EPISODE 5 - Shepard for MVP?

Wings Stun Aces, Fever Slide, and Commissioner’s Cup Preview | Double Drivel Ep. 5

Sylvia and Madeleine recap episode five of their WNBA podcast with game highlights, league stats, a Commissioner’s Cup preview, “Says Who,” and couch picks/swish list. The Wings beat the defending champion Aces 95–87 behind Jessica Shepard’s 22-point, 20-rebound, 10-assist triple-double, with strong games from Azzi (22) and Paige (20); they discuss Alanna Smith’s absence/struggles and praise Shepard as a key addition. The Fever went 0–2 (now 4–4), losing a close road game to the Valkyries and getting blown out 100–84 by Portland, with foul trouble, tense coaching exchanges, and bench scoring as a bright spot. They run through standings and league leaders (including Shepard in rebounds, Engstler in blocks, Clark in assists), play a quote-guessing game, explain Commissioner’s Cup rules/prizes, and pick upcoming games (Wings over Storm/Sparks; Fever vs Dream and at Liberty).

00:00 Welcome and Agenda

00:32 Wings Upset the Aces

02:34 Social Media and Attitude Talk

04:26 Portland Fire Rising

05:26 Illness and Lineup Shifts

08:14 Shepard as Wings MVP

08:49 Fever Week Recap

09:17 Valkyries Close Loss

10:44 Portland Blowout Breakdown

13:15 Fouls and Flopping Debate

15:55 Bench Bright Spots

18:31 Standings Check In

20:43 League Leaders Data

24:13 Shooting and Threes Leaders

25:56 Liberty lineup talk

27:32 Says Who game

32:07 Becky Hammon quotes

35:06 Commissioners Cup primer

36:33 Couch picks week

40:20 Wish list wrap

Transcript

0:02

Hi, everyone. Welcome to episode five of Double Drivel A mother-daughter podcast about the WNBA. I'm Sylvia, and I'm the mom. I'm Madeleine. Today we'll be covering our usual game highlights and check in on some league data, give a preview of the Commissioner's Cup, and play a fun round of Says Who, then close out with our usual Couch Picks and Swish List. Okay, starting out with our game highlights on the Wings. So on both the Wings and Fever side, they really didn't have, like, a- any games. But the Wings had one on Thursday, and we're recording this on Sunday, but there's gonna be a game on Monday as well, so we'll cover that in episode six. But it was a really great game to watch. The Wings beat the Aces 95 to 87 on Thursday, which is a pretty big accomplishment assuming the Aces are the defending champs. Jessica Shepard had a triple double with 22 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists. That's a huge triple double. Yeah, she was very good the whole game. Azzi also had 22 points. She had three rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block. She was 60% from shooting. Paige had 20 points, three rebounds, six assists, and two blocks. And I remember watching the game, I didn't watch really any of the first half since we were at the doctor's, but all of the second half I felt like the Wings' defense was good, at least on the blocking and steal side. Especially, Paige never gets blocks or steals, but the two blocks she had were, like, really good blocks, so that was good to watch. Even though the Aces lost, of course A'ja had 21 points. She only had seven rebounds and three assists and one steal. I, again, I didn't watch most of the first half, don't remember what her shooting percentage was, but she was just missing a lot during the second half, and I do think that led not, like, directly, but it was definitely a part of why they're losing. 'Cause obviously you're like, "Oh, well, we need points. Give it to Asia," but she just kept missing a lot of shots, and whether that was Some part just her missing or- Or maybe it's Jessica's defense or- I mean, it wasn't just all her defense, but, you know. And then Jackie Young had 15 points and seven assists, and then Chennedy Carter had 14 points. She had a pretty, silent second half, I'd say, since I didn't watch the first half, and she made a few comments on Threads. Some people were calling her out for it, like kind of attacking AZ, which, you know, she's a good player, but sometimes, you know, you know the real reason why she's always being benched or, you know, waived. So maybe she should learn how to deal with some of her attitude issues Yeah, I mean, there was, there were some things with Tip Hayes making some comments after the first Fever-Valkyries game last week as well on social media and kind of co-signing some fan comments. And I mean, they're human, and I get that they have emotions and, things that, you know, they work through after tough games. But I do think it's important that they kind of remove themselves from the fan discourse as much as possible for their own mental health, I would say and also for reputational reasons. So yeah, very quiet