Show Me Something - Sophie's HONEST Thoughts About the Las Vegas Aces Series

Episode Date: October 3, 2026

Sophie Cunningham and Drew Hanlen go game by game through the Indiana Fever’s first round showdown against the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA playoffs, breaking down the biggest moments, deep-diving into film, discussing the play of Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston, and much more. They also get into the A’ja Wilson incident with a fan in Game 2, and Sophie reveals what’s next for her this offseason. Watch and listen to new episodes of No Hesitation every Thursday during the WNBA and NBA season and follow us on social media for all the best moments from the show. You can also listen to new episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube: @NoHesitationShow Twitter: @NoHesiShow This episode is brought to you by: POLYMARKET: 18+ Only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. See polymarket.com/tos for more information. The Polymarket US App serves as an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing, the CFTC-regulated exchange and clearing organization.  * Get $25 free when you deposit just $10. Sign up right now with promo code NO HES to get $25 when you deposit just $10.  https://app.polymarket.us/S8ac/NOHES  TECOVAS: Right now get 10% off at https://tecovas.com/NOHESITATION when you sign up for email and texts. & FACTORSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your pocket. But I think for someone pointing and saying that the foul was on you, like, grow up. I'm over it. All right, everybody. Welcome back to No Hesitation. I'm Sophie Cunningham. Joined as always by my bestie, Drew Hanlon. So I thought we were going to be on here celebrating.

Dude, I did too. Seriously. Like I believed it. I truly believed it. But, yeah. Loki, when we pushed the pod, I know that they wanted us to, you know, record the pod. after game two. And you and I both were like, no, we're not doing anything during the series. You got to stay locked in. Yes. And then we thought we were also going to be celebrating here today.

I know that this is not the best timing after a hard loss. And again, you guys had such a good season, you know what I mean, which we'll get into. But I want to start off before we get into the film because I finally get to do a deep film dive. I know you told me like hard off-limits, no fever filmed during the season. I was like, oh, come on. But just your reactions from this series. What were your initial reactions, you know, when you're on the flight home thinking about this series, what do you got for us? Yeah, you know, I think, you know, as a season overall, I think we are very inconsistent. I think we hit, you know, maybe our peak in July and in the fever break kind of hurt us a little bit. But I think this series kind of was our season in a nutshell. Like,

We had a horrible first game. We came out very flat-footed, not aggressive, gave too much space to the guards, didn't even touch Asia, which is just unacceptable. And so we started off low. Second game, I think we really brought the energy. We brought the dog.

Our backs were against the wall. And this might sound crazy. But I think the second game and third game, we finally played as a unit, because it didn't matter who got the credit. We just had to get the dub. like it was fun it was fun to finally just kind of play free of like we just it doesn't matter who succeeds or who gets the credit like we just need to get the win and so that second game was really good for us it was fun to be at home in front of our crowd which I think truly helped and then going in to that third game I know we're going to break down film I have so many thoughts I have so many thoughts I think we started off strong I think we you know wither the storms a little bit um Some tough calls down the stretch by the refs.

Some very questionable calls by the refs, truly. And then, you know, just at the end, we just, you know, we just didn't have enough. And so there are three-time world champs for a reason, and good luck to them moving forward. But we're going to get into that third game a little bit more, and I can't wait for that. Yeah. I mean, you talked about one thing before we get into the film. Home court, you know, and we talk about it all the time, how much the W kind of really benefits from one seating and two, home court. And, you know, me digging into the stats, 75% of series are won by the higher seat.

We've known this. You know, you've got to be a top seed to ultimately, you know, kind of advance in the W postseason historically. But then another interesting one was 64% of home games are won by the team that's obviously in front of their home crowd. Just talk to fever fans, because I know you have a ton of fever fans about how that energy wasn't game too, because it was rocking. I FaceTime, Hallie, who was there, he was going crazy. And, I mean, on FaceTime, he's like putting the phone up to his ear because like he could not hear me. So just show some love to the indie fans because I know that, you know, they showed up for you guys all season, but especially in game two. Yeah, you know, I think all season they truly did.

I think there's something special at playing at Cambridge. I think other teams that come in, they feel it. They know it's a hard place to play. You know, we talk about Home Court Advantage. I think we shot ourselves in the foot throughout the season of just not being consistent and kind of continuing to be on that roller coaster. And, you know, we do kind of have a long season. This is the longest season that we've had so far. But at the end of the day, you've got to show up and you've got to win because you have

to put yourself in the best playoff position. And if we would have got home court advantage, maybe we would still be playing right now. So it truly all, it does matter. I think it matters. But that second game, it was crazy. Like, it was loud, loud, loud. And so I'm not surprised whatsoever. I think really kind of wherever we go, we kind of have that home court, you know,

advantage feeling. We have fans pretty much all over the country, which is so much fun. But there's something different about playoff basketball and them showing up and showing out for us. And I know we're about to get into kind of what happened at that game. We finally have fans that are coming out to support us women and look at us, trying to scare them all away yet again. All right. So the way I wanted to do the film stuff is I wanted to kind of roll past game one.

I know game one individually, you played well. You had 13 points. You were three for six from three, you know, brought some energy. but it was really the MVP doing MVP things, you know, 38, 16, and 4. I mean, I'm going to let these clips roll, but all I did for game one was just show how easy it was for Asia. Because these are all, I started off with all the no dribble scores. I mean, you're talking about wide open jump shot, wide open jump shot, wide open jump shot, then wide open layup and wide open layup.

So I want to hear from you, game one. You know she's the MVP, but she's getting these easy looks. Yes, it's too soft. And like if you watch her warmups, she's literally has like a dummy defender and she's just working on a jab shot. And that's exactly what we were allowing her to do in the game. Like I think you have to make her work.

She is the MVP for a reason. But I will say when you get up in her and you force her right, I've played her since my college years. Force her right. Like she wants to go left and you got us in a double. When she starts spinning, you need to get her off the ball. And I think that's why we were successful, you know, in game two. But if you look at all these shots,

right there. There's no pressure. You know, you got to make her, and this isn't enough. Like, people who are watching, having an arm distance is enough. You got to be body to body with her. You got to make her put it on the ground more than once and make her get off the ball a little bit. And so honestly, I think it starts with the guards. We were too soft with their guards. They kind of got to pick us apart. There wasn't enough ball pressure. So Chelsea Gray, Jackie, Jewel, they were able to just kind of throw the ball wherever and getting wide open shots and that's just unacceptable. And so I think that first game, I think I shot the ball well. I finally got to shoot some threes, which was nice. And so, but overall, I just think we were just too soft and we just

weren't ready. And a couple of things that I'm going to point out just because, I mean, look at this right here. She's catching the ball in rhythm early in the game. Star players, you don't want to get them going. And I mean, look at this, 2-2. She gets a wide open jumper, no contest really. then now still first quarter going ISO coverage. But do you see that? Do you see that it's always just an arm's length? Like you got to be body. Like you got to be on her hip damn near.

Like physically. And I think when we did that, it worked. I agree. Here another one just walking into a jump shot. Here, again, she steps out. She's added to her game and now can shoot threes. But look, just catching and shoot. We're talking about zero dribbles on these first ones.

