June 15, 2025 • 38 mins
Caitlin Clark is back! And so is Sophie Cunningham. The Indiana Fever defeat the reining champs (New York Liberty) in historic fashion. We break down the victory as well as our loss to the Atlanta Dream and the upcoming games this week.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Friends, Fever fans, welcome back to another Fever Replay
podcast brought to you by, once again, the love of the game.
When you want it done right or you know, just plain done at
all, do it for the love of the game.
We are back, we are excited. It was a good week of Fever
(00:36):
basketball. I am Chris Ord and once again we
are joined by my lovely and talented Co host Keisha
Gallagher. Say hi, Keisha.
Hello and happy Father's Day. I'm a father.
Thank you. How nice.
(00:57):
What a nice young woman. All right, Well, this was a
great week of basketball, period.
There were a lot of fantastic games.
But you and I were at a game yesterday, weren't we, Keisha?
We sure were, Chris. And what a game.
(01:17):
What a game. A game.
A true gift. It was, it was actually a gift.
My wife and Keisha talked throughout the week and they
decided, hey, why don't we go for Father's Day to that Fever
game that's coming up. And just so you know, at the
time, Caitlin Clark had not beenannounced to be coming back.
(01:39):
And so we got those tickets on the cheap because the next day
they announced it. And then we ended up at a
Saturday game watching us take on the Champs and spoiler alert,
we beat them and the we beat them and the pie and.
And before before my wife hears this and then tries to say that
(02:02):
I took credit for something I did not do.
Mainly our wives made those plans happen.
I was supportive and I participated, but they they made
the stream a reality. So.
You heard? It here the first.
It was Keisha and Keisha alone who came up with this plan.
We're putting it on paper. This is what people don't trust
(02:27):
the news anymore, you know? Yeah, so I thought we'd start
since we both got to go to this live game.
For those of you who haven't been or it's been a little
while, just kind of talking about our game day of experience
of going to a live Fever game. Me and my family have been to a
few of them. It's always fantastic.
(02:48):
If you want to know the demographic there, there's a lot
of young women there, which is really, really, really cool.
It like takes a moment to hit you as you're there.
If you've been to sports events,this energy's very similar.
Everything's very exciting. There's a lot going on.
It's loud, but then at some point it just kind of hits you.
(03:09):
You're like, these aren't the normal faces that I would see at
a sports game. And it kind of like for me, I
have a daughter. It really does kind of get me
every once in a while when I look around, I'm like, this is
like a packed house. These are people that are very
excited to be here that are super pumped and they're not the
same people that you normally see at live sporting events and
(03:32):
it's very exciting. It makes me feel good.
Yeah, I feel like the demographic of who's
participating in watching women's sports, because everyone
loves women's sports, everyone loves watching women's sports.
I think it's it's really imploded.
For those of you who aren't watching the video feed because
we don't have one, was holding up to the camera her shirt that
(03:54):
says everyone watches women's sports.
That was a gag. Completely visual anyway.
That was a visual gag just for those recording and my two dogs.
But, you know, sometimes, sometimes I have to commit to
the bit. But yeah, I think that it's it
is really exciting and it is a true gift to see the audience
(04:16):
for the WNBA grow and to see it so skewed to a younger age
group. I do.
I do love to see that. Yeah, younger and feminine age
group too. It's just amazing.
And like, there was one point like I, you know, I'm usually
locked in the game. I like to cheer, I like to
shout, but sometimes it'll take a couple rounds of defense or
(04:39):
let's go fever, let's go before I join in.
And one of those times I was sitting there watching and then
like the defense started chanting.
But the first few times I heard it, like normally in a crowd, it
sounds like defense, defense. The first time I the first two
rounds was like. Defense.
(04:59):
And I was like, Oh my gosh, it'sjust like a bunch of girls that
were all locked in, they caught the defense champ.
But for anyone else it was adorable and I loved it and very
heartworm. Like that's just, I know I've
just said this like 3 times, butit's just not something you're
used to. And I think it's a really cool
sight and something you should experience if you get the chance
(05:20):
to go to a sold out women's basketball game.
What's really excited people there?
It's fantastic. Another cool thing at the game.
I mean, it's just a good time. They do a really good job of
welcoming you. The whole place is all decked
out. If you want to go like get there
early to go to the store. If you get there right before
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the game or right after, it is almost a no go.
It's a very long line. So if you want to go to the
store, either go the day before a game because they're open in
between games, or go very early if you're trying to get into
that store 'cause that's tough. There's also a couple smaller
stores that are like on the upper levels, just a little
(06:02):
thing in case you're looking to get some gear while you're
there. But the store does have some
really nice stuff in there. Well, for the experience of
being in an arena like that, as someone who has been to a few
different basketball venues, it is loud the entire time.
Like not only is is there chanting happening, but people
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are locked in and it is quite overwhelming it.
The energy is constant. I can't imagine what it'd be
like to play as an opponent in that kind of volume.
Like, I've seen and heard a lot of noise in the Hawkeye Arena
for a lot of Iowa games, but theFever really do bring it.
So seeing that and experiencing that versus hearing it, if you
(06:49):
happen to see the televised game, it is quite different and
intense. Yeah, and like me and my family,
since we moved here about 3 years ago, we've been to a
number of both Pacers and Fever games and they're both
fantastic, really well run plays.
Stadium's awesome. But, and I'm not saying now,
'cause right now the fee, the, the excitement around the paces
(07:11):
is pretty huge, but like last year for sure, the difference
was 100% between the Pacers and the Fever.
Meaning, like the Pacers was fun, they did a great job, they
put on a good show, is a great product out there on the court.
But the excitement was not the same.
It was not like, you know, everytime a shot was made, every time
(07:32):
they got the ball, every time they got a stop, crazy cheering,
you know, excitement, the crowd being completely locked in.
That was not the experience at those Pacer games.
But I've never been to a Fever game where that wasn't the case.
So yeah, it's pretty special andpretty cool and not something
that has been over hyped. It is correctly hyped.
(07:53):
If you're going to go, you're going to have a good time, so I
suggest it anyway. What we're going to do, we got
two games we're talking about. We're going to talk about both
the Atlanta Dream, but we figured let's talk about the
Liberty because that was a fantastic game of basketball.
I just got to jump right in and kind of I, I would, I normally
would like to try to kind of go in some sort of order, but I
(08:13):
can't help myself with the series of threes that went in
because we were, we were there live watching the game.
So the first three went in, I looked at Chelsea and I went
wow, well she's back and she's making threes and then she made
the 2nd 3. In a row from further.
Chelsea, yeah, from further away.
And I was like, well, not only is she back and she's making
(08:34):
threes, but the depth is locked in.
And then she made the third three in a row and I said, uh
oh, uh oh, she's back. She's she's like all the way
back, yeah. Yeah.
No, it was extremely exciting. Exciting.
It was exciting to be there. I feel like I was.
We always go in the balcony. We're not made of money out
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here. And I could literally see the
fire in her eyes. It was a chippy game.
I think to start with the team. The Fever came out, I think with
like a healthy almost disrespectfor the Liberty in that, like
they weren't going to be afraid.They weren't going to be like,
(09:17):
hey, you've beat us. Hey, you've never lost this
year. It was kind of like you can tell
they came out and they were like, our plan here is to win
tonight. That's our plan.
