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September 17, 2025 42 mins

On this episode of Full Circle, Lexie Brown and Mariah Rose do a deep dive into the playoffs from the Storm’s challenges against the Aces, to the Lynx’s dominance over the Valkyries. They also discuss how the physicality and length of the WNBA season has affected teams in the post season. 

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Full Circle is an iheartwomen'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.
All right, y'all, welcome back to Full Circle Playoff Edition.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Lexie Brown.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
How you doing, girl, I'm good. We'll get into our
playoff experience in a second.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
But but before we do that.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
Oh wait, okay, wait wait wait, no, no, no, okay, guys,
I have to reel that in. Okay, I know that
I scored in the last game. Oh, because I got
in class for Lexi.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, we got in. We got into the game.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Go Lexi, go Lexi.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
So, yes, I did score in that game, but because
it was the postseason, it doesn't go towards my.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Journey to one thousand points.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
No, I know.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
So, guys, I'm still four.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
I have finished this season four points away from a thousand,
and that's okay, because we're gonna get that first game
of season.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, we're gonna get that quick.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
But I have seen.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
So you'll get to start off with a celebration.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
So I have seen everyone's comments and kind words about
me getting to my one thousand points.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
So I appreciate y'all.

Speaker 4 (01:26):
Y'all have really kept me going in these last few
weeks of the season. But I have been our best
cheerleader and high fiver the last few weeks, So it
actually was nice.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
To get into the game.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
I don't know if anybody's watching, it probably didn't look
like I was happy to be in the game, but
I promised I was. I just say it for a
long time, guys, I'm old now, like I can't. These
legs needed some time to get moving. I was literally
on the bench for the entire game, and then you
get thrown in at the very end and I'm like, okay,
let's get these bones cracking and going. And yeah, so

(02:03):
I scored five points. That was nice, But the game
wasn't very good. But the best thing about playoffs is
if you get to see him again. And we are
playing the Aces tonights in Seattle and pivotal moment in
of our season, per usual.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, I have to give the people a little bit
of a recap.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
So let's start with us. Let's start with us.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, the Aces beat the Storm one O two seventy
seven and their seventeenth consecutive win.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
They are now one went away from tying.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
The record set by the Los Angeles Sparks with Lisa Leslie.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
That won a title.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Based on from the outside looking in, it seemed like
there was no containing Asia Wilson.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
She had twenty nine.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Listen, Lexi, the question is can the Storm push it
to three games? We're gonna find out tonight, So by
the time this comes out, we'll already know the answer.
I know, But.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
How's it feeling like? Is there a pressure in the
locker room?

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Like?

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Honestly?

Speaker 4 (03:08):
And I'll be able to get more into this when
our season ends whenever. That is about like what has
been going on for our team in general, but keeping
it to the x's and o's of things, they just
had overall a better game plan than we did in

(03:28):
my opinion, and I'm not disperspecting or throwing shade at anything. Obviously,
you guys saw the outcome of the game. They out
executed us on both ends of the floor offensively and defensively.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
People have kind ofly five players and double figures.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
Yeah, people have figured us out offensively unfortunately, and players
have told us this. Analysts have said it like as
much as like there's question marks around our team, there
are like very there's a lot of things about our
team that are like set in stone, like Skylar Neka
are are one two punch, like that's always going to

(04:04):
be a thing. We don't shoot a lot of threes.
We play extremely well in transition. We're first in the
league in transition points.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
So what teams are doing.

Speaker 4 (04:12):
To us now is they're taking away our one two
punch of Necka and Sky and they're slowing us down
and making us run our half core offense, which analytically
is not our strength.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
That's just facts. That's just the facts.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
And if anybody watches our games, you can see that
US in transition, us scoring in like ten seconds or less,
versus US going all the way down to the end
of the shot clock.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
It's like night and day.

Speaker 4 (04:38):
Offensively, the Aces outscored us by twenty one on three pointers.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
We had twenty turnovers.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
We were out rebounded, which has been a trend for
our season all year.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
We have been out rebounded on almost every game.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
And then they were just really physical from the beginning,
like from the start. That's the thing about playoffs, even
the all season long, everybody's been talking about like the
over physicality the injuries, the reffing, et cetera. But what
we've been taught as players growing up, like you gotta
punch first.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
You got to set the tone.