And even then then these. these ones, and this is the thing that's drove me crazy about your guy's defense all season long, is your guys' rotations. And I mean, if you look at this rotation, you know, the first thing you always do is cover the rim. You know, you always talk about down, then opposite, not opposite than down. Right here, you guys give up, you know, wide-up and layup. I know you try to rotate over late. Here's another one where, again, in transition, you guys don't get back. You take the ball. Now it's a two-on-one situation on the backside. Another wide-open layup. then curls and everything like that,

which you guys did a way better job in game two, which we are going to highlight. But right here, I know I was yelling at you. I was like, so why are you not, you're like, right now we were supposed to stay glued to our person in game one.

And I will say that our defensive schemes in game two were just more aggressive and they were just simple. They were simple. And that is what our team needs is we don't need too much to think about. we need to keep it very black and white and just be aggressive with it. And I think that's the adjustment we had to make. I think honestly, maybe this first game, we're pros. We should be able to execute.

But for some reason, we weren't able to execute the game plan. But I think the coaches made the adjustment. I think you saw that. I mean, you even mentioned it that our aggression and our switches and all that in the second game were much needed and made those adjustments. Night and day, because, you know what I mean? When you're running through these, I mean, she's getting single coverage. You know what I mean? Like all their other post players, like normally they have

Returner in. I'm blinking on the other girl's name, but they're non-shooters. They're non-shooting big. So like, why are we even guarding them at the three point line? Get in the paint. Clog that thing up. Like that's what they do. I mean, the rest, oh my God, I could go on a tangent about them,

but they don't call defensive three. They don't call offensive three. So if you're just going to send the paid, then why don't we do that same thing? And that's exactly what, you know, Biggest does. they just sit in the paint and we have to make the adjustment. We have to be smarter. And I think right here we're about to go over game two. And you'll see that we did that.

100%. And again, we talk about this all the time. It's a little bit different in the W though, because in the NBA playoffs, you have a longer series. So you can make these adjustments and people don't panic. They're like, ah, we gave them game one. Who cares? Now we got filmed.

But in a three game series, you can't just give up a game. You got to get your shit together, boy. Yeah, y'all. It's funny because like this is the first. year where I've been locked in on the W playoffs, and especially with you guys, but I was, I was like, you guys gave up a game. I'm like, now you got to win two and one of them's got to be on the road. I'm like, that's tough. Yeah. It's tough. And so as the W continues to grow in popularity, one of the hopes for me for the next commissioner would be make this first series five.

Like, at least give me five because then it does allow you to kind of feel each other out. It does allow you to make adjustments. Also, travel-wise, you get a cup, two games at home. two games away. Like it literally gives a different flow to the series. You know, and again, they can go two to one, one, one. I don't care how they do it. But a five game series gives you more of a chance to kind of make adjustments and ultimately see which teams better instead of just which team kind of got the first jump. So new commissioner, whoever you are out there, hopefully you're listening, five games, first round. That's Drew's opinion.

Drew, you sound very intelligent. Maybe you should go for the gig. Yeah, not happening, not happening. I am not throwing my name in that hat. But what I will throw my name in the hat is, you know, I'll be a film breakdown person because I love doing this stuff. And game two was great for me because I got to see finally some adjustments for you guys. And the first one was such a better job on Asia. I mean, I was like, not only with you, but also with Rob Dozier, who's, you know, was an intern of mine, a good friend of mine who's obviously on your guys' staff. I was like, Rob, if you guys don't do anything different against Asia,

I'm throwing the remote at the TV, like make adjustments. He's like, we got you, bro. So what do you guys talk about on film? What did you guys, you know, going into game two, what were the adjustments that you guys made going into this? And when we're watching it, we can see it actually play out. Okay, I'm so glad that you asked me that before. Because I think we actually came in the next day after we got home from Vegas

and we watched the whole game. And we were all just sick. we played horrible. That was just unacceptable. And so our biggest thing, hopefully when people watch this game, you see that no one's getting easy touches, that we are physically bumping people and like annoying them.

Like that stuff gets old. Seriously, and it gets in people's heads. It just doesn't make it easy for them. And so everything, we had better pace. We had better aggression. Our transition was better. Crashing the boards was better. We were making sure that we were hitting Asia as much as we could,

hitting Jackie as much as we could, pressuring the ball. for full court making Chelsea and whoever their point guard at the time is, tried to switch directions at least once. So they're starting their offense with, you know, instead of 20 seconds, maybe it's 14 or 13. So less time. And then we also sent doubles at Asia.

And I think that's needed. And, you know, I think our defensive you said it, our defensive rotations all year have been a huge struggle. And in order for your defense to, you know, be on a string, everyone has to be on that string. And if you have one person not on that string, it's hard to do different coverages and we've struggled with that

and we know that and the fans have known that and so sending this double, I think people were a little bit nervous but our biggest message to each other is like scramble. Whatever we do, do it hard, have each other's backs and I think we started switching guard to guard. We weren't doing all the kind of like

you know, if it's this person we're doing this game. If it's this person, it's like, no, we're just being aggressive, we're going to trap people. So everyone just be ready and I think that that's what you got. And we got some turnovers. Our foul discipline still sucked. I mean, we got to get better at that next year. But I will say that I was proud of the dog that we brought to game two. I need to tell you about this new prediction market called Polymarket. It's the best way to

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So for you guys that don't watch a lot of basketball, quarterfronting just means you're almost at an angle where you're not behind them, you're not in front of them, you're on the side of them, but you're also shading where there's not an easy entry pass. And so right here, you know, again, not allowing easy catches. Here she steps in front, which we would ideally not allow. We would ideally never allow them to see a jersey. But what do they do? Instantly, fight around. Make it tough. And what you're really doing is you're discouraging a pass. Because if the passer has to think, okay, if I throw this, I might get a turnover.

That little second allows all the time in the world for you to get in a better position, allow your help side to come over, allow the pressure to get up on the ball. So right there is a great example of the adjustment you guys made. And again, you did it all night. You know, right here. You can see a little dig, you know, end up making a loose ball, get her off the ground. Here, a switch. And again, hand up.

Look, double team comes from you. good job getting her to travel. You know, right here. What do you guys do? You guys run at her so she's forced into a tough, contested fade away. Right here, double. What do you do? You show, you stay.

Blitzer, get another turnover. I mean, now you're off running, which starts up your transition offense, which is so important for you guys. This one I love because I can't stand when you guys do cross screens or any kind of thing. And you guys don't show. You just let them curl over top. and you did a good job. You pushed her out.

So now she has to go set of ball screen instead of just getting a deep catch here on. And again, this is tricky. You got a good point guard and a good screener. But what do you do? You contain the ball. She gets back in front. And again, Lexi pinches in, which was awesome. Normally you guys fan out to a three point line and give up a roll.

