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August 13, 2025 44 mins

On this episode of Full Circle, Lexie Brown and Mariah Rose dive into the WNBA playoff picture and the teams you won’t want to meet in the first round. They talk ROTY and MVP predictions, and give flowers to Dominique Malonga and AT on her triple-double streak. Lexie gives the insider scoop on Sykes’ impact on the Storm, Mariah thinks things are looking up for the south, and everyone wants to remind you who tf DT is.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Full Circle is an iheartwoman's sports production and partnership with
Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hi, everybody, welcome to another episode of Full Service Podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm Lexi Brown and I'm here with my.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Girl Mariah Rose. Hey, girl, we're both a little down bad.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Last week.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
You first been me, but what happened to you? You
was living it up and then then what.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, I went to Mexico. My boyfriend's prized with the
trip to Mexico. It was awesome, lived it up, and
then I got e colon.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
My dream date, my dream date, cute.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
But non literally literally my dream date. That's exactly why
he did it.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Oh my gosh. Well, I'm glad you're feeling better.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
And if you guys were watching the storm over the weekend,
you might have noticed my absence in Vegas. And that
was because I caught like a forty eight hour strips.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Throat or something like.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
It was nuts, Like, I was feeling kind of bad
right before we left for Vegas, and then right like
right when we got to the hotel, I was like
bedrid and it was ridiculous. So the night before the game,
I was feeling bad, and then the next morning I
was feeling horrible, and I literally was in bed in
the hotel in Vegas the entire time, the whole day.

(01:24):
Watched the game on TV and then went to LA
and LA healed me slash, so did the antibiotics I
was given. So I didn't play in LA, but I
was fine ready to go. I was feeling better in LA.
I just didn't play. But that's what happened to me
in Vegas. If anybody was wondering or cared, it was
not Crones related at all. I mean, except for the

(01:47):
fact that my immune system is compromised daily.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
But I'm better.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
I'm healthy, and I think I re listened to our
show last week and I like heard it in my
voice that I sounded gross, but people will be like
that shell sexy voice.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
But it's noted. It actually was my sick voice. So
we're bad.

Speaker 4 (02:07):
I probably didn't even notice because I was sick right.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Like sickos last week. But we're back better than ever.
So let's get into it. What we got today. Mariah.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
I'm a lot of excited to check in with you
next week because everything is so tight and like crazy,
but the playoff rights is heating up, which is over
a month left in the regular season.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
How did we get here so fast?

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Only two and a half games separate the teams from
fifth to ninth place in the WNBA. Every game now
impact seating in some sort of capacity. The aces are
seemingly back and form. The storm hit a little bit
of a skid, which we'll get Lexi's inside scoobon, and
Caitlin Clark's status is still uncertain before we get into

(02:49):
everything happening in the WNBA.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
Now, we got to give a legend her flowers.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Diana Tarassi just dropped a new docu series with Prime
LEXI Have you seen it yet?

Speaker 2 (02:59):
I haven't watched yet, but my mom gave me nice
quick synopsis. My mom does that. She'll be like, oh
my gosh, have you seen this? And I'll be like no,
and then she'll tell me the entire plot of whatever
I didn't see, and I'm like, okay, well do I
need to go watch it now?

Speaker 3 (03:14):
But according to my mom, it was amazing. It was great.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
It was refreshing to see DT get her flowers on
her terms. If y'all know how DT is like she's
she has a very like way about going about things,
So for her to get her own documentary and tell
her story her way is amazing.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
So I definitely am gonna tap in.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
We have a two week road trip coming up, so
I will have plenty of free time. I'm definitely gonna
tap into that. So we just wanted to give DT
her flowers and even that entire twenty tens era of WNBA,
Like I don't think I know for a fact the
new fans don't understand like what that era was like,

(03:54):
Like that was the era I grew up watching the
WNBA the twenty tens or like late two thousand, but
early twenty tens, there were some like legendary basketball being played,
and I don't think it gets enough credit now.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
I don't think it gets shown enough love now.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
And they definitely don't get compared enough, Like current players
don't get compared to those players enough, Like they either
get compared to college players or NBA players. But there's
like more than enough WNBA players that can be compared
to now. So for her to shed light on that
era of basketball was really amazing. So flowers for DT,

(04:36):
and oh wait, I do want to say something about
that twenty tens era. I wrote them down in my notes,
So this is a little tangent, guys. So I remember
last year. You know, DT got like a lot of
shit last season for pretty much everything or anything she
said regarding the rookie class or any players that were