We got our full team back. We know who we are and we're
ready to beat you. That's what it felt like to me.
And especially during those moments, it seemed like Caitlin
(09:38):
was starting to feel herself. She'd made a couple baskets,
she'd hit a three or two, and she was, for whatever reason,
just like, I really want to messthese girls up right now.
Like, you could tell like, and what if you go back and watch
those 33, especially the 2nd 2, she was like making a point.
She was like, I can shoot this from anywhere and I can score on
(09:59):
you whenever I want, but that's what I saw.
It was kind of crazy. She was like spit and fire.
Well, I think yeah, she, she was.
I thought I, I personally saw a lot of growth from when she was
taking that, that time off from the injury.
Her her response to how the fever originally played against
(10:19):
New York, I think was really mature.
And I could see that she's been looking at film and she's been
working on some areas that she was struggling with when she was
being guarded so aggressively full court.
So that was her response to that, to that aggressiveness
that Cloud brings was phenomenal.
It paid off. Cloud got was in foul trouble.
Caitlin was, I mean, couldn't stop scoring.
(10:42):
So I saw that that really caughtmy attention right away.
And there was a point where it just looked like New York was
completely defeated. They weren't even playing badly.
But when you're making every three you take, you just can't
recover from that. And it has to be noted that New
York, though still a very strongteam, is kind of experiencing
(11:04):
what the fever had experienced recently with some changes in
roster. With John Quell being out,
Feebich gonna is going to be gone for that Euro tournament,
the Euro league. They're looking at a different
roster that they normally don't play with.
And I think they really struggled to figure out how to
respond to Stewie not having herbest performance, really
struggling to get open. It was a great game, though, and
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the three-point shooting was offthe charts.
Yeah, I think that was the starkdifference.
Like we all knew and we've talked about this many times the
past couple weeks, OK. Like, you know, the Fever are
missing their number one player.Like that is 100% true.
Our Fever, the Fever is also missing like the engine of their
(11:51):
offense, like the main distributor, the one that's
supposed to help everybody to thrive.
But like it was so clear the difference in spacing when
Caitlin Clark is on the floor. Like the game she plays seems
completely focused on creating 3point shot opportunities.
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Not that that's all she does, but what she does.
The like end result is open threes.
Like driving to the paint, throwing passes into people that
are cutting her, being able to hit something from anywhere on
the court makes the defense haveto react in a way that is going
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to get you an open three if you keep moving the ball around.
And like, that was something we've talked about on the pod
here the last couple weeks is we've been having a lot of
trouble getting open threes. Like, they've been heavily
contested. You know, there'd be only maybe
less than a handful of open threes taken throughout each
game, where last night, not the case.
(12:55):
They were open. And then turns out if you're
open, you're gonna hit some of those.
You're not just gonna hit some of those.
You're gonna hit more of those than the franchise has ever hit
in one night. When your opponent starts to
implode, how do you respond? Caitlin Clark said. 7 threes
alone by halfway through the by the third quarter and then 17,
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three, I mean, 17 three pointersmade is insane.
It's crazy. 48% shooting from the field, 48%, almost 47%
shooting from behind the arc. And what do you do when the team
that you're playing not only hassomeone who's making 7 threes by
the third, but the rest of the team is making threes?
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They took Clark out, Coulson hits a three, and then on the
next possession, Dante hits a three.
It was a massacre. It really was.
What's crazy is that the Libertywere still in it two.
That was kind of the crazy thing.
Is they it it it really in the first half started to become a
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very chippy game. There were some odd calls.
I'll say go. I'll say terrible calls.
There are some terrible The series where Caitlin Clark gets
a technical was at the series ofevents was absolutely horrible.
Like, there's a no call, a clearno call, and then they challenge
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it. And I know that you can't
challenge a no call. So it was kind of like, I don't
know, I guess they were just begging the refs to like, see
the error of their ways because like basically all they were
allowed to do was decide who gotthe ball.
And so then nothing happened. And then Caitlin's losing it,
which honestly, of all of the times to get a technical, if you
felt like your teammate who has just come back from an injury
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has been injured twice, it was kind of a dangerous place.
She was up in the air. She gets fouled.
Not like it's not the worst foulever, but then it's not even
called it's, I don't feel that bad about her getting that tech.
Especially watching it back after the live one.
In the live one, I was like, oh,you know, Caitlin's kind of
Caitlin. But then I watched it later and
(15:05):
I was like, you know what, I getit.
Someone's got to speak up. It's it was brewing.
She was ready to get it from having been on the bench the
last few games there at any opportunity to go off.
She was ready to go off. So I'm not surprised at all,
especially you're watching it over.
I I could see the moment in her eyes when she was like, well,
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the tea is coming now. And she, yeah, I, I mean, it was
a frustrating officiating spect.Spectacular, spectacular for
sure. And I don't know what they were
doing. And that caused some definite
chippiness between the teams, which was honestly kind of fun
to watch. Like Sabrina would not let the
Fever just take the game away. Like she would not let them.
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Whenever it started happening, she would just step up.
And whether she was driving to the paint, whether she was
dishing it out or hitting threes, she was just very
business like. Like, sorry, I'm here.
I'm very good at basketball, too.
And you guys? Here's 34 points to prove it, on
top of my incredible assists andrebounding despite the beat down
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they were getting. But yeah, I mean it.
Just when it's when you scored 34 points as an individual and
it's not enough, that's that hurts.
That's gotta hurt. One thing I noticed like
Speaking of like seeing the difference between the live and
then watching it back later. I didn't know this in the live
game that Caitlyn was clearly fatigued kind of throughout the
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whole game. You never see Caitlin wave over
to the sideline like I need a break.
But sought several times throughout this game and it
seemed like she had a stitch in her chest like most of the
night. Like she kind of kept grabbing
it, like trying to catch her breath.
And then at the half, she like, could barely lift her arms to
give high fives. Everyone's looking.
(17:01):
They're like, yeah, yeah. And she's like, yeah, yeah.
And like, kind of like, barely lift her hands out there, which
was crazy. I didn't know she was that
tired. Watching her live.
I was like, oh, she's just on fire.
This is fantastic. She hasn't missed a beat.
But then when you could see it in high def from close up, it
was like, oh, man, she's still gassed.
(17:21):
You know, this is crazy that shewas able to perform that well
and not being in her normal gameshape.
And I think that was sort of a focus is to kind of put prove a
point against this, against thisdynasty team that is on a crazy
possible record-breaking pace ofyeah, it's their best start.
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Yeah, it's their best. It's one of it's, it's also one
of their best teams for the Liberty.
So yeah, I think there was, I think they did it definitely a
trip on their shoulder, especially from the last game
with the kind of controversial no call, maybe no call.
We only got 1 weird angle of theCloud and Clark.
Yeah, and you got to think, Caitlin, that was her last game.
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So everyone else has been livingtheir life doing other games,
playing other people, winning, losing.
Not Caitlin. No, just fixating on one.
This was the last game she played.
She didn't get to play any basketball and she had another
shot at it and she was like, I don't care.
Maybe I'm not 100%, but I'm giving you absolutely everything
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I have. How's that sound?
Maybe the best my best half of my professional career.
That's all. How does that sound?
Yeah, no, they they played. That was just really great
basketball and the team really stepped up.
It was the Fever looked really good.
