That makes me think about the future with Angel Reese because right now she's still this incredibly, like, raw bundle of energy, like just this kinetic energy that's like, that's just like waiting to be fully tapped into. Yep. If she starts like, if you start having to respect that three pointer and she gets to start her faceup attack from three point from the three point line and she's already growing her, her playmaking game. Like, it's also gonna be a fun area of basketball. I want to talk about two, just not even a right respect in a three and develop in the three. Angel Reese is dribbling up the court. Like, we saw in that possession tonight. Surely, somebody's gonna stop the ball. Nope. Get's the rebound. Dribbles. Ghost pass have port. Just keeps going. Everybody stops. They think that she's gonna stop and maybe pivot and pass. She went coast to coast and we weren't seeing that from Angel Reese last season. Just the confidence that she dribbles with the playmaking ability. We're seeing more of her basketball IQ. I think it's really the fact that her coach has just really just given her the reins and said, do your thing and who, and she can feel confident in whatever she wants to do. So, people were talking smack about her dribbling and all she can't hit a layup. Like, we talked about earlier and it's like until she hits it. Yeah, that's development. That's development. So we've seen a whole lot of that. And I love that for Angel Reese. And two, let's talk about audacity. It takes a lot of audacity in order to break a lot of these rules. Like, think about it earlier in the playoffs, we thought the Minnesota links were high contenders for the finals. Like, I didn't think they had landed dream. I believe that they would for sure get to the semi finals. I didn't think they would be in a finals. I don't think they thought they were good. They had to make a last minute change to their arena. Yeah, to to schedule themselves for a finals game. They didn't think that they were going to be in the finals. Think about they didn't have to want a bonner. That's the single most important move in the W to affect the WVA postseason was adding to want a bonner to the Atlanta dream. That gave them the last infinity stone that they needed. That's so true. In order to continue to go forward because that veteran leadership off the bench allows Carl Smesco to only play her and Borlaise off the bench. And everybody else just never sees the time of the day because he's doing that seven woman rotation. Yeah, yeah, she has been she had a sneaky, amazing five point swing in the third quarter when the Valkyries were starting to get back into the game. And I think one of the the stories of this series is really just about like, all right, you took a punch, can you punch back harder, right? Yep. And Tip Hayes had just taken a charge on Angel Reese. And that's the type of thing that can get the team going, especially competitors like this. Like these, these are two teams that really build off the energy and the effort of the other player. Like if they watch you sack of fights and like, it's like kind of like, click something in them of like, okay, it's time for me to sacrifice my body some in some way too. You get in the mud. So I was looking at that and I was like, oh, that could really be a turning point moment. DBS, I think it just hit a three. Yep. And then she hit some no man's land. No man's land. She hit this crazy fade away shot that she thought she got fouled on. And the announcers are also saying like, man, if Atlanta sports here, like the top is going to come off the building. And then she scores. The top comes off the building. Angel Reese is getting to rest on the bench, goes over in high fives, Alyssa Thomas, the whole crowd is into it. The crowd. Yeah, crowd amazing. We knew that was going to happen though. Somebody said that they weren't going to sell our stay farm. I'm like, this will be the sixth time that they did it. And I was going to bet. I was like, you got Apple pay. I was willing to put up best, but I didn't take that money because I knew it was going to happen. Atlanta has been waiting for a playoff series, a final series. I'm sorry for a while. Think about last time the Hawks have done anything like that. It's time, especially in this era of women's basketball growing. Angel Reese having so many celebrity plugs. We saw two chains there. We saw all these people who culturally power Atlanta coming and taking part in the game. It's beautiful. It was so cool. And the ATL Hochan at the end of the game. But here's the thing. Bahala has been rocking. It's been talked about. It's hard to play. It's loud. They go hard. Imagine that happened into you. They hit them with the Uno reverse car and say, ATL, ATL, like, that would demoralize me to hear that at the end of the game. When I'm getting smacked, a BTA, what a comeback for the term hole after the Mystics got knocked out. I didn't think I didn't think we'd be hearing it again in the WNBA context. No, no, I'm glad I came back in Atlanta for sure. That was so cool. That moment was so cool because I feel like I feel like you said, like Atlanta's been waiting for this. Angel Reese is a perfect conduit to bring in all these celebrities. Like, man, who, like, who wasn't there, right? Like, I saw, I saw Ludicrous, I think. Oh my gosh, I'm always bad at this. I always feel get the names of like all the celebrities that are at the game help me out let me think it was because they showed them all at one time I feel like it was like yeah it was some girls there too a lot of it was at the last game she wasn't at this game a lot of it's touring and I think she's actually doing the babe like around game five so I wouldn't be surprised if they if she popped up in the mail that will be legit yeah later tomorrow um but yeah like okay a ton of celebrities Lou Williams is there oh Lou will yeah yeah yeah we talked about the crowd swag surfing I mean it was an actual swag sir it wasn't what it was crazy but it