week in terms of number of games for the Wings, but that was a big win over the Aces, and they had beat the Liberty I think it was last Sunday. So two very good- Yes good wins. I'm hoping, again, like we said in earlier episodes, since we'll talk about it later about the Portland is also winning against the Fever, but also now I'm a bit worried that the Wings won't be able to beat the Fire. I really hope they will when we go see them in Portland. But y- considering they've just beat the Aces, I hope they can. But I think it really depends on everyone having a good game. Yeah. Portland has been a little bit hit-and-miss. I think they've beat the Liberty twice. They won one and lost one against the Fever, but they seem to be heating up recently. And I definitely, even before they just beat the Fever in that very ugly game for the Fever yesterday I've been thinking I needed to retract what I said in our first episode, that it seemed like Portland was trying to not be good. That's clearly not the case. They've, excuse the pun, but got a lot of fire in how they're playing and, are kind of reminding me of the Valkyries last season of really coming together, expansion teams aren't getting, number one draft picks or people that were the stars on their teams. But they've really been finding success at this point. So they're doing quite well. I don't think they're championship contenders or anything, but it's possible they could find their way in the playoffs for sure. Any other Wings thoughts before we move on? I did wanna say since especially considering Alana Smith has been starting all season, and then she didn't play against the Game Aces at all because I'm pretty sure she was sick. I don't remember. There does seem to be l- an illness that's going around the WNBA. 'Cause- Quite a few players have sat out- Yeah with illness. Because Arike was- Also sick, I'm pretty sure, but she came anyway and played. She just didn't play as much as she normally would. But I do think that, I just, I'm not sure however good she was on the Lynx, I'm just not sure if she's really... Either it's her, being away from the Cheryl Reeve. But, you know, she's definitely not doing very well on the Wings, and I think that also showed in the game against the Aces where they didn't have her, and they were I'm pretty sure they started Awak. I'm not sure. I know they started Jessica Shepard. I think they started Awak. I might be wrong about that, but she was playing most of the game with Jessica Shepard, and I and they won that game, and they both had a pretty good game. I'm not sure how many points Awak had, but I know she definitely had a few good defensive moments. And I do think it just goes to show that maybe Alana isn't right for the Wings team or she was right for, you know, the coaching situation on her last team but not on this team because without her, I don't want to say they did better without her, but they did well without her. And especially considering she's supposed to be the best, like, defensive player on their team, and they did w- well on the defensive end most of the game, I think that's goes to show something, however you want to interpret it really. Yeah. Do you know how much longer she's supposed to be in the mask? No. Considering, I'm pretty sure it's just a fracture, so I'm not a doctor. I don't know how long nose fractures take to heal. I I would assume not the whole season, but... Yeah. I mean, when it comes off it'll be interesting to see if that changes things. It may be impacting her at least partially, but it does seem like it's been a struggle for her so far this year. I think probably most people would have assumed between her and Jessica Shepard she would make the bigger impact on the Wings before the season started, and it's- Yeah definitely been the opposite. Jessica Shepard has to be one of the best gets of free agency. She's doing amazing. Yeah, I mean, honestly so far I would say she's like the MVP of the wings so far. She's really been a big part of the wings, whether she's really good at being like physical on inside, like getting the foul or just scoring in general, or she's good at making assists and like communicating with Paige and her other teammates. I just think she was definitely like the missing puzzle piece Dallas really need to get going that they didn't have last year. Yeah. Okay. I've probably been stalling because I really don't want to talk about the week that the Fever had. I was sort of telling you before we started recording that I was dejected and didn't even really want to talk about it, but I will do my job here. So they only had two games and they lost both, so they're now four and four. They lost to both of the teams, the Valkyries and the Fire, are teams that