Yeah, Speaking of the team, there were a lot of great plays
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for the rest of the team. You can tell they do thrive.
Maybe not Howard necessarily, although she just kind of missed
a couple little bunnies, but everybody does thrive with CC
out there. One of my favorite plays that
I've seen this year happened where it was a behind the back
from Caitlin at the nail to AB and then AB grabs it and kind of
(19:12):
spins and then dishes it to holewho's wide open for a three and
drains it. And to me that was like really
huge. One of when you watch the best
teams, they seem to always be like a step ahead to be reading
things like a little faster. And like when somebody does
something awesome like a behind the back, totally fakes out
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their coverage, then that other person isn't like caught up in
the moment. They're like ready to go.
They knew that pass was coming and they know that they maybe
need to dish it out also, you know, and I felt like I saw that
maturity in that moment. Like AB just received this
awesome pass. She was near the basket.
She could have just tried to go for like a contested layup.
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But she instantly realizes, like, wait, I have Stewie on me.
Stewie wasn't supposed to be on me.
And without even missing a beat,it was like within half a second
she tosses an alcohol. Who is sitting there waiting,
ready, knowing that she's about to get this 3 drains it.
To me. That was like a lot of maturity
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between those 3 to be 8. Like not every team is capable
of going like, boom, boom, boom,like that.
And like, to me, look like a sign that like, OK, we're at a
different level than we used to be.
Yeah, I, I mean, I saw, I remember seeing that happen that
behind the back to the almost like spin pass and thought the
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chemistry is really evolving between the different rosters
that we're seeing. And the one I think real benefit
of having had gone without Clarkis that these new little
connections were forced to kind of mature and develop a little
bit quicker. So I think the clear vision that
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Boston had, knowing that Lexie was in the corner, that
anticipation, that anticipatory chemistry and basketball
intelligence, I I think the Fever are in a new era of of
team building, and they're doingit while they're winning and
they're doing it in real time, Ithink.
Yeah. I mean, one thing that I really
(21:19):
focused on when it came to this game was what was the big
turning point for the Fever. And there was a period in the
third quarter where Kelsey was doing Kelsey Mitchell things,
cutting through and creating this layup lane that didn't
exist, and she scored a basket. And after that, they went on
this crazy run where everyone just was scoring in New York.
Even even if they had a responseat some point, I feel the fever
(21:44):
just never took their foot off the gas after that.
But as incredible as Caitlin was, I really feel like the true
spark that led to finishing thisgame off on a positive was
Kelsey Mitchell. No, absolutely.
I do, especially because CC really started the third quarter
pretty slow. I don't think she had a basket
(22:07):
in the first half of that quarter.
I think that it was catching up to her.
She had the best half of her life while not being 100%.
She was tired coming out of there.
And I think the rest of the teamwas like, hey, you know, no
worries, fam. Like we got, we saw what you're
putting down and we can we can score until you're ready to come
(22:28):
back. Yeah.
I feel like, once again, she's just the perfect compliment to
what Caitlin Clark Clark does. And it's not even compliment in
the fact that she does things Caitlin doesn't do.
Like their strengths fully complement each other.
They both hit threes. How are you going to guard that?
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You know they can both drive. It's a different even looking
drive though too. Like man she just blazes by
defenders. If she is like full on sprinting
when she hits the half court line then you're not going to
stop her. It almost doesn't matter who's
in front of her. She's just.
(23:11):
Gonna go and the whole stadium knows it and it's like, sorry,
she's about to get a layup. I don't know what you wanna do
about it. No, I mean, I'd take a picture,
ask her how she does it, what's her stretching routine, because
I need to get on that level. It's just, yeah, she's just so
she's so smart and she really knows her team.
She really understands her role and she knows.
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I think that's the, the something that Caitlin Clark can
really absorb from like a Natasha Howard, Dwana Bonner,
Kelsey Mitchell is just knowing when you have to step up and
become the shooter and when you it's your turn now to
facilitate. And I think Kelsey Mitchell is
really, really good at that. You almost never see Kelsey
Mitchell overreach or like, try and like go too hard in a moment
(23:58):
that wasn't necessary or for something.
I can't remember the last time I've seen it.
You know, she might miss, but itwas a good call.
Like Kelsey is so trusted with the ball and that's somebody you
want to be second to, Caitlin Clark, because she has no doubt
in her mind when she dishes it to her that that's a good idea.
You know, she's like this chick.She's she's going to do
(24:21):
something good. When I pass it to her, it's not
a problem. I felt like our counter attack
was off the charts. We really put the game away with
our defense. I think in the end of the third,
really the 4th, Sabrina started making it a much closer game
(24:42):
than it really should have been just on her own.
But in the third, we had this series of just like not letting
them score and then scoring on our own side in like 2 to 3
dribbles and then going back andgetting another stop.
Now they're two to three dribbles in a basket going back
(25:04):
like, you know, a full 24 seconds.
And that's got to be demoralizing when you're on the
court to be like, wow, we're playing on offense a lot and it
doesn't seem to be getting us any points.
I mean I just this the statisticof being 48% behind the three is
bonkers. As a team.
(25:25):
So crazy as a team. As a team.
And that's what it looked like too.
It looked like that. And it felt like that, like, oh,
we're just going to make those today and that's fine.
All right? It was fantastic.
It was very fun. Let's just take a moment to eat
our vegetables here and talk about the Atlanta Dream who beat
(25:48):
us this week. We don't have to delve to.
And I think we know, and everyone knows we didn't have
Caitlin Clark and we also didn'thave Cunningham, who is a big
part of our team. And that's been a struggle for
us. We've faced the dream a couple
times. They've always played us really
well. They're honestly turning out to
(26:09):
be a pretty darn good team and we have trouble handling their
size, especially without Caitlinon the court.
I feel like that was really obvious, so we kind of know that
information, but let's just talkabout what it is that kind of
caused us to lose, you know, andand maybe what kind of take away
we can get from that game even though knowing we were down some
(26:32):
players. Yeah, I think the Dream is just
a really complex opponent because they have such a such a
different type of style of basketball.
And for the first time, well, for not this is the first time,
but for the first time in a longtime, Jordan Canada is back.
(26:53):
So we're seeing a different roster and we're seeing a
different style of play. When Jordan is driving, she is
opening up Ryan Howard and Alicia Gray to not having to
have that responsibility and they can just post up and wait
for their shot. So I think that was a little bit
of a challenge, but mainly it was the third quarter, the third
(27:15):
quarter where. We scored nine points is.
That where we scored nine points, that would be the one
that was really where it just kind of fell to pieces.
And it there just was never a point after that where it seemed
like anyone had any creativity, any real spark.
It was almost like there was an acceptance of an acceptance of
(27:38):
we're about to go down and we'regoing down bad.
There just was no response to Alicia Gray and Natasha Howard
was working so hard against someof the biggest bigs.
Aaliyah Boston was, it was just a struggle.
It was a struggle for the whole entire team.
That's what it That's what it felt like for me anyways.
(27:59):
Yeah, it felt like 2 struggles. The first half we were
struggling and it was working, you know, like we were in that
game. It was like, gosh, they have us
outsized, whether both pigs are in or if it's just Griner or if
it's just Jones. It was like we really need to
find a way to score other than being in the paint, which isn't
(28:22):
a great place to be as a basketball team.
