September 25, 2024 • 36 mins
Las Vegas Aces beat reporter Callie Fin (Lawson-Freeman) of the Las Vegas Review-Journal joins Sarah to talk about A’ja Wilson’s g’reatness, Kate Martin’s super power, the moments Syd Colson gets serious and how the Aces have stayed focused in pursuit of a Threepeat. Plus, college volleyball does numbers and did y’all know basketball is a contact sport?!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're wishing
all the college basketball teams a happy first week of practice,
made the preseason be injury free, and the regular season
for that matter, and the postseason and the rest of
your lives. Please every Wednesday healthy. We're super croup for
this season. On today's JOWE, we'll be talking all things
aces with Las Vegas Review Journal reporter Callie laws and
Freeman or should we say Callie Finn Get used to it.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Our girl just got married.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Plus we get you caught up on WNBA playoff action
and give you the wise words of one Twitter user
that we all need to keep close to our hearts
as this playoff season continues. It's all coming up right
after this. Welcome back, my Orange slices.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Here's what you need to know today.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
WNBA Playoffs two games on Tuesday night, and both top
seeds finished off the sweeps in their first round matchups.
In the early game, Sabrina and escued tide of franchise
playoff record with thirty six points and high five Spike
Lee to help the New York Liberty beat the Atlanta
Dream ninety one eighty two in advance to the semi finals.
John qwell Jones added twenty points and thirteen rebounds for
(01:12):
her nineteenth career playoff double double and one hundred and
ninth double double of any kind in her career. The
Dream fought hard to try to extend the series. They
started off leading twenty eight nineteen, led by eleven in
the second, and hung on to keep it within a
point heading into the fourth quarter, but despite twenty six
points from Alisha Gray and nineteen from Ryan Howard, Atlanta
(01:32):
just couldn't keep pace with the top seeded Liberty New
York will go on to face the Las Vegas Aces
in the semi finals. Asia Wilson and Company defeating the
Seattle Storm eighty three seventy six in front of baby
horse Alex Morgan courtside in Vegas. After a tough shooting
night in Game one, Kelsey Plumb showed out twenty nine
points in the win. MVP Asia Wilson add in twenty
four points and thirteen rebounds, and they got twelve points
(01:55):
nine assist from Chelsea Gray to hold off a Seattle
team that would not quit. Four of five starters and
double digits for the Storm, and they fought but couldn't
finish and force a Game three. Watching how Gabby Williams
played since being added to that team, man, sure makes
you wonder what that team could have done if they
had her all season.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And we've got some more Game two action.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Tonight, the Connecticut Sun hosts the Indiana Fever at seven
thirty Eastern with an opportunity to close out that series.
Can the Sun force Caitlin Clark and her teammates into
another bad shooting night like Game one, or will a
young Fever team come out more poised in Game two?
Second game Phoenix Mercury looking to win on the road
and force a Game three with the Minnesota Lynx. That
game tip's at nine to thirty Eastern. The whole If
(02:34):
This Is It watch continues because tonight could be the
end of Dinah Trossi's career If they lose. Will Britney Griner,
Kalia Copper and the White Momba herself show out and
make sure DT at least plays at home one last time?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Find out should be a good one.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
By the way, on Monday and Tuesday on Twitter, I
asked you all to make your predictions for the first round,
and as we're starting to see them come to a close.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Here's how the vote shook out.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Eighty three point four percent of voters have the Aces
beating the storm, fifty three point eight have the Sun
beating the fever, eighty point eight percent see the links
top in the Mercury, and ninety three point seven percent
of voters had the Liberty defeating the Dream in the NWSL.
It's some exciting news for the league's newest club, BAYFC.
They've signed a letter of intent to build an eight
(03:17):
and a half acre training facility on Treasure Island, a
move that will bolster the island's longtime role as a
sports and.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Recreation hub in the area. Fun fact, I went to
a wedding there once.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
The training facility deal was announced during a news conference
on Tuesday, and will include a twenty thousand square foot
clubhouse and three practice fields. The club intends to break
round on the facility in twenty twenty five and begin
using it in twenty twenty seven. The franchise is also
considering possible sites for a stadium in the future. Home
games are currently played at PayPal Park. That's the same
venue used by Major League Soccer as San Jose Earthquakes. Also,
(03:49):
after we finished recording. On Monday night, the Portland Thorns
earned a two to two draw with Angel City that
snapped a four game losing streak for Portland. The draw
keeps them in seventh place. They're three points ahead of
eighth place race Louisville, while Angel City is in tenth,
three points behind Louisville and BAFC, both teams still in
the playoff hunt with five weeks to go. College basketball
Southern Cal just landed another top recruit on Tuesday. Five
(04:12):
star hooper Jazzy Davidson, the number three player in the
twenty twenty five class according to the ESPN Hoop Girls Rankings,
committed to play for the USC Trojans next year. Davidson,
a six foot two guard out of Klacamis, Oregon, will
join All American star Juju Watkins at USC.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Jazzy and Juju print the shirts now please.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Davidson already has a stacked resumes, who most recently won
gold in the Phoeba three x three U eighteen World
Cup and in the Phoeba U eighteen AMERICAUP with Team USA.
Speaking of those Trojans, that young squad fought mightily last season,
reaching in number three, ranking their highest since nineteen eighty six,
and posting a twenty nine and six overall record us
He made it all the way to the Elite eight
before losing to Yukon. We'll certainly be keeping an eye
(04:54):
on them this season. That rivalry with UCLA is going
to be so much fun this season. College volleyball at
packs late of games tonight, including the number one ranked
perfect Pittsburgh Panthers putting their nine oh to O record
on the line against UMBC at five eastern. There are
five games across ESPN platforms tonight that you can watch,
including the number nine Kansas Jayhawks taken on UCF at
(05:16):
seven eastern on ESPNU. We'll link to the full ESPN
schedule in our notes. By the way, Sunday's Nebraska Louisville
matchup on ABC did numbers, becoming the most watched regular
season volleyball match on all ESPN platforms and the second
most watched regular season volleyball game on any network, with
six hundred and eighty four thousand viewers, peaking with eight
hundred eight thousand. Tennis, the China Open Gets started today
(05:39):
at the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center. The same venue
that was used at the two thousand and eight Olympic Games.
The top names on the WTA Tour are competing in
the tournament, including Americans Jessica Pagoula, Coco Goff, and Emma Navarro.
Poland's egas Fontec took home the trophy in twenty twenty three,
defeating Ludmila Samsonova.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
In straight sets.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
QUI out to friend of the show Lindsay dark Angelo,
who you heard here talking about her women's football book,
Hail Mary Well. She also does a great job of
covering women's hoops for awful announcing, and our interview with
Cheryl Reeve inspired her to write a column this week.
Now you remember the Minnesota Link's head coach came on here,
talked about trying to preserve the WNBA space as one
that's inclusive, welcoming and empowering for people no matter their gender,
(06:20):
sexuality identity.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
And as a gay sports writer.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Who is masculine leaning, Lindsay really felt that she echoed
Reeve in her column, writing quote, I've often felt out
of place when covering men's sports and or interviewing male athletes.
I always had the sense that I didn't fit some
particular mold of how a female sports reporter should be
and look. More often than not, I felt awkward, self
conscious and out of place. But when I ventured into
the women's sports space, particularly the WNBA, I never.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Felt more at home. End quote.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
What Lindsay wrote after that about how the league and
the w space will respond to increasingly toxic rhetoric and
a changing vibe really stood out to me.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I totally agree. She wrote, quote the eyes, the rise in.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Viewership, the increased attention, the additional coverage across mainstream media,
the heightened conversation. It's all been amazing. It's what the
WNBA community, WNBA media, players, and the league have wanted
and hoped for. The troubling part is that we're now
expected to be okay with and accept the influx of
toxicity that has come along with it. I know growing
pains are a thing, but this isn't a pain. That's
(07:17):
a natural part of the growing process. The WNBA is
one of the most, if not the most, progressive major
sports league in history. It raised the bar when it
came to diversity and acceptance. It changed and evolved over
time because the players use their platforms and autonomy to
demand better. Now it's supposed to lower the bar just
because it's more popular. New fans, media, personalities, and voices
(07:37):
to the space should instead rise to the occasion and
meet the standards of where the bar is at. Taking
steps backward just because that's been the status quo in
men's leagues isn't how the WNBA operates. It shouldn't be
how any women's sports league operates.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
End quote. Couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Lindsay Well said, terrible people will exist in every space
in life, on social and sports. Fans are notoriously the world,
but we can't just accept it, whether from fans, media,
or players. Simply shrugging our shoulders, or even worse, lowering
ourselves to contribute to it cannot be the answer. If
you want to read the full story, we put a
link to it in our show notes. We got to
(08:14):
take a quick break when we come back. Cali laws
In Freeman Finn is our ace in the hole stick around.