they had beaten at home in just the prior week, and then lost to both of them on the road. So their first game was the Valkyries. They beat them in their prior game at home by eight points and lost by two points on the road. So it was a close game. It was not as chippy as the prior game. They were tied at halftime. Caitlin and Raven tied the Fever for the high scores, with 16 points each on the Fever. Caitlin also had, several rebounds, six assists, three steals, which might be her high for per game steals. I'd have to double check that. And one block. And Raven had four rebounds, two assists and a block. And Kelsey had 14 points, Aliyah 13 On the Valkyrie side, Burton was the game's high scorer with 25, and then Gabby Williams and Janelle Salon both had 19 points. interestingly, Tip Hayes only played five minutes in this game. She played a lot heavier minutes in the prior game, and as we talked about last week, she and Caitlin got into it and were doing a lot of trash talking. The Fever definitely had a chance to tie in the final seconds, but Aaliyah missed two different jump shots in the last couple of seconds they weren't able to send it to overtime. Definitely was a winnable game for them. They weren't able to pull it out. So that game didn't leave me too dismayed. Obviously, I would have preferred that they won it, but I didn't view it as a verdict on, any issues within the Fever or anything like that. However, last night's game against Portland, they lost 100 to 84. The Fever had beat them ninety to seventy-three just ten days before at home in Gamebridge, so kind of complete flip almost in terms of the margin of victory, etc. I was not able to watch the game. I was out last night. normally I would try to watch the replay, but just knowing the score and some of the things I read after the game, I'll admit I could not bring myself to watch the game. But, you know, I've kind of read and looked at the box score and, read some other analysis of it. And as I said earlier I take back what I said about Portland not trying to be good. They really have been on a roll. They're six and four now. I think they lost their game just prior to this, but they'd won, I think, three or four in a row before that. The Fever got off to a good start at the beginning of the game on an eight-two run, and then Portland took a timeout. And then shortly after that timeout, I think at about six and a half minutes left in the first quarter, Stephanie White subbed out Clark, Hull, and Boston for Hines-Allen, Cunningham, and I think it was Raven. And then after that, the tides turned very quickly. They were down 29-15 by the end of the first quarter. In Q2, the scoring was pretty even. Portland outscored the Fever by 12 points in the third quarter, and the Fever fought back a little bit in the fourth, but it was definitely too late. It was a really rough night for Caitlin. She only played 21 minutes. She had six points on one of seven shooting, two rebounds, six assists, one steal, one turnover, five fouls. There's footage that's circulating pretty widely online of Caitlin and Stephanie White having a pretty heated-looking exchange during timeout. So not sure specifically what that was about. But there was also, a couple of games ago, I think, or actually, no, it was before the last Portland game, whichever game was before that, of Caitlin seeming to get into it with Assistant Coach Briann January. So that's getting a lot of attention. I assume just frustration with things going on in the game. But hopefully things calm down in that respect soon. So Caitlin had five fouls. Raven Johnson came in as backup, and in only nine and a half minutes of play she fouled out. Oh, wow so they were both having a lot of foul trouble Geez. Raven is known for being a very good defender. As we've talked about more than once on prior episodes, the refs are calling fouls pretty tightly so far this season, so I think obviously Raven is new to the WNBA, but I think, the players that are previously in the league are, adjusting to what that looks like. Think Caitlin obviously felt some of the fouls being called were not actually fouls, although she pretty famously complains about ref calls a lot take that with a grain of salt. Yeah. And I would also say I think a lot of the, more foul calling is them calling more stuff that should've been called last season- Yeah but it's also definitely because they're, like, really trying to look for fouls because, they were so berated for not doing it last season. They're also calling a lot of stuff that would, even though it might seem like, oh, a very small foul, it typically wouldn't be called because in really any sport refs shouldn't really be calling every single little, tiny thing that could be a