And then the second-half, it's like the struggle was not
working. But we were allergic to the
paint that in that game. I think that was.
Not a good place. It's almost like in football how
regardless of if you're able to get running yards, you need to
be running or else you're not going to be able to pass.
(28:45):
That's what it felt like. We just gave up on the paint
because we're like, they're better than us in there.
And while that's true, if everyone knows you're not going
to the paint, you're going to have a lot of trouble getting
shots off. And I think that's what we were
seeing. And it's that lack of creation
too, that we just, we didn't have because we didn't have
(29:07):
Caitlin Clark. And like, Sid Coulson, I think
is a fantastic backup guard. Like fantastic.
I think she'll really be good. We saw that against the Liberty,
like the amount of creation she can do.
She has some trouble scoring. Like, that's not what she's paid
to do, is to go out there and score.
(29:29):
Yeah. And I think we see that.
We saw that versus the dream personally.
What do you think we learn from this game?
I think that there were opportunities for someone else
in to set up, to step up and lead.
And I think that that was the real, that was the that was the
(29:52):
lesson was when we're strugglingwith these injuries, who's gonna
be that voice on the court? I just feel like there was no
direction. And like there there are times
when the people you rely on yourKelsey Mitchell's, your Boston's
are not scoring at that high rate or struggling.
Someone else has to realize theyhave to step up.
And I feel like in this, in thisgame specifically, that that
(30:13):
just was nobody. Yeah, I see what you're saying.
It's almost like the the thing we learned is that we have to
learn something. Yeah.
Like, there's a big question mark when we're in this
situation, what are we going to do?
Because hopefully Caitlin Clark doesn't get injured again for
the rest of the year. You know, she's been a
remarkably available player pretty much her entire career,
(30:37):
going all the way back to high school.
She's just not someone who gets injured.
So hopefully that continues. But there's going to be nights
where she's off. There's going to be nights where
we need production somewhere else.
And the question is, what do we do?
And hopefully this film gives ussomething to work on, something
to look at, something for the coaches to kind of, you know,
(30:57):
noodle about. We'll find out.
OK, But enough of that, because that was the past when we didn't
have Caitlin, and she's back, and we're glorious.
Before we talk about the upcoming games, we're going to
take a quick break. Sometimes people get you down.
(31:21):
Have you ever had a tough day atwork?
Were you doing everything you can?
You and your two other coworkersare making the calls that you
feel like need to be made, and for whatever reason, the crowd
that night hates you. Try technical fouls.
Sometimes you're going to have asuperstar getting in your face,
(31:44):
yelling stuff, calling your mother names.
Go ahead, whip out a technical foul.
Do it. It'll make you feel better.
And it really serves them right,doesn't it?
Are they making good points? Did you miss a call?
Are you a bad person? It doesn't matter when you throw
(32:08):
out a technical foul. Try it today.
All right, Keisha. So here's what we got going on.
Next week we got three games. Tuesday we are going against the
Connecticut Sun, the team that we stole their coach and one of
(32:31):
their stars. Thursday the brand new team that
we haven't seen and is new to the league, the Golden State
Valkyrie. And then on Sunday, we're going
against the Las Vegas Aces. Very exciting stuff.
I think we're going to focus mostly on the Valkyrie and the
(32:51):
Aces. We have seen the Suns also.
The Suns still seem to be putting up too much of five
versus people, you know, becauseof the newness, the lack of
stars, a brand new coach. So anyway, go ahead Keisha, give
us your scouting report. Yeah.
So for the Valkyries, this is going to be, I think, a very
exciting game. We'll get to see Caitlin Clark
(33:13):
and Kate Martin hopefully play against each other.
But with the Valkyrie, they are,I want to say they're I didn't
they're even now. I think they're five and five
and they've had some pretty surprising wins.
They've had some unfortunate losses, but they're unique team.
They're pretty much made of someof the most talented, already
active players in the league. And we will see fact Bentley for
(33:34):
the first time since she left the Fever.
No, no, I'm sorry. It's going to be tough because
we know, we know that talent. There also was a really
interesting resigning, I guess you could say, of Caitlin Chen
being added back to the Valkyrie, which is awesome as
one of the new rookies. But this is this is a talented
(33:55):
team. They have Caleb Thornton, who's
going to be a struggle to guard against.
She's fast, she's strong, Monique Billings very strong and
Veronica Burton, who has been really on fire as of late.
And that's just to name a few. They have a lot of depth and
talent. One of the things that might be
in our benefit is they do have alot of players leaving for
Europe for that league, which does eat up a lot of talent.
(34:19):
But do we not going to necessarily be an easy game?
The Europe tournament I do. Not believe.
I do not believe we are losing anyone.
Great. OK, go on then.
But that does, yeah. So that will change what the
Valkyrie may look like so that it's a little harder predict,
predict what they're gonna throwout because they have a
different bench available to them.
(34:39):
But they're young, they're fast even.
They're more senior players are still pretty young.
And they are, they're hungry to win.
So it should be, it should be aninteresting game.
And then the Aces, they have been struggling this season.
I think everyone kind of thoughtthat they were gonna come in and
blaze, but they are also, I believe, at 5:00 and 5:00.
(35:00):
And Asia Wilson has been out forthe last week on concussion
protocol. So yeah, assuming Wilson, yeah,
assuming Wilson is back, we are talking about maybe the best, if
not the second best active player in the league.
She is unguardable. Sorry to everyone, but I don't
(35:20):
know who you put on Asia Wilson.She's just gonna eat them up and
she's gonna make them work hard.So Boston and Howard have a lot
of hard work ahead of them there.
Jackie Young is slowly starting to build up her range when it
comes to her three-point shooting.
Chelsea Gray has been really, really on fire.
And Joel Lloyd finally is starting to drain.
(35:41):
So there's a lot of guards who are fast, big shooters.
Kia Stokes is also 63, Asia Wilson 64.
Kitley's healthy for the the Aces for the first time since
getting drafted. She's 66.
It's a tall team and they're allstrong.
OK, So what do you think? Are we gonna?
(36:03):
I think it's gonna be a battle. Are we winning all three of
these games this week? Is that what you're saying?
I think that we are gonna be tired.
So I'm hopeful that Caitlin is healthy and and ready to also
rest at some point and that the the rest of the fever, having
had those few games without her,know how to step up and allow
(36:23):
her to not have to play a lot ofminutes right now.
Because these next three games are gonna be physical.
They're gonna want to front her.They're probably gonna pick her
up full court. They're gonna challenge another
guard to bring the ball up the court so that they can kinda
shake the foundation of what theFever do.
Interesting. I have heard in the past that
when you come back from an injury that limited your ability
(36:47):
to kind of work out and stay in game shape takes about two weeks
before you're starting to like feel good.
She clearly is able to perform, but we'll see how that fatigue
catches up to her. But anyway, with that, it was
wonderful to see you in person, Keisha this week had fun.
Like I said, everybody, if you haven't gone out to a Fever
(37:11):
game, do check it out. It's phenomenal.
We handed out a couple stickers,so hopefully we have a couple
new fans this week. But anyway, hope you all have a
fantastic week. Enjoy your life in between your
Fever games and we look forward to seeing you all real soon.
(37:32):
Take care guys. Bye.