She's a Las Vegas ass and UNLV sports reporter for
the Las Vegas Review Journal, with previous stops at Yahoo Sports, ESPN,
Front Office Sports, and The Sacramento Observer. She was a
(08:34):
college track athlete at uc Riverside and San Francisco State,
and she's.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
A newlywed, like new new It's Cali laws and Freeman.
What's up CALLI.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Oh my goodness, that was such a great intro. I
didn't know that you would have all that info, but
thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
You know I went dig in. You know you already
have three names? Do we have a fourth?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Now? Are we sticking with these three? No, it'll be changed.
I'm gonna take kids so professionally, I'll have a shorter
last name soon It'll just be Cali Finn fi nd,
which is easier. The hyphen was from both of my parents, so.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Perfect fi and in French. Perfect.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
You literally got buried last weekend, so we got to
start there first. Give us the one minute wedding recap.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Oh my gosh, it was amazing. We so his grandmother
has an apple orchard in New Mexico, so we got
married there. It was a very like intimate family affair
and it was so fun. Our DJ went hard, We
had a photo booth. It was just a really fun time.
It felt like a big party after the serious romantic
stuff was over.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
That sounds amazing, so fun.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
It's right in the middle of your beat, though, I mean,
this is your first year on the Aces beat. The
playoffs get going and you're like, let me just sneak
away real quick to get married and then come back.
Which I love that you pulled it off because now
you're back already working. I'm hoping for a nice long
honeymoon once you know you get a break.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
But let's talk about the Aces.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Two time defending WNBA champs got off to a rough
star this season, but they've got the talent, They've got
the experience to go the distance. We are talking to
each other just before Game two between the Aces and
the Storm, so folks hearing this will either be processing
a Vegas sweep or readying themselves for a Game three
on Thursday. So let's back up a little and do
big picture what you saw from the Aces in the
regular season. What went right for this team when they
(10:19):
won and what went wrong when they lost?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah, I mean, I think what went wrong when they
lost is the easier question to answer because it was
so obvious their defense was really struggling, and so that
was clear. It didn't seem like they were on the
same page defensively, even sometimes offensively. Becky Hammond would sometimes
say that the Aces were struggling from kind of like
a main character complex, like everybody on the team was
(10:43):
wanting to have their moment and that was really making
the offense disjointed. And obviously they've kind of moved past that,
like they have really gotten to the point where running
through Asia is what's working and makes sense, and you're
not seeing a lot of a lot of you know,
differing from that. But then you're also seeing you know,
Chelsea Gray looking like the point god that we know
(11:06):
and love. We're getting you know, sparks off the bench
from Tiffany Hayes. We're seeing Jackie Young looking more like herself.
So I think, I mean, yeah, when things were going wrong,
it was definitely the defense and just kind of miscommunications
and lack of trust and things like that on both
sides of the ball. And I think when things are
going right, it's the opposite of that, like everything you
know is firing on all cylinders. And I think that's
(11:27):
what you're starting to see, Like they they're clicking. They
just held the Storm to two points in the fourth
quarter like that, and some of that obviously is on
the Storm, right, but you kind of want to give
the ACYSM credit for their improved defense at this point.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, and I think you know, obviously, Chelsea Gray was
out with injury for a while. Her return was a
huge boost for the team, and then she needed some
time to catch back up. But it was one of
those situations where Asia Wilson was having insane season, but
the numbers were down for great Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum
from last year. And I don't know if that's the
inevitable result of a player like Asia being as dominant
(12:02):
as she's been and just everyone getting the ball a
little less, getting fewer looks, or if Asia's compensating for
those players not having as great as a start.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Can you tell if one caused the other.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great point. Like,
I don't know correlation causation, but I do think. I mean,
even Becky has said herself, like she said last year
that if she utilized Asia more in fourth quarters, that
Asia would have been, you know, the unanimous MVP. There
would have been no way to kind of discount the
season that Asia had last season. So this year, obviously
(12:34):
the Aces weren't performing on the same level. Like you said,
the numbers were down kind of from the core four
and even the bench early in the season, and so
then it was on Asia to really carry the team.
And that's not my words. I've heard Becky say that,
I've heard other players say that Asia really put the
team on her back, and so I mean you could
say that that's because of the way that the season
(12:55):
has gone. I mean, I think a lot of that
has to do with like Chelsea Gray's early the absence
that put Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum out of position. Early,
Like Jackie Young was finding herself facilitating the offense, which
was a position she wasn't super comfortable with, but Chelsea
Gray was gone, so that's what she had to do,
and that kind of shifted things for the whole teams.
(13:16):
Like if you have one player playing out a position,
then everybody has to adjust. And so Asia was really
carrying the brunt of that weight.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
She's been otherworldly.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We know, getting her the ball is always the move,
but you got to have those other folks who step
up as the season has gone on and as they've
entered this postseason, who is that person that you know
will step up if Asia is having an off day
or if AG's on the bench, who's the go to?
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yeah, I love this question. I think that's what makes
the Aces so dangerous is because you don't really know
the answer to that any given game, Like they're obviously
you know what the options are. You have the core four,
which is outside of Asia, you have you know, Chelsea Gray,
you have Jackie Young, you have Kelsey Plum like, you
have these incredibly talented players, and then you have somebody
(14:00):
like Tiffany Hayes coming off the bench and it's not
just her, like, they have a pretty significant bench. We
could even start talking about Cydny Golesen and things like
that and kind of the options that they have. But
I think, I mean, Becky Hammond has said this, it's
kind of a pick your poison thing, and you see
this a lot when defenses really concentrate on Asia, they
(14:20):
double triple team her and they focus all of their
defensive attention on her. That puts somebody like a Kelsey
Plumber Jackie Young open and that's how you know, we
have had thirty four thirty two point games from from
from KP and Jackie this season because of situations like that,
where you know, you try to take Asia out of
the equation. But you gotta that means that you got
(14:40):
to leave somebody else open, and they have plenty of
options offensively.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, they sure do.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
You know you you mentioned Tiffany Hayes after she went
off in Game one, Becky Hammond talked about getting to
snag her out of retirement. How important has she been
to this team this season and how important is it
to have a player that hasn't been on the team
for the previous two titles, because that's a big thing,
is finding motivation, finding drive when you've just come off
back to back wins. And I think Tip brings that
coming from a team like the Sun that haven't won.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, I think, yeah, you're right. Tip has a level
of hunger that is just unreal for someone who you know,
seemed I mean, who was retired, who you would think
was ready to be done with the game. But she's
so aggressive. She sacrifices her body on so many different plays,
like and it's just incredible to see. Becky was telling
me recently that sometimes she just watches Tiffany Hayes highlights
(15:32):
because they're so aesthetically pleasing, and I think that that
makes total sense. It's like the energy that she plays with.
I think sometimes like if you just look at the
games where Tiffany Hayes excels, it's also games where Asia
is playing really well, and so they work as like
this really impressive tandem with like Tip off the bench
and then Asia kind of I don't know, it seems
(15:52):
like they kind of build on each other's energy, and
so it's really important. I think that, like you said,
I think you don't amount of retirement for no reason,
like she wants a ring and she has the hunger
that the Aces were kind of missing. Like you heard
Becky Hammond say during that rough you know, six and
six start without Chelsea Gray, that she didn't like the
Aces energy from day one. She didn't like their deepense,
(16:14):
and she didn't like their vibes. And it's crazy to
hear a Hall of Famer like her use the word
vibes to describe kind of how she's taking the team's temperature.