You guys were actually helping. Look who Lexi's guarding right now. A non-shooter. Like, I think she could be even more in. So it's like, it's like you got to have that high IQ. and player personnel, especially in the playoffs, especially in a three-game series, like all that little stuff matters. Like us having A-Bs back and being in the paint is what allowed Kelsey to get back in front

of the ball screen, which allowed not an easy pass-in. And now, you know, you have Jackie having the ball at the three-point line. So all that little stuff matters, and I love that stuff. No, 100%. And again, you guys were just the shell that you talk about a lot was so much better. Again, same exact thing. You can see battling down there. You know what I mean?

It's not easy catches in the pains. And all that's doing, it's also wearing you down. It's frustrating you. It's wearing you down. So Asia's not getting the easy catch and shoot looks that she did in game one. She's not getting the wide open layups that she did in game one. But again, another time where you guys help out, get back, and force tough shots. And a lot of their shots were late shot clock.

You can see a couple times on these clips. You see the light going off because it's literally they're shooting it as the buzzer goes off, which is awesome. Again, right here, look at you. Two-hand chest bump right there, but that's what you want. They call it bump the cutter. You got to bump the cutter. And all you're doing is you're just slowing her down, buying A-B time to get back, and ultimately take it away. This really hard because obviously the on-ball primary defender gets hit.

But what do you guys do? You guys pinch in. You have a defender with two feet in the paint, which is awesome. Because you're right here on the way. You guys can guard one with two. in the corner right there. What do you guys also do? Pinch in from the weak side, which is amazing. And that skip pass is a hard skip pass when you have ball pressure. And Lexi's sprinting back so you basically either can X out or you can bumper off. I mean, I honestly thought that game

two was one of your guys better defensive efforts just from a like a conceptual standpoint. You know what I mean? I was like, they're doing a lot of really good things. So made it a lot tougher on Asia. That was the biggest key. But another one, their guards, their guards were not comfortable because you guys were switching, as you mentioned. Yes. Aggressive switches too. Aggressive switches. Because in game one, we were trying to switch some, but it was soft and our hands were down. And like, it just wasn't, we weren't affecting the ball handler at all. Like, you just can't do that against this team. No. And again, I think switching, especially guard to guard. So guard to guard, meaning perimeter players that are like perimeters that can switch,

that can cane, all them. And look what happens. You guys are aggressive right here and force a tough shot. And not saying they can't make these shots, they're just tough. Right here. Again, aggressive. You get out, speed her up, turnover. Really, really good. Here, switch. You guys contain, contested mid-range two. Do you see that? Was that a travel? It was a travel, but they missed anyway. Again, you guys did. I know, I know you want to get on the refs, but I'm trying to avoid your fines right now, okay? Thank you, Drew. You know, here again, CC switches, forces are contested. Three, here again, switches, hollows out, and again, again, gap defenders. Like, you guys normally don't do that. You guys are normally hugging out on the perimeter. It just makes

it a lot tougher. So defensively, I thought the two adjustments that you guys made that were really, really good is you made it a lot harder on Asia and then you guys switched aggressively on the ball screen. So they're playing one-on-one. And for fans out there that don't realize, one-on-one usually yields some of the lowest points for possession. You know, when the ball's moving, when you're getting dominoes like advantage, disadvantaged basketball, normally the points per possession go up. So if you can drop the points of possession by making them play one-on-one basketball and you know this too because you always preach how valuable ball. all, you know, movement is and player movement is in keeping everybody kind of in the game.

If everybody's taking turns, it's also frustrating for the other players that aren't getting the ball as much. So switching on the ball screens, I thought disrupted the others as well. Because they're big three all series long was cooking. But I thought in game two, you guys did a better job with the others. You know what I mean? I thought part of it was because of those two adjustments on defense. All right, now we go to game to fever offense, which I thought was awesome. You guys, again, had a historical offense, and in game two, I thought you guys did all the right things.

First thing that I saw, which I loved, was 58 points in the paint. I know you and I have talked about on this podcast. I literally asked you going into playoffs, so if you think you relied too much on the three, and you're like, no. And I'm like, I think you guys could use some more paint touches. I think you could still use some more paint touches,

58 points. And again, it wasn't just drives. It was cuts. It was lobs. It was everything. So starting off with, you know, something that I love was you guys got a lot of cuts. Just good cuts. And you notice there's backdoors.

There's sometimes when they got doubled. But, I mean, you guys were cutting on drives, cutting on any kind of doubles. You guys were backdooring when they overplayed. I mean, Cici did an unbelievable job this game of just really tearing them apart. They were overhelping on her and cooking. but also the pace, the pace. I think a lot of that did lead from good defense of leading to easy offensive transition,

but even on makes, like we had a very high pace. And I think it really did start with Cece. Like she was not settling. She was pushing it. The high ball, the drags, high drags were amazing. She was getting downhill.

And when Cece is getting other people involved, she's unstoppable because the defenders do not know how to guard her because are they all going to send two to her? That leaves two people wide open and she's going to make that willing path. And so she really led the pace and aggression on offense in game two. So I want to give her her flowers on that. Yeah, she was awesome.

And again, I think that, you know, part of the reason why you guys were so dominant was because she was unguarable. It's one of those things where when she's scoring and dishing, and she was the first player to have 25 and 15 in a playoff game in WMBA history of this game. I mean, you're talking about doing something historically. And real quick, before we dive into the more of paint touches and more of, you know, your guys' offense game too, tell me as a teammate, when somebody liked CC in a, you know, close out game at home, which adds a little bit more pressure, you don't want to lose in front of your home fans,

when she gets it going, how much does that uplift everybody else on your team? This pro move segment is brought to you by factor. It does not matter the score when you have 100% CC and you do have Kelle, and you do have Elsie, you're never out of a ball game. Like, you always feel confident. You always have that belief that, like, we could win this game. And we felt that in game three, too. I'm not even going to lie to you.

And so, but when Cici is on and the way she dishes the ball, you just have this confidence and this, like, this calmness to you that it doesn't matter if they go on runs. It doesn't matter how the game is being called at that moment. Like, you have a piece about you that, like, we're going to win this game regardless, because you have the best player that is making high IQ plays. She's getting her teammates involved.

When you're making the cut, she's going to pass it. When she's open and she's knocking down her shots, like it's just, it's a fun, it's a fun time to be on the court with her. Like, it's fun to play. The fans had a great time. And so it's like we want more of those moments. We want more of the 25 and 15, you know, and I know she does too. And so this is actually her first time being in playoffs.

Did you know that? That's her first time playing at GameBridge during playoffs. And so I think she made a pretty big thing. She showed out. Yeah, I'm proud of her. It's bad out. Thank you to Factor for sponsoring this pro move segment. Use the code no has 50 off, N-O-H-E-S-50-O-F, to get 50% off and one free breakfast item per box for one year.

So we keep going into more paint touches in the film stuff. And again, A-B was getting a ton of overtop passes, which I loved, you know what I mean? Because what it does is if they don't help out from the weak side, then she's going to get these layups. If they do help out, it pulls them in where then you can skip. Now the ball is flowing. So not only was it the cuts, but it was also the overtop pass is the deep kind of positions that AB got. And again, a couple easy layups at the rim. Then outside of just passing, cutting, and throwing those lobs, you guys did such a better job putting pressure on the orange thing, the rim.