Speaker 4 (05:10):
So if you come out overly physical, the refs are
gonna have to adjust to you.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
And the Aces just did a better job at that
than we did.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
And we just were very reactive and responsive instead of
setting the tone, making them uncomfortable and things like that.
So they punched us in the mouth. They did, they did.
We knew that they're the hottest team in the league.
We knew that coming in. And I just don't think
we executed our game plan because I thought we had
a good one. Adjustments were made today and yesterday watching.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
Film, we were and shoot around.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
But at the end of the day, like and everybody
says defense wins championships, but like, you can't out defense,
somebody like you got to put the ball in the basket,
like at the end of the day.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
So, yes, like we hang our hat on.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
Our defense and defense is important, but at the end
of the day, you got to score points. You gotta
score points, and that has been our achilles hell all
season long, is like, yes, like our defense has been
top of the league for most of the year, but like,
we cannot win any type of championship scoring fifty sixty
seventy points consistently, and that's just been our issue.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
All season long.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
So you know, tonight it's gonna be a crazy atmosphere
in Seattle. The city is excited. I'm excited to be
in that atmosphere. You know, I would love to play, Like.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
I'm not gonna lie. I would love to play. I
would love to come in and help.

Speaker 4 (06:34):
I feel like I've been able to I would have
been able to help our team all year long.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
So it's like this my mental game of you know, I.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
Haven't played for the majority of the season, and then
am I gonna Are they gonna throw me in on
a muscle win game in the playoffs?

Speaker 3 (06:53):
Like probably not, but I need to be ready if
they do.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
But then if they don't, I'm gonna be pissed. So
it's like this mental cycle that you have to like
just stay even keeled throughout it all because you never
know what can happen and you have to be.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
Ready for anything.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
So whatever happens tonight, I'm ready to be the best
team that I can be. Be prepared when if if
or when my number is called to come in and
do whatever I need to do to help our team
win and live to fight another day. But winning in
Vegas is hard. That's a hard place to win. So
hopefully we can pull it out tonight. Everyone is super

(07:31):
focused and yeah, y'all see, we'll come back next week
and I'll either still be playing or I'll be back
in La You.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Know, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Well, listen, I have a question as a analyst, student
of the game, future general manager, not as a member
of the Seattle Storm.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Okay, if the Aces do get past.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
You guys, which we are not crossing our fingers for,
but because we've been talking about them in such glowing
regards up until the series, I'm curious, do you see
them being a true, true, true title contender if they
are able to get past you guys.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
Yeah, the way they're playing right now, they're just they're
so connected on both sides of the floor, Like just
watching them last night, like the reads that they were making,
even watching them in film, like we know that they're
about to run this play, but they see that this
is covered and they immediately go to the next thing.

(08:34):
When certain players are on the floor, they know that
they're getting the ball where they want the ball. They
have their spots, and everybody on the floor knows where
their spots are. Like they have no problems sharing the
ball because they do play so fast. There's plenty of
shots for everybody to go around. And that's the benefit
of playing fast is like you don't have to feel
like you're rationing outshot attempts or rationing out possessions for

(08:56):
people to like do their thing and get in their bag.
Because you're playing so fast, you're creating so many possessions,
so everybody gets everybody gets some.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Like like you said.

Speaker 4 (09:06):
How man these five players in double figures, Like when
you have a game like that, like it just feels
good like it you don't really care who has the
most points, but if you feel like you get a
little bit, you get a little bit, you get a
little bit, Like everything just feels good. And they look
so happy playing. They look joyful.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
And we can say that because we saw how they
looked pre All Star. They looked not good.

Speaker 4 (09:30):
They was not vibing at all, and they they have
figured it out and they look like a well oiled
machine right now. And Jewel coming off the bench is
like it's still crazy, Like she's still she subbed in
like two minutes into the game, Like she's not coming
in like two three minute mark in the first quarter.

(09:51):
Like she subbed in at like the eight minute mark
of the first quarter, so like she's damn near still
a starter. But what that did for her mentally, Like
she just came in and got right to it, got
busy immediately. So that's like so huge, Like it's such
an underrated part of the game, like the mental side
of it, and even a superstar like Jewel needed to
make a change for herself to be comfortable in a
new team, in a new environment and do something to

(10:12):
help the team win. And I don't think that was
meant to be permanent, but they have found a lot
of success in it, and she's still playing starter minutes
and she's playing like the star that she is. So yeah,
they're absolutely a contender. Like hot, Like I said, I
mean what eight you said? What seventeen wins in a row?
Like quite literally, quite literally the hottest team in the