Friends, Fever fans, welcome back to another Fever Replay
podcast brought to you by, once again, the love of the game.
When you want it done right or you know, just plain done at
all, do it for the love of the game.
We are back, we are excited. It was a good week of Fever
(00:36):
basketball. I am Chris Ord and once again we
are joined by my lovely and talented Co host Keisha
Gallagher. Say hi, Keisha.
Hello and happy Father's Day. I'm a father.
Thank you. How nice.
(00:57):
What a nice young woman. All right, Well, this was a
great week of basketball, period.
There were a lot of fantastic games.
But you and I were at a game yesterday, weren't we, Keisha?
We sure were, Chris. And what a game.
(01:17):
What a game. A game.
A true gift. It was, it was actually a gift.
My wife and Keisha talked throughout the week and they
decided, hey, why don't we go for Father's Day to that Fever
game that's coming up. And just so you know, at the
time, Caitlin Clark had not beenannounced to be coming back.
(01:39):
And so we got those tickets on the cheap because the next day
they announced it. And then we ended up at a
Saturday game watching us take on the Champs and spoiler alert,
we beat them and the we beat them and the pie and.
And before before my wife hears this and then tries to say that
(02:02):
I took credit for something I did not do.
Mainly our wives made those plans happen.
I was supportive and I participated, but they they made
the stream a reality. So.
You heard? It here the first.
It was Keisha and Keisha alone who came up with this plan.
We're putting it on paper. This is what people don't trust
(02:27):
the news anymore, you know? Yeah, so I thought we'd start
since we both got to go to this live game.
For those of you who haven't been or it's been a little
while, just kind of talking about our game day of experience
of going to a live Fever game. Me and my family have been to a
few of them. It's always fantastic.
(02:48):
If you want to know the demographic there, there's a lot
of young women there, which is really, really, really cool.
It like takes a moment to hit you as you're there.
If you've been to sports events,this energy's very similar.
Everything's very exciting. There's a lot going on.
It's loud, but then at some point it just kind of hits you.
(03:09):
You're like, these aren't the normal faces that I would see at
a sports game. And it kind of like for me, I
have a daughter. It really does kind of get me
every once in a while when I look around, I'm like, this is
like a packed house. These are people that are very
excited to be here that are super pumped and they're not the
same people that you normally see at live sporting events and
(03:32):
it's very exciting. It makes me feel good.
Yeah, I feel like the demographic of who's
participating in watching women's sports, because everyone
loves women's sports, everyone loves watching women's sports.
I think it's it's really imploded.
For those of you who aren't watching the video feed because
we don't have one, was holding up to the camera her shirt that
(03:54):
says everyone watches women's sports.
That was a gag. Completely visual anyway.
That was a visual gag just for those recording and my two dogs.
But, you know, sometimes, sometimes I have to commit to
the bit. But yeah, I think that it's it
is really exciting and it is a true gift to see the audience
(04:16):
for the WNBA grow and to see it so skewed to a younger age
group. I do.
I do love to see that. Yeah, younger and feminine age
group too. It's just amazing.
And like, there was one point like I, you know, I'm usually
locked in the game. I like to cheer, I like to
shout, but sometimes it'll take a couple rounds of defense or
(04:39):
let's go fever, let's go before I join in.
And one of those times I was sitting there watching and then
like the defense started chanting.
But the first few times I heard it, like normally in a crowd, it
sounds like defense, defense. The first time I the first two
rounds was like. Defense.
(04:59):
And I was like, Oh my gosh, it'sjust like a bunch of girls that
were all locked in, they caught the defense champ.
But for anyone else it was adorable and I loved it and very
heartworm. Like that's just, I know I've
just said this like 3 times, butit's just not something you're
used to. And I think it's a really cool
sight and something you should experience if you get the chance
(05:20):
to go to a sold out women's basketball game.
What's really excited people there?
It's fantastic. Another cool thing at the game.
I mean, it's just a good time. They do a really good job of
welcoming you. The whole place is all decked
out. If you want to go like get there
early to go to the store. If you get there right before
(05:42):
the game or right after, it is almost a no go.
It's a very long line. So if you want to go to the
store, either go the day before a game because they're open in
between games, or go very early if you're trying to get into
that store 'cause that's tough. There's also a couple smaller
stores that are like on the upper levels, just a little
(06:02):
thing in case you're looking to get some gear while you're
there. But the store does have some
really nice stuff in there. Well, for the experience of
being in an arena like that, as someone who has been to a few
different basketball venues, it is loud the entire time.
Like not only is is there chanting happening, but people
(06:25):
are locked in and it is quite overwhelming it.
The energy is constant. I can't imagine what it'd be
like to play as an opponent in that kind of volume.
Like, I've seen and heard a lot of noise in the Hawkeye Arena
for a lot of Iowa games, but theFever really do bring it.
So seeing that and experiencing that versus hearing it, if you
(06:49):
happen to see the televised game, it is quite different and
intense. Yeah, and like me and my family,
since we moved here about 3 years ago, we've been to a
number of both Pacers and Fever games and they're both
fantastic, really well run plays.
Stadium's awesome. But, and I'm not saying now,
'cause right now the fee, the, the excitement around the paces
(07:11):
is pretty huge, but like last year for sure, the difference
was 100% between the Pacers and the Fever.
Meaning, like the Pacers was fun, they did a great job, they
put on a good show, is a great product out there on the court.
But the excitement was not the same.
It was not like, you know, everytime a shot was made, every time
(07:32):
they got the ball, every time they got a stop, crazy cheering,
you know, excitement, the crowd being completely locked in.
That was not the experience at those Pacer games.
But I've never been to a Fever game where that wasn't the case.
So yeah, it's pretty special andpretty cool and not something
that has been over hyped. It is correctly hyped.
(07:53):
If you're going to go, you're going to have a good time, so I
suggest it anyway. What we're going to do, we got
two games we're talking about. We're going to talk about both
the Atlanta Dream, but we figured let's talk about the
Liberty because that was a fantastic game of basketball.
I just got to jump right in and kind of I, I would, I normally
would like to try to kind of go in some sort of order, but I
(08:13):
can't help myself with the series of threes that went in
because we were, we were there live watching the game.
So the first three went in, I looked at Chelsea and I went
wow, well she's back and she's making threes and then she made
the 2nd 3. In a row from further.
Chelsea, yeah, from further away.
And I was like, well, not only is she back and she's making
(08:34):
threes, but the depth is locked in.
And then she made the third three in a row and I said, uh
oh, uh oh, she's back. She's she's like all the way
back, yeah. Yeah.
No, it was extremely exciting. Exciting.
It was exciting to be there. I feel like I was.
We always go in the balcony. We're not made of money out
(08:57):
here. And I could literally see the
fire in her eyes. It was a chippy game.
I think to start with the team. The Fever came out, I think with
like a healthy almost disrespectfor the Liberty in that, like
they weren't going to be afraid.They weren't going to be like,
(09:17):
hey, you've beat us. Hey, you've never lost this
year. It was kind of like you can tell
they came out and they were like, our plan here is to win
tonight. That's our plan.
We got our full team back. We know who we are and we're
ready to beat you. That's what it felt like to me.
And especially during those moments, it seemed like Caitlin
(09:38):
was starting to feel herself. She'd made a couple baskets,
she'd hit a three or two, and she was, for whatever reason,
just like, I really want to messthese girls up right now.