You guys were getting downhill. And again, every single time that I look at this, I'm like, it wasn't you guys. playing east-west. You guys were getting north-south. North-south mean downhill instead of east-west, sometimes in game three, which we'll get into, I thought you guys were just fanning around way too much. You know, look at you right there with a little hoop, you know, little scoop-hoop-hoop-chot. But again, all of these drives are just, they're hard to guard. And what I noticed in game two, I was like, man, they're bigs as good as they are offensively. They didn't move their feet as well as I maybe thought they would defensively.

And I was like, the more you guys can put pressure on their bigs to move their feet laterally, I thought was a good thing. And you see all these drives, I'm just letting it play. I mean, we're talking about 58 paint touches. And then right there, what happens is when they do pull in, now we get the driving kicks and we get the shot. So first thing that I thought was a huge difference on offense was you guys applied so much more pressure on the rim by cutting, by throwing the lobs, and then also by drives.

And I will also add, I think in that game, too, we know that our backs were against the wall. Like, it was one or go home. And so everybody was on their front foot and everyone was being aggressive. And I think that is what is needed. That's what playoffs is all about. Like, the stars are going to make star plays and they're going to do their things. But it's the others that when they're aggressive too, like, that's what matters. And I think in that second game, we all kind of put our head down and we did our job. And, And everyone was aggressive and it was fun. Everyone was scoring and it was a good time to be a fever.

Here's the one that drove me crazy because it was so good in game two. High ball screens. Bring out the bigs that we just talked about that don't like to move laterally as much as high as you can. Super effective. Here, almost set at half court, wide open lay up. Here, almost set in the logo. And again, what does she do? She keeps on her hip.

Layup. Set in the logo again. again. What happens, they double tons of room to drive advantage, disadvantage basketball. Here, set almost at the logo comes off. Another wide open, you know, pick and roll. I see that. And I'm like, okay, obviously game three, they are just going to hunt the high extended pick and rolls. They're going to keep putting pressure on the orange thing. They're going to keep getting downhill. And this thing is going to be fever basketball again. Yeah. Yeah. When you were watching game three, because we talked about that.

We talked about the high drags and we talked about keeping the pace high and all of those things. But do you think that Vegas defensively made an adjustment so we couldn't get those high ball screens? Or was it just we just didn't do it? You just didn't do it because in my game three at it, you'll see you guys went back to it some. And it was so efficient. So I was like, it's working. go to it over and over and over again. Dude, you know what?

Something that we have struggled with, though, a lot this year. And we've done so many great things. So I don't want to sound like I'm harping on the negative. But this is like when you lose, you think about everything that you could have done, right? The inconsistency. And one of them was on offense, when stuff was working, it's like we got bored of doing it.

So we tried other stuff. And I'm like, why? Why? Like if they cannot guard, let's just say a, we call it 77, you know, it's a guard screen post, a drag. And if that works and they can't guard it, why would we ever get away from it? Like, why are we calling all these other plays? Like, bam it. But we don't.

Like, I literally do not know. I don't know if that's on our point guards. I don't know if that's on our staff, if that's on us not calling what's working. but this has happened every single pretty much game that when stuff goes well and we're scoring and we're hitting all the options, we just randomly stop doing it. And that's when we kind of tend to lose late. I think it's mind-blowing. I don't understand it. In my opinion, you guys are one of the best in-bounds teams. You guys are one of the best ATO teams. So you guys do have all these great plays. But sometimes it's almost like the KISS, keep it simple stupid in the aspect of,

in my opinion, some coaches, and again, this is not talking negatively on your guys' coaches, but some coaches in the NBA do this as well. It's almost like they're overthinking the other coach is going to make an adjustment, so they make an adjustment before they force that other team to get a stop. And, you know, I am under the kind of impression of just keep running it until they do make the adjustment. And then that's when you go. Yes.

And again. So, again, so. Agreed. Now, before we go into game three, which is game three had me, again, rolling my eyes of the TV, and I was frustrated because there were so many times where you guys, got back in it and then we'd get out of it. Get back in it and get out of it. And these little things that we're talking about were things that I was like,

man, if they just do these little things, they add up. You know what I mean? The game was a two-point game in the last three minutes of the game. So I was like, if they did a bunch of these little things, it would have been a completely different story down the stretch. But something happening in game two. And you got dragged back into it because, you know, there was a fan interaction with Asia.

Then you went on TikTok. We had people that were talking about that. So I want to run a clip real quick of Pat McAfee because one of his friends that's on the show was sitting right next to the fan. And so I just want to let this clip play out and let people see what this fan that was next to the fan that had the altercation had to say.

Conman actually sat directly next to the guy who said that fouls on. You terrible man for saying this. that foul is on you. Despicable reaction, I guess. Can't do that. Not in a basketball game. No way.

Thoughts? Oh my God, I have so many thoughts. And I almost put him on Twitter today flying back. But I saved it for the pod. Here's my thing. Us women in sport, I'm going to say just women in sport because that's my occupation and I live this. We yell from the rooftops.

that we want equality, that we want to be treated like the men, that we want all this stuff and we deserve all these things. And we do. We do deserve it, right? But if you're asking for all these fans to come and you have new fans who are real sports fans, and they come and do something that a sports fan would probably do if you are on the opposing team, like, and then we're going to go for them for just pointing saying that you fouled, like grow up.

What are we doing? Like we ask all these things, and then once people come out and support us, we get mad and it's inappropriate. And then us athletes need to be treated better. And these fans need to be more supportive and not say anything negative. I can say this because I hands down have probably got shit on the entire season, maybe sometimes two seasons of people coming after who I am, my character, what I stand for. X, Y, Z, I could go on and on. And I've heard the worst of the worst. It's part of it.

It's part of it. Like, who cares? Who cares? Like, you should be grateful to be on this platform. You should be grateful to be playing basketball for living and inspiring the next generation. Like, if you really want sports fans, then you're going to get sports fans. And that includes pointing. That includes getting yelled at.

Probably be getting called names with all the praise and all the great things that come with it. You also got to look at the negative side. And I'm not saying that this guy's did anything wrong. I don't think he did absolutely anything wrong. And if you want to get technical, you know, that could have cost for suspension. But, you know, she's like the LeBron James of our league. And so, of course, they're not going to suspend her. So I'm not even going to get into that. But she should have been, you know, something should have happened there. The two people who came off the bench onto the court, that should have happened. And so I think there's definitely a double standard. I think, of course, we wanted her to play. Like, I think that makes for good basketball.

I'm not asking for that. And I don't think it would have been, if we would have won and she wouldn't have been there. I don't think it would have been fair. Like, I think we would have gotten a lot of backlash from that. But I think for someone pointing and saying that the foul was on you, like, grow up. I'm over it. Grow up. And then people are saying that, um, me going on, uh, TikTok and saying it's a year for the point. Like, who would have thought someone pointing would just cause so many people to go into a mental spiral? role. Like that says a lot more about you and your mental status than anything that the fans are doing. So I'm over it. So that's how I feel. I was going to say, I asked if you had any thoughts.