(10:34):
league right now. So lucky us that we got to
put the hottest team ever Like what yeah, Like and
were people I don't think anybody could have foreseen this
type of second half of the season for them the
way they started. So, like we talked about last week,
it's a credit to their age's leadership, Becky's leadership, her
coaching that team, their their energy, their motivation, their adaptability,

(11:01):
and they're like just not being in their feelings, like
their leaders called them out and they responded.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
And now look.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
They're about to well hopefully tonight we ended, but it
could be on an eighteen. They about to almost have
the longest winning streak ever.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
So listen this this this comes out tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
So yeah, we'll see.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
I mean, yeah, I'm excited, though, I mean, I hope
I praised a better game than it was the other
day because that was ridiculous. But yeah, we're gonna We're
gonna have to come correct because they punched us, so
we got to come with it.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
So it's just all got it. I'm always rooting for
a close series, yea. So now moving on to a
team that, if they are on the road to a championship.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Is definitely in their way.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Let's talk a little bit about Minnesota. Okay, the Valkyries
led twenty eight to twenty one over Many after the
first quarter, but Some calls like eleven to one free
throws in the second quarter, killed their momentum the Valkyries.
But if you look at the numbers at the end
of the game, the Valkyries were called for twenty two

(12:23):
fouls and the Links were called for twenty three, but
they still were.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Very upset about the officiating. Throughout the game.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
The Valkyries also shot thirty four percent from the field,
to the Links as fifty two percent. Many also dominated
in the paint, and they crushed the Valkyries on the boards.
Five Links were in double figures. They are what we've
been talking about them being all season. LuxI, my question
to you is, because we know.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
How good Minnesota is, we've talked about that.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
How impactful really is this officiating problem because it also
came up with the fever.

Speaker 4 (12:57):
It's hard for me to say because I haven't been
playing a lot, but I know like the way I play,
the style of play that I have is very I
need a lot of freedom of movement. I need to
be able to get off screens. I need to be
able to run around without people getting in my way
and pushing me off my line of you know whatever.
So from that perspective, I can see why people are

(13:21):
probably irked by the officiating because it is a lot
of holding, it's a lot of grabbing, it's a lot
of not allowing people to have a freedom of movement,
which was quite literally a point of emphasis in our
ref meeting at the beginning of the season was freedom
of movement and illegal screening. But I feel like illegal
screening is a problem in the NBA, is a problem

(13:42):
in the WNBA, and it's such a judgment call, and
so much of getting an illegal screen call is on
the on ball defender. So basically, like the closer you
are to your matchup, the more likely you'll get an off.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
Illegal screen call.

Speaker 4 (13:58):
But because everybody in the league is so athletic and
fast and whatever, you kind of want to back up
a little bit. So when you give more space to
the screener to come get you, it's harder for them
to call those illegal screen calls. So those are always
like iffy, and like some refs call it tighter than others. So,
I mean, we had a whole little segment of film
talking about illegal screens that we could see playing the aces,

(14:21):
and I think yesterday I think we got a few,
but that was because we were having really.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
Good ball pressure.

Speaker 4 (14:28):
Also with the fouls, you know, you could see like
the discremacy, the discrepancy and fouls, but it's always like
are they shooting fouls? Are they sideline fouls? So like
sometimes a foul doesn't always lead to free throws. So
that's probably why when people are like, why are they complaining?
They got less foul calls than the links, but maybe
they fouled more of them shooting, which led to more

(14:48):
free throws, which led to more points.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
I think that the rend of timing eleven fouls called
on you while you're.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Leading exactly like the momentum killing of it. And I
just feel like there needs to be like some kumbay
with the refs this offseason, Like I don't know what
got into them this year. I've never seen this much
like discontent with all of the refs throughout the entire season.
Couple that with all the injuries that we've been seeing,

(15:16):
which many of them have been like after like some
weird stuff has happened, like earlier in the game, or
you know, some over physicality, some overphysical plays, and then
a few plays later someone gets injured. I think that
the team that doesn't allow the refs to affect them
the most are.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Going to win these games. That's playoff basketball. That's at
all levels.

Speaker 4 (15:39):
When you get to a certain point in your season,
you kind of just have to let some shit go,
and referring is one of those things. And not to
reel it back into our game. But like we got
caught up in foul calls in our game, and I
think that that took us off our focus.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
But I think, I mean, I think as as.

Speaker 4 (15:58):
Great as the season as the Valkyries have had, I
think they're outmatched. I think them playing at home today
is going to be super helpful. As we all know,
they're a very different team at home.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
But they've played.