But I mean, she was pretty clear about that she
didn't like it. She didn't.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Sometimes it's just.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Exactly Sometimes it really is just vibes. And so it's
so funny that you know, Tip has that like she
has that hunger. It's innate for her and not to
say that, you know, the Aces don't have it now,
but there definitely was a point starting where it just
wasn't there, and so she always brings it every single night.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
You mentioned sid Colson, great basketball player, somehow an even
better comedian just not only there for the lightness and
the vibes that we mentioned, also obviously brings a ton
of energy and skins on the court.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
But how do you.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Really just evaluate or sum up what she brings to
a team because of what she brings with her personality
as well.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah, I mean I think that, like you said, the
comedy is I think hard for some people to overlook
because they're just like, wow, she just must be, you know,
a joker through and through, but she's really not. I've
seen sid very serious, like I think a lot of
people probably saw. When Asia accepted her MVP award or
when she was informed of it privately, she read these
(17:32):
letters that she wrote to each player on the team,
and Sidney Colson's letter she said that Sidney taught her
how to be a leader. And I can totally see
that because I've seen Sidney, like she has this switch
that she can flip where it's very funny, it's very playful,
and then the next thing, you know, she's being very
serious and you know that you need to like really
(17:52):
listen to what she's saying. And so I think that
that's a big part of it. It's like she has
a personality that is so magnetic and like, yes, so fun,
but she also is is crucial to like the culture
of the team, and so I think you pair that
with the way that she is absolutely fearless on the court.
(18:13):
I mean you look at she's not a tall player,
but she plays like she's giant. Like she gets in
the game and these for a lot of times fourth
quarter situations, they'll kind of utilize her as like a
closer of sorts, and then she'll bring the defensive spark.
She's getting steels, she's going up for layups. Sometimes she's
smoking the layups, but it doesn't matter because she just
like does not get nervous. And that's something that I
(18:35):
think is huge for the aces because when you're not scared,
there are a lot of things that you can that
you can do that that others can't. You know, like
she'll go for behind the back pass and the WBA Finals,
like it's literally that's crazy. That's a crazy thing to do,
and it's something that only Sidney Colson would do. But
I think it really matters for the team, Like she's
(18:56):
just such a spark for them.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yeah, I think what you're describing to is sort of
like flow state where you let your body and your
reps take over instead of being in your head. And
that comes from a real place of confidence. And that's
tough to have when you're tight, because you're stressed about
trying to repeat or whether your team has been playing
up to up to expectation. And I think sid has
been able to show the other players how to do
(19:20):
that and how to stay in that state of like
just playing ball. Another person I think that's had a
really interesting impact on this team is Kate Martin. She's
got real Golden Retriever energy, which is one of my
favorite sayings these days because some people just have it,
and she's such a team and fan fave. She's gotten
a lot of minutes that Kirsten Bell got last season.
Bell has had those ankle and achilles injuries, and Kate
(19:42):
Martin is just like I think also besides the minutes
that she's gotten, we've seen so many clips of the
team interacting with her in free time.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
What is it about her? Why does everyone love Kate
Martin so much?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Oh my goodness. I mean, I've heard so many different
rating reviews about Kate, and I think the main thing
is that they love who she is as a person,
Like they feel like she's a kind, genuine competitor and
who wants to learn and grow, and so I think
that's one thing. But they also really admire the way
that she knows how to play with superstars, Like she
(20:15):
played with Caitlin Clark at Iowa.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
That's no easy feed.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
That means that every single game they played was prime viewing.
There was a lot of pressure on her. But also
like it's a skill in itself to play with a superstar,
you know, you have to kind of approach the game
differently knowing that, and that's something that everybody on the
ACES needs to know how to do because they're playing
with Asia Wilson, who is a legend in the making,
(20:39):
a legend now already with her third MVP a unanimous
one at that, and so you kind of hear about
the intricacies of that. Even like Telsea Gray and I
talked about this recently, just how like, you know, there
are certain things that are just different when you're playing
with somebody like Asia Wilson, Like if she wants the ball,
you need to give it to her immediately, things like that.
(21:00):
And so Kate Martin knows exactly what that's about, and
like she does it well. And Becky Hammond also, I
think probably sees a little bit of herself and Kate Martin.
If you look at the way that Becky Hammond started,
she was undrafted, you know, when she started in the league,
she was undersized and things like that, and so that's
Kate Martin in some ways. But what Kate, what Becky had,
(21:20):
and what Kate and Martin both have is like this tenacity,
you know. And so I think that Kate really made her.
I love that Comparisonah so smart, kay, I mean, Kate
made her bread and butter from doing the little things.
That's what Becky Hammond kept saying. And if you like
listen to Becky Hammond talk about how she was as
a player, she'll say the same things. I did the
little things because like I couldn't do the big stuff.
(21:41):
I couldn't like do all the highlight plays. I would
focus on the little things, the fundamental things, and that's
what Kate Martin did early, and she found herself in
some really you know, serious games early in the season,
and I think that that experience will come and clutch
in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, Kate Martin's been obviously huge for this team, just
in a vibe sense. Again, maybe not as much on
the stat sheet, but there are a couple subs and
bench players that have gotten an opportunity and made the
best of it. I mentioned Kirsten Bell, you know, she
hadn't played more than eight minutes all season, and that
final game of the regular season she put up twelve
points in twenty four. We saw Megan Gustafson in that
(22:17):
last game twenty four points, a career high.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
You don't want to necessarily have to go too deep
on your bench in a series. You want your core
players to light it up and make things easy. But
knowing that the Aces have those players further down the bench,
you know, do you think that they'll be important to
this third title run?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah, No, I think it's huge. I think that. I mean,
if you look at how they won the title last season,
it was important. We just talked about Sidney Colson and
she was crucial for the Aces winning that title last year.
And I think that kind of what you talked about is,
you know, you want to know that you have that depth,
and I think that there was a point in this
season where the Aces didn't really know. I think they
knew that they had something in Tiffany Hayes, they knew
(22:56):
that they had kind of a defensive spark in Sidney Colson,
and then things were kind of up in the air,
which is why Becky was kind of rotating through that
fifth starting spot. So you saw Megan Gustison get some
starts in place of Kia Stokes, you saw Alicia Clark
get some starts, and then also you know, start on
the bench some games, like they were really trying to
figure out what they were working with, and I think,
(23:18):
like you mentioned, that last regular season game was a
good opportunity for them to showcase like, no, we have
a good amount of bench players, like we have strength,
we have people that can come off the bench and
make a difference, And I think that that was important
also just for the bench, like in a confidence sense.
But there was definitely a moment in this season where
it was unclear kind of what they were working with.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Let's talk about Becky Hammond. She's beloved by her players.
What makes the relationship between the Aces players and their
coach so special?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah, I mean the phrase that I always hear in
reference to Becky, just like around Ace's HQ, is that
she's a player's coach, like she loves her players. And
it's so interesting because I think in light of every thing.
You know, you have the Aces, their current well the
Aces and the u NBA being sued by Dereka Hanby
and this discrimination matter, and so I think that Becky
(24:11):
has felt like attacked on that front. I think she
really prides herself on being a player's coach, But then
now you're seeing herself like kind of defend herself unprompted,
like she'll be asked questions that don't really require an
answer about her philosophy as a coach, but like recently
she she will go into these like kind of long,
(24:34):
I don't know, postgame answers where she she'll talk about
how much she cares about our players and how she
wouldn't have gone into coaching if she didn't, and it's like,
you know, nobody's kind of asking her those questions. But
I think it's like she really wants people to know
that that's how she feels. And I think, you know,
her players have been very vocal about that, Like recently
it was like the I don't know, maybe the fourth
(24:56):
anniversary of her Jersey retirement of like the San Antonio
Stars would which you know, used to be part of
the Aces organization, and so she was asked postgame kind
of I don't know, like her reflections of the time
since she's been a player of whatever else, And that
was a time where she just talked about how she
really wanted to be a coach because she wanted to
make a difference and she could have gone into TV,
(25:17):
but she specifically did coaching. And then in that same
postgame press conference, separately, Kelsey Plumb and Chelsea Gurray talked
about how Becky Hammond changed their careers, like how they
don't feel like they would be the level of you know,
like they wouldn't have the talent or the success that
they've had without Becky. And I think a lot of
that is because she wants to get to know them personally.
(25:39):
Like Becky recently said, she doesn't feel like she needs
to be, you know, her player's first call when they
need to think. But she hopes that she is a
call that they make, like she hopes that they feel
that they can rely on her for support and things
like this. And so it's really interesting seeing that dynamic
somebody who really cares about the way that they're perceived
as a coach, who cares about their players during a
(26:00):
time where maybe that could be in question, you.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Know, right.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I mean, I think it's not surprising that she's talked
about that even when not asked, because that lawsuit does
have questions swirling about how she does treat her players.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
It's not the only controversy this year.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
The Aces kicked off the season with the big you
know ring ceremony for their second title, and not long
after that the league anounce an investigation to determine if
they were providing impermissible benefits and circumventing the salary cap
because they had this Las Vegas tourism sponsorship. They gave
every player on the team one hundred thousand dollars sponsorship deal.