Like, you could tell like, and what if you go back and watch
those 33, especially the 2nd 2, she was like making a point.
She was like, I can shoot this from anywhere and I can score on
(09:59):
you whenever I want, but that's what I saw.
It was kind of crazy. She was like spit and fire.
Well, I think yeah, she, she was.
I thought I, I personally saw a lot of growth from when she was
taking that, that time off from the injury.
Her her response to how the fever originally played against
(10:19):
New York, I think was really mature.
And I could see that she's been looking at film and she's been
working on some areas that she was struggling with when she was
being guarded so aggressively full court.
So that was her response to that, to that aggressiveness
that Cloud brings was phenomenal.
It paid off. Cloud got was in foul trouble.
Caitlin was, I mean, couldn't stop scoring.
(10:42):
So I saw that that really caughtmy attention right away.
And there was a point where it just looked like New York was
completely defeated. They weren't even playing badly.
But when you're making every three you take, you just can't
recover from that. And it has to be noted that New
York, though still a very strongteam, is kind of experiencing
(11:04):
what the fever had experienced recently with some changes in
roster. With John Quell being out,
Feebich gonna is going to be gone for that Euro tournament,
the Euro league. They're looking at a different
roster that they normally don't play with.
And I think they really struggled to figure out how to
respond to Stewie not having herbest performance, really
struggling to get open. It was a great game, though, and
(11:28):
the three-point shooting was offthe charts.
Yeah, I think that was the starkdifference.
Like we all knew and we've talked about this many times the
past couple weeks, OK. Like, you know, the Fever are
missing their number one player.Like that is 100% true.
Our Fever, the Fever is also missing like the engine of their
(11:51):
offense, like the main distributor, the one that's
supposed to help everybody to thrive.
But like it was so clear the difference in spacing when
Caitlin Clark is on the floor. Like the game she plays seems
completely focused on creating 3point shot opportunities.
(12:11):
Not that that's all she does, but what she does.
The like end result is open threes.
Like driving to the paint, throwing passes into people that
are cutting her, being able to hit something from anywhere on
the court makes the defense haveto react in a way that is going
(12:32):
to get you an open three if you keep moving the ball around.
And like, that was something we've talked about on the pod
here the last couple weeks is we've been having a lot of
trouble getting open threes. Like, they've been heavily
contested. You know, there'd be only maybe
less than a handful of open threes taken throughout each
game, where last night, not the case.
(12:55):
They were open. And then turns out if you're
open, you're gonna hit some of those.
You're not just gonna hit some of those.
You're gonna hit more of those than the franchise has ever hit
in one night. When your opponent starts to
implode, how do you respond? Caitlin Clark said. 7 threes
alone by halfway through the by the third quarter and then 17,
(13:17):
three, I mean, 17 three pointersmade is insane.
It's crazy. 48% shooting from the field, 48%, almost 47%
shooting from behind the arc. And what do you do when the team
that you're playing not only hassomeone who's making 7 threes by
the third, but the rest of the team is making threes?
(13:38):
They took Clark out, Coulson hits a three, and then on the
next possession, Dante hits a three.
It was a massacre. It really was.
What's crazy is that the Libertywere still in it two.
That was kind of the crazy thing.
Is they it it it really in the first half started to become a
(13:59):
very chippy game. There were some odd calls.
I'll say go. I'll say terrible calls.
There are some terrible The series where Caitlin Clark gets
a technical was at the series ofevents was absolutely horrible.
Like, there's a no call, a clearno call, and then they challenge
(14:19):
it. And I know that you can't
challenge a no call. So it was kind of like, I don't
know, I guess they were just begging the refs to like, see
the error of their ways because like basically all they were
allowed to do was decide who gotthe ball.
And so then nothing happened. And then Caitlin's losing it,
which honestly, of all of the times to get a technical, if you
felt like your teammate who has just come back from an injury
(14:44):
has been injured twice, it was kind of a dangerous place.
She was up in the air. She gets fouled.
Not like it's not the worst foulever, but then it's not even
called it's, I don't feel that bad about her getting that tech.
Especially watching it back after the live one.
In the live one, I was like, oh,you know, Caitlin's kind of
Caitlin. But then I watched it later and
(15:05):
I was like, you know what, I getit.
Someone's got to speak up. It's it was brewing.
She was ready to get it from having been on the bench the
last few games there at any opportunity to go off.
She was ready to go off. So I'm not surprised at all,
especially you're watching it over.
I I could see the moment in her eyes when she was like, well,
(15:26):
the tea is coming now. And she, yeah, I, I mean, it was
a frustrating officiating spect.Spectacular, spectacular for
sure. And I don't know what they were
doing. And that caused some definite
chippiness between the teams, which was honestly kind of fun
to watch. Like Sabrina would not let the
Fever just take the game away. Like she would not let them.
(15:51):
Whenever it started happening, she would just step up.
And whether she was driving to the paint, whether she was
dishing it out or hitting threes, she was just very
business like. Like, sorry, I'm here.
I'm very good at basketball, too.
And you guys? Here's 34 points to prove it, on
top of my incredible assists andrebounding despite the beat down
(16:17):
they were getting. But yeah, I mean it.
Just when it's when you scored 34 points as an individual and
it's not enough, that's that hurts.
That's gotta hurt. One thing I noticed like
Speaking of like seeing the difference between the live and
then watching it back later. I didn't know this in the live
game that Caitlyn was clearly fatigued kind of throughout the
(16:39):
whole game. You never see Caitlin wave over
to the sideline like I need a break.
But sought several times throughout this game and it
seemed like she had a stitch in her chest like most of the
night. Like she kind of kept grabbing
it, like trying to catch her breath.
And then at the half, she like, could barely lift her arms to
give high fives. Everyone's looking.
(17:01):
They're like, yeah, yeah. And she's like, yeah, yeah.
And like, kind of like, barely lift her hands out there, which
was crazy. I didn't know she was that
tired. Watching her live.
I was like, oh, she's just on fire.
This is fantastic. She hasn't missed a beat.
But then when you could see it in high def from close up, it
was like, oh, man, she's still gassed.
(17:21):
You know, this is crazy that shewas able to perform that well
and not being in her normal gameshape.
And I think that was sort of a focus is to kind of put prove a
point against this, against thisdynasty team that is on a crazy
possible record-breaking pace ofyeah, it's their best start.
(17:43):
Yeah, it's their best. It's one of it's, it's also one
of their best teams for the Liberty.
So yeah, I think there was, I think they did it definitely a
trip on their shoulder, especially from the last game
with the kind of controversial no call, maybe no call.
We only got 1 weird angle of theCloud and Clark.
Yeah, and you got to think, Caitlin, that was her last game.
(18:05):
So everyone else has been livingtheir life doing other games,
playing other people, winning, losing.
Not Caitlin. No, just fixating on one.
This was the last game she played.
She didn't get to play any basketball and she had another
shot at it and she was like, I don't care.
Maybe I'm not 100%, but I'm giving you absolutely everything
(18:25):
I have. How's that sound?
Maybe the best my best half of my professional career.
That's all. How does that sound?
Yeah, no, they they played. That was just really great
basketball and the team really stepped up.
It was the Fever looked really good.