was just such an amazing culmination of like it felt like the city of Atlanta the culture of Atlanta like embracing the team yep it was just a really cool moment and we're seeing more of these moments in the WNBA right like you have it well well you have it with the tempo you have it with Portland right like three expansion teams I guess and and for for Atlanta one thing that they had to do they had to return the trust of the fan base as well and that's what they've been doing the last five years and this felt like this finally got it yeah finally got embracing you you are part of our cultural language as a city you see us we see you like yeah and we love the bravado we love the swagger like we're gonna feed into that for sure and down to their social media like the admin getting on air today and telling everybody just wear the damn shirt like talking about with you and how big of an Atlanta problem was that they're like okay what color pants are we wearing like people are literally that's one of the most fashion forward cities you know we're like getting dressed and going out and popping out and doing those things so for people to be arguing about that before the game amazing yeah it's so good all right let's talk about the game um some of the ex-factors I thought should we start with just a start of the game like that that scoring grow yes we can at first of all this whole series has been low scoring this the the fact that the Atlanta dream got to 90 points today was crazy but I forecasted that will it would be low scoring you got the number one and number two defense right so it's really great defense it looks like sloppy play because it kind of is you're not taking care of the ball they're kind of passes getting picked left and right but I was worried when we got to like five minutes and it like the the vouchers weren't even in double digits I think they had like six points or something crazy like that I'm like oh this is wild they kind of looking shook but then they started to get together to get together together going into the second they didn't make a field goal until like the 438 mark and one of those things like when you watch a lot of basketball when the score says one because Kyla Charles gets their free throw line and she hits one of two and it's like their first first moment to get on the table free throws there's something about when the score when the scoreboard says one that I'm like oh this is gonna be grimy we're cooked it's just gonna be grimy yeah they start all for seven and all of them they're like contested tough midrange shots yep and and and and like Atlanta they're switching and goal and state they just can't break this switch no the starters don't score mine is Gabby Williams who hits a three like late in the in the first quarter the rest of starters don't score yeah I don't think I've ever seen that and again just a bunch of cardio just a bunch of running around and also like Veronica Burton I think too it's kind of an issue like a lot of people are talking about Ryan Howard in this series but I think the Valkyries are having a similar Veronica Burton issue because I don't know if the moment's too big if she's looking to pass first but there are multiple moments where you need her to be just efficient on hitting it the easy to she'll drive into the basket try to you know get some contact and then just put the layup way too high on the back bore end or just throw the ball over the hoop completely so it's like I don't know what she really needs to do but I think Caitlin Chen is out shining her in this series randomly yeah and they need her they need her I think she was seven for seven today Gabby Williams is five for 18 and the thing that scares me is everybody else showed up like Gell Solon hit big shots hit me and she's been nothing this whole series for a six woman of a year I kind of complained about that on the internet glass she could pop up today and like really give but I'm like yo first two games of the finals no points no minutes no point they put her in for four minutes of first game she has like me it's the first time she's playing in ages and you're putting around a WNBA finals so she obviously was a little bit discombobulated today I think she came ready to play for sure Veronica though I mean I just think she's such a confidence player like I think that she's she really doesn't want to make mistakes and that's the thing that Natalie kind of coaxed out of her last year right like it was the ability to kind of pour confidence into her and and have her feel good about her decision making have her not overthink have her not worry when she's turning the ball over and right now it just looks like she's like back kind of back in her head again a little bit right like kind of second guessing worrying about what what she's going to do a lot of a lot of the open Jimmy has been there and just kind of going like east west as opposed to more sales yeah I just I don't I don't really know it doesn't it looks like sometimes when she's driving into the pain because a lot of her points are off that are like and ones because she can score the layup I just think she doesn't know where her next move is like she gets deep into the pain and she doesn't know if she wants to spin if she wants to pull up and fade away if she wants to drive in so you just get this wild rush shot that is kind of not how she's been playing prior to the series well I think a lot of it is on as defense I think Jordan Canada has been an unsung hero of of this game I know she'll probably look at this game and say oh four for ten didn't hit a three I know she probably wants to play better but I think that she had a really good game like she's a really good game management um and she hit that she had that one like past bake euro step maybe she took off I'm like how do you even do this at this pace blue by everybody I think it was to pace on that last one and tip is looking like where's my health defense it's not coming girl you don't have any help