This is huge, big, great news, but there are questions
(26:37):
about whether they're getting around paying players in interesting in
different ways to try to lure them to the team.
Then there was the federal lawsuit filed by Hanby alleging
discrimination due to pregnancy, and another instance of her claiming
that the team was promising things that they would pay
for outside of the contract. Has there been a lot
of conversation internally player staff coaches about pushing through some
(26:57):
of these quote unquote distractions as we called them in
sports or communication with Hamby, even as a former teamate,
like how much does that come up this season?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Have you heard much about it?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah? I mean I think that you know, you mentioned
the one hundred thousand dollars sponsorships with the LVCVA, and
I was like, really, kind of, I don't know. I
guess one of the primary reporters in that situation like
talking to the LVCVA and then trying to get answers
from the aces, and when I would ask questions like
obviously their stances, you know, we don't know anything about this,
(27:27):
we're not involved, et cetera, et cetera, which is fine,
But then I think one of my questions became, well,
like how is this impacting the season? Like you're trying
to start a year. Is this a distraction? And you
have players like Asia saying like, no, we're professionals like
we we have to you know, ignore these types of things,
and we're used to it by now. Like there's definitely
I can say it's been clear to me internally that
(27:50):
there's almost a frustration. I think the Aces feel targeted.
And I you know, again like I'm not saying that
that's the reality. I'm just saying, like, how, how what
seems to be the case? I think Mark Davis when
they were kind of trying to figure out their uh
season ticket pricing and things like that, Mark Davis sat
down with a bunch of media and he spoke about
(28:11):
how when he was asked basically like what has the
response from other owners across the league been like surrounding
these LVCBA sponsorships and these one hundred thousand dollars deals,
And he was like, Oh, their response is let's investigate
the Aces. Like he he felt he has made it
clear like that. He feels like there's a target, he
(28:33):
said himself, he feels like the Aces have been what
do you call it? Not game changers is not the
word that he used, but like people who have, you know,
broken the norm and when you do that, like there's
a target on your back. In his perspective, and he
feels like that's what the ace aces have had to
deal with. And so I think you hear that a
lot from the players at large, like on Twitter sometimes
(28:56):
when they they'll they'll like tweet out kind of vague
messaging about being investigated and things like that, Like I
think they feel like there's been like a punishment for
being at the cutting edge of so many things.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, I mean, I think first of all, if they
are found to be guilty of any of those things,
that's still the best attitude to take if you're trying
to win and play a season. Is everybody against us,
We're being targeted, right, That's the kind of idea that
you have to have in your head if you're going.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
To move forward either way.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
But also there are instances across sports, whether it's nil
to the changing investment in women's sports, where you are
trying to push the envelope. You're trying to figure out
where's the line when do I cross it? How do
I maybe cross it to get away with it, or
how do we change the way things have always been done,
Particularly in women's sports, where we've seen such a dearth
of resources and opportunities, the bar is so low for
(29:50):
the expectation of what these players would be paid, how
they're treated, how the resources and facilities are that I
think it's great that the Aces are pushing that we'll
find out if they push far and whether you know,
they're wrong to feel persecuted as opposed to accurately criticized.
But I do think they've been able to rally around that.
The inside of their rings last season said you know,
Aces versus everybody, So they're just continuing that kind of mindset.
(30:14):
I was curious, though, if you ever talked to the
players about the fans booing Hamby when she came back
to play in Vegas with her new team, the La Sparks.
We talked to dea Erica about that, and she said
it was really hard on her emotionally.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
I was surprised.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
I guess not that I thought maybe an Ace's player
would like hop on the Mike Popovich style and say something,
but I thought maybe that they would motion to the crowd,
or that there would be some sort of sign to
say like, hey, we're not doing that to someone to
help us win a title.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Maybe there are lingering resentments for Hamby, for what she's
said about Hammond and the team.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Have you asked the players about that moment?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
No, you know, I didn't have an opportunity to ask
the players. I think immediately after that game, a lot
of the media were kind of, I want to say,
stunned by Becky's immediate postgame comments because I think that
was that was like the logical next question. I think
she was initially just kind of asked about the tone
of the game as it related to the allegation stemming
(31:11):
from Derka, since it was like, since it was her
return to the Aces, it wasn't her first time back
in Las Vegas though, since these allegations. I remember, like
the Sparks played the Aces very early in this season
and it was fine. She was she was received really
well by Aces fans and things like that. So I
think that things were a little bit thrown off.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I think it was the difference between the initial allegations, yeah,
and then the secondary federal lawsuits of filing. Right, this
was the first time I think after the it became
a federal suit.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I grew with that one hundred percent. I think a
lot of fans were reacting to the most recent filing
and that was going to be My next thing was
like I didn't get to talk to the players. I
think that we were all just kind of like thrown
off because Becky Hymmond went on a little bit of
a tirade about her perspective of what happened. But I
was able to talk to some fans, and I think
(32:00):
a lot of them. Two fans that I spoke too
specifically said that they regretted booing Deerica, and I think
that some of them did not know the context. And
that's not to speak for everybody. Obviously, I couldn't speak
with every fan, but some fans felt like because if
you go to an ACES game, like a lot of
players will get booed. Deerka was not the only player
(32:22):
being bowed, but she was the most consistent player being booed,
and it was clear, like it was hard to ignore.
It was every single time she touched the ball. But
she wasn't the only one, Like there were other Sparks
players that were being boed and like and lots of
games you come into the ACES house like you're it's
not going to be a welcoming environment, like you They
want to make it tough for the opposing team, and
(32:43):
so some of the fans that I spoke to said
that they regretted when they thought about the context of
it all and how like difficult that could have been
for Dereka that they regretted booing. So I think that,
you know, I would love to kind of get a
player perspective. It's just things move so quickly on the
eighth s bet, it's always there's always something.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Yeah, Becky stole the headlines on that day, she absolutely did,
for sure. And I also think to your point, there
is this group mind. Think at a game, everybody starts
booing a player and you're like, oh, yeah, you're the opponent,
and then later you're like, oh, wait, what were we
you know, So I'll give a couple fans that excuse,
but obviously a lot of them knew what they were
doing there, and that's an interesting dynamic to look at.
(33:25):
We're so excited to keep watching this team. We don't
know yet if they have swept this first round or
there's a third game coming, but we so appreciate you
coming in and giving us context for the season as
we continue to watch them in this postseason. Thanks so
much for the time and promise us you're gonna take
some sort of honeymoon and break to celebrate that wedding
sometime soon.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Oh, fingers cross, fingers.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Cross, fingers cross is not a plan, girl, fingers cross
is will see.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I'm not accepting that.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I need you to say right now, I'm going to
takes some time for myself and my new husband, and
I'm gonna figure out some time for us to just
be alone and not think about sports.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Right now, I'm thinking about Asia and this MVP season.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Oh man, all right, we'll take this offline.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Callie, We're gonna take this offline. We're gonna have to talk.
You need to learn this, young Thanks so much for
your time. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Thanks so much to Kelli for hopping on with us,
especially right after getting married.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
We got to take another break.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
When we come back, Bots, Trolls, and shit stirs a
helpful and handy guide to dealing with the WNBA playoffs.
Come on back, Welcome back, my little slices. We love
that you're listening, but as always, we want you to
get in the game every day too. So here's our
good gameplay of the day. First one's easy. Make sure
(34:40):
you keep following Callie's work at the Las Vegas Review Journal,
follow her.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
On x at Callie j Law, and let's.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
All spread the good word of self described fever fan
and WNBA ficionado Mollie McGrath twelve on Twitter, who wisely
wrote on Tuesday, quote good morning, also quick reminder that
basketball is a contact sport.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
She's right. Please tell your friends, tell your family.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Tell the dumbass folks analyzing WNBA clips like the Subruder
film and tweeting out racist dog whistles about fowls.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Please tell them. Please, thank you. We'd love to hear
from you.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Hit us up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot com,
or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two
oh four fifty seventy. Don't forget to subscribe. Rate and
review slices. It's super easy. Watch Apple Orchard Weddings rating
ten out of ten Apple Cider Donuts review Only the
hottest brides get married at Apple Orcherds. Tractors for your ride,
sustenance on the vine, a big old barn for your party.
(35:37):
Who needs a ballroom? Callie and I know best. It's
Apple Orchards or bust. Take notes, fellows, Supermodels. Now it's
your turn, rate and review. Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow.