Speaker 4 (16:10):
I think the Links, what this will be like their
fourth time in like a week and a half, so
you the Links are again like the Aces.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
A well oiled machine.

Speaker 4 (16:20):
Nobody let mean Bridget two points, Alana Smith nine points.
The teacher Heideman, I think is their X factor. She
has been playing out of her mind the last like
five games. I think she's been averaging like close to
twenty points per game off the bench. You know, Djna
didn't even get a ton of minutes. She was impactful.
Jess Shepherd comes in twelve eight and four in seventeen minutes.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
Like they just.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Send their talent and waves and waves and it never stops.
And I think that's their strength and numbers. You never
know who's going to go off, you never know who's
going to hold it down for them. So Valkyri's I
think they're going to give them a better game at home,
but I don't know if they're going to be able
to to overcome like the Links. Like Links in the playoffs,

(17:04):
they're different Cheryl. Cheryl in the playoffs is different. She's
a monster, so she's not gonna let anybody get off
the hook easy. So I'm so excited to watch watch
their game though, because you know us, this is a
very pro Valkyries pod also, so I mean, I hope
that they at least can give them a better game.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
Oh also speak of the Valkyrie.

Speaker 4 (17:26):
Shout out to Verroca Burton, who won Most Improved Like
we said she would so collapse for Veronica Burton. Amazing,
So shout out to Yeah, we have.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Another award shot out wanting to do at the end,
but you mentioned injuries. I want to talk about a
team that has so many injuries. They couldn't even fit
all their players of the bench sitting in the stand.

Speaker 4 (17:50):
Did you see their picture on their page where they
they had to like put it over. They put it
over like the two pictures to swipe, and it was
like all of their injured players, and I was.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Like, this is it was like six of them? Six many,
my god, sixth and streak.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
Be Cunningham was like sitting with the fans.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
There's so many crazy.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
But the Fever were very upset with the officiating. We
already talked about officiating, but the.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Players had to hold their coach back after a flay
grand was overturned.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
Seeing coaches do that.

Speaker 4 (18:24):
I love seeing coaches go after the rest for their players,
Like that's like that will literally get your team so
fired up and hyped up. Like the yeah, challenging is cool,
but when they like be getting their.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
Face, you're like, okay, yeah, okay, let's tie in up.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Like coach, plenty of people, plenty of people to hold
her back because the whole team is on the bench.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
The whole team is on the bench.

Speaker 4 (18:50):
I'm like, Fever, you know, I think they can beat
the dream.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
I think they have the personnel too.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
I think they have the Star Power two, but I
just feel like they are simply running out of gas.
I know that's your team. I'm sorry, I know, I.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Know, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
You said they have the personnel, but they're running out
of gas.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
I would argue they don't have the personnel. They don't.

Speaker 4 (19:17):
They do, though, if you have Key Mintel on your team,
you could beat anybody.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Kelsey Mitchell. Kelsey Mitchell dropped twenty seven points.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yes, the fever shot two of fifteen from deep and
Kelsey's twenty seven was not enough to come back. Ryan
and Alisha combining for forty.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Baby. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
If they don't hit threes, they have no chance. If
they don't hit threes, they don't have a chance. And
that's literally what Atlanta does.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Now.

Speaker 4 (19:47):
My parents sent me some stat some crazy stat about
the minutes that Bree Jones and Biji played together before
like this last month and a half versus after, and
it was like three hundred and some minutes versus like
under like thirty minutes. So I don't know the last

(20:07):
time Berdie Grinder played under ten minutes in a game period,
let alone a playoff game. So the fact that I
don't know, again, guys, this is all from the outside
looking in the way Beg has been able to embrace
this new role that she's in and help this team
be at the top of the league.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
BG's gonna be a Hall of Famer.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
She's a champion on all levels, like she's one of
the best players to ever play. The fact that she
has been delegated to the role as a bench player
like that was very unexpected, I'm sure for all of us,
even her, but I think she's handled it very well.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
Again, this is just from an outsider's perspective.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
I don't know what's going on in Atlanta, HYBG doesn't
play none of my business because they're winning. But I
think that the energy of the dream looks very positive.
It looks very fun. They look like they enjoy playing
with each other. And I know we don't really talk
about big threes in the WNBA, but Alisha, Naz and