over please tell you what you want to do what there is another really smart drive I think it was I think it was Jordan again where Kia Stokes wasn't in the game it was Amanita guy that completely changes what their health defense looks like and she drives against two people in transition because she's like if I beat the first person I'm going to beat Amanita so yeah like that's let's see offense defense sort of trade off that the batteries have to deal with but I think the problem on offense right now is that there's starters like there's a couple players that I think in their starting lineup that I think can attack switches better than they have I think Chechi's and Lissini who had a pretty good game but wasn't really deployed against the switching scheme in the way that um you necessarily want her to be yeah she I think could definitely get a few more reps there um but for the most part you know you're switching and you got Kia Stokes as your big that can like potentially attack a mismatch she's not an offensive player Gabby Williams has really been struggling to to to to attack these switches so was Burton it's kind of making them overthink and look this is a team that takes a lot of isolation shots it's not like that's not something that they're used to but I don't know like this is kind of getting into she might be her and it might just be that but like I just don't I just don't know if Gabby Williams is a number one I think she ever loved the number one I don't know how we got this in our head I think Golden State's identity is a team of like a bunch of people who can go off for 20 points for sure but they all know it's never going to happen on the same night and it's never going to happen twice that's the thing that's a consistency aspect is definitely Gabby's been up down up down she has nights anybody can have a night on that team and she's probably gonna have more nights in your average person and look I don't want to discredit the work that she is done to improve as a score because she's done a lot of it like the three-point development the reps she's gotten as go at the guard spot um but look this is someone who took more isolation shots and just about anybody else in the league but was also like the most inefficient added to the thing that that that saves them from like losing the math there is that they usually win the possession battle yeah but you're they're not winning the possession battle against Atlanta because Atlanta cures deeply about winning the possession battle to the point where Carl Smesco tells his players that if we win the jump ball at the start of the game we have a three-point percent chance more of winning the game because it means we get one extra possession this game they go five and no one jump balls I was gonna say they won every jump every jump they got they turn them over yep and the the box goal will say that it's 69 shots to 69 shots but they got more free throws so functionally they had more possessions on offense and they did more with them and this was my worry with Golden State it's once the possession battle flattens out and you guys are taking as many shots as each other then it becomes about the stars yeah and Atlanta just has a beat from a star perspective for sure and then Golden State's turn over tonight you can't you you're not gonna win if you're giving the ball up like that against these these defenses just clear blocks even like we talk about Angel Reese getting blue blocked by Kia Stokes, right? She got blocked, got the ball back, got blocked, got the ball back. It's like you have to, at some point, in those second chance opportunities, because Atlanta is going to find a way to score in every player on their roster can bring the ball up. You know, and fast, you know, playing out in transition, pushing the pace. There are so many things that Atlanta did, right? That even if, you know, Alicia Gray who wasn't having a great shooting night, or a scoring as many points as we thought she was, she went out for a little bit to, you know, there are other people who can just pick up the pace. Borlaise tonight. Oh, I think, I think before we get to Borlaise, we've gone way too long in this podcast without talking about Ryan Howard yet. Oh, yeah, yeah, we got to talk about Ryan Howard. We got to talk about Ryan Howard. Because, look, she was the main character of everybody's criticisms for the first two games of the series. Yeah. I think even after, sorry, go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Oh, yeah, you finished. Oh, just after a win, even to have that level of pressure going in. And I thought she was so impressive because she picked her spots. I think some players, sometimes they get in their head and these moments, they kind of do one of two things. Either they do too much or they don't do enough. Ryan Howard comes into the game. One of the first plays she makes is she finds Jordan Canada for a wide open three. Just like a really really good read swing misses a shop. It's a wide open three good offense. Then she finds Angel Reese in the post for a really like who finished a great great layup like she didn't walk into that game. Thinking I have to go get mine. She was still assessing what the defense was giving her. And then as the game went on, especially in that third quarter, where I thought the Valkyries could have made a run. She just started driving to the rim. They're trying to force her baseline. She's not letting them do it. And as a result, they're off balance. She's drawing fouls. She's hitting circus shots. Kayla Thornton can't do a thing with her. And now right now Ryan Howard knows it. So they're probably going to have to switch that match up. She went and it's a weird box for a game. But this whole playoffs has been weird box for a game for Ryan Howard. She had two games against Liberty that I think she went five for 20. But I didn't care or criticize those her those games because she was driving to the rim and she was being really aggressive. And this is