(04:56):
younger than her, which was the entire league. So she
was getting on like constantly, and I was just always wondering, like,
do you guys really not know, like who Diana Tarassi is.
So in this twenty tens era, out of the top
twenty all time leading scores currently, twelve of them are
from this twenty tens era, and I would say thirteen

(05:18):
with an asterisk because Nekka was in that twenty tens era,
but it was like early Neka, So minus Neka, it's twelve.
So twelve out of the twenty top scores at WBA history,
we're in that era. Diana is the all time leading
score if you guys didn't know, and she actually reached
that milestone years ago, like a long time ago. We

(05:40):
just recently celebrated her getting to ten k but she
had been the leading scorer of like three years prior
to that.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
So that's an amazing milestone.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Also, I want to put this into perspective for her
as far as how she talks about the game.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
She has over four thousand.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Three point attempts almost fifteen hundred makes in her career.
Guess who the next tiest is for attempts and guess
the number Mariah, if you can take a guess, she
has over four thousand, about four thousand, So second, who's
in second place?

Speaker 4 (06:17):
I have no idea, I have no idea.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
So in second place is Sue Bird at around twenty
five hundred attempts.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
And then the.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Next highest player who is still playing is Kaylea McBride
and she's at around nineteen hundred. So if that puts
the perspective where this three why she had so much
to say about the style of play and how y'all
the new fans, Oh, we love the three point shooting

(06:51):
and we love this, we love that, like she was
saying that because she been doing that, like Kylea McBride
is currently the best three point shooter our league in
my opinion, and she's at eighteen one, eight hundred and
sixty two attempts in six hundred and ninety five makes.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
So she's still eight hundred makes away from catching DT.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
So if that what's all about in perspective for the
new fans or anybody who loves twenty ten's WNBA and
loves Diana Tarassi like.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
She was one of them once, like at all.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Like I think y'all like don't understand, would be like, oh, yeah,
she was our goat. Like no.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
I also think with her being so vocal now about
the new rookie class and about the new era of
the WNBA blah blahlah blah, I think that the way
that she talks and the way that she comes off
feels brash to the new fans because they're sensitive as hell.

Speaker 4 (07:48):
But they wouldn't have been able to handle that era
at all.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
Like they when they see like a small little conflict
in the WNBA now, they act shop like could you imagine,
like DT kiss tech.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Guys, there was a whole brawl that happened at the
free throw line, like people was gettaged ragged across the court,
like this is not this is not era WNBA, Like no,
it's not that like it's been like this.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
She's like Queen Petty, yeah, Queen Petty. Yeah. So that's
why like the little stuff that she said about Caitlin
or like she's gonna have a rough time, or like
just like small things that like I didn't even take
as hating or rude or anything. I'm like, you could
only imagine her in heat of the moment competition and
the twenty tens, when like nobody even really cared about

(08:35):
like saying whatever.

Speaker 4 (08:36):
Anyways, y'all these new.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Fans, Yeah, y'all don't even know.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
So you had, you had players like DC doing that,
then they would go overseas for years and years and
years and years. I don't know if y'all know that
Diana Zaarassi was paid one point five million dollars to
not play in the WNBA from her overseas team one year.

Speaker 4 (08:55):
I didn't know that.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Fun facts I did see in the document when she
was talking about playing in Ukraine or Russia whatever, she
was talking about playing overseas, and she was saying, it's
crazy that I have to go to these countries to
get paid the way that I deserve and then do
but then come back and I'm playing against harder competition

(09:19):
in a harder league, yet the conditions are worse and
I'm the best player in the world, Like.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, so when players are saying, hey, what we deserve,
Like we're standing on the shoulders of players like Diana Tarassi,
Diana Tarasi's, the Canis Parkers, the Sylvia Fowls, like those
players who really like we're playing for the love of
the game. Like, yeah, they were making a lot of