(21:12):
Ryan are like a big three in my opinion, on
and off the court. I don't know if you guys
follow any of them. I follow Nas and I don't
know if I follow Leisha or Ryan, but I see
their instagrams and tiktoks and stuff a lot. They're always together,
like they just have great synergy. They have good energy
together and chemistry, and that's important. And I think the

(21:33):
confidence that Leash and Ryan play, they just have poured
so much into Nas and that's why she's been able
to step into her own this season, which they haven't
announced it yet. I'm sure she's gonna win six Women
of the Year, even though she's been starting for the
last few weeks. But I think that the chemistry that
they have built off the court, pouring into each other constantly,

(21:54):
has definitely elevated all three of their games, Jordan Canada
didn't have a great game. She's their leader, she's their
floor general.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
She keeps their pace.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
Fast, and I think that's I think she's gonna be
too much of the Fever, and I think whatever happens
in this series, the Fever should be so happy and
proud of themselves for getting to the playoffs, for dealing
with all this adversity. Literally, since what when did all
the nonsense start? Like the first few weeks of the season. Yeah,

(22:25):
winning commissioners Cup, Like they have a lot of things
to be proud of. And I don't want to keep
talking about like like they're already lost.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
They haven't lost the series. Yet they can win it.

Speaker 4 (22:36):
But if they don't, they can still be like super
proud of the season that they put together. Kelsey Mitchell
having an All WNBA season first team well deserved as
she should.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
So literally putting that team on her back.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Literally every night.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
So shout out to the Fever and the Dream. I think,
I think, I don't know they can go to I
don't know. I don't like putting like, oh, this is
gonna go to three, this is gonna go to two,
because you you never know what can happen in a game.
But you know, as a basketball fan, I want them
all to go to three. You know, more basketball fan,
Oh exactlytball, not the Dream in the Fever.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
I'm cool without that, but the other series everyone else.
Speaking of you never know what can happen, let's talk
about the Liberty beating.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Phoenix on the road.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
So they had a okay, so there was a thirty
point second quarter from Phoenix, they went to overtime. Natasha
Cloud went off on her former team with twenty three
points period and then the Liberty won seventy six to
sixty nine and overtime. However, it was a bittersweet win
because with about three minutes left in overtime, Stu went

(24:00):
down clutching her left knee and she walked off in tears.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
I O don't know.

Speaker 4 (24:08):
No, stat is bad, very bad, very bad, very bad.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
I think huge win for the Liberty.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
To steal a game on the road like in the
playoffs is so important.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
It did take over time.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
Satu probably played her worst game of her career.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
I would say.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
Bleach rep Portland Sports put up a very nice graphic
of second fewest made field goals in a playoff game
in w BA history, with at least fifteen field goal attempts.
She was two for seventeen, one for ten from three,
which was her most three point attempts in a game
since June, which was also against Liberty. But in that

(24:53):
game she went seven for ten from three. So these
are shots that she knows that she can take, that
she knows that she can make, and sometimes the battle
is to go in.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
Lucky for her, she's a great company.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
Also players on this list are Sabrina Ynescu, Diana Tarasi.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
And Lindsay Whalen, amongst others.

Speaker 4 (25:15):
Even though Satu is on this list two times, that's
not great, But she's a good company. She's up there
with some of the greatest players to ever played, so
I foresee a bounce back game from Satu. She's not
going to play like that.

Speaker 3 (25:30):
In New York. She cannot. This is a do or
die game.

Speaker 4 (25:33):
I think that the Liberty's strategy was to allow At
to take more shots than she probably wanted to. At
is a facilitator, she's a distributor. She wants to be
responsible for all the points, just not her own. So
I think that the Liberty came out and said, Okay, well,
you generate too much offense, so you generate your own

(25:53):
offense and we gonna handle everybody else.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
And I think that was a really good game plan.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
But things definitely change with Stewie potentially being out. But
this team is very talented and Amisa Men didn't play
a lot of minutes, so she has to step up
and play some more minutes. She'll probably be pretty well rested,
and they do have a bench full of super talented
players that didn't really get any time at all. So honestly,

(26:19):
I think if the Liberty have to do it without Stuwie,
they are more than capable of it. But we shall see,
and prayers up to Stuwie. I hope it's nothing serious
because we love seeing Stuwie in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
And nothing's scarier than a knee. Like you don't want
any injury. That's the part that makes me nervous because
that feels like a.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Long time thing.