I didn't know I was going to get a, you know, a whole journal entry, you know what I mean? Oh, yeah. So because you did, you know, let that off your chest. Let me have your comments on this clip because it looked very similar to me. We got, look at bottom right. Clearly, look at that. That looks like a point. Hey, Annie, is he stepping on the court? Is he stepping on the court? Pointing. And I see, look, you're in the picture. All three of you guys are in a picture. I don't see any of you guys really caring. Hey, because Drew, who gives a fuck? Who literally cares? No one should care about this. But here's my thing. If you actually watch this clip, this is kind of where, can we get into this clip a little bit? I've been dying to talk about this. Lexi was playing great defense and Brie Turner

actually came and hooked her and like Loki did like a WWE move and it could have been dangerous like her shoulder legit could have popped out if you watch the clip it's a dangerous play definitely an upgrade Flagrant 1 could have been Flagrant 2 because sometimes I don't know how the rest call

whatever. So on this play right here that guy stepped out I mean I guess we should start causing more of a reaction to how other people come into GameBridge and try to call our fans all these names, all this trash. No, we have great fans. And we're proud to represent them.

They represent us. Love that. We just know how to handle ourselves. So good job, us, fever girls. On that play, though, Steph White comes and, like, calls a timeout and tries to challenge it. And one of the officials calls her for a T for coming out on the court. And we're like, we're trying to challenge it.

And then one of the reps, Tim, I said, Tim, why can't we challenge that? and he goes, I don't know the rules. What? You're a ref in playoffs and you don't know the rules? And so, I mean, that's just like one of the instances that, you know, that's a bad call. And that matters because that was Lexi's third foul, you know, second or third foul. And she's a guard that plays a lot for us. And so you're really getting the real me tonight, Drew.

This is fun. I know. This is like part film breakdown, part therapy, you know? Mental spirals. Exactly, exactly This record is on Miley is having a moment New name, exclusive shows

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Because I'm gonna get Stream Miley's new album Base Persuades today What up y'all? This your main man, Memphis Bleak right here. Host of that Rock Solid podcast. And each week, we bring in you exclusive looks inside music. Everything happening inside the culture. Some of the best conversations were the biggest names in the game.

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Hey everybody, it's me, W.combeau Bell. This season of my podcast who's with me, I speak with two-time Emmy winner and weirdly one of my best friends, Kevin Avery. Everything up to that point, build you as a comic. Us going on the road doing Battle Mountain and Ely and all this shit. You were one of the

first people took me on the road, which is funny because at the time I was like, I don't know if I like this guy. With rapper, actor, David Dig. The jump off for me was Hamilton, and it was the most popular thing in a very long time. But it was still, for me, it was me and my friends making something dumb. Bruce Lee's daughter and Brandon Lee's sister, Shannon Lee. Back to your initial point of stewarding my father's legacy and giving my energy to that.

You're lending your life to stewarding somebody else's life. Listen to Who's With Me with Debbie Chmell on the IHeart Radio app, Apple. or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you want my real thoughts on game three? What I want is I want to know after game two. Okay. What are your thoughts going into game three? Because you guys made some great adjustments.

And I'm guessing after the game, you're in the locker room and you guys are talking and saying, we got them right where we want them. Yep. What are those conversations like? And then also, did you guys make adjustments from game two to game three and go back? Because when I watched game three, I was like, where was all the good stuff in game two. And again, there were some of it, but it wasn't the same intensity. It wasn't the same discipline. It wasn't the same, you know, impactfulness. Yeah, I agree with you.

I think we, as a whole, we felt good, but we knew it wasn't enough, right? Like, we knew we got the win, but there was more in our tanks. And when I say that, I think our communication was really good on ball screens, especially guard to guard, our scrappiness, picking up full court, kind of slowing down their offense and making them, you know, start, like I said in game two, but we wanted to carry that over into game three of making them start their offense, not at 20 seconds, but maybe at 14, 13. So, you know, it puts them in a little bit more rush. They're not settled in into their offense and inflow and in rhythm.

And so I think that kind of carried over into making sure that our communication was key. I think that there was some slippage in game three there, that it wasn't where it needed to be, which ultimately hurt us. Our pace was good, but it wasn't consistent enough. Like it was kind of the inconsistency of our season, and you kind of saw it in game three of, and you know what, it's going to happen, especially when you're on the road

and you're playing the three-time world champions, like there's going to be times where they go on runs, but you have to weather it. And our biggest thing was we got to control the empty possessions. Like if we go one, two, hopefully not three, but three trips down without a score, like that fourth one, we got to dial in and freaking get a bucket.

And so we were trying to really focus on the little details. I think that they just clogged the paint so well that I think we missed maybe some open threes in this third game. But you know what? We fought ourselves back into it. I think there's maybe two to three minutes left. I think you know you probably did the film breakdown where Kelsey got fouled under the basket and we tried to challenge it. It was two points. And so if we would have got that challenge, which we should have, like that, that was definitely.

a foul, we should have gotten it. And I'm not just saying that, like, everyone knows that. Some of the announcers have even said stuff on their, on their pages as well. But if we would have got that, we're in the ballgame, right? But then not getting that, that gave them two more points. So that's four. And then a tiki-tack foul,

the Asia whistle, so that gets them up six points. And then you're just screwed from there. Like, they're just too good. You just can't really come back from that. And so I just don't think we were consistent enough in game three, truly. Yeah, I mean, and again, it's one of those things where I think fouling has been an issue for you guys all year. You know, in fairness, out of the eight playoff teams, you guys had the highest foul rate out of anybody.

And they actually had the lowest out of anybody in the playoffs. So I do think that some of that gap existed in the regular season and it carried over the postseason. And then also, I think you guys did not put enough pressure on the rim, which is why also you guys didn't get enough free throws. Because I'm over here going, man, in game two, you guys were attacking, you guys were cutting. You guys were doing everything to get downhill. Whereas in game three, I thought there was way too much lateral instead of, you know, attacking. So let's get into game three film. And, you know, you guys know that for me, it all starts with defense.

I just, your guys' offense is historically great, but then defensively. And so I started off with bad communication on switches. So again, we highlighted how well you guys did in game two on just switching, especially guard to guard. But here we go, and we got a little switch where it looks like we might switch, but we not because now we're sprinting off and doubling. And what do we do?

We leave a wide open three-point shooter. So again, we're talking about a two-point game in the last three minutes of the game, and that's a three-pointer right there. That'll just start adding these up here. Can you go back to that clip? On this, this is the difference between game two and game three is one of the adjustments we made

is we're supposed to be Redding here. And so Redding is means trapping the ball screens and we were only trapping with Jackie. And so that's slippage there. And that's the little details that we all messed up on as a whole. And so when we don't trap here and if you continue the play,

Jackie's continuing, Lexi's still trying to trap. But at some point we all have to peel and you lead Joel Lloyd who's a great three-point shooter for a three-point basket. And so just the minor details would seem minor,

but in these types of games they truly do add up. And so we were on our piece and cues early in the game. Here, same thing. Go screen, which just means you slip the screen and you guys give up another wide open look. So we're talking about a one possession game and you guys are giving up these little things throughout the game

because I think so many fans, they'll look at the clutch time and they'll start highlighting those points on why teams won or loss a game, whereas it's really the entire game because these possessions are just as valuable as the fourth quarter possessions. Facts. All right, so on this one, you'll see we got C.C. doesn't want to guard Asia.