(09:45):
money overseas, I trust me. I've asked how much money,
Like I'm like, how much y'all playing overseas autumn damn years?
And they're like, cause we was getting we were getting
so much money over there, So yeah, you understand why
they went over there. But at the end of the day,
like you're still away from your family, you're in a
new country.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
You know, it's it's taxing on your body. You're playing
like ten months out of the year.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
So like I need more respect to be put on
those players as far as what they did for us
to get to where we are now, Like shout out
to the new players, shout out to the young players
that are getting the torch pass to them. They're doing amazing,
But like we cannot forget like how this all started.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
And why we're even here to begin with.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
So we wanted to give DT her flowers for her documentary,
So if you guys haven't seen it, make sure you
check it out.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
When I watch it, I will.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Circle back and we can we can recap it, Summara,
if you ever have time to tap into it.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
We'll both watch it and then we'll come back to
y'all and let y'all know.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
I love a documentary. I am a nostalgia kaween. I
love a donkeys area, So I'm gonna watch for sure.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
Look at the cannon cannon please, guys. My dog is
just all on the screen right now. We cannot play
right now, so I love it.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
It's like we're on Basetime, literally, like that's what it is.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Sorry about my tangent, but let's get into what is
going on currently and what do we want.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
To get into first? There's so much to get into,
so much is going on.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Well, obviously we have to talk about history being made
by Asia.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
We have to.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
Asia Wilson had a historic thirty point twenty rebound game.
It was the first and WNBA history.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
When you talk about a person that just puts the
team on their back every single night, like that is her,
you know I was able to watch when we just
played them Honestly, it was really fun watching her go
against Dom. Honestly, that matchup was something I wasn't expecting.
I don't think the fans were expecting considering, you know,

(12:02):
Dom's limited minutes, So for her to be able to
go in and have the game that she had against
arguably the best one of the best players in the
WNBA right now, that was really fun to watch. But
like I know that the MVP conversation has you know,
not included Ajia Wilson at all, but like the way
that she's been playing, despite you know, the ups and

(12:23):
downs of the Aces of season, has been so impressive
and incredible and just every year, I say it all
the time, like she gets better every year.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
She adds something new.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
To her game every single year, and she's pretty much unstoppable.
So it's good to see her and Jackie and Chelsea,
you know, being the leaders on that team and riding
the ship like they're like no one thought that the
Aces were like not going to make the playoffs or
they were going to like just fold over and be like,
you know what, this season isn't working for us, so

(12:54):
we're just gonna like figure it out next year. But
like all you gotta do is make it to the playoffs.
You're peaking at the right time. Then it's dangerous. And
we said it last week. Whoever sees Vegas in the
first round, if they end up in that bottom half
of the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
Good luck, good luck to the luck.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's a dangerous espectly, it's all the bottom. Like home
court advantage, I feel like it's been. This is the
most important home court advantage has been in playoffs, I
think in recent seasons, because one through eight, like you said,
there's two and a half games between what five and eight,
five and nine or whatever you said, Like, there's not

(13:33):
very much different in competition, and like, honestly, from two
through eight, it's like Minnesota is at the top just
going crazy.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
And then like everybody else is kind of just like
in the mix.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
So I don't even like, honestly, I don't even know,
depending on how long Stewie's out and Kennedy Birk's out, Like,
I don't know if the Liberty will even finish at two,
like I thought they had that lot, But I don't know.
With the Loway Atlanta and Phoenix I've been playing, you know,
I don't.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
Know, Oh, Atlanta Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Okay, we play them, do you guys? I will be
pay them twice in a row.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
I will be at front row. I'll be front row,
front and center. We get home court advantage in the playoffs.
Oh my god, you guys better be ready.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
You guys better be ready.

Speaker 4 (14:23):
And my FAD's gonna eat. I'll be in custom dream merchant.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Oh see, okay, see now you remember last year or
last game he wants to You had to pick a team,
but you you going all dream all Atlanta dreamed out.

Speaker 4 (14:36):
Yeah, I mean the playoffs, come on, now, I can't.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
I can't.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
I can't pass around with them.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
That to make Asia Spee also much more impressive. It
was her fourteenth double double of the season and her
sixth career game with at least thirty and fifteen.

Speaker 4 (14:51):
So yeah, she's her.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
She's her, always been her, in her shoes every game
and a new pair of a ones like come on, yeah,
if she doesn't win MVP, she's absolutely gonna be in
the conversation. But even the season that she's having on
the back of her first release of a signature shoe,
like it's a.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Win, W's in the chat for Ah Wilson. W's in
the chat.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
W's in the chat for sure, speaking of impressive stats,
At on a triple double streak, she's the first player
in history to have three straight in sanity.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Also, I do want to say we are gonna get
a little bit into MVP conversation. I guess we could
just sprinkle it throughout, but I will say that let's
talk about it. If At continues to play at this
level while Fee is hurt, there might be there might
be a way that at.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
F surrounding is MVP this year.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Honestly, I say that because of yes, team success matters,
but sometimes your team can be so good it works
against you.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
And I fear that that might happen with Feed.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
And it's annoying because we saw it in the NBA
where it was like, well, this happened this year, but
this person should have won, and then this happened next year,
so the person that should have won last year, then
it ended up winning even though this person should have won.
And I fear that's starting to happen in our league
because I know a lot of people you know, were
upset that Fee didn't really even get any conversation about