Speaker 4 (26:43):
I just hate seeing like all these injuries like there.
I know that people we talked about this with the
long season and the complaining about the wear and tear
of the bodies, but it's just like, yes, the games
have to be played, so that's not going to change,
going to be played, and there's going to be more
games that are going to be played with the new teams,

(27:04):
so like that's not going to change. I'm still looking
at coaching staffs, training staff, I'm looking at everybody in charge.
You do not have to play your players all of
these damn minutes.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
You really don't.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
You have a team full of professional basketball players if
you don't trust the players that you put on your roster.
And that's a conversation you got to have with yourself
and your team and your staff around you. Because you
brought these players here to play professional basketball, because you
think they're good enough to play professional basketball. You are
running these players into the ground all season long, and
we are seeing all of these crazy, random injuries happening, and.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
It's starting to look bad.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
Like from outside looking in, you're probably like, like, what
the hell is going on with all these injuries in
the w especially of the Stars. It's the wear and tear.
We've never had a forty four game season before. That's
why all these records are being broken. That's why all
this stuff is happening because we have When I got
into the league, I think we played thirty two games,
so wow, it's like twelve more games. It doesn't seem

(28:08):
like a lot, but that's a lot of traveling. That's
a lot of being out of your room, out of
your bed, and hotels and different arenas.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Hold on, yes, side note, because you said that.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
What year did you get drafted again?

Speaker 3 (28:22):
Twenty eighteen?

Speaker 2 (28:25):
Okay, I believe if I.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
Remember correctly, that the record that the Aces are looking
to break, that the Sparks broke with Lisa Leslie.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
They broke that in two thousand and one and won
a championship.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
See Okay, I need yeah, I need y'all when all
these records are being broken now because they are all
going to get broken. Now we are playing way more
games than any other team has in the past.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
So I need to know how many games the WNBA
played in two thousand and one.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
I don't even have how many did they win in
a row?

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Right?

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Like, damn near all of them?

Speaker 4 (29:01):
Rights, So let's see. ESPN only goes back to two
thousand and eight because they played thirty four games in
two thousand and eight, but they had way more teams.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Let's go back to when I got drafted.

Speaker 4 (29:16):
Okay, we were at thirty four, so we were in
twenty eighteen, we played thirty four regular season games, and
now we are at forty four. So unfortunately for all
of our great hoopers from the past, y'all's records are
about to be annihilated like.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
Swiftly.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Okay, I found it.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
How many games in the two thousand and one WNBA season.
Each team played a thirty two game regular season schedule.
That year, the league had sixteen teams, and it was
the last season before contraction reduced the league to fourteen
in the following year.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:57):
So, yeah, guys, there was a time where we had
sixteen in the league. We're down to twelve now, we're thirteen.
Now next year we'll have fifteen, and then we're about
to have eighteen. So the number forty four seems very
small if we're looking ahead. So something has to be done,

(30:18):
and I'm going to continue to die on this hill.
We need longer quarters. We have too many talented players
and not enough time. We need longer quarters. I don't
know what we have to do to make that happen.
It's going to make distributing minutes easier. It's going to
keep all the stars happy because they're going to be
able to get their stats in a reasonable amount of time.

(30:41):
But you're still going to be able to utilize the
team that you built. The people that you are paying
to play basketball are going to be able to actually
go out and play basketball. Like, there's no reason why
you should have five players on your bench with DMPs
when you have eleven players on your roster.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
That's ridiculous saying it's.

Speaker 4 (31:01):
Not like the NBA where they have like twenty guys
on there, Like, yes, there's five of them, six of
them who know they know they're not gonna play. They
even tell probably a few of them to not even
put their uniform on that night. You're not playing today, Bro,
just wear your clothes. That's like conversations that I had
in the NBA. We don't have those roster sizes. There's
no reason why you have ten, eleven, sometimes nine players

(31:24):
and you have four or five DMPs, like over and
over and over.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
I'm here for that, Lexi, because you know I'm dying
on the everybody needs a short schedule. Hell, I'm sorry,
I get jumped every time I say it.