foul because it ruins the game. It would ruin it in really any sport, football, basketball. And I do think it's definitely slowed down games a lot because- there are so many fouls being called, and it's also definitely changed the way of scoring in games because now since there are so many fouls being called I think at least in the games I've watched, every team is getting into bonus, and there's just so many free throws being shot. Yeah. And there's so many opportunities for teams to get up again even though they're not actually doing anything skill-wise to get up there. It's just the refs, so. Yeah. I mean, I suppose you could argue that getting a foul call on your defender is a skill. But there is also the flopping aspect. A lot of people, amp up their reaction to try to sell getting a foul called. We mentioned in an earlier episode that there is a fine and you can get a technical for flopping, and we did have our first instance of this week. Cameron- Brink got a technical and will have the technical fine for flopping in one of the Sparks games. I tried to go looking for the footage of that shortly after the game and wasn't able to find it. It might be out there now, but I'd be curious to see what that looks like because- Yeah, I- I feel like we all see a lot of games where it looks like people are flopping and they don't get called. Yeah. So, like, how obvious was it? Yeah. Do they have to be like someone, like, taps them so lightly and they fall to the floor? I really don't know how they're, like, deciding what's flopping or not. Yeah I do not know. So Boston and Mitchell had decent games. 18 points, seven rebounds for Boston, 17 points for Mitchell. Both Billings and Hull had no points as starters, and Billings only played just under eight minutes. So her minutes seem to be steadily decreasing. I don't know if she's gonna find herself coming in from the bench soon. Unfortunately, she hasn't contributed at the level I think most of us hoped, and certainly not at the level to replace Natasha Howard, who's having an amazing season for the Lynx so far. Oh, yeah, for sure. I remember watching the game against the Lynx and it was like, "Oh my God, we can't defend her," 'cause she's also very tall, and it's like she can just get up there and score. And I was like, "Oh my gosh, someone foul her out or something." Yeah. So I'd say probably the main bright spot that I could find from this game, which is difficult, is the scoring from the bench. They contributed 43 out of the 84 points. So that's quite significant. It was led by Cunningham who had 15, and Timpson had 11. Normally we don't get that level of scoring from the bench. That's also, a factor of how few minutes Monique Billings played. Caitlin playing less minutes than normal and not really producing as well, but it was good to see the bench step up. Sophie also got into it with Emily Engstler after Emily reached in for the ball and Sophie brushed her off and swatted at her face. She did not get a flagrant for that. I guess it was deemed incidental, but they did both get technicals for getting in each other's faces about it after the fact. The Fire had six players in double digit points. So that's a lot. Megan Gustafson, also a University of Iowa alum, had 22 points. In her press conference after the game, she was talking about how she'd never really felt fully valued on a basketball team before, and how valued she felt on the Fire. So I was happy to see that she's feeling that way and getting to really be a big contributor. She plays for Spain in the off-season and in the Olympics as well, and I know has been a big contributor for them. And then Carla Leite, who is from France, had 18 points and 12 assists And Emily Engstler, 16 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, and two blocks. She's really having a great defensive season. I think she's high up in there in blocks, but we'll talk about that a little bit later when we get to the data. I'm pretty sure she's leading in blocks. Yeah, I think she may be. And I think A'ja Wilson is right after her, but it might be swapped. Yeah. Okay, I can talk about the standings right now. So the Minnesota Lynx are obviously in first. They're 6 and 2, so they've played more games than second and third, which are the Valkyries and the Dream who both have five wins and two losses. The Wings are fourth, having played one more game than both the Valkyries and the Dream, and they are 5 and 3. In fifth place is the Portland Fire, which has played two more games than the Wings And they are six and four. And then the Aces are right after the Fire, which is pretty surprising. I thought they were still up there, but I guess considering they just lost to the Wings, it pushed them down with a