Good Game, Lindsey, Good Game, Callie, Finn, you whoever keeps
giving OutKick credentials to cover WNBA games. Good Game with
(35:59):
Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership
with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are
Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett,
Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. Our editors are
Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Lindsay Cradowell. Production
(36:22):
assistant from Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're wishing
all the college basketball teams a happy first week of practice,
made the preseason be injury free, and the regular season
for that matter, and the postseason and the rest of
your lives. Please every Wednesday healthy. We're super croup for
this season. On today's JOWE, we'll be talking all things
aces with Las Vegas Review Journal reporter Callie laws and
Freeman or should we say Callie Finn Get used to it.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Our girl just got married.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Plus we get you caught up on WNBA playoff action
and give you the wise words of one Twitter user
that we all need to keep close to our hearts
as this playoff season continues. It's all coming up right
after this. Welcome back, my Orange slices.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Here's what you need to know today.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
WNBA Playoffs two games on Tuesday night, and both top
seeds finished off the sweeps in their first round matchups.
In the early game, Sabrina and escued tide of franchise
playoff record with thirty six points and high five Spike
Lee to help the New York Liberty beat the Atlanta
Dream ninety one eighty two in advance to the semi finals.
John qwell Jones added twenty points and thirteen rebounds for
(01:12):
her nineteenth career playoff double double and one hundred and
ninth double double of any kind in her career. The
Dream fought hard to try to extend the series. They
started off leading twenty eight nineteen, led by eleven in
the second, and hung on to keep it within a
point heading into the fourth quarter, but despite twenty six
points from Alisha Gray and nineteen from Ryan Howard, Atlanta
(01:32):
just couldn't keep pace with the top seeded Liberty New
York will go on to face the Las Vegas Aces
in the semi finals. Asia Wilson and Company defeating the
Seattle Storm eighty three seventy six in front of baby
horse Alex Morgan courtside in Vegas. After a tough shooting
night in Game one, Kelsey Plumb showed out twenty nine
points in the win. MVP Asia Wilson add in twenty
four points and thirteen rebounds, and they got twelve points
(01:55):
nine assist from Chelsea Gray to hold off a Seattle
team that would not quit. Four of five starters and
double digits for the Storm, and they fought but couldn't
finish and force a Game three. Watching how Gabby Williams
played since being added to that team, man, sure makes
you wonder what that team could have done if they
had her all season.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And we've got some more Game two action.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Tonight, the Connecticut Sun hosts the Indiana Fever at seven
thirty Eastern with an opportunity to close out that series.
Can the Sun force Caitlin Clark and her teammates into
another bad shooting night like Game one, or will a
young Fever team come out more poised in Game two?
Second game Phoenix Mercury looking to win on the road
and force a Game three with the Minnesota Lynx. That
game tip's at nine to thirty Eastern. The whole If
(02:34):
This Is It watch continues because tonight could be the
end of Dinah Trossi's career If they lose. Will Britney Griner,
Kalia Copper and the White Momba herself show out and
make sure DT at least plays at home one last time?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Find out should be a good one.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
By the way, on Monday and Tuesday on Twitter, I
asked you all to make your predictions for the first round,
and as we're starting to see them come to a close.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Here's how the vote shook out.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Eighty three point four percent of voters have the Aces
beating the storm, fifty three point eight have the Sun
beating the fever, eighty point eight percent see the links
top in the Mercury, and ninety three point seven percent
of voters had the Liberty defeating the Dream in the NWSL.
It's some exciting news for the league's newest club, BAYFC.
They've signed a letter of intent to build an eight
(03:17):
and a half acre training facility on Treasure Island, a
move that will bolster the island's longtime role as a
sports and.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Recreation hub in the area. Fun fact, I went to
a wedding there once.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
The training facility deal was announced during a news conference
on Tuesday, and will include a twenty thousand square foot
clubhouse and three practice fields. The club intends to break
round on the facility in twenty twenty five and begin
using it in twenty twenty seven. The franchise is also
considering possible sites for a stadium in the future. Home
games are currently played at PayPal Park. That's the same
venue used by Major League Soccer as San Jose Earthquakes. Also,
(03:49):
after we finished recording. On Monday night, the Portland Thorns
earned a two to two draw with Angel City that
snapped a four game losing streak for Portland. The draw
keeps them in seventh place. They're three points ahead of
eighth place race Louisville, while Angel City is in tenth,
three points behind Louisville and BAFC, both teams still in
the playoff hunt with five weeks to go. College basketball
Southern Cal just landed another top recruit on Tuesday. Five
(04:12):
star hooper Jazzy Davidson, the number three player in the
twenty twenty five class according to the ESPN Hoop Girls Rankings,
committed to play for the USC Trojans next year. Davidson,
a six foot two guard out of Klacamis, Oregon, will
join All American star Juju Watkins at USC.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Jazzy and Juju print the shirts now please.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Davidson already has a stacked resumes, who most recently won
gold in the Phoeba three x three U eighteen World
Cup and in the Phoeba U eighteen AMERICAUP with Team USA.
Speaking of those Trojans, that young squad fought mightily last season,
reaching in number three, ranking their highest since nineteen eighty six,
and posting a twenty nine and six overall record us
He made it all the way to the Elite eight
before losing to Yukon. We'll certainly be keeping an eye
(04:54):
on them this season. That rivalry with UCLA is going
to be so much fun this season. College volleyball at
packs late of games tonight, including the number one ranked
perfect Pittsburgh Panthers putting their nine oh to O record
on the line against UMBC at five eastern. There are
five games across ESPN platforms tonight that you can watch,
including the number nine Kansas Jayhawks taken on UCF at
(05:16):
seven eastern on ESPNU. We'll link to the full ESPN
schedule in our notes. By the way, Sunday's Nebraska Louisville
matchup on ABC did numbers, becoming the most watched regular
season volleyball match on all ESPN platforms and the second
most watched regular season volleyball game on any network, with
six hundred and eighty four thousand viewers, peaking with eight
hundred eight thousand. Tennis, the China Open Gets started today
(05:39):
at the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center. The same venue
that was used at the two thousand and eight Olympic Games.
The top names on the WTA Tour are competing in
the tournament, including Americans Jessica Pagoula, Coco Goff, and Emma Navarro.
Poland's egas Fontec took home the trophy in twenty twenty three,
defeating Ludmila Samsonova.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
In straight sets.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
QUI out to friend of the show Lindsay dark Angelo,
who you heard here talking about her women's football book,
Hail Mary Well. She also does a great job of
covering women's hoops for awful announcing, and our interview with
Cheryl Reeve inspired her to write a column this week.
Now you remember the Minnesota Link's head coach came on here,
talked about trying to preserve the WNBA space as one
that's inclusive, welcoming and empowering for people no matter their gender,
(06:20):
sexuality identity.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
And as a gay sports writer.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Who is masculine leaning, Lindsay really felt that she echoed
Reeve in her column, writing quote, I've often felt out
of place when covering men's sports and or interviewing male athletes.
I always had the sense that I didn't fit some
particular mold of how a female sports reporter should be
and look. More often than not, I felt awkward, self
conscious and out of place. But when I ventured into
the women's sports space, particularly the WNBA, I never.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Felt more at home. End quote.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
What Lindsay wrote after that about how the league and
the w space will respond to increasingly toxic rhetoric and
a changing vibe really stood out to me.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I totally agree. She wrote, quote the eyes, the rise in.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Viewership, the increased attention, the additional coverage across mainstream media,
the heightened conversation. It's all been amazing. It's what the
WNBA community, WNBA media, players, and the league have wanted
and hoped for. The troubling part is that we're now
expected to be okay with and accept the influx of
toxicity that has come along with it. I know growing
pains are a thing, but this isn't a pain. That's
(07:17):
a natural part of the growing process. The WNBA is
one of the most, if not the most, progressive major
sports league in history. It raised the bar when it
came to diversity and acceptance. It changed and evolved over
time because the players use their platforms and autonomy to
demand better. Now it's supposed to lower the bar just
because it's more popular. New fans, media, personalities, and voices
(07:37):
to the space should instead rise to the occasion and
meet the standards of where the bar is at. Taking
steps backward just because that's been the status quo in
men's leagues isn't how the WNBA operates. It shouldn't be
how any women's sports league operates.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
End quote. Couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Lindsay Well said, terrible people will exist in every space
in life, on social and sports. Fans are notoriously the world,
but we can't just accept it, whether from fans, media,
or players. Simply shrugging our shoulders, or even worse, lowering
ourselves to contribute to it cannot be the answer. If
you want to read the full story, we put a
link to it in our show notes. We got to
(08:14):
take a quick break when we come back. Cali laws
In Freeman Finn is our ace in the hole stick around.