(16:29):
MVP last year. People thought eight t was robbed two
years ago, which I was one of those people who
thought AT was robbed of her MVP, and compared to
that season, At is scoring higher and she has more assists.
She has a chance to average a triple double. Right now,
she's at sixteen nine to nine, so those are career

(16:50):
highs and points I think might be career high and assists.
But if she can, like if she can get a
C is an average of a triple double, and she
in the Mercury finished two or three absolutely two, she
might get that. She might make it hard for people

(17:11):
to not give her MVP because I don't think a
player's ever averaged a triple double in the WNBA, So.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
I'm gonna put that in perspective.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
I checked the twenty twenty five w NBA MVP odds
and prior to fees injury number one in the odds
obviously in a piece of call year, and just behind
her is AT, very closely behind her before the injury,
and the closest person to At is Asia Wilson, who

(17:43):
is like significantly behind At.

Speaker 4 (17:46):
And the odds so that day have.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Ah, those are only three that they have the top.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
Five and the odds or the top four in the
odds because the like it drops off significantly after four
is the Visa Collier, Alys, Thomas, Asia Wilson and then
Stewie and Stuie and what hurt Yeah yeah according to
Fanuel Sports and six yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
And that's another one with Stuwie and the Sabrina is
that because people look at their teams like as being
so well balanced and so stacked, it could work against
them as far as MVP, because not that anybody cares
about what I think about MVP, But for me, my
five would be.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Fee in order.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
This is in order pie at, Alicia Gray, Kelsey Mitchell,
Sabrina is five for me and Stuwie and Sabrina probably
could be one A, one B. But because Stuwie did
get hurt recently and Sabrina has kind of like upturs
out her output scoring and assists, I've put her in fifth.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
But again, what Kelsey Mitchel?

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Come on, why are we not talking about how Kelsey
Mitchell has carried this Indiana Fever team. I'm not gonna
say by herself, because Natasha Howard and Aliah Boston have
been really good in this stretch as well.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
But the way that the MVP. There's not really is
there like an MVP ladder, Like do we do that?
Like the NBA does.

Speaker 4 (19:24):
No, there isn't. I tried to check it before.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
Where's that at?

Speaker 2 (19:28):
And I feel like we talk about it on gills
all the time, Like as the season goes on, you
shrink the ladder, and then when the end of the
season comes for voting, you only have three people to
choose from, So a random person doesn't get a first
place vote that has zero chance of winning, and now
you're taking a first place vote from somebody else, Like

(19:48):
it should go from like eight players, and then six players,
and then four players, and then the last like month
or so of season, it should be like three or
four players, and then those are the three or four
players you get to choose from and rank them one
through four. Like so a random player doesn't get a

(20:09):
first place vote from their local journalist because.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
They're like, right, I love them, so we're gonna give
them a first place vote. Like no, I hate that.

Speaker 4 (20:18):
Like here's my question when it comes to MVP. I
always want to know this.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
I wish I could, like if we were voters, I
wish we could get our perspectives on this because I
want to hear this from the voter so bad. When
it comes to voting for MVP, what's more important being
the most valuable player on the best team, winning per
se or carrying your team like be your team wouldn't

(20:44):
be anywhere without you?

Speaker 4 (20:45):
Kind of.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
I really think it's like move the goalpost, move player
to player, and we see it in the NBA as well, Right,
it's the weirdest thing. I wish that when a person
picks the media member chooses their MVPs or whatever, like
they have to like write a sentence why they Why

(21:07):
why did you choose this person? Because it could be
like a very valid reason, but because their team is
really good. I don't think that's a valid reason or
why they didn't pick this No, we're not even talking.
Don't even tell me why you didn't pick this person.
Just tell me why you picked the person you chose.
We're not even gonna talk about why you didn't pick
this person. That's how I feel about when people talk
about their favorite players. Tell me why you love them

(21:29):
so much. Don't tell me why you don't like them,
why you don't like them or this one or compare them.
Just tell me all the things that you love about
your favorite player, and I'll tell you all the things
that I love about my favorite player, and then we
could just.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
Be like la la la la la. I love this
player and.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
You love that player, and I think you sports fans
too well to Yeah, it's so annoying. Like you guys know,
you can like as many players, free will like all
the players if you want.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
You don't have to dislike.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
But people are like that with everything, musicians, rappers, you
you have to pick a team, like are you.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Gonna go to jail? You like multiple things? Are you
gonna go to jail if you like the villain in
a Disney movie?