loss. So they are four and three, and then the Tempo are five and four in seventh place, and the Liberty are also five and four in eighth place. The next three after them are the Fever, four and four; the Sparks, four and four; and the Mystics, three and four. The last three are s- the Seattle Storm, which is three and six; the Mercury, surprisingly, with two and seven. I did not expect them to be so horrible this season. I don't know the changes really they made in off-season, but I know they still have Alyssa Thomas, so it's a little surprising to me. Yeah, they lost Satu, so that's the biggest loss that they have. And then Sammy Whitcomb they still have, but I don't think she's played yet. I think she's injured, okay. And then obviously Connecticut Sun still hasn't made a comeback in last place with two and eight. Yeah, and just a reminder that the standings really until the very end of the season are just based on percentage of wins since at various points obviously certain teams have played more games than another. And still quite early in the season, so your standings can change very significantly from week to week. The Fever are unfortunately a prime example of this. They were third last week, and they are now all the way down in ninth. So moving into some more drivel data with league leaders on the various statistics category. Points leaders, Kelsey Plum at 26.8. She's followed by A'ja, Kelsey Mitchell, Allisha Gray, and then Caitlin Clark comes in at fifth at 20.1. Caitlin was higher on this list, but I think obviously her six-point game yesterday definitely pulled down her average. Yeah, I would say, I'm actually not sure what Paige is averaging. I would say near the beginning of the season she was up there. I'm not sure if she was top five, but I think after her game where she only scored seven points, I believe, kind of brought her average down. But so same with Caitlin, except Caitlin is still up there. Yeah. Rebounds per game, Jessica Shepard leading with 11.4. Not a huge surprise given what we've been seeing from her. She is, I feel like, getting a double-double in most games and just had that extra big one with 20 rebounds in their latest game. She's 0.4 above Angel Reese, who has 11, then Kiki Iriafen, Aneesah Morrow, and then Kamilla Cardoso at, in fifth at 9.6 On the assist side, Caitlin looks like she is tied with Alyssa Thomas at 8.1, although they list Caitlin as first. Maybe if you go out decimals, she's a tiny bit above Chelsea Gray in third, Jessica Shepard in fourth, and Jordin Canada in fifth. She's at 6.4. Yeah. So about one and a half difference between first and fifth. Yeah, and I really do believe, like especially with Jessica Shepard being top five in both rebounds and assists, like I really mean it when I say like I think she's the MVP of the Wings right now. Obviously Paige is, the star, and she's very good on, scoring, 'cause that's kind of her job. But I think Jessica Shepard, again, is just really like the missing piece, and she's very good at what she does. She's good at defense. She's good at scoring. So I think she's definitely a really good addition. Yeah, and I know she was back and was, I think, largely coming off the bench for the Lynx last season. She was not in the league in 2024. I'm not sure if she was injured or just opted to play overseas or what. And I'm not really sure of her history before that. So maybe that's something you can research a little for our next episode because I'm curious about more of her backstory with the league, especially since she's doing so well. Okay, blocks, we were correct. Emily Engstler is in first with 2.3 per game, and then A'ja is actually third. Oh, wait, actually, technically she's not because you can see she's tied- Oh, yes in, in fourth place. I don't know why they have it as fourth instead of third, but there's also two people tied for fourth, oh, yeah, so and second, Kia Stokes and A'ja Wilson tied with two blocks, and then Flau'jae and Natasha Mack with 1.6 for fourth and fifth. Okay, steals per game. Rhyne Howard is in first place with 2.7. Bridget Carleton is in second. Jordin Canada is in third. Arielle Atkins is in fourth, and she's also tied with Alyssa Thomas. All right, and then field goal percentage. This list is surprising to me. Yeah. NaLyssa Smith is first in field goal percentage? Is that really true? Appears to be, 70.5%. That was definitely not how she was shooting on the Fever. Is she attempting that many shots, or is she just getting a lot of shots down? I don't know at this point in the season. I feel like normally to be a leader for these things you have to have attempted a certain amount. So if you've only taken one three point shot, you're not gonna be the league leader just because you