Speaker 4 (31:40):
But if we gotta do something, yeah, we got to
do something. And I don't know, like what this is
still all in negotiations, like what our season is going
to look like moving forward, because we've already maxed out
our forty four games in this CBA, we're already leaking
into NFL. We're already leaking into NBA going into mid

(32:03):
October if necessary for the finals. Like that means we're
either gonna have to start earlier, or we're gonna have
to extend the season, or like we're gonna have to
just play more and more frequently, which that's only going
to have that's only going to point to the coaches
and all that to utilize their whole rosters. I always
get back to this roster stuff. No matter what because

(32:24):
I hate seeing players go down and you can you
know it's because their bodies are exhausted. The wear and
tear of this season is no joke, and that's why,
I mean, I know everybody hates it. That's why the
guys in their eighty two season they rest because it's
it's too much.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
I mean, if I played.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Eighty two anything in a season, I'm sitting and I complain.
I will complain about load management to the death of me.
I'm the most annoying person about load management. It's because
how much money they make that that puts a whole
other like, but they got to protect their money maker exactly.

Speaker 4 (32:59):
It's like Catch twenty two and you have to respect
both sides.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
Annoying as a fan, though, yeah, But the solution.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
To that is what short schedule.

Speaker 4 (33:12):
But you can't like be like, Okay, Lebron's not playing
this day, he's not playing this day. You're not playing
this day one, because that's against the rules, I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
And two Strategically that just doesn't make sense.

Speaker 4 (33:24):
You don't want the other team to know when your
best player is not playing because you still want to
win those games, right like you your best player might
not be playing, but you don't go in the game like, oh,
he's not playing, so we're gonna we're gonna lose, Like no,
that's not the mentality.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
It's like we're just gonna play without him. I still
try to win.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Well Lebron because he's older, they like strategically don't play him.
But I will say one more thing on the sixth
shorten the schedule front.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
You never see NFL player like you.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
See them get hurt because it's so combative. There's four,
but you never see that.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Players the word I.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Like, I'm gonna I'm gonna sit out the coret You
don't buy tickets to the NFL game and be like
the quarterback is not gonna play.

Speaker 4 (34:03):
When they threw in the little Thursday night games and
the guy started playing like Thurs Sunday Thursday, I remember
seeing some guys like absolutely, like this is horrible and like, yes, football,
which I agree football is completely different from basketball.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
We both understand that. But like y'all understand, like what
is like to you?

Speaker 4 (34:23):
Like are putting your body through the wringer for your joy?

Speaker 1 (34:27):
And if there's only one game a week, everybody's gonna play.
Everybody's gonna give their all, everybody, and then you have
a week to practice, prepare.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
I'm not saying that y'all need a week off.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
Like, yeah, and that's nice.

Speaker 4 (34:43):
It is nice, except for you practice all the time.
But it's like you be on your ship when you
overseas because you have seventeen practices for every game you play.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
So it's like, and I love the drama of like,
you don't get to see this team seven times, right,
you get to see them tonight, and you better handle
business tonight, you.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Yeah, but I'm dreaming that that is just not going
to happen. However, before we go, we have to give
a huge congratulations to the world's nec page backers.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Yes niece, yes niece. Is anybody shocked? No?

Speaker 2 (35:22):
She started in all thirty six games.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
Averaging my handwriting, it looks like it's a be but
I know it's nineteen point two nineteen point two points,
five four assists, one point six steals. She topped every
rookie and every major stat including total points, points per game,
total assists, assists per game. She had an absolute monster
of the season. Well, it might have been a little

(35:46):
bit disappointing for the Dallas Wings.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
It is expected for.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
A team that has the number one pick to kind
of have to figure things out for a little bit,
and all that aside, she definitely deserved that rookie of.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
Ye absolutely in my opinion. And they banded this with
the win, which is nice.

Speaker 4 (36:02):
That's always nice to end of season with the win
no matter what your record is.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
There was a little bit of controversy because Sonia Sonia
Said You're On was second in voting and Paige had
seventy votes and Sonya had two votes.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
A lot of fans were really really upset. Fans left
Sonya like I all.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Started that way. They were upset that she didn't get
more votes.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
They were upset that, yeah, they felt like she deserved
more attention.

Speaker 4 (36:29):
And honestly, I'm surprised Paige didn't win that shit unanimously,
to be honest, Like I think, and I think Sonya
is a great player. I think she's gonna be a
problem in this league.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
But come on now, guys, please like.

Speaker 4 (36:49):
The fact that she even got two votes as surprising
to me because Page is like Nissiboo, like we said,
she's she's Auntie's baby. So the fact that she didn't
unaniously win. That is actually quite surprising to me, especially
like the second half of season that she's had. I
think if Dallas won a few more games, it would
have been unanimous. But I think it was nice.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
I was about to say I would actually go as
far as to say, if I were Paige, I would
be a.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Littleto bit tight that I did.