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Like if you like if you like Drake and Kendrick Lamar,
people that's allowed, Like people don't allow that.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
To the chair electric chair, you cannot like both things
Like you can like whatever you want, just tell me why.
But if you give me a weird reason, I'm gonna
tell you it's a weird reason. But if it's valid
and you have facts and data.

Speaker 4 (22:34):
But for the MVP voting, are you are you this
year more holding more value to better team or to
better plays?

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Well, at least for me, if I was a voter,
bare minimum is your team has to be like above
five hundred, and then after that we can get into it.
So like, if you're carrying your team and you have
more losses.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
Than wins, I'm not I'm not. I'm not voting for that.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
Honestly, I don't care if you're scoring one hundred points
a game. Part of you being value the value is
the value added is winning.

Speaker 4 (23:11):
That's the Asia Wilson dreamt this year.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
But now they're they're getting there. They're getting there, so
they keep winning. Then it's gonna make this MVP race
very interesting. But because the Links have been so dominant,
like you would think the obvious thing is the best
player on the best team is the MVP. But we
all know it's not that simple and sports are not
that cut and dry and black and white, like there's
a lot of things. The way that the Links are

(23:36):
playing without feet, they still look they still look like
the number one team. Like if a random person tuned
in to the Links playing as of late, they probably
would have no idea that the current favorite for the
MVP was missing.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
That's how good the Links have been.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
Playing, right, And people need to remember that MVP voting
is subjective, like anything else. It's really people's opinions, Like
it's not fact based. Obviously, it's sports, so there's stats
behind it. But we talked about this at the beginning
of the season. In order to make a case for MVP,
you kind of have to come out to a hot start.
Your team has to have a hot start, like you

(24:13):
have to have that momentum of us talking about you
being the MVP up until the All Star break for
it to sustain itself.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Here the season.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
And also the worst thing for Asia is the seasons
she had last year was so ridiculous and historic and amazing,
Like people are gonna be like, oh, this was her
MVP season, so we're going to compare this one. So
how are we gonna give her another one machine to
play at this level? So like, that's just that's the
crowd of being great. That's the crown you the crown

(24:42):
you wear for being great. You just got to keep
out doing yourself.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
Well, it's the same treatment Lebron gets in the m NBA.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
That's going to compare to Nicole Joki.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
Yeah, he would win it every year if we gave
it to the best player every year.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
So they can't, Right, there's just so many things.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
But that's why at least the at least with the
voting process, you can just shrink it down to where
all the votes are going, where they should be bare
minimum to the players that have a real chance of winning,
Like it probably is really nice to see yourself get
a random first place vote for MVP, Like I know
that probably it probably feels good to the player, but

(25:27):
like it's a waste of a first place vote.

Speaker 4 (25:31):
Yeah, we're not here to make y'all feel good. I'm
sorry they need and.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
We are still on the lookout for the fourth place
Asia Wilson voter. They have not revealed themselves yet, so
we are still we are still looking for you, because
why would.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
You do that, hater, Like, they're never gonna announce.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
That you'll lose all you if you are, Yeah, your
credibility would be to the ground to hell, Like why
would you do that?

Speaker 1 (26:00):
Well, speaking of the Links looking like a number one
seed and looking like they have the MVP when they don't.
Right now, I'm curious post free agency, just looking at
how all of these moves and trades and crazy shakeups
are working out for everybody.

Speaker 4 (26:17):
What are you seeing from Djna Carrington?

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Oh, my gosh, you know, I hope that.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
If or when the Links win, they like give a
piece of something to the Dallas Wings front office.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
To thank them.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
For giving them the because that's that's the only hard
where they got this year, for giving them a missing
piece that we didn't even know that they were missing.
Djana has seamlessly fit into the Minnesota Links system. And
that's the thing about the Minnesota Links. They are a system.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
They are a well oiled machine, and when you are that,
it's very easy to just plug in players.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Talented players, high IQ players like Djona is always where
like she's gonna cut to the right place.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
She's gonna cut to where you're not.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
She's gonna pick up full court, she's gonna guard your
best player, she's gonna block the shit out of somebody.
Like that edge, I feel like Courtney and Kmac have it.
Jess Shephard also has been so great for them this season.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
Like the three of them.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Combined had like like an edge to them, the edge
DS brought. They didn't have that, I don't think. So
she's bringing that off the bench and in her first
few games with the Links, she's averaging fifteen points in
five rebounds.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
So yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
When the trade happened, I was like, what are we doing?
Are we just saying here in Minnesota Lynx win everything,
Win every game from here on out. Here's the like
spark plug that y'all kneeded off the bench. So I
think I'm really happy for Djine. She even said in
the media their first game with the Links was the
most fun she's had playing basketball on a long time.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
And I know how that.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
I know what that feels like. I felt that way,
and I feel that way. Athletes are limited, so I
know what that feels like. So you know, I'm tired
of it. I feel like we, like I said, this
is like the Minnesota Lynks hype train over here. I
love watching good basketball. I love watching good basketball, and
they played good basketball and we've been seeing it. They're five,