Yeah, Speaking of the team, there were a lot of great plays
(18:46):
for the rest of the team. You can tell they do thrive.
Maybe not Howard necessarily, although she just kind of missed
a couple little bunnies, but everybody does thrive with CC
out there. One of my favorite plays that
I've seen this year happened where it was a behind the back
from Caitlin at the nail to AB and then AB grabs it and kind of
(19:12):
spins and then dishes it to holewho's wide open for a three and
drains it. And to me that was like really
huge. One of when you watch the best
teams, they seem to always be like a step ahead to be reading
things like a little faster. And like when somebody does
something awesome like a behind the back, totally fakes out
(19:33):
their coverage, then that other person isn't like caught up in
the moment. They're like ready to go.
They knew that pass was coming and they know that they maybe
need to dish it out also, you know, and I felt like I saw that
maturity in that moment. Like AB just received this
awesome pass. She was near the basket.
She could have just tried to go for like a contested layup.
(19:55):
But she instantly realizes, like, wait, I have Stewie on me.
Stewie wasn't supposed to be on me.
And without even missing a beat,it was like within half a second
she tosses an alcohol. Who is sitting there waiting,
ready, knowing that she's about to get this 3 drains it.
To me. That was like a lot of maturity
(20:16):
between those 3 to be 8. Like not every team is capable
of going like, boom, boom, boom,like that.
And like, to me, look like a sign that like, OK, we're at a
different level than we used to be.
Yeah, I, I mean, I saw, I remember seeing that happen that
behind the back to the almost like spin pass and thought the
(20:38):
chemistry is really evolving between the different rosters
that we're seeing. And the one I think real benefit
of having had gone without Clarkis that these new little
connections were forced to kind of mature and develop a little
bit quicker. So I think the clear vision that
(20:59):
Boston had, knowing that Lexie was in the corner, that
anticipation, that anticipatory chemistry and basketball
intelligence, I I think the Fever are in a new era of of
team building, and they're doingit while they're winning and
they're doing it in real time, Ithink.
Yeah. I mean, one thing that I really
(21:19):
focused on when it came to this game was what was the big
turning point for the Fever. And there was a period in the
third quarter where Kelsey was doing Kelsey Mitchell things,
cutting through and creating this layup lane that didn't
exist, and she scored a basket. And after that, they went on
this crazy run where everyone just was scoring in New York.
Even even if they had a responseat some point, I feel the fever
(21:44):
just never took their foot off the gas after that.
But as incredible as Caitlin was, I really feel like the true
spark that led to finishing thisgame off on a positive was
Kelsey Mitchell. No, absolutely.
I do, especially because CC really started the third quarter
pretty slow. I don't think she had a basket
(22:07):
in the first half of that quarter.
I think that it was catching up to her.
She had the best half of her life while not being 100%.
She was tired coming out of there.
And I think the rest of the teamwas like, hey, you know, no
worries, fam. Like we got, we saw what you're
putting down and we can we can score until you're ready to come
(22:28):
back. Yeah.
I feel like, once again, she's just the perfect compliment to
what Caitlin Clark Clark does. And it's not even compliment in
the fact that she does things Caitlin doesn't do.
Like their strengths fully complement each other.
They both hit threes. How are you going to guard that?
(22:49):
You know they can both drive. It's a different even looking
drive though too. Like man she just blazes by
defenders. If she is like full on sprinting
when she hits the half court line then you're not going to
stop her. It almost doesn't matter who's
in front of her. She's just.
(23:11):
Gonna go and the whole stadium knows it and it's like, sorry,
she's about to get a layup. I don't know what you wanna do
about it. No, I mean, I'd take a picture,
ask her how she does it, what's her stretching routine, because
I need to get on that level. It's just, yeah, she's just so
she's so smart and she really knows her team.
She really understands her role and she knows.
(23:33):
I think that's the, the something that Caitlin Clark can
really absorb from like a Natasha Howard, Dwana Bonner,
Kelsey Mitchell is just knowing when you have to step up and
become the shooter and when you it's your turn now to
facilitate. And I think Kelsey Mitchell is
really, really good at that. You almost never see Kelsey
Mitchell overreach or like, try and like go too hard in a moment
(23:58):
that wasn't necessary or for something.
I can't remember the last time I've seen it.
You know, she might miss, but itwas a good call.
Like Kelsey is so trusted with the ball and that's somebody you
want to be second to, Caitlin Clark, because she has no doubt
in her mind when she dishes it to her that that's a good idea.
You know, she's like this chick.She's she's going to do
(24:21):
something good. When I pass it to her, it's not
a problem. I felt like our counter attack
was off the charts. We really put the game away with
our defense. I think in the end of the third,
really the 4th, Sabrina started making it a much closer game
(24:42):
than it really should have been just on her own.
But in the third, we had this series of just like not letting
them score and then scoring on our own side in like 2 to 3
dribbles and then going back andgetting another stop.
Now they're two to three dribbles in a basket going back
(25:04):
like, you know, a full 24 seconds.
And that's got to be demoralizing when you're on the
court to be like, wow, we're playing on offense a lot and it
doesn't seem to be getting us any points.
I mean I just this the statisticof being 48% behind the three is
bonkers. As a team.
(25:25):
So crazy as a team. As a team.
And that's what it looked like too.
It looked like that. And it felt like that, like, oh,
we're just going to make those today and that's fine.
All right? It was fantastic.
It was very fun. Let's just take a moment to eat
our vegetables here and talk about the Atlanta Dream who beat
(25:48):
us this week. We don't have to delve to.
And I think we know, and everyone knows we didn't have
Caitlin Clark and we also didn'thave Cunningham, who is a big
part of our team. And that's been a struggle for
us. We've faced the dream a couple
times. They've always played us really
well. They're honestly turning out to
(26:09):
be a pretty darn good team and we have trouble handling their
size, especially without Caitlinon the court.
I feel like that was really obvious, so we kind of know that
information, but let's just talkabout what it is that kind of
caused us to lose, you know, andand maybe what kind of take away
we can get from that game even though knowing we were down some
(26:32):
players. Yeah, I think the Dream is just
a really complex opponent because they have such a such a
different type of style of basketball.
And for the first time, well, for not this is the first time,
but for the first time in a longtime, Jordan Canada is back.
(26:53):
So we're seeing a different roster and we're seeing a
different style of play. When Jordan is driving, she is
opening up Ryan Howard and Alicia Gray to not having to
have that responsibility and they can just post up and wait
for their shot. So I think that was a little bit
of a challenge, but mainly it was the third quarter, the third
(27:15):
quarter where. We scored nine points is.
That where we scored nine points, that would be the one
that was really where it just kind of fell to pieces.
And it there just was never a point after that where it seemed
like anyone had any creativity, any real spark.
It was almost like there was an acceptance of an acceptance of
(27:38):
we're about to go down and we'regoing down bad.
There just was no response to Alicia Gray and Natasha Howard
was working so hard against someof the biggest bigs.
Aaliyah Boston was, it was just a struggle.
It was a struggle for the whole entire team.
That's what it That's what it felt like for me anyways.
(27:59):
Yeah, it felt like 2 struggles. The first half we were
struggling and it was working, you know, like we were in that
game. It was like, gosh, they have us
outsized, whether both pigs are in or if it's just Griner or if
it's just Jones. It was like we really need to
find a way to score other than being in the paint, which isn't
(28:22):
a great place to be as a basketball team.