another game where it's like, OK, four for 11. I don't care because you know what? Nine of those were inside the arc. Yeah, I think at least six of those were drives. Yeah, you got to the free throw line 10 times. On top of that, you get five steals. So now you become the first player in WNBA history to get five more, five steals or more in one game. So you're still doing it on the offensive end. All those turnovers that we talked about. Yep. A lot of that is Ryan Howard. And Ryan Howard pushing the transition just, just also what a gift to just like be able to just pass the ball up to Jordan Canada. No one's going to be faster than her. No one. Or even try for that matter. Yeah, like let her go. You're going to give up an N1 if you even try. So you just, you win as well let her go. It's a clear pass that I would if you don't. Yeah. And my favorite thing about Ryan Howard, this is just my personal perspective. And why I haven't, you know, openly commented or criticized her not only because she's a member of my sorority and I ain't about to do my sister like that. You okay, but also like, I think she's the personification of never get too hot, never get too low. We hear athletes say that all the time. But when I tell you her temperament never changes when the game was started and everybody was doing a handshake. I'm like, come on Ryan, get lit. And she just kind of just chill and walk out there. And I'm like, this girl don't seem like she got no energy. I hope she won a win. But then things happen like that, you know, those two first games of the series, she didn't have a great offensive showing. But she was still doing all the things defensive defensively. People forget that she's first team all defensive. So it's like she's silently playing her position and kind of not even hearing the noise where people were like, hey, it's time for us to have a Ryan Howard discussion. It's like, yeah, I called her an elite player and people were like, she's not elite. I'm elite, in my opinion, means that even when the circumstance is not favorable for them, they can show up in ways that's almost like, oh my God. Where did that come from? Alicia Gray with the screws in her hand. Having a great game too. You know, all these moments of just like extra um, where ordinary turns to extra ordinary. That's what Ryan Howard brings. And you kind of need somebody to balance the equilibrium when you own a 10, 15 point run and you need to kind of calm it down a little bit. You know, Ryan's attitude, her temperament, everything about it, she's never really that excited even when she's like, all right, and one like she'll do that. And then she's just back chilling again. That's sort of the dichotomy of the Atlanta dream, right? 'Cause Alicia's super chill too. Yep. And not as a super chill. And then they bring an angel. And they bring in the wanna bonner to both players who can get very fiery. And I think Jordan Canada can kind of mix it up in any sort of way. It's a fun dynamic. 'Cause I feel like they kind of, they give each other what they need. You know, like one of them might need you to calm, like, hey, like angel, you know, get away from the ref sort of thing. Please get away from the ref, Angel. You're making us stress that home. Yeah, like look, these WNB refs are liable to do anything. And they will, they will ruin. They will ruin it. A spotlight moment, man. And I was worried about those refs tonight. I was like, I don't care for these refs. They're not good tonight. I don't think that's good. They're not favorite either way, but the refs were not good tonight. No, no. And these specific refs have not been good in other games. So, but you know, I don't wanna blame it on the refs, 'cause then they say, oh, you blame it on the refs. Just because the Atlanta dream are doing, you know, like people get crazy about that in the comments. But I think across the board, the feeble refs are so much better than the WNB refs. I agree. I agree. Another Atlanta player that we have to talk about is Noss Hillman. I feel all the Atlanta players get their flowers today. We knew that at some point, like the roof would come off, 'cause Atlanta's gotten here this whole point without really playing a fully complete offensive game. Noss Hillman comes in, hits two, three from the exact same spot. Yep, back to back, he checked. I say, wow. And Noss Hillman has had not great games these first, the first two games of the series. This is another player with the Ryan Howard trajectory of it, where everybody's like, no, I just got to step up, you gotta do this, you gotta do that. But again, she's playing solid defense. She's keeping up with her man. I knew at some point it would hit. And tonight was that night. And I think that home court advantage is really a thing, y'all. I know for role players, for sure. Man, you gotta have, you gotta hear the crowd cheering for you and really riding for you. And I think Bahala is kind of intimidating for any WNB-18 to play in. And not that they will follow because they're all professionals, but I think something special happened tonight in that state farm arena. Yeah. I agree, even Ryan plays better at home too. A lot of these Atlanta players play better at home. They're not like your traditional. Maybe you know, maybe down the line two years from now, they'll all be good on the road too, but they're young, right? Like there's sort of like usually an experience level that you have to have for as good as you are on the road as you are at home. Unless you're angel racing, you feed off the haters. I was like, man, feeding off the hate is her thing. And it's because, and you know, and I maybe I shouldn't just say traditional media gives her a bad rap because social media also gives her a bad rap. That I think is powered by that mostly. So she's had to quiet those haters down a long time ago. So her disposition against it is probably like, I don't care what nobody say. I'm just gonna do my thing and be me. Well, the thing is with her, it's never gonna end