(28:29):
another last five. They have the best offensive rating in
the league, the best defensive rating in the league.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
And they play New York three times in the next
nine days.

Speaker 4 (28:39):
Wow, that sucks for New York.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
They had already played them one time prior to this episode.
So they have two more games against New York in
like a week.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
So great.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
Minnesota gets rest and they get to play the same
team that's crippled with injuries. Right now, Wow, good for Minnesota, right,
but they look yeah, yeah, they're looking very much unstoppable.
It's it's giving dynasty if they can keep the team together.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
I don't know. We don't like to throw the d
world out.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
Yeah, be careful and I'm sorry. Speaking of we're gonna
get clipped. We're gonna clip and it's gonna be like dangerous.

(29:34):
Speaking of New York, they are holding onto that number
two seed by a thread.

Speaker 4 (29:38):
Brianna Steuart is expected to be back around.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Late August, but they have a brutal August road schedule ahead. Meanwhile,
Atlanta is tied for number two after beating Phoenix and.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
Things are looking up in the South.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
LEXI, what are your thoughts obviously, if I'm predicting, I
mean Minnesota.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
Three times you said yeah Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
I know I can't say dynasty, especially to them. They
haven't even won anything yet, So don't clip me when
I say that. But it's like that's what they keep comparing.
They keep comparing this core group to the team that
won all those championships, and I see so many similarities
in how they play versus how they played with Simone
and I and them. So I'm sorry that I threw
the premature dynasty out there and they haven't even won yet,

(30:29):
but they just are playing so great.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
But back to Atlanta they are.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yeah, as I said, the Liberty might not finish number
two because Atlanta or Phoenix is going to finish number two.
We play Atlanta two times in the next four days,
five days. I think we have one game here tomorrow
in Seattle, and then we go to Canada and play
them in Vancouver, which is exciting watching them.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
And scout and stuff like.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
They don't look very different than when we played them
a month ago when we went on the buzzer beater.
Ryan's back, which is great, even though her last game
she was zero for seven in her return, but even
her gravity and presence on the court makes such a
huge difference. Nas Hillman my sixth win of the year,
who was starting for a few games. So I need

(31:13):
to go her to go back to the bench before
she gets disqualified for six man. I don't know how
many games you have to play coming off the bench
to be qualified. I'm sure she's more than qualified, but
I need her to go back and be her six
Woman's self. She was three for seven from three to
their last game. They're five another last five, and two
of those wins are against the Phoenix Mercury. So, like

(31:35):
you said, they are trending in the right direction. And
I feel like I say this every week. I'm for
these games are for us.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
These two aren't for it. Like shit, we're on a
losing sheet right now.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
So if we could get one or two wins against
a team playing the way that Atlanta's playing, that would
be great for us. It would be great for our record,
it would be great for our vibes. Honestly, we could
use some winning vibes right now. So again that's why
Lisha's in my conversation for MVP, because no one had

(32:11):
the Dream in.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
The top three. Did we? I don't think we did.
I don't even know if we had them in the
top three, we had them in.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
The playoffs, obviously, no we didn't. But that coach he might,
I mean he could. He could get Coach of the
Year as well. I mean again, all these obvious awards
that you want to give to the best team with
the best record, and the MVP, like yes, people will
be like, oh yeah, Cheryl should win Coach of the Year,
but I wouldn't be surprised if the Atlanta coach could

(32:41):
win Coach of the Year.

Speaker 5 (32:42):
Because a lot of people, is it coach of the
Year worthy to be coaching the best team that was
supposed to win anyways, that wins the finalst Like, obviously
she's a great coach.