She's trying to switch out. But, and you can see her, she's pointing. She's saying, hey, go get it. But one of the things that I always talk about is you can't leave somebody, especially like the closer player and the better player, until the rotation is happening. So it should have been, CC's doing a good job communicating. She's saying, hey, somebody else pick her up because I know I can't contain Asia and that's a mismatch. But she's got to stay there until that rotation happens. That doesn't happen. The rotation's late. And by that time, she's walking into a catch-and-shoe jump shot, which she's got some of the best touch, especially that's like her spot. This one right here, again, just miscommunication. You're like, we fan out and we leave the ball.

The ball is the most important thing. And we leave the ball. And she's walking into a three. So to me, I'm going, we did such a good job in game two of switching everything. And right there, you're giving up 11 points on just miscommunication on ball screen stuff. Yeah, that can't happen. Can't happen. Another thing, bad transition defense, transition defense. I mean, they threw it over top like crazy. Here, you get a step through, lay up.

And Jackie's a hell of a player. Jack, I mean, she's phenomenal, man. And Asia is too. She gets a lot of credit, but Jackie deserves her flowers as well. free throws and and one right there. I mean, just making it easy on them. I'm looking and I'm going, that's four times in transition

that they either get a layup or they get free throws. So I don't know exactly how many free throws you made out of the four, but still, let's call it seven points right there. So that's 18 points we've given up on not getting back or miscommunication on ball screen stuff. Yep. Then face cuts, and I got you on here. But face cuts right here.

I bragged about in game two that this right here was bump the cutter. You know, bump the cutter instead of just letting them cut, but no bump. She gets a deep touch and little turnarounds. I think you've got to muck that up. Muck it up means just basically like drop into coverage, junk it up, and make it harder. Here, again, no help, catches it, shoots it, easy, no muck. This one, this is you. you let a face cut get around could that have been an offensive file for sure but you shouldn't

let her get in front so again she cleans up her mess it's a layup this one you guys go double see's got a drop and get ball side doesn't happen layup so again there's eight more points can we go back and play game three five more points so if you think about it you guys gave up eight points right there on just not helping out on screens or getting you know no face cut. Then you gave up seven-ish points on the transition, and then the 11 points on the not communicating on ball screen stuff. That's a lot of points on just mental mistakes. And Drew, I think this is where playoff experience matters because people realize that these small details, like, you can't get it back. You can't get it back. And the experience teams and

the teams that have won and have one at a high level, they understand that. And they don't take those little moments for granted. Like, those are the things that they make sure that they are on their P's and cues and that they are dialed in. The whole team is dialed in. And like everything else can be free and flowing. But that's the stuff you got to focus on.

And if you don't have that playoff experience, honestly, you might argue this. I don't care how good you are, but that matters. That matters. And if you can't shore up on those details, and you can't dial in on the communication, on making people not face cut you, on not fouling and just giving them the easy layup.

All that truly matters in these playoff games. And so if anything that we maybe learned from game three, we all gained more playoff experience, which is amazing, but still it sucks watching it because it's like, those are such dumb, easy mistakes that are so in our control. 100% agree. All right, now we go a little bit to offense. And the first thing I'm going to start off,

is highlighting good things because I loved high ball screens. We went back to high ball screens and guess what? They worked. High ball screen, see, hits a deep three. They were blitzing her. And what do we do? Get easy, easy short rolls. Here again, drive downhill, patient.

Nice to retreating layup. Here, high ball screen, short roll. Take your time. One more. Get a layup. I'm telling, I'm like, here it was a handoff, but same exact thing. Roll to the rim. I would have been spamming this.

If they're going to blitzer and they're going to commit that many, and right there was a foul, we're going to keep running it. And then they were doing the same thing to Kelsey. And again, Leah, this time, snake downhill, bigs did not move their feet laterally. So I'm looking at these and I'm going, we got something that works. Right there, free throws. Why did we get away from that? why did you not call me?

Why did you not call me? Damn it. I thought you guys were going to stick with the same recipe that worked in game two. You know, so I'm over here watching and I'm going spam it, spam it, spam it. So that's really what I saw because your guys' offense,

it wasn't terrible in game three, to be honest with you guys. It was more so the defensive mental mistakes that we showed. And then I want to say one other thing that was another positive in game. three, but you guys had a couple clips where I was like, this is fever basketball is best. Watch these clips play out. Ball movement, cutting, multiple actions. And I know you stress it all the time, but look at this right here.

You know, just constant movement, flares, cut throughs, 45 cut. Here, you get a quick three out of it. But when you guys played A to B, you know, where you're switching sides of the courts, when you got multiple actions at the same time, you guys did a lot of good things. and look at these shots that you guys were getting. Also, Drew, look at our pace. Look at our pace. Like, people are cutting hard from the get-go.

And I think that is something that we latch consistently. In game three, is we had really good stints of it, but our pace started to slow down. And I think our pace matters, especially, like, for a young buck team who likes to run and gun, who likes to get downhill, like that pace, regardless if they scored or not,

it had to be high. So we could have done better there. and also, I mean, you set it a little bit when it comes to our defense. But if we're going to allow them to score and we're going to make mistakes, we got to go back down and we got to score. We had to limit our empty possessions. And again, playoffs, that stuff matters. We had way too many empty possessions.

And the possession game matters. It matters in regular season. It definitely matters here in playoffs. And it definitely matters when you're on the road playing the three-time defending, you know, world champs. And so it just, we got to be better. And we just weren't. So, yeah. Now, one thing I didn't include on the film was they did make some tough shots.

And you guys took some tough shots that didn't go in. You guys also had some my turn possessions that didn't work out for you. I did not want to highlight, you know, either of those. I didn't want to be like, okay, well, this is good defense. They just made big shots. That was part of the playoff experience that you've talked about. You know, they actually kind of went away from Asia down the stretch. And they just were like, we know, we know.

Chelsea's able to get to that kind of mid-range jump shot. And you could tell that they were a vet team and they trusted in what has worked in the past. And it was almost like Asia carried them and then clutch time. They handed the keys over to Chelsea and Chelsea, you know, close a game. Whereas for you guys, it looked like down the stretch, you guys got a little tense and got a little tight and stopped doing some of the things that got you back in the game, you know, and got you back into being only down by one possession. And so I think that is just playoff basketball experience. I thought that there was a difference when it came down to the end of game three where you could see there was a little bit more of a calmness to them. Whereas for you guys, it looked like you guys were like so close, but you just couldn't find a way to get over that hump.

You know what I mean? So I don't know if you felt that or not, but it definitely was kind of pretty clear on film that they looked a lot calmer. And they looked like they knew what they wanted to get to. Whereas for you guys, it wasn't a lack of trying. It was just more of almost over trying instead of. just allowing things to happen. Just trusting it and executing down the stretch. And I said this at the beginning of the pod too is, you know, there were some tough calls, right?