because like the algorithm needs her to be a villain. They need her to be a failure. Actually more than they need her to be a villain. They need to make these videos. You need to get your clip farms out. You need to get your reactionary YouTube takes out. Like there's an entire cottage industry that has been built on angel race hate. And that's not gonna go anywhere. Like if she wins a championship, she wins finals MVP. Like some of these people will just start talking about how to conspiracy theory. Or it's like, they're not watching it anymore. Right, yeah, exactly. Or they'll be like, oh, well, this speaks to the WNBA, like needs to focus more on offense. Like they'll never succeed. If like a player like Angel Reese, like if that type of playstyle is like incentivized and rewarded and stuff, like that will never end. So for her, it's kind of like, why would you even, like it doesn't, doesn't matter. Like you're not, there's a certain segment. It is like, there's like this great quote about like a man cannot afford, like a man cannot know what something that like, oh, my God, but you're in here. But like a man cannot know something that his job requires him to not know. And there's a lot of cognitive dissonance in the world. Yeah. That is due to that, right? And that's just like that is what the, like the, a lot of the people who don't like Angel Reese, like they need her to be a specific thing. Yeah. So it's never, it's never gonna change for them. And that started before the debut. Yeah, that's the rule on that. I mean, we still see the ring. People are still putting that gift everywhere. I think she already developed her persona from there. You know, just how she was gonna respond to what people were saying to her. then and year three of your WNBA career you doing this DPOY potential finals MVP potential WNBA championship That's a lot that's the the hate clip apartment is only gonna be epic eligible gonna make a million dollars next year. Oh, yeah Oh, yeah, I don't know how Atlanta's gonna be able to afford her, but oh They have they have one of the cleanest cap sheets in the league. They'll be fine Okay, cool. They got some money. Yeah, they're good. I saw their bench, you know, they're not really it's like really at seven people Well, they have a lot of players on rookie deals and like they got Hillman on a pretty good deal as well. Yeah, Hillman by the way That's another player is like a second second round pick Um, I love this story so draft night. Lisa Leslie went to not Hillman and she was like and she you know straight up just out of like this sort of like developmental like just telling you the truth here That if she doesn't develop her jumper, she's not gonna be able to last in the league um And she'd come from Michigan. We're like kind of like she was a huge piece. Yeah for for Michigan So it was kind of like this crazy reality check for her And she's sort of like is one of these players as we know it's like so hard to to hang on in the edges of A WNBA roster, but I think Atlanta was really smart and that they wanted to develop her Yeah, and then Smasco comes and as we know, Smasco was a shooting whisper. Yeah, he's like he's he's completely changed the mechanics of Angel Reese's jumper But he did that with not as Hillman the year before Um, and in fact, that was a big reason why Angel wanted to come to Atlanta. Yeah, she saw that transformation She becomes a six one million year then Three Jones is out for the season. She entered a starting lineup and now she's like a key piece on a on a Team that is two wins away from winning a title. Yeah, and three Jones being out is rough But man, what a great ring story for her She just got to what it worth though with re Jones because like they like they want to switch all five positions defensively They want to run slower the ball down your throat like breathe a little bit more, but I love re Jones She's more of an old-school post player. She is absolutely an old-school post player and she's a little slower But watching her and key assaults would be interesting I mean, she's automatic layup if you if you can get the entry pass down to her and she's a big target We know it's how to create space like she's a layup. Yeah, and and key will be filed out He has a file problem as well, so which I don't I don't mind her having, you know, she'll she's going to block you or fight you I love that. Well, let's talk about that side of it. So I Think Natalie's got a bit of a key of problem right now. Kia Stokes is the only player who can guard Angel Reese. Yep But she can't attack switches and they're not respecting her on the defensive end at all. Nope And it has haven't had a downstream impact into everything. Yeah, now we talked about it. I'm an out of guy comes in Angel Reese immediately starts putting buckets up Like if you're in a like you do have like an ideal sort of rotation for game for it They're play like who do you want to see playing more is her starting fine of starting five that you like or just like a best five that you think would like strike the right balance No, I think I think Natalie's game is constantly switching off the players like she has a roster that's good enough to play fast and defend well enough To not run the score up and then like I say all the people on the bench could go off for 11 12 points at least You know what I mean? So I think Natalie's really just been Tiring out her opponents with it, but it's tough when you you're throwing in people who you know are going to have no offensive impact like a Kia Stokes, right? Like people were shocked today on string when they were like damn she actually tried to shoot people tight that And she doesn't she's not an offensive first player, but she does really well on the board. So it's like There was all I think there was always going to come a time for Natalie where it was like I've run out of options and no matter who I saw being I'm not going to find the right offensive balance if the shooting isn't clicking So tip Hayes