Speaker 4 (32:53):
But I'm saying, like that's like yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
Also, I just feel like, and this is no like
shade to her coaching or anything, because I played for
Cheryl and I thought she was an amazing coach. It's
very hard to manage egos and talented teams like that.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
That is a skill that she has mastered.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
If you guys know anything about her previous teams that
were filled with five four or five Hall of Famers
and they won four championships, Like, that's not easy to do.
To manage egos, and having an ego is not a
bad thing, guys. Like, if you are a professional athlete,
if you're a professional at anything, if you think you're

(33:38):
really good at anything that you do, you're gonna have
some type of an ego.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
It's called confidence.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
But sometimes okay, we'll call it an ego, but you
still have to manage those and figure out how to
make them all work, and Cheryld does a really, really
good job of that, And I feel like that is
why people always have her name and for a Coach
of the Year, because of the way she's able to
manage these superstars that she has on our team. Atlanta Coach,

(34:04):
you know, a lot of us, me included, had questions
about how she was he was going to acclimate his
style of play with having two of the most talented
centers in the league on the same team, and he's
managed to do it quite well and dealing.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
With injuries to one of his all stars.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
So I know no one is asking us for any
of our input, but for Coach of the Year, like
I'm putting at the Atlanta Dream coach if his name
is not in the conversation at all, like that's a disservice,
especially in his first year.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
This is his first season.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
Like what he's done with that Dream Team and how
they're playing and how they've bought into his style very impressive.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
So we have our hands they.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
Finished with the number two spot. I don't see why not.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah, I mean, we gon have our hands full the
next two games. But I'm excited the game we played
against them was it was a great game, It was exciting,
but buzzer beaters, so they want their get back for sure.
So it's gonna be fun.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Yeah, you the Storm and these exciting close games like
are y'alls r rest? Okay?

Speaker 4 (35:13):
Just to give the people a little I'm watching of
what's going on.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
The Seattle Storm are currently and a five game losing
streak at the eight seed, but working on integrating Britney
Sykes into the lineup. Had a close loss to LA
that hurt the playoff cushion just a little bit, but
still time. Obviously, everything is so close between five and nine,
so don't count them out at all.

Speaker 4 (35:38):
Lexie inside scoop, what is going on?

Speaker 2 (35:41):
So the last five games we've lost by two, four, four, four,
and three, I know, and two of them are against
the Sparks, I know. But one of the games, I mean,

(36:01):
let's look at my stats real quick, guys, just for fun,
just for shits and gigs.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
Ever since I said I was eleven points.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
Away from a lot of them, yea a week later, I'm.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Still a week later, I'm still seven points away. So yeah,
out of those three games, I only, I mean out
of those five games, I only played in three of them,
and then I've only played a total of twenty six minutes.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Since August first, So that's cool for me.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
We, like I said last week, our vibe has just
been inconsistent across the board. We went through some changes,
personnel changes that takes time. Sykes has been a great addition.
If you guys watched us play. She brings great energy
on both sides of the ball. She's now our leading
scorer after two games. She's averaging twenty one and five

(37:01):
assists I think in two games.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
Which is great.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
We needed, you know, some consistent, more consistent scoring, I
feel like, high powered scoring. And now she's in the
starting lineup, which I wasn't shocked that that happened after
one game, Like you don't bring an all star over
and not give her all star minutes, So getting used
to that.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
The rotation is shifting once again.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
I'm absolutely not in it now like I thought I
wasn't in it at first, I'm definitely not in it now,
which it is what it is. I think the one
bright spot throughout all of this is the way Dom
has been playing, and I'm so happy to see her
getting Like some real minutes, some real run, especially at

(37:46):
like the end of the games when games are closed.
She's getting the ball, She's making big plays. So I've
been watching Dom like work really hard since training camp,
like or whenever she got here, Like she has been
so locked into her process.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
She's been so locked into her workout.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
She's been getting stronger, and I've just been seeing her
like confidence grow every single day, even though she wasn't
really getting the minutes that you know, a lot of
people were probably expecting her to get. So for her
to be like the youngest player to get back to
back twenty and ten games, one against Deerica Hanby and
Cam Brink, you know, super talented bigs in LA. The

(38:25):
next against you know, Asia Wilson and Alissa Smith, like
two also super.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
Talented bigs in our league.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Like, if we can find anything positive throughout this like
five game losing streak, which sucks, it's you know, seeing
Dom like reach this potential like so quickly.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
Guys, she's only nineteen.

Speaker 4 (38:45):
She's just seeing a bright spot in the future.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
Oh my gosh, Like she's literally a baby, and just
the dunk is coming. I can feel it, And when
she does it, I cannot wait. I hope she does
it at home, and it actually be kind of cool
for her to do it on the road, but like
her first endgame dunk, being at home would be fire.