made it, right? Yeah. I mean, she does shoot closer to the basket of course as a big, but obviously there's lots of other bigs in the league, and she is ahead of all of them right now. F- four of the five on the list are bigs. And then Chennedy Carter, who comes in fourth is the only guard. So yeah, second Natasha Mack, third Natasha Howard, and fifth Megan Gustafson. Yeah. And obviously I would say, obviously this is from a non-basketball player perspective, but I would definitely say it's harder as a guard to score, especially someone as Chennedy Carter who shoots a lot of threes than a big that usually goes inside to score, which I think- Yeah is much easier. Like, a big generally will, should have a higher shooting percentage- Yeah than a guard typically. All right and then we'll finish up with three pointers made. So and first is Marine Johannes from the Liberty with 29. She's been starting while they've had various starters out of the starting lineup. Satou Sabrina, I think, has only played one or two games. And then I think Leonie Fibich also just got back from her overseas commitments. Is she really not usually a starter? No, normally not. Oh. Maybe she'll find her way into starting, but- I thought she was a starter 'cause I do remember any time she plays she's a big part of the team. Well, I think that's because Sabrina hasn't played- Yeah many games, so she has started most games this season, I think. I mean, I don't really see her getting the starting spot over Sabrina. Yeah, especially considering even though she's... Obviously Marine Johannes is leading with three-pointers made, I think, I mean, obviously this is very hypothetical, but I do think if Sabrina were to come back, she's, you know, she's very well known for her three-point abilities. She didn't really do much in the game against the Wings. She had a pretty good start, and then she just kind of, like, faded out. But she made immediately she made a logo three, which is, that's like her thing, yeah. All right. And then second, Marina Mabrey. Third is Jovana Nokic. I, hopefully I'm saying that right. She's technically a rookie, but I think she's in her mid-30s. Oh. She's been playing overseas for a long time. Yeah. So she's new to Phoenix and has been a big contributor for them. Then Bridget Carlton, who's now with Portland, and finally Kelsey Plum. Kelsey is out, I think, for at least a week with a sprained ankle. But it sounds like they're not expecting her to be out for too long. Okay, we'll start our next segment, Says Who. All right, so we're gonna share some quotes from a player and/or coach and the other will guess who said them. Okay. You can go first. Okay. "Right now we have the worst leadership in the world." Can I get like player or coach? Player. Oh, boy. This could literally be anyone. We have the worst leadership in the world. Like who's- Like it was in an exit interview at the end of last season I wanna say a Wings player, but I don't think they have any of the confidence to say that even though it was probably true No, not a Wings player I'll give you a hint. It was not... They weren't talking about their team Okay. That's... I was like was it A'ja Wilson? No. Hmm. Are they on the aces? No Oh my God Give me a hint. They were involved in the CBA negotiations. Oh my gosh. That was- you weren't following that? That also had so many people. This was talked about a lot when she said it. She went off. She came into it with a prepared script. She's talking about- Oh Kathy Engelbert. This is Napheesa Collier. Yes. Oh my gosh. I don't know why I was thinking, like, president or something, 'cause then you were like, "It's not a coach," and I was like, "Oh, the president," and I didn't let you finish. I was like, "I don't know. Who would, like- Well, according to the Stud Buds, Caitlin Clark is the president. Okay. Okay, I'll go next. So I have, "Girl, don't touch my chains. It's expensive." Oh, boy. I'm gonna assume this is a player. That would be funny if it was a coach. Can you imagine- Surprise, it was Chris Kolclanes. Oh my gosh. Can you imagine him wearing a bunch of chains? Unfortunately, I can. Erica Wheeler? No. I know she had some kinda, I think some kinda sponsorship with a jewelry company- I will say- that's why I thought that this was said to their coach. Okay, so they had a- In a press conference a women's coach. Okay, I need a hint. I don't know what hint to give you without making it obvious. There are coaches like Their coach is Becky Hammon. Okay, so somebody on the Aces? A'ja Wilson? Yes. Okay, your turn. All right. Oh, she's funny. Oh, don't tell her this, but her wife came to practice the other day, and I was like, "Dang, you got some taste." She's got a little bit of taste to her. Her wife is beautiful Ugh. I'm gonna assume this is a player. Yes. Is it someone on the Liberty? No. I don't know why I said that. Obviously not. Is it about another player? Do you know? No. No, it's about a coach? Yes. I don't know which coach has a wife give me a hint I think actually most of the coaches have a wife I was thinking of, um, Sandy because I remember that interview where she's like, "Oh, my husband," and Sabrina was like, "Oh, your husband. I forgot he was your husband," or whatever. And like she never calls him that. And then I- Well, 'cause they coach together. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, she does not have a wife. No. I'll give you a hint. The... You said all of them have wives. That is like the opposite of a hint. It's a female coach Really? I kind of gathered that by the part her wife Oh, right Oh my God. So that's not a good hint? Not really. Okay. It's a rookie that said it. Is it like current rookie or like- Yes, a current rookie oh. Flauje? No. I don't- I don't really know any current rookies Raven Johnson? Yes. Who said that about Stephanie's wife? I didn't even know- Lisa Salters she had a wife. Yes. Okay. My turn. Okay. Sometimes I'm just like, "You can't help stupid." Like, there's some people that I guess I've come up against stupid so many times, I'm like, "You can't reason with an unreasonable person." Is this a player? No. Oh, it's a coach. Cheryl Reeve. No. Becky Hammon. Yeah. Okay. You can't believe everything that's on the internet, and AI, there was some bleep on me last night. That was AI. That was AI. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's Cheryl Reeve. Yes. 'Cause I remember it's this Stud Budz video where she's, like, dancing at the club, and then she's she's like, "It's AI." You do realize it, it was on live, right? This isn't like some clip. We saw you dancing, Cheryl. That was AI. That wasn't me. Okay. Okay, I got my next one. ABC, anybody but Copper. Okay, so somebody who's not on the Mercury. Maybe they're like, "Don't pass to her." Maybe. Wow, I don't know. Give me a hint It's not a player Oh, a coach? Yeah That doesn't want their players to let them score? Oh, Becky Hammon Yes. It's like in the finals probably I don't know if that... I'm not sure if it was in the finals. It might've been Okay, my last one. Quite frankly, we haven't had the edge. My players are being fricking celebrities Becky Hammon? Yes. We all did her. Oh, man, she's got some good quotes, yes. Okay, here's my last one. "I was projectile vomiting in game one, the whole game. So to be honest, like, I kind of like sat yesterday at a sushi bar, and I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna throw game one out the window." Eat a bunch of bad sushi? Wow. Well, the funny part about that is I watched the whole interview to find that quote, and like all the players on her team were like, "You went to a sushi bar after you threw up?" Oh, it was after she threw up? Yeah. I thought she was saying that made her throw up. Oh. Oh, wow. Alyssa Thomas No. This person, they said this while they were on the Aces, but they're not anymore in a press conference Trying to think who's not on the aces now. I don't think that Megan Gustafson would have said that Did she? No. Oh, you were making a face like you were getting away with something. No, it's not her. Kelsey Plum. Yes. Okay, that wraps up Says Who. Hopefully that was fun. Okay, before we get into the official couch picks, just wanna talk a little bit about the Commissioner's Cup. That starts t- on Monday of this week and goes through the 17th. So it's an in-season tournament. Each team will play every team in their conference. The Western Conference has eight teams, so they're going to play seven games each, and the Eastern Conference has seven teams, so they will play six games each. The championship game, the top team from East and Western Conferences, will be on June 30th. The points differential will act as the tiebreaker if there's any teams with the same record. The Fever won the Commissioner's Cup last year. The winning team wins a total prize pool of 500,000 that will be divided among the team, and they also get some crypto from Coinbase. So each player would get about $30,000 in cash per player. At the losing team in the championship, each player gets $10,000. The MVP of the championship game gets an extra $5,000. And then in addition to that, the winning team also designates a charity that will get a charitable donation. And last year the Fever chose the Peace Learning Center. So all the games that are happening over the next little bit over two weeks will be part of the Commissioner's Cup. So keep that in mind as we talk about these upcoming games and couch picks. Okay, so my games for