could go off for 15 16 points off the bench, but then you got three starters who got zero Thank that is there there's no amount of math that's going to map because these people like you're waiting on everybody to go off And two people on your bench went off in one of your starters and then the rest of the people are just burning up the clock I think tip needs to play more and she needs to stop flopping too. She would be better if she like literally stop trying to so aggressively Initiate and get contact like getting that charge. I was like I saw her laying on the ground holding her chest I'm like, I know she tired as hell of just falling all over the ground because I thought she was going to hurt herself And what was that game too? Well her head kind of hit the ground. I'm like girl you got to just stop sacrificing your body so much like absolutely Yes, dive for the ball do the things, but it's just a little too much of that Trying to sell it all the time. Yeah, where's like now you're not effective and you could have actually finished through contact But then you thought your body around. Yeah. Yeah. No, there's a lot of like she came into the game and like she had like nine points in the first quarter She was getting downhill and then yeah, she started playing that game. Yeah, playing that game a little bit trying to get the file far better And it's like all right girl you gonna get some of those calls, but how about you get some of the shots. Yeah, yeah She she can actually just go north south and attack some of these switches in a way that nobody else can she fast She's fast She can read that defense and be like all right cool. I'm gonna just drive into the lane and go left and put it up with my left hand Like we saw some of that tonight like good stuff you can do it, but I just think sometimes she either forces the shot settles four or three that she probably shouldn't be taking or like drives into the paint and again just tosses it It was so many easy tools that go to stay could have hit if they just focused on using the backboard and calmly going into the lane instead of getting in there and kind of hitting the panic But in almost and just jacking the shot up. Yeah Do you think there's anything they can do to give Gabby easier shot diet? I don't think so. I think looking at Gabby's face her body language gives defeated She looked like she wanted to cry and not because like She can't be emotional or any of those ways. I just think She just kind of gets in her head like you said and then when angel adversely when that happens to angel She'll be like all right come on like she's getting mad. She's rallying the troops. There was this moment In game two where she's like hollering at the bench and I think the people on her team We're looking at her like oh my god, you're a psycho But yeah, you meet her at these moments of herself when she fires herself up And I just don't see a lot of that with Gabby back that that self-talking maybe it's in her head Maybe it's calm, but like she just was on the bench and even Kayla Thornton If her if her it looks to kill She was looking like this is over Like the whole thing she's giving nothing. She's giving nothing. They really need to they need to replace all of her minutes with Kayla Charls, yeah, yeah, and and and Janelle salon who is another player who can really attack these switches and was doing so like I think I think you can take some positives out of that like you do have some of the tools I can that can attack their defense Gabby look I think Burton kind of gets in her head, but I think I think Gabby is someone who we've seen Step up and do the impossible on this kind of stage before So I don't want to necessarily say that she's defeated Like I think look you get blown out twice in a row. You're not going to be feeling good about yourself But that means I think the two things that I think about is This team does pretty well when they're back against the wall Mm-hmm, and they have two days of rest because I think one thing that happened in in this series is that Angel Reese's offensive improvement has been so exponential that it is forcing gold state to completely rethink how they're approaching this series Yeah, that's a very difficult thing to do going on the road only one game in between and you have to travel yeah, they have two two games You know Natalie Nacasi in her clipboard and her game tape like I have I'm sure they have something up their sleeve But it'll be better game four will be better. Yeah, I just don't know based off of how this game went today If Atlanta goes on a run again, if they can effectively stop it like the gap and I don't think it'll be a 90 something 70 something game again the margin will be much closer but I don't know maybe though all of those in season wins like sweeping them in the season kind of had them feeling like all right We know how to play them here's things that work But then again you talk about Angel Reese's development. I think she's developed a lot since they got swept in the season Yeah, I mean both teams are very different Yeah, I think both teams acknowledge that like obviously they watch that tape um, but I don't I don't I think they were both pretty Real and sincere about the fact that they couldn't take too much out of it um But I think Atlanta is ultimately just a more talented team Like that's that's just how I felt more consistent as well the players all there are a little bit more consistent They've been consistent for since bonner got there and since the fever break Because they weren't a very consistent team whereas like gold state has been consistent kind of the whole season with what they want to do It's just that the things that they normally do and this speaks to the imposition of will and again It speaks to angel Reese and her endless motor and her fight and her physical is a quality not being outdone by anybody. His angel is leading the charge as far as making it impose, like making the things that Golden State typically makes impossible, possible, right? Like they don't let you run. Well, injuries is gonna run. Ryan Howard's gonna run. Jordan Cannon is gonna run. They don't want you scoring the pain. Angel is gonna score in the pain. - 40, that score was 42 points in the pain today. - 44 points in the pain for Atlanta. 