Speaker 5 (39:09):
Like.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
Even today in practice, we were we were doing scripting,
doing five on zero and we were just in a
regular pick and roll and I threw her up the
ball and she just dunked it like off the roll, and.

Speaker 3 (39:19):
I was like, oh my god, it's COVID. It's COVID.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
I know it is.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
The people need it, so honestly, I love the way
Dom's playing. She was so upset after the last game,
and I love seeing that too, because that means she cares.
But we all talk about how Page got Rookie of
the Year locked up with Sonya and Kiki right on
her heels. But if Dom was getting the opportunities that
she was getting now, I think a little bit sooner,
Don would absolutely be in the.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Conversation for Rookie of the Year.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
And I feel like if she is at this trajectory
for the rest of the season, she will be in
the conversation. I don't feel like she has enough time
to overtake Paige, but like she could take Sonya and
Kiki for sure, Like they're gonna be They're all gonna
make all rooky team for sure. But I feel like
Dom is just the glimpses that she's shown the last

(40:11):
few weeks. I'm like, she's gonna be a prob Blum
like nineteen nineteens Goring twenty. It's in on Asia Wilson
bro Like, that's unbelievable, unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
So we're going through what we're going through.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
But that's something that we can look at and be
happy about and excited about having Dom, having Sykes here.
So this is a great opportunity this week for us
to get back on track. So, yeah, what's going on
in Seattle?

Speaker 3 (40:41):
Guys?

Speaker 1 (40:42):
We've pretty much been over the playoff picture the current
one through eight seeds. How tight the standings are from
five to nine, only two and a half games apart. Uh,
there are a few teams that could realistically move up
or fall out in the next two weeks. Obviously the
Dream could get that top that number two spot. The
New York Liberty have to hold on to their spot

(41:04):
even though they don't have their star. It's a mess,
but I will be watching hopcorn in hand Lexi, what
are the people need to be looking forward to this week?

Speaker 2 (41:15):
What we what do you like like all of the games,
Like you said earlier, every game matters, Like even even Minnesota,
like if they they can't slip up either because they
are only six.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
I mean, no, they're gonna be fine. They're gonna be fine.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
But everybody else, like every game literally matters. We're in
eighth place. So I was talking about those teams that
you don't want to catch in the first round, Like,
I'm I'll throw us in there too if we get
our if we get our shit together in these next
few weeks, and we happen to be outside of the
top four, Like, we're not even a team that you
probably want to see in the first round early either

(41:51):
if you're home court.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
So we're at eight right now.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
The Sparks are right behind us, and the Mystics are
right behind them. So as far as playoff picture, ten
teams are very much still fighting for playoff spots. You know, Chicago, Dallas,
and Connecticut are out. I'm pretty sure they're going to
be eliminated in the next few games, probably, but you know,

(42:18):
Minnesota has five losses and everyone else has eleven. To
seventeen losses. So the team I have my eye on
for sure are the Aces because they are seeming to
turn their things around. And then I'm looking at the Sparks.
This will be like their first time back in the
playoffs in like four years, a long time. I don't

(42:41):
know how many years. It's been a long time since
the Sparks have been in the playoffs. And you know,
I feel the way I feel about my situation with
the Sparks, But the Sparks being the playoffs is good
for the WNBA, So no, I don't want them to
overtake our spot. They can overtake someone else's spot in
the playoffs. But I think it would be like a
really cool thing to see the Sparks back in the

(43:02):
playoffs because it's been a long long time. But this
next month of season is going to be crazy and
it's exciting, exciting times, exciting exciting times.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
I can't wait and I can't wait to recap it
all with you. Well we kept it actually forty five
minutes today, so.

Speaker 3 (43:23):
Guess yes, look at us, Look at us.

Speaker 4 (43:27):
I love that for us. But LEXI, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
I am so excited to see you next week. And guys,
thank you for listening to another episode of Full Circle.
See ya, thanks for listening to Full Circle. We'll be
back next week with more basketball for the.

Speaker 4 (43:40):
Girls, by the girls. We want to hear from you.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and tell us
what you want us to talk about. Full Circle is
hosted by Lexi Brown and Mariah Rose. Our executive producer
is Jesse Katz. Our supervising producer is Grace Fuse. Our
producer is Zoe Dang Club. Listen to Full Circle on
America's number one cast network, iHeart, open your free iHeart
app and search full Circle with Lexi Brown and Mariah

(44:05):
Rose and start listening.
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