Speaker 4 (37:17):
Nanny y'all, Like what two of y'all were like, Nah,
those are the d those are the mystics, media people.
So I'll if that's what the case was, then okay,
I understand because I'm sorry. Like pay the way Page
was playing consistently, Like I think with Sonya and Kiki,
they like came out like really really hot, and then

(37:38):
they kind of hit their rookie wall, and Page kind
of like jumped over her rookie wall.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
She didn't really hit one.

Speaker 4 (37:45):
She did she was out with the concussion, and I
think that kind of helped as far as like wearing
tearing her body. She did take some games off for Rest,
et cetera. But I think that the rookies that this
season were so impressive top to bottom. I think even
Dom she if she was able to get playing time
earlier in the year. I think she would have been

(38:07):
in the conversation for Rookie of the Year and it
like and people would not have no problem with that,
Like coming in twenty and ten nineteen years old, first
youngest player to get back to back and ten games.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yea, our little baby. So last time we played, last.

Speaker 4 (38:27):
Time we played the Aces was when I was sick,
So I was watching on TV, not sick. It wasn't
Crauns related, guys. I like literally just got like a
random strip throat, Like it was crazy. It was like
a two day strip throat.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
It was nuts.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
Anyway, I was watching on TV and we were down
by twenty ish. We came back and Dom and Asia
were going at it, and I was like, Okay, I
love this, Like this is great for Dom, Like this
is great for her confidence. She's going up against Melissa Smith,
she's going against Asian Wilson.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
She's having a great game.

Speaker 4 (38:58):
But also, like we down like twenty, like it was
kind of like a throwing shit out the wall type moment,
Like Dom, just do your thing, and like that's kind
of what happens sometimes when you're down in a game
that you kind of just get thrown into You're just
kind of like I'm justa do me and that's what
that's the swag.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Dom had that game girl the other day.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
They probably maybe replayed her clips on the loop in
the facility or something because they was not messing around
with Dom. Like every time I look at Dom, like
I just I see like a little baby, Like she's
literally just a kid. So it's like Melissa coming up
like throwing her shot.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
Like Asia like like.

Speaker 4 (39:41):
Doing all the stuff, like just just some competitive like
that shit, and I'm just like, oh, Dom, Like I
want this moment for her, Like this is the moment
that she works her ass off for.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
And she didn't play bad. She's just young.

Speaker 4 (39:55):
It's her first playoff series and she's playing against the
best player in the freaking.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
World right now, and I.

Speaker 4 (40:00):
I think she she held her own for the most part.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
But it's like it's just a Playoffs is different.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
Playoffs Vegas is different, playoff asil Wilson is different.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
So I think that.

Speaker 4 (40:11):
Dom tonight is going to be more prepared for the physicality,
and I think that she's gonna have a much better game.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
I think the last game it was just a lot
for her. It was a lot. It was a lot
for everybody clearly, but.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
They was not playing around with her because I think
they remember what she did last time we was in
Vegas and it was like not tonight, not tonight, little one.
But she did make All Rookie teams, So shout out
to our dom, our little rook making All Rookie team.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
So really happy for her.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
And then shout out to Mekka also for making All
the NBA Second Team. I don't know if it was
like the official one, it was like AP or whatever
came out. Whatever list came Outnika was on it, So
shout out to her. And I don't know if Gabby
going Defensive Player of the Year, but she got a
strong case too. She definitely will be first team All Defense.
I think these first in the league and steals, so

(41:02):
if she doesn't win Defensive Player of the Year, she
will be first or second team.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
Same with Ezzie, I think leading the league in blocks.

Speaker 4 (41:08):
So shout out to my little defensive girly pops, and yeah,
we got to use all of our weapons that we
have two nights to extend our season. Hopefully beat the
Aces in Seattle, bring it to Game three.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
Hope y'all watch and hope y'all share it.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (41:32):
Hope this episode age as well, and next week we
can We can come back and be celebrating a series win.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
But if not, you.

Speaker 4 (41:43):
Know where you can find us regardless here on Full
Circle Podcast.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
We will see y'all next week.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
Bye. Thanks for listening to Full Circle.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
We'll be back next week with more basketball for the Girls,
by the girls.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
We want to hear from you.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
Leave us 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.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Is Grace Fused. Our producer is Zoe Danklab. Listen to
Full Circle on America's number

Speaker 1 (42:15):
One podcast network, iHeart, open your free iHeart app and
search Full Circle with Lexi Brown and Mariah Rose and
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