20 points in the pain for Golden State tonight. - That's just not it. That's not something that Golden State has used to do. - Ever does, yeah. - Like they've just met up again. Like they're matched up against this team that, I don't know, like sometimes it's just that simple. They are executing at a level which is making it impossible for them to play their game. So now Natalie has to do what in the, in the cliches of movie lore is like the hardest thing that a head coach ever has to do, which is going halfway into a series, change the strategy that got you there. - Yep, yep. I think maybe she has a backup strategy and not in a way that strategy A did work just an alternative plan. Natalie seems like a planner like that to me, especially 'cause I asked her before the fever break, how she planned on preparing her team with rests and with game plan strategy practice and all the things to continue the momentum that they had in the season, past Fiba in the WNBA season and then go into the playoffs. And she's like, we played winning basketball and we planned for this. So I think, you know, there was a scenario in her mind in which, okay, cool, we run out of gas. What's next? - Oh yeah. - Who can I go to, what can I do? You know, and even Gabby might give us 25 in the next game, y'all. I actually predicted that the Atlanta dream would go down all two. I had fully prepared for a world in which it was gonna go to a game seven because the goal to save Balkyries at home would just be too much to deal with. So the fact that Atlanta stole a game at Golden State, they win this game, game four is now the most important game. I know we said game three was the most important game, but now game four is really the tail, tail sign because, you know, you get your back against the wall, you at least get to go home and you might be able to get one game, but can you do that again to get that second game? - In Bahala, and I just don't know. I don't, not with the offensive power, we saw the night from the Atlanta dream. - I love that the WNBA now has a seven game series because I love a game four. Game four, like canonically, is probably my favorite and just about any series because it's a game where you find out who everybody is and you find out if this is gonna be a real rock fight or not, like it's, this is where it gets really fun 'cause either Golden State wins and now it's just a three game series and they have home court again or Atlanta wins and it's three one and no team has ever made it back from three one. - Yep. - And it becomes after that. You hit that like, I don't know, that third quarter of a game four, which is like, you know everybody knows everybody's strategy. Like, you can try all the different things and the gimmicks and whatever it just kind of comes down to like, who's better? Like who's gonna take this? - I think it's gonna be a six game series in Atlanta's got it for two. I said that from the beginning. - I'm starting to think that. - I said that from the beginning. I'm like, I see a world 'cause again, I predicted maybe '02 'cause Golden State was gonna come out hot, and they were gonna play, but now it's like, oh, and Alicia Gray recovery was like, how she was gonna play in this series? Really was a make a break for that as well too. But once we saw what happened in game one, I'm like, all right, cool. This is really looking like a four two series. So I expect Golden State to come back out and punch hit. I don't know how hard they gonna hit because I think that momentum that Atlanta built tonight is going to carry over until the next game in the city of Atlanta is gonna be back in a thousand percent. - Yeah, by the way, shout out to the WNBA, shout out to the dream, shout out to the hawk, shout out to everybody for handling Anis Cantor exactly how he should be handled. - I mean, what an opportunity. Like, let's talk about how loser this is, right? Bro, you go to the WNBA finals, you saw a picture of, he's got his hair cut. Like, you have nothing going for yourself. Like, nothing to get all dolled up, to go to the women's game to antagonize women. - Not too much, not too much on getting dolled up to go to the WNBA. - No, no, no, I'm saying just to antagonize. - Yeah, definitely get fly going to a WNBA game. If you go into the WNBA game, I would say that's the most important. Out of all the sporting. (laughing) - Well, it was good. - You look like it. - You need to look fly at a W game because the looks are gonna be there. - Yeah. - Plus you have that amount of preparation as well. - For sure, the lore, and you know what? Even if you're heterosexual. - Okay. - There's some heteros in there. - There are a few, yeah, there's a few. - And there's a lot of men who watch WNBA basketball because they like the competitiveness of it. So you could find a boo equal opportunity at the WNBA. (laughing) That should be the selling point. Love Island WNBA style. But yeah, I just, I hate that he keeps trying to pop up and my bro, it's wack, it's so wack. He, before going to the game, he contacted federal, state, and local authorities, the WNBA, the dream, and the state farm arena officials to express concerns about his personal safety during his planned attendance. And I thought this response was fantastic. Where the state farm arena, everybody kind of came together and they're like, okay, well, we are obviously, our utmost concern is the safety and positive experience of our guests and like him and his guests. So we're gonna give you a private luxury suite and you'll have additional security and it'll be like your designated viewing location for the game. And the state police also assigned an officer to Mr. Freedom at his request. - Yeah. - First of all, I'm