But we fought ourselves back. And I'm not kidding, that two points. And it should have been, that challenge should have been ours. Kelsey definitely got fouled. And I know you watch film. If you wouldn't go watch it, you'd probably agree. But I also think that like that sets the tone. Like if we get that foul, Kelsey's shooting free throws.

Now you're tied. And I'll say this. I'm going to say two things that you can't say because I can't get fined by the W. Indiana Fever versus Aces series had a free throw differential of plus 31 for the Aces, which is the largest free throw differential in a three game series in W history. Number two, Vegas won game three by 11, and it was a two point game with two minutes and 15 seconds left. Aces scored 12 of the last 15 points, and 10 of those came at the free throw line. They went 10 for 10.

So I will say that you guys do hack, so I'm not forgiving you guys for that, but for fever fans that were mad at the refs, there are some stats that kind of are on your side in that category. So I'll say that, but you're not allowed to. Yeah, you are going to make me be more professional here. And so I'm going to let you say things that I can't. Yes, that is the smart way to go. Now, I know this series obviously sucked. you guys had such a good, you know, you had ups and downs, but you had such a good regular season. You think about for the fever franchise record, won 28 games.

You guys had the top ranked offense in the league. You guys scored a league high 96 points per game, which was a WMBA record. And then I thought for a stretch, you guys were the best team in basketball. You guys won 10 out of 12 or something like that in July and August. So I do think there's some things to celebrate for this season. We were so good. And it was so much fun. Like it was so much fun.

And the squad really loved each other. I don't want to say this. I think Fiba kind of hurt our momentum a little bit. Maybe we peaked too soon. I don't even know if that's a real thing. Peaking too soon, peaking too late. You probably know more about that than I do because I just kind of, you know, show up and we all put our best foot forward.

But we really did have a hell of a year. And I had so much fun. Kelsey had a great year. Caitlin had a phenomenal year. AB, of course, always does AB things. but we do have a lot to be, you know, proud about. It sucks because we're all just so competitive, but we just want a championship at the end of it.

Like, none of this really matters, all these fun, historic, you know, in-season stats because everyone just wants to win. I don't know what the off-season holds. I don't know. A lot of us are under free agency now, and so who knows, but, you know, looking back, I think one day when we look back at this season,

we're going to be proud of what we did, you know, in the months of July and August. 100%. And not only as a team, you guys did well. But you talked about Caitlin and Kelsey, both MVP candidates. You know, Kelsey finished second. Caitlin finishes third in points per game. Caitlin, 22.3 points per game, which was career high. She was also named AP comeback player of the year. And one of the best passers in the W. Kelsey, unbelievable, 24.7 points per game. Actually just edged out Asia. She had broke Asia's record for the

most points in a season, total points in a season. And also, most three-pointers. And then AB, career high, 16.1 points per game. So I know that obviously Caitlin and Kelsey had these MVP seasons, so they always get the love. But also AB had a really good season and took a step forward as well. And then you individually, you know, fourth and the W. I didn't get a comeback player of the year. I tore my knee last year. No, but you did some good things. like I said, fourth in the W in three point percentage, 41.9%. And to me, I think people don't realize, like, I know that there's a lot of haters online that don't like that you're very vocal, and they think that you should just stick to basketball. And the thing that bothers them the most

is that they think that only star players should be able to have a voice. And for you, you know, like in the regular season, you get 5.3 field goal attempts a game. You're super efficient. So it's like, I understand in some aspect where it's like, okay, do more, be more. We're all for that. And I always think criticism is fair. But also, you also got a compliment that you are super efficient and you did have a really efficient year again. And then in the playoffs- I'm annoyed by my three-point percentage, though. That should have been higher.

And I will say that you always love to see the haters. I don't even see her hear me anymore. I just listen to all the people that love me. So maybe that's why I'm delusional. I don't know, but I love it. Listen, that's a way better route to go. You know what I mean? A way better route to go.

And then the playoffs, you know, again, field goal attempts drop to 4.7, but still, 7.3 a game and 44.4% from 3. So, you know, there were some good things for you being efficient, which is your ultimate role is to be efficient, to be a spacer. And that being your number one job, you did that job very, very well. So I do want to ask this offseason. okay, like what does it look like for you? I know that it's a little bit different in the W because a lot of players either play like Project B slash unrivaled,

whereas in the NBA, it's just a long offseason. What does the off season look like for you? How much time do you get to work? When do you go back to work? How much time do you take off? Before we even talk about what you're going to work on, what does it look like from a schedule standpoint, just so people know?

Yeah, well, I'm going to give you my three different offseason schedules because this is what has been my life. So three years ago, and before that, I stopped going overseas. It just wasn't for me. I was making more money back here at home with my partnerships, endorsements. I actually started doing media. I loved it. Like I was calling Suns games.

I was around the NBA, watching them. I feel like my IQ got even higher and I fell even more in love with basketball. Like, it was just so much fun. So I stopped doing all that. And I would train in Phoenix. I would do basketball, my weights, conditioning, all that type of stuff. And then I would call the Suns game. So I absolutely loved my off-season.

Last year, I did tear my knee. And so I spent the majority again of my off-season in Phoenix doing rehab. And I didn't get to do much of working on my game because of when I tore my knee last year, I was pretty much rehabbing and just trying to get back to where I was so I could be in training camp and play the season. And thankfully, I did that. And again, I'm a snowbird. I cannot do the cold anymore, so I love my Phoenix and my Florida days. But this all season is going to be different.

And so I'm truly excited about this. Like I said, I've done the overseas. I've played in Australia. COVID happened. Then I played in France. And that was my last time. Like it just wasn't just not my vibe. I don't like it.

But Project B is a new league. And it is starting, I think training camp is in December. And then our first kind of, you know, it starts in January is when it originally actually starts. So it's new. So I really don't have, what is it? It's October. October 2nd?

It is October 2nd. I don't even know what date is. So I need to start getting in my offseason grind because I need to know what date is and what month it is. But I will say I think I'll take probably a couple weeks off here and enjoy October and then start getting after it in November because I'm in good shape. I feel really good. I feel very healthy. I'm liking where my game is at. it's a good baseline, but I'm ready to improve and really work on my skill set.

I think you can talk about where I need to improve and what we're going to be working on. But I think I'm going to give myself the month of October, and then I'll really get back into it because I didn't even explain. Sorry, Sproul brain here. Starting in January, Project B, you go to five different countries, and it's a tournament style type of deal. And so you'll play anywhere from like six, anywhere from like six to ten, 10 days, you'll play probably like three to four or five games depending on how far you make it.

And then you're done for the rest of the month. And so I'll do that in January. Yeah, it's going to be awesome. I'll do that in January all the way up to April until training camp. And so we're going to a couple countries in Asia. We're going to go to Europe and I'm probably blanking on another. But it's going to be a really cool deal. Like you're only there for 10 days max. They take great care of you, first class, everything, staying in the nicest hotels, kind of getting to globally expand my brand, which is going to be super cool, but I'm still able to come back here and do make my money and enjoy the offseason as well. And so I'm excited for this off season. That's awesome. I think there are some positives, too, for you guys actually continuing to play.