She's a Las Vegas ass and UNLV sports reporter for
the Las Vegas Review Journal, with previous stops at Yahoo Sports, ESPN,
Front Office Sports, and The Sacramento Observer. She was a
(08:34):
college track athlete at uc Riverside and San Francisco State,
and she's.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
A newlywed, like new new It's Cali laws and Freeman.
What's up CALLI.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Oh my goodness, that was such a great intro. I
didn't know that you would have all that info, but
thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
You know I went dig in. You know you already
have three names? Do we have a fourth?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Now? Are we sticking with these three? No, it'll be changed.
I'm gonna take kids so professionally, I'll have a shorter
last name soon It'll just be Cali Finn fi nd,
which is easier. The hyphen was from both of my parents, so.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Perfect fi and in French. Perfect.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
You literally got buried last weekend, so we got to
start there first. Give us the one minute wedding recap.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Oh my gosh, it was amazing. We so his grandmother
has an apple orchard in New Mexico, so we got
married there. It was a very like intimate family affair
and it was so fun. Our DJ went hard, We
had a photo booth. It was just a really fun time.
It felt like a big party after the serious romantic
stuff was over.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
That sounds amazing, so fun.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
It's right in the middle of your beat, though, I mean,
this is your first year on the Aces beat. The
playoffs get going and you're like, let me just sneak
away real quick to get married and then come back.
Which I love that you pulled it off because now
you're back already working. I'm hoping for a nice long
honeymoon once you know you get a break.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
But let's talk about the Aces.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Two time defending WNBA champs got off to a rough
star this season, but they've got the talent, They've got
the experience to go the distance. We are talking to
each other just before Game two between the Aces and
the Storm, so folks hearing this will either be processing
a Vegas sweep or readying themselves for a Game three
on Thursday. So let's back up a little and do
big picture what you saw from the Aces in the
regular season. What went right for this team when they
(10:19):
won and what went wrong when they lost?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah, I mean, I think what went wrong when they
lost is the easier question to answer because it was
so obvious their defense was really struggling, and so that
was clear. It didn't seem like they were on the
same page defensively, even sometimes offensively. Becky Hammond would sometimes
say that the Aces were struggling from kind of like
a main character complex, like everybody on the team was
(10:43):
wanting to have their moment and that was really making
the offense disjointed. And obviously they've kind of moved past that,
like they have really gotten to the point where running
through Asia is what's working and makes sense, and you're
not seeing a lot of a lot of you know,
differing from that. But then you're also seeing you know,
Chelsea Gray looking like the point god that we know
(11:06):
and love. We're getting you know, sparks off the bench
from Tiffany Hayes. We're seeing Jackie Young looking more like herself.
So I think, I mean, yeah, when things were going wrong,
it was definitely the defense and just kind of miscommunications
and lack of trust and things like that on both
sides of the ball. And I think when things are
going right, it's the opposite of that, like everything you
know is firing on all cylinders. And I think that's
(11:27):
what you're starting to see, Like they they're clicking. They
just held the Storm to two points in the fourth
quarter like that, and some of that obviously is on
the Storm, right, but you kind of want to give
the ACYSM credit for their improved defense at this point.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, and I think you know, obviously, Chelsea Gray was
out with injury for a while. Her return was a
huge boost for the team, and then she needed some
time to catch back up. But it was one of
those situations where Asia Wilson was having insane season, but
the numbers were down for great Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum
from last year. And I don't know if that's the
inevitable result of a player like Asia being as dominant
(12:02):
as she's been and just everyone getting the ball a
little less, getting fewer looks, or if Asia's compensating for
those players not having as great as a start.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Can you tell if one caused the other.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great point. Like,
I don't know correlation causation, but I do think. I mean,
even Becky has said herself, like she said last year
that if she utilized Asia more in fourth quarters, that
Asia would have been, you know, the unanimous MVP. There
would have been no way to kind of discount the
season that Asia had last season. So this year, obviously
(12:34):
the Aces weren't performing on the same level. Like you said,
the numbers were down kind of from the core four
and even the bench early in the season, and so
then it was on Asia to really carry the team.
And that's not my words. I've heard Becky say that,
I've heard other players say that Asia really put the
team on her back, and so I mean you could
say that that's because of the way that the season
(12:55):
has gone. I mean, I think a lot of that
has to do with like Chelsea Gray's early the absence
that put Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum out of position. Early,
Like Jackie Young was finding herself facilitating the offense, which
was a position she wasn't super comfortable with, but Chelsea
Gray was gone, so that's what she had to do,
and that kind of shifted things for the whole teams.
(13:16):
Like if you have one player playing out a position,
then everybody has to adjust. And so Asia was really
carrying the brunt of that weight.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
She's been otherworldly.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We know, getting her the ball is always the move,
but you got to have those other folks who step
up as the season has gone on and as they've
entered this postseason, who is that person that you know
will step up if Asia is having an off day
or if AG's on the bench, who's the go to?
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yeah, I love this question. I think that's what makes
the Aces so dangerous is because you don't really know
the answer to that any given game, Like they're obviously
you know what the options are. You have the core four,
which is outside of Asia, you have you know, Chelsea Gray,
you have Jackie Young, you have Kelsey Plum like, you
have these incredibly talented players, and then you have somebody
(14:00):
like Tiffany Hayes coming off the bench and it's not
just her, like, they have a pretty significant bench. We
could even start talking about Cydny Golesen and things like
that and kind of the options that they have. But
I think, I mean, Becky Hammond has said this, it's
kind of a pick your poison thing, and you see
this a lot when defenses really concentrate on Asia, they
(14:20):
double triple team her and they focus all of their
defensive attention on her. That puts somebody like a Kelsey
Plumber Jackie Young open and that's how you know, we
have had thirty four thirty two point games from from
from KP and Jackie this season because of situations like that,
where you know, you try to take Asia out of
the equation. But you gotta that means that you got
(14:40):
to leave somebody else open, and they have plenty of
options offensively.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, they sure do.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
You know you you mentioned Tiffany Hayes after she went
off in Game one, Becky Hammond talked about getting to
snag her out of retirement. How important has she been
to this team this season and how important is it
to have a player that hasn't been on the team
for the previous two titles, because that's a big thing,
is finding motivation, finding drive when you've just come off
back to back wins. And I think Tip brings that
coming from a team like the Sun that haven't won.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, I think, yeah, you're right. Tip has a level
of hunger that is just unreal for someone who you know,
seemed I mean, who was retired, who you would think
was ready to be done with the game. But she's
so aggressive. She sacrifices her body on so many different plays,
like and it's just incredible to see. Becky was telling
me recently that sometimes she just watches Tiffany Hayes highlights
(15:32):
because they're so aesthetically pleasing, and I think that that
makes total sense. It's like the energy that she plays with.
I think sometimes like if you just look at the
games where Tiffany Hayes excels, it's also games where Asia
is playing really well, and so they work as like
this really impressive tandem with like Tip off the bench
and then Asia kind of I don't know, it seems
(15:52):
like they kind of build on each other's energy, and
so it's really important. I think that, like you said,
I think you don't amount of retirement for no reason,
like she wants a ring and she has the hunger
that the Aces were kind of missing. Like you heard
Becky Hammond say during that rough you know, six and
six start without Chelsea Gray, that she didn't like the
Aces energy from day one. She didn't like their deepense,
(16:14):
and she didn't like their vibes. And it's crazy to
hear a Hall of Famer like her use the word
vibes to describe kind of how she's taking the team's temperature.