sorry. Imagine feeling unsafe at a WNBA game. - Oh, places in the world that you could feel unsafe. Like you were contacting officials because you're worried for your safety at a WNBA game? - He thinks he's the birthday. He really thinks he's the birthday. He thinks he's there. He wants to be the main character, so bad. - Yeah, well, and then he can't be because he's in this private luxury suite in which he cannot antagonize anybody. He cannot make himself part of the story. So when he tries to, I'd be like, well, I want to watch these games and I'm a quartet seat. And it's like, well, sorry, dude. Like we, you said you were worried about your safety. - We just don't know if you can keep you safe but our utmost concern is your safety. So it's like, I don't know how to lock you in the box. - The glass palace. It kind of said, it was funny because it was like, look, if you're bad in from the games, which I'm not against, if you want to bad in from the games, that's fine. But you also are going to have to deal with and you recycle the repercussions of that. And I understand why from her peers perspective, they don't want to. They also want to, they also would be even worse was actually letting him be a part of it and make himself a part of this story. - Yep. - So you kind of just like, like he insisted on forcing the issue and you sort of just let him make a fool of himself. - Oh, absolutely. 'Cause yeah, we're scared for YouTube, bro. Now hang out with the police at the top of the thing and no one can see you, no camera will pay in your way. You can wear whatever you want to wear. - And just cannot for the life of me. Imagine going from like being persecuted by a despotic regime in Turkey to then making the personality transition of, I feel scared of a W.A. game. - Top, top level grift. Top, I mean, top of the top level grift, he just, he needs to really calm down. And honestly, you have to be at like, supreme level of misery to even keep this thing going. Imagine how sad or bored or angry you have to be to constantly force this narrative and everyone is ignoring you. - That is, I mean, so saddest thing about all this stuff is just like the level to which people are willing to sublimate any sense of like personality or like identity or integrity that they have to like, you give all that stuff up in service of a grift. It's just, I find, I honestly find it very sad. - Yeah, and he could, honestly, if he just got into gym and practice, he probably could be an M.B.A. He could be an M.B.A. He could try. Do you really? - He could try. - Overseas, he could still just, he just doesn't have the facilities for that anymore. (laughing) He could try. - He could try. - You don't really have that lateral quickness anymore. This is a, and B.A. It's a Wemba Nyama League. I don't know if he focused more on his game, he would be much farther in life than this B.Saiquist of being-- - Well, he's focused on the W.N.B.A.D.R.A. for now. - I can't do it. I literally can't even take a serious for 30 seconds. - No, I know. But truly, I thought that was funny. And I think he's-- - We'll play. - Unintentionally funny. Shout out to whoever was like, okay. I wanna give Kathy one shot out, just let's just pretend it was Kathy so we can say one positive thing about her because I give her a lot of like flat online. You know what? They got the state farmer you know too. Yeah as well. So you got to give him credit there. That's that's a logistical nightmare that usually the WNB is not very good at solving logistical nightmares. They got state farm state farm showed up they showed out that was incredible. Okay, sold out 17,000 people minus one 16,999 I guess minus one is why real though can't wait for game four. Yes, it's going to be so fun. You got the dream in six. I think I got the dream in six to I've got I've gone back and forth in my prediction like before the series. I was like ready to go dream in six and I was like man the Valkyries might do it and then I ultimately landed on Atlanta winning because of the talent gap and the possessions. Yeah, flatening out and it feels like that's kind of where things are I think the Valkyries are in tough spot, but they could come back. I don't think they win that he's gotten her bag. I got it before I really coordinate. I don't want to win the next game. Game four goes to Atlanta and then it'll probably it'll go back to go to stay three one. They probably get that game. Then it'll be three to and then I'll be done and then to be four to that's house. Yeah, that feels that feels like a natural conclusion and everybody goes to Magic City after limit. Yeah, lemon 10 piece lemon pepper hot. Okay. Yes, man. All right, if you guys like this episode like subscribe all the things right if you want. But you know, just just make sure in whatever manner that you interface with the internet because I know we all do it differently. You can find a way to make sure you're tapped in with what we're doing our next episode will be Saturday after game four game four. You know I'm going to be on one because I love a game for. Thank you so much for for for hopping on where can the people find your work. You can find me on all platforms at DJ Tracy tree says at DJ T are I see UI T R I C E. I'm always running my mouth about sports, not hard to find. Yeah, you did Laker sparks. I'm the man, were you doing a double header today or are you kind of like like because I think your game probably just ended. Yeah, Laker game, Andy. I'm not really doing the Lakers anymore. I'm I'm a dip in dabble, but I think I'm more of a LeBron bandwagoner more on that later. Look, that looked nice. I turned this jersey around. I was like, let's rip Kobe, not Lakers. Yeah. Okay. I feel that. I feel that. Yeah. That six years debut look good. Crazy good. Yeah. We got to talk about that. That was fun. That was really fun. All right. Thank you so much for making the time. This was so much fun. And thank you to Stephan Anderson as always for producing and moving back Saturday.