You know, just because you stay in shape instead of having to get in shape. And also, it allows you to kind of go from working out and working on things to trying things out before the W season. I know that you obviously still want to win, but I love the application of it. Yeah, just because I do. I think so many times it's hard, especially what I've realized about guys and girls that is a lot different is guys play a lot more pickup where they're playing together than girls do. So I think the aspect of you guys competitively playing in a league allows you to actually still get the competitive run so that you can stay in basketball shape. I have shot the best. three point percentage, I think, the past two years.

And I do think it's like who's around you and the type of offense. And so I'm definitely going to give credit to the people around me here in Indiana. But I will say the last two off seasons, I have a great group of guys who we do pick up runs, probably four days a week out in Arizona. And I have loved it. And it has expanded my game, how quick I can get my shot off, my defensive skills. It really does improve. And so you saying that, like, just trigger like, you know what?

Maybe that has a little bit of something to do with where I'm at and kind of where my game is headed. So I like that. I like that too. So I want to give them a couple little numbers and give them a little insight. One of these days, I think it'll be cool. We'll actually do like some of the film breakdown stuff and show them kind of what I see and where I think your game can go. But for the season, you were 70% in the restricted area, which we would love to celebrate, except for there was only 47 attempts.

Yeah, not a lot. Which I'm like, you've got to be able to get downhill more and be more versatile. I know sometimes it comes down to opportunity too. You know what I mean? A lot of times you're in the corner and you're basically spacing out the floor for some of the other players on your team. But that's something that as you continue to expand and grow your game just makes you a more versatile offensive player. Yeah. Second thing is you were great catch-and-shoot.

You know, catching-shoot jumpers this year, 43.4%, which was 91% percentile in the W. you off the dribble, I would say, man, you were 89 percentile at 37 percent off the dribble, but seven out of 19 for the season. So off the dribble, you know, these shots, we would love to expand that. And then just the mid-range slash like outside of the restricted area inside the paint, you know, you were four for 19 on the season. So it just shows people that like, while I would, if I was talking to you and talking trash to you, which I do, I would say like, you're a catch and shoot girl. You do that very well. But I'd say if you really want to expand your game and become more versatile on the offensive end, you've got to get better at putting the ball on the

floor, being able to drive closeouts, being able to finish those, you know, when you do get downhill and get in the paint. And then also just maybe add a little tween game. You know what I mean? That doesn't mean you're going to have a heavy diet of mid-range shots. That's not your game. and that's not analytically the best thing to do. It's just have it so you can go to it when you need it. And then the last thing is the defensive side. And I think that being a 3-and-D player, you becoming even more versatile

and more of a lockdown defender allows you to basically not be taken off the court. Because if you're one of the best shooters and you become a plus defender instead of like an average defender, Or it's like, I need them out on the court. Whereas right now there are certain matchups or certain times where you just have games where you're not your best defensively. And so then they're like, if you're not getting shots because they just put somebody faceguarding you, they're like, well, in offense, she's not getting any looks on defense.

It's not like she's a special defender. So let's try somebody out. So I do think that, you know, it's fun for people to realize that you've done a really good job mastering the role you're in. which sometimes people don't do. They just skip over and try to get this other role. You've mastered the catch-and-shoot spacing. I am going to be somebody that provides space for my team. But then adding more versatility on offense by putting the ball on the floor.

And then also defensively becoming a plus defender instead of an average defender, I think takes you to a new level. And we talked about this a lot. You were like, Drew, I know that I've been in the league for a long time. But like, I feel like this is almost like a new. beginning. Like I could be like a 2.0 version of myself if I can, you know, lock in, have a good month or two of training and then actually add and implement these things to, you know, come back a different player next season. No, I like, I think some people when they,

if you were to break down certain stuff, it's like, oh, they're embarrassed or like, oh, it's, I don't know, they would feel like you're coming at them. I love it. Because I'm like, it exposes where I need to grow. And like, it exposes. where I can grow. Like that type of stuff right there excites me. And even like on the catch and shoot jumpers, like 91 percentile, okay, cool. I still feel like I can get even better at that. And so I just, for some reason, I still just love basketball. Like I still have that fire inside of me. I still think my best days are ahead of me. And that just excites me. And I think you're right. Like I don't even know whoever said that I was a 3 and D player. Like someone else gave me that.

I never did in college. Like I had that post-up game and I had like the jumper. And when you get to the league, sometimes you do just have to find something that you can be excellent at and you got to become great at it so people know that you're a weapon and they're able to use you. But I do feel like, like there's more in my tank. And I think us two working together, you're going to expose areas where like I can grow. And so I'm all for the season. Like this all season I think is about to be amazing. I think it's going to be challenging. But, both physically and mentally. But I'm here for it.

Like, this is what it is to be a pro, and I'm excited that I actually have a great trainer that's going to help me, you know, raise my game to the next level. So it's about to be badass. Yeah. And I think it's, I really do think it's good

because you respond to criticism really well. You know what I mean? Like, for me, I'll be like, I don't normally, on the podcast right now, I'm giving you like these, like, analytical things. But in real life, I'd be like, hey, Sophie, you know that, like,

it's okay to dribble the basketball. Like, you don't have to be allergic to dribbling the ball and putting the ball on the floor. And you're like, okay, like, and then it motivates you and encourages you to shut me up. I don't just say okay, by the way, and I think anyone who knows me is like, okay. She definitely chirps. She definitely chirps back.

I'm running to play. And then, and then, like, defensively, I'll be like, you know, so, hey, three and D's a lot better than tray and pray. You know what I mean? Like, in some nice, it's a tray and pray type of player, you know, where you're praying on the defensive end that soap gets a stop. So I do think that it's important that when people, you know, do get a little bit of behind the scenes, look into our work that we do show them that it's not just all analytical. It's really motivating you and encouraging you and challenging you and challenging you so that you do come back a better player because you've mastered a catch and shoot. You've been really efficient.

But to take your game to the next level, you do got to incorporate some of those things we talked about. Well, this was a great fun. This was a good fun. Very insightful. I think there's a lot that we could have. I mean, we broke down a lot. And I think this is fun. I think people are going to be I'm excited to hear what you had to say. And, you know, go like, go subscribe. I think we're getting better and better. This is our first time really working together when it comes to this. And so you guys are along, you know, with us.

And so we appreciate you. We love you and we'll see you next time. I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast. The True Crime Comedy Podcasts, all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week, I bring on an amazing guest. Ooh, I scammed them. What?

I can talk to you for an hour. You're a generational yapper like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. Start listening to Scam Goddess on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Scam Goddess! Hi, this is Kylie Breakman. Angel Geratana.

Jeremy Colhane. Patrick McDonald. And we're the hosts of the Artists on Artists on Artists Podcast. The Improvised Character Comedy Podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their Join us for a panel of Eurovision participants. And we do a little Halloween sometimes. Does the Pope dress up? He winks on Halloween. It's right up next to the microphone.

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