But I mean, she was pretty clear about that she
didn't like it. She didn't.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Sometimes it's just.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Exactly Sometimes it really is just vibes. And so it's
so funny that you know, Tip has that like she
has that hunger. It's innate for her and not to
say that, you know, the Aces don't have it now,
but there definitely was a point starting where it just
wasn't there, and so she always brings it every single night.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
You mentioned sid Colson, great basketball player, somehow an even
better comedian just not only there for the lightness and
the vibes that we mentioned, also obviously brings a ton
of energy and skins on the court.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
But how do you.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Really just evaluate or sum up what she brings to
a team because of what she brings with her personality
as well.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah, I mean I think that, like you said, the
comedy is I think hard for some people to overlook
because they're just like, wow, she just must be, you know,
a joker through and through, but she's really not. I've
seen sid very serious, like I think a lot of
people probably saw. When Asia accepted her MVP award or
when she was informed of it privately, she read these
(17:32):
letters that she wrote to each player on the team,
and Sidney Colson's letter she said that Sidney taught her
how to be a leader. And I can totally see
that because I've seen Sidney, like she has this switch
that she can flip where it's very funny, it's very playful,
and then the next thing, you know, she's being very
serious and you know that you need to like really
(17:52):
listen to what she's saying. And so I think that
that's a big part of it. It's like she has
a personality that is so magnetic and like, yes, so fun,
but she also is is crucial to like the culture
of the team, and so I think you pair that
with the way that she is absolutely fearless on the court.
(18:13):
I mean you look at she's not a tall player,
but she plays like she's giant. Like she gets in
the game and these for a lot of times fourth
quarter situations, they'll kind of utilize her as like a
closer of sorts, and then she'll bring the defensive spark.
She's getting steels, she's going up for layups. Sometimes she's
smoking the layups, but it doesn't matter because she just
like does not get nervous. And that's something that I
(18:35):
think is huge for the aces because when you're not scared,
there are a lot of things that you can that
you can do that that others can't. You know, like
she'll go for behind the back pass and the WBA Finals,
like it's literally that's crazy. That's a crazy thing to do,
and it's something that only Sidney Colson would do. But
I think it really matters for the team, Like she's
(18:56):
just such a spark for them.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yeah, I think what you're describing to is sort of
like flow state where you let your body and your
reps take over instead of being in your head. And
that comes from a real place of confidence. And that's
tough to have when you're tight, because you're stressed about
trying to repeat or whether your team has been playing
up to up to expectation. And I think sid has
been able to show the other players how to do
(19:20):
that and how to stay in that state of like
just playing ball. Another person I think that's had a
really interesting impact on this team is Kate Martin. She's
got real Golden Retriever energy, which is one of my
favorite sayings these days because some people just have it,
and she's such a team and fan fave. She's gotten
a lot of minutes that Kirsten Bell got last season.
Bell has had those ankle and achilles injuries, and Kate
(19:42):
Martin is just like I think also besides the minutes
that she's gotten, we've seen so many clips of the
team interacting with her in free time.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
What is it about her? Why does everyone love Kate
Martin so much?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Oh my goodness. I mean, I've heard so many different
rating reviews about Kate, and I think the main thing
is that they love who she is as a person,
Like they feel like she's a kind, genuine competitor and
who wants to learn and grow, and so I think
that's one thing. But they also really admire the way
that she knows how to play with superstars, Like she
(20:15):
played with Caitlin Clark at Iowa.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
That's no easy feed.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
That means that every single game they played was prime viewing.
There was a lot of pressure on her. But also
like it's a skill in itself to play with a superstar,
you know, you have to kind of approach the game
differently knowing that, and that's something that everybody on the
ACES needs to know how to do because they're playing
with Asia Wilson, who is a legend in the making,
(20:39):
a legend now already with her third MVP a unanimous
one at that, and so you kind of hear about
the intricacies of that. Even like Telsea Gray and I
talked about this recently, just how like, you know, there
are certain things that are just different when you're playing
with somebody like Asia Wilson, Like if she wants the ball,
you need to give it to her immediately, things like that.
(21:00):
And so Kate Martin knows exactly what that's about, and
like she does it well. And Becky Hammond also, I
think probably sees a little bit of herself and Kate Martin.
If you look at the way that Becky Hammond started,
she was undrafted, you know, when she started in the league,
she was undersized and things like that, and so that's
Kate Martin in some ways. But what Kate, what Becky had,
(21:20):
and what Kate and Martin both have is like this tenacity,
you know. And so I think that Kate really made her.
I love that Comparisonah so smart, kay, I mean, Kate
made her bread and butter from doing the little things.
That's what Becky Hammond kept saying. And if you like
listen to Becky Hammond talk about how she was as
a player, she'll say the same things. I did the
little things because like I couldn't do the big stuff.
(21:41):
I couldn't like do all the highlight plays. I would
focus on the little things, the fundamental things, and that's
what Kate Martin did early, and she found herself in
some really you know, serious games early in the season,
and I think that that experience will come and clutch
in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, Kate Martin's been obviously huge for this team, just
in a vibe sense. Again, maybe not as much on
the stat sheet, but there are a couple subs and
bench players that have gotten an opportunity and made the
best of it. I mentioned Kirsten Bell, you know, she
hadn't played more than eight minutes all season, and that
final game of the regular season she put up twelve
points in twenty four. We saw Megan Gustafson in that
(22:17):
last game twenty four points, a career high.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
You don't want to necessarily have to go too deep
on your bench in a series. You want your core
players to light it up and make things easy. But
knowing that the Aces have those players further down the bench,
you know, do you think that they'll be important to
this third title run?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah, No, I think it's huge. I think that. I mean,
if you look at how they won the title last season,
it was important. We just talked about Sidney Colson and
she was crucial for the Aces winning that title last year.
And I think that kind of what you talked about is,
you know, you want to know that you have that depth,
and I think that there was a point in this
season where the Aces didn't really know. I think they
knew that they had something in Tiffany Hayes, they knew
(22:56):
that they had kind of a defensive spark in Sidney Colson,
and then things were kind of up in the air,
which is why Becky was kind of rotating through that
fifth starting spot. So you saw Megan Gustison get some
starts in place of Kia Stokes, you saw Alicia Clark
get some starts, and then also you know, start on
the bench some games, like they were really trying to
figure out what they were working with, and I think,
(23:18):
like you mentioned, that last regular season game was a
good opportunity for them to showcase like, no, we have
a good amount of bench players, like we have strength,
we have people that can come off the bench and
make a difference, And I think that that was important
also just for the bench, like in a confidence sense.
But there was definitely a moment in this season where
it was unclear kind of what they were working with.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Let's talk about Becky Hammond. She's beloved by her players.
What makes the relationship between the Aces players and their
coach so special?
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah, I mean the phrase that I always hear in
reference to Becky, just like around Ace's HQ, is that
she's a player's coach, like she loves her players. And
it's so interesting because I think in light of every thing.
You know, you have the Aces, their current well the
Aces and the u NBA being sued by Dereka Hanby
and this discrimination matter, and so I think that Becky
(24:11):
has felt like attacked on that front. I think she
really prides herself on being a player's coach, But then
now you're seeing herself like kind of defend herself unprompted,
like she'll be asked questions that don't really require an
answer about her philosophy as a coach, but like recently
she she will go into these like kind of long,
(24:34):
I don't know, postgame answers where she she'll talk about
how much she cares about our players and how she
wouldn't have gone into coaching if she didn't, and it's like,
you know, nobody's kind of asking her those questions. But
I think it's like she really wants people to know
that that's how she feels. And I think, you know,
her players have been very vocal about that, Like recently
it was like the I don't know, maybe the fourth
(24:56):
anniversary of her Jersey retirement of like the San Antonio
Stars would which you know, used to be part of
the Aces organization, and so she was asked postgame kind
of I don't know, like her reflections of the time
since she's been a player of whatever else, And that
was a time where she just talked about how she
really wanted to be a coach because she wanted to
make a difference and she could have gone into TV,
(25:17):
but she specifically did coaching. And then in that same
postgame press conference, separately, Kelsey Plumb and Chelsea Gurray talked
about how Becky Hammond changed their careers, like how they
don't feel like they would be the level of you know,
like they wouldn't have the talent or the success that
they've had without Becky. And I think a lot of
that is because she wants to get to know them personally.
(25:39):
Like Becky recently said, she doesn't feel like she needs
to be, you know, her player's first call when they
need to think. But she hopes that she is a
call that they make, like she hopes that they feel
that they can rely on her for support and things
like this. And so it's really interesting seeing that dynamic
somebody who really cares about the way that they're perceived
as a coach, who cares about their players during a
(26:00):
time where maybe that could be in question, you.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Know, right.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I mean, I think it's not surprising that she's talked
about that even when not asked, because that lawsuit does
have questions swirling about how she does treat her players.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
It's not the only controversy this year.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
The Aces kicked off the season with the big you
know ring ceremony for their second title, and not long
after that the league anounce an investigation to determine if
they were providing impermissible benefits and circumventing the salary cap
because they had this Las Vegas tourism sponsorship. They gave
every player on the team one hundred thousand dollars sponsorship deal.