And then the second-half, it's like the struggle was not
working. But we were allergic to the
paint that in that game. I think that was.
Not a good place. It's almost like in football how
regardless of if you're able to get running yards, you need to
be running or else you're not going to be able to pass.
(28:45):
That's what it felt like. We just gave up on the paint
because we're like, they're better than us in there.
And while that's true, if everyone knows you're not going
to the paint, you're going to have a lot of trouble getting
shots off. And I think that's what we were
seeing. And it's that lack of creation
too, that we just, we didn't have because we didn't have
(29:07):
Caitlin Clark. And like, Sid Coulson, I think
is a fantastic backup guard. Like fantastic.
I think she'll really be good. We saw that against the Liberty,
like the amount of creation she can do.
She has some trouble scoring. Like, that's not what she's paid
to do, is to go out there and score.
(29:29):
Yeah. And I think we see that.
We saw that versus the dream personally.
What do you think we learn from this game?
I think that there were opportunities for someone else
in to set up, to step up and lead.
And I think that that was the real, that was the that was the
(29:52):
lesson was when we're strugglingwith these injuries, who's gonna
be that voice on the court? I just feel like there was no
direction. And like there there are times
when the people you rely on yourKelsey Mitchell's, your Boston's
are not scoring at that high rate or struggling.
Someone else has to realize theyhave to step up.
And I feel like in this, in thisgame specifically, that that
(30:13):
just was nobody. Yeah, I see what you're saying.
It's almost like the the thing we learned is that we have to
learn something. Yeah.
Like, there's a big question mark when we're in this
situation, what are we going to do?
Because hopefully Caitlin Clark doesn't get injured again for
the rest of the year. You know, she's been a
remarkably available player pretty much her entire career,
(30:37):
going all the way back to high school.
She's just not someone who gets injured.
So hopefully that continues. But there's going to be nights
where she's off. There's going to be nights where
we need production somewhere else.
And the question is, what do we do?
And hopefully this film gives ussomething to work on, something
to look at, something for the coaches to kind of, you know,
(30:57):
noodle about. We'll find out.
OK, But enough of that, because that was the past when we didn't
have Caitlin, and she's back, and we're glorious.
Before we talk about the upcoming games, we're going to
take a quick break. Sometimes people get you down.
(31:21):
Have you ever had a tough day atwork?
Were you doing everything you can?
You and your two other coworkersare making the calls that you
feel like need to be made, and for whatever reason, the crowd
that night hates you. Try technical fouls.
Sometimes you're going to have asuperstar getting in your face,
(31:44):
yelling stuff, calling your mother names.
Go ahead, whip out a technical foul.
Do it. It'll make you feel better.
And it really serves them right,doesn't it?
Are they making good points? Did you miss a call?
Are you a bad person? It doesn't matter when you throw
(32:08):
out a technical foul. Try it today.
All right, Keisha. So here's what we got going on.
Next week we got three games. Tuesday we are going against the
Connecticut Sun, the team that we stole their coach and one of
(32:31):
their stars. Thursday the brand new team that
we haven't seen and is new to the league, the Golden State
Valkyrie. And then on Sunday, we're going
against the Las Vegas Aces. Very exciting stuff.
I think we're going to focus mostly on the Valkyrie and the
(32:51):
Aces. We have seen the Suns also.
The Suns still seem to be putting up too much of five
versus people, you know, becauseof the newness, the lack of
stars, a brand new coach. So anyway, go ahead Keisha, give
us your scouting report. Yeah.
So for the Valkyries, this is going to be, I think, a very
exciting game. We'll get to see Caitlin Clark
(33:13):
and Kate Martin hopefully play against each other.
But with the Valkyrie, they are,I want to say they're I didn't
they're even now. I think they're five and five
and they've had some pretty surprising wins.
They've had some unfortunate losses, but they're unique team.
They're pretty much made of someof the most talented, already
active players in the league. And we will see fact Bentley for
(33:34):
the first time since she left the Fever.
No, no, I'm sorry. It's going to be tough because
we know, we know that talent. There also was a really
interesting resigning, I guess you could say, of Caitlin Chen
being added back to the Valkyrie, which is awesome as
one of the new rookies. But this is this is a talented
(33:55):
team. They have Caleb Thornton, who's
going to be a struggle to guard against.
She's fast, she's strong, Monique Billings very strong and
Veronica Burton, who has been really on fire as of late.
And that's just to name a few. They have a lot of depth and
talent. One of the things that might be
in our benefit is they do have alot of players leaving for
Europe for that league, which does eat up a lot of talent.
(34:19):
But do we not going to necessarily be an easy game?
The Europe tournament I do. Not believe.
I do not believe we are losing anyone.
Great. OK, go on then.
But that does, yeah. So that will change what the
Valkyrie may look like so that it's a little harder predict,
predict what they're gonna throwout because they have a
different bench available to them.
(34:39):
But they're young, they're fast even.
They're more senior players are still pretty young.
And they are, they're hungry to win.
So it should be, it should be aninteresting game.
And then the Aces, they have been struggling this season.
I think everyone kind of thoughtthat they were gonna come in and
blaze, but they are also, I believe, at 5:00 and 5:00.
(35:00):
And Asia Wilson has been out forthe last week on concussion
protocol. So yeah, assuming Wilson, yeah,
assuming Wilson is back, we are talking about maybe the best, if
not the second best active player in the league.
She is unguardable. Sorry to everyone, but I don't
(35:20):
know who you put on Asia Wilson.She's just gonna eat them up and
she's gonna make them work hard.So Boston and Howard have a lot
of hard work ahead of them there.
Jackie Young is slowly starting to build up her range when it
comes to her three-point shooting.
Chelsea Gray has been really, really on fire.
And Joel Lloyd finally is starting to drain.
(35:41):
So there's a lot of guards who are fast, big shooters.
Kia Stokes is also 63, Asia Wilson 64.
Kitley's healthy for the the Aces for the first time since
getting drafted. She's 66.
It's a tall team and they're allstrong.
OK, So what do you think? Are we gonna?
(36:03):
I think it's gonna be a battle. Are we winning all three of
these games this week? Is that what you're saying?
I think that we are gonna be tired.
So I'm hopeful that Caitlin is healthy and and ready to also
rest at some point and that the the rest of the fever, having
had those few games without her,know how to step up and allow
(36:23):
her to not have to play a lot ofminutes right now.
Because these next three games are gonna be physical.
They're gonna want to front her.They're probably gonna pick her
up full court. They're gonna challenge another
guard to bring the ball up the court so that they can kinda
shake the foundation of what theFever do.
Interesting. I have heard in the past that
when you come back from an injury that limited your ability
(36:47):
to kind of work out and stay in game shape takes about two weeks
before you're starting to like feel good.
She clearly is able to perform, but we'll see how that fatigue
catches up to her. But anyway, with that, it was
wonderful to see you in person, Keisha this week had fun.
Like I said, everybody, if you haven't gone out to a Fever
(37:11):
game, do check it out. It's phenomenal.
We handed out a couple stickers,so hopefully we have a couple
new fans this week. But anyway, hope you all have a
fantastic week. Enjoy your life in between your
Fever games and we look forward to seeing you all real soon.
(37:32):
Take care guys. Bye.
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