this week. Again, a very big gap between games. Obviously their last game is Thursday, their next one's gonna be tomorrow, Monday, which is gonna be yesterday when this comes out, versus the Storm, and then a four-day gap and on Friday they play the Sparks. All right. How do you expect them to do? I think they'll beat both of them. Yeah. I think that's definitely doable, and especially if Kelsey is still out for the Sparks, but- Yeah the Sparks have been a little bit iffy so far this season regardless. Yeah. Considering the Storm is third to last right now with the record, and obviously the Sparks, especially if they have Kelsey Plum still out, I, they haven't been doing very well either, yeah. Okay. The Fever have two games versus the Dream on Thursday in Indiana. The Dream are five and two. We obviously beat them out in the first round of the playoffs last year. That was with a fair amount of different players with all the injury replacements that we had last year. Would've felt like that would be a pretty good game before last week happened. Hopefully it still will be and we just had some- Yeah flukes on the road. The Fever haven't been on the road much yet this year. So hopefully they're back in gear, especially they're gonna have quite a few days to practice since that game is not until Thursday. Yeah. I definitely feel like, I'm just gonna put it out there right now, I don't really care if it's early, I think the Dream are a finals team. I think overall they've been playing better than the Aces. They dominated in the second game they played against the Wings. It was a close game the first time, but it was definitely a very good game to watch, and they're definitely a good team and something to watch out for sure. Yeah. I think they definitely are contenders. The Aces have been, you know, I feel like they often start slow, especially last season, and then they went on that crazy winning streak and ultimately won the finals. And of course I feel like the Lynx are outperforming what I expected them to do with Napheesa out injured so far. And they're obviously at the top of the league right now. So those are looking like the three strongest teams- for now, I would say. Okay, and then the Fever are also playing the at the Liberty in New York on Saturday. The Liberty have been also a mixed bag so far this season. Sabrina's been out most games, so has Satou. Feibich was out most games and just came back recently, so they may be on the upswing soon. But hopefully that will be a competitive game, and I hope the Fever can win at least one of these games and at least not dip below 500 by the end of the week. They'd started out with seemingly a pretty easy schedule and most games at home, so it's a little bit concerning to me that they're four and four and don't have a better record, 'cause their schedule's gonna get tougher. But we'll hope for the best. All the other games that I noted as key ones to watch all feature the Valkyries funnily enough. I think they have some of the match-ups against other strong teams, maybe more than some other teams this week. But they're playing the Fire on Tuesday, the Lynx on Thursday, and the Aces on Saturday. So this week will be a good test of how good the Valkyries really are, playing a couple of tougher teams in the Lynx and the Aces. And obviously the Fire have really been surging and seem to be following the model that the Valkyries put in place for an expansion team last year. So will be interesting to see how the Valkyries come out at the end of the week. Okay, let's go to our final segment, as always, wish list. So what's yours? Oh boy. It's a new week with hopefully competitive and exciting games that I'll be excited to talk about next week. Okay. My swish list doesn't really have to do... Actually it doesn't have anything to do with the WNBA. Sort of. I'm getting more and more excited. I only have two weeks, less than two weeks technically left of school, and then obviously two days after we're going to Portland to watch the Wings game. So it's definitely... I'm ready for it to be summer, yes. That will be fun. Definitely excited to go to that game. I have noticed that at the Fire home games, they do some kind of, I don't know if it's like fire feature or what, like during the player intros, but- Hmm um, it's like kinda smoky and hazy at the start of games there. Oh. At first I thought it was just the camera. It doesn't seem like that's probably great for the players. So w- we'll see how that is live. Or maybe it's just like a fog machine. I don't know. I, yeah, I don't know. I guess we'll see. Yeah. Well. All right. Well thanks for listening everyone. Don't forget to subscribe leave a review if you're so inclined, and we'll see you next time. bye.