This is huge, big, great news, but there are questions
(26:37):
about whether they're getting around paying players in interesting in
different ways to try to lure them to the team.
Then there was the federal lawsuit filed by Hanby alleging
discrimination due to pregnancy, and another instance of her claiming
that the team was promising things that they would pay
for outside of the contract. Has there been a lot
of conversation internally player staff coaches about pushing through some
(26:57):
of these quote unquote distractions as we called them in
sports or communication with Hamby, even as a former teamate,
like how much does that come up this season?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Have you heard much about it?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah? I mean I think that you know, you mentioned
the one hundred thousand dollars sponsorships with the LVCVA, and
I was like, really, kind of, I don't know. I
guess one of the primary reporters in that situation like
talking to the LVCVA and then trying to get answers
from the aces, and when I would ask questions like
obviously their stances, you know, we don't know anything about this,
(27:27):
we're not involved, et cetera, et cetera, which is fine,
But then I think one of my questions became, well,
like how is this impacting the season? Like you're trying
to start a year. Is this a distraction? And you
have players like Asia saying like, no, we're professionals like
we we have to you know, ignore these types of things,
and we're used to it by now. Like there's definitely
I can say it's been clear to me internally that
(27:50):
there's almost a frustration. I think the Aces feel targeted.
And I you know, again like I'm not saying that
that's the reality. I'm just saying, like, how, how what
seems to be the case? I think Mark Davis when
they were kind of trying to figure out their uh
season ticket pricing and things like that, Mark Davis sat
down with a bunch of media and he spoke about
(28:11):
how when he was asked basically like what has the
response from other owners across the league been like surrounding
these LVCBA sponsorships and these one hundred thousand dollars deals,
And he was like, Oh, their response is let's investigate
the Aces. Like he he felt he has made it
clear like that. He feels like there's a target, he
(28:33):
said himself, he feels like the Aces have been what
do you call it? Not game changers is not the
word that he used, but like people who have, you know,
broken the norm and when you do that, like there's
a target on your back. In his perspective, and he
feels like that's what the ace aces have had to
deal with. And so I think you hear that a
lot from the players at large, like on Twitter sometimes
(28:56):
when they they'll they'll like tweet out kind of vague
messaging about being investigated and things like that, Like I
think they feel like there's been like a punishment for
being at the cutting edge of so many things.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, I mean, I think first of all, if they
are found to be guilty of any of those things,
that's still the best attitude to take if you're trying
to win and play a season. Is everybody against us,
We're being targeted, right, That's the kind of idea that
you have to have in your head if you're going.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
To move forward either way.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
But also there are instances across sports, whether it's nil
to the changing investment in women's sports, where you are
trying to push the envelope. You're trying to figure out
where's the line when do I cross it? How do
I maybe cross it to get away with it, or
how do we change the way things have always been done,
Particularly in women's sports, where we've seen such a dearth
of resources and opportunities, the bar is so low for
(29:50):
the expectation of what these players would be paid, how
they're treated, how the resources and facilities are that I
think it's great that the Aces are pushing that we'll
find out if they push far and whether you know,
they're wrong to feel persecuted as opposed to accurately criticized.
But I do think they've been able to rally around that.
The inside of their rings last season said you know,
Aces versus everybody, So they're just continuing that kind of mindset.
(30:14):
I was curious, though, if you ever talked to the
players about the fans booing Hamby when she came back
to play in Vegas with her new team, the La Sparks.
We talked to dea Erica about that, and she said
it was really hard on her emotionally.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
I was surprised.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
I guess not that I thought maybe an Ace's player
would like hop on the Mike Popovich style and say something,
but I thought maybe that they would motion to the crowd,
or that there would be some sort of sign to
say like, hey, we're not doing that to someone to
help us win a title.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Maybe there are lingering resentments for Hamby, for what she's
said about Hammond and the team.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Have you asked the players about that moment?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
No, you know, I didn't have an opportunity to ask
the players. I think immediately after that game, a lot
of the media were kind of, I want to say,
stunned by Becky's immediate postgame comments because I think that
was that was like the logical next question. I think
she was initially just kind of asked about the tone
of the game as it related to the allegation stemming
(31:11):
from Derka, since it was like, since it was her
return to the Aces, it wasn't her first time back
in Las Vegas though, since these allegations. I remember, like
the Sparks played the Aces very early in this season
and it was fine. She was she was received really
well by Aces fans and things like that. So I
think that things were a little bit thrown off.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I think it was the difference between the initial allegations, yeah,
and then the secondary federal lawsuits of filing. Right, this
was the first time I think after the it became
a federal suit.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I grew with that one hundred percent. I think a
lot of fans were reacting to the most recent filing
and that was going to be My next thing was
like I didn't get to talk to the players. I
think that we were all just kind of like thrown
off because Becky Hymmond went on a little bit of
a tirade about her perspective of what happened. But I
was able to talk to some fans, and I think
(32:00):
a lot of them. Two fans that I spoke too
specifically said that they regretted booing Deerica, and I think
that some of them did not know the context. And
that's not to speak for everybody. Obviously, I couldn't speak
with every fan, but some fans felt like because if
you go to an ACES game, like a lot of
players will get booed. Deerka was not the only player
(32:22):
being bowed, but she was the most consistent player being booed,
and it was clear, like it was hard to ignore.
It was every single time she touched the ball. But
she wasn't the only one, Like there were other Sparks
players that were being boed and like and lots of
games you come into the ACES house like you're it's
not going to be a welcoming environment, like you They
want to make it tough for the opposing team, and
(32:43):
so some of the fans that I spoke to said
that they regretted when they thought about the context of
it all and how like difficult that could have been
for Dereka that they regretted booing. So I think that,
you know, I would love to kind of get a
player perspective. It's just things move so quickly on the
eighth s bet, it's always there's always something.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Yeah, Becky stole the headlines on that day, she absolutely did,
for sure. And I also think to your point, there
is this group mind. Think at a game, everybody starts
booing a player and you're like, oh, yeah, you're the opponent,
and then later you're like, oh, wait, what were we
you know, So I'll give a couple fans that excuse,
but obviously a lot of them knew what they were
doing there, and that's an interesting dynamic to look at.
(33:25):
We're so excited to keep watching this team. We don't
know yet if they have swept this first round or
there's a third game coming, but we so appreciate you
coming in and giving us context for the season as
we continue to watch them in this postseason. Thanks so
much for the time and promise us you're gonna take
some sort of honeymoon and break to celebrate that wedding
sometime soon.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Oh, fingers cross, fingers.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Cross, fingers cross is not a plan, girl, fingers cross
is will see.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I'm not accepting that.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I need you to say right now, I'm going to
takes some time for myself and my new husband, and
I'm gonna figure out some time for us to just
be alone and not think about sports.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Right now, I'm thinking about Asia and this MVP season.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Oh man, all right, we'll take this offline.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Callie, We're gonna take this offline. We're gonna have to talk.
You need to learn this, young Thanks so much for
your time. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Thanks so much to Kelli for hopping on with us,
especially right after getting married.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
We got to take another break.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
When we come back, Bots, Trolls, and shit stirs a
helpful and handy guide to dealing with the WNBA playoffs.
Come on back, Welcome back, my little slices. We love
that you're listening, but as always, we want you to
get in the game every day too. So here's our
good gameplay of the day. First one's easy. Make sure
(34:40):
you keep following Callie's work at the Las Vegas Review Journal,
follow her.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
On x at Callie j Law, and let's.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
All spread the good word of self described fever fan
and WNBA ficionado Mollie McGrath twelve on Twitter, who wisely
wrote on Tuesday, quote good morning, also quick reminder that
basketball is a contact sport.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
She's right. Please tell your friends, tell your family.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Tell the dumbass folks analyzing WNBA clips like the Subruder
film and tweeting out racist dog whistles about fowls.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Please tell them. Please, thank you. We'd love to hear
from you.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Hit us up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot com,
or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two
oh four fifty seventy. Don't forget to subscribe. Rate and
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(35:37):
Who needs a ballroom? Callie and I know best. It's
Apple Orchards or bust. Take notes, fellows, Supermodels. Now it's
your turn, rate and review. Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow.
Good Game, Lindsey, Good Game, Callie, Finn, you whoever keeps
giving OutKick credentials to cover WNBA games. Good Game with
(35:59):
Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership
with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are
Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett,
Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. Our editors are
Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Lindsay Cradowell. Production
(36:22):
assistant from Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain
Host
Sarah Spain
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