Show Me Something - What the Indiana Fever and I Need to Fix

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

On this episode of 'No Hesitation,' Sophie Cunningham and Drew Hanlen dive into the Indiana Fever’s struggles from last week and break down what the team can do to turn things around heading into the playoffs. They discuss the adjustments that can make a difference, Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and the Fever's offense, and why Sophie LOVES playoff basketball. Sophie and Drew also get into the mental side of basketball, including handling adversity, building confidence, and Sophie's approach to 3-point shooting. Plus, they break down film of the New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart and what makes her so great. 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 a $50 bonus when you deposit just $10. Sign up right now with promo code NO HES. That's Polymarket dot U.S. and use promo code NO HES to get a $50 bonus when you deposit just $10. https://app.polymarket.us/S8ac/NOHES HULU Watch the new season of Chad Powers now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ For bundle subscribers. Terms apply. https://www.hulu.com/series/7117a15d-128c-4c2b-a5b9-98adfa0f4505See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Stream next day on Crape. I am due for a damn game. And once I have that damn game, we're going to be lit on this podcast. And it's coming. I feel back to episode three. of no hesitation. I'm Sophie Cunningham. Of course, we have Drew Hanlon here with me.

The last couple games have kind of been rough. My gosh, but we have two more games until playoffs. Just so you guys know, we are actually recording this on a Monday so I can focus on the Minnesota links. We have them for two more games and then playoffs. But Drew, where do we start? Before we start, I will tell you this, there was a big milestone for me, okay?

So I don't know if we talked enough about how much I defend my clients on Twitter and social media, but usually what happens if the trolls just won't stop, if they're relentless, I usually just block them. And 99% of the time, it just makes my life so much more peaceful. Well, we got our first WMBA Twitter blocked troll. So I am officially a part of WNBA Twitter, which is a big moment for me, you know? Hold on. Why? I'm surprised because normally you just like go back at people and I think that's why people like love it, but why why block this person? Well, to be honest with you,

there was plenty of fair criticism on your bad play and your team's bad play. I'm fine with criticism. I actually think it's a good, healthy thing for there to be criticism. But this certain person, just copy and paste it over and over and over again,

Sophie Cunningham's not going to have a job next year. Sophie Cunningham's not going to have a job next year. And I wanted to just respond back and be like, well, you know, she's fourth in the league and three point percentage. You know, she's helped, you know, the fever have one of the best offenses. throughout the season. But apparently these last two games, he really did not like the way that you

played. But there was the nonstop copy and paste. I was like at least be original and come up with like, you know, funny things that I can laugh at and say, okay, that was good because there were some good trolls. But this one had no substance to it. So I just went ahead and hit the block button. And ever since then, I have not seen the copy and paste. So big milestone on my end. So welcome, welcome. Well, I will take my part of it. I think our team, a little rough. First game in Toronto, you can kind of get into those stats. Yeah, I'll get into some of stats.

Biggest thing is, I think when you guys came back, everyone was hoping that you guys could find your flow right away. You had some players that played overseas and won a goal. So maybe there was that energy and excitement that was going to flow into your guys team and hopefully kind of like give you guys that extra boost. And it wasn't like that. You guys play against a Toronto team that you guys had no business even keeping them around. round. You guys are only up three at half, only up six and one in the fourth. You guys do have a good fourth quarter. You guys outscore them 24 to 12. So if I'm a fever fan, I'm thinking, all right, at least we got the momentum. We finally found our legs in that fourth. But then you guys come out

against Washington and have one of the worst first quarters that I've ever seen you guys have. You know, it's 34 to 19 after the first quarter. You guys only score 30 points in the first half. One of your guys' worst shooting performances all season, maybe the worst all season. And, end up only making six threes at 21% for the whole game. So I just want your take as a team. Let's say, let's start with the team and then we'll go into you individually of what you can do better. But what can you guys as a team do better, you know, for the rest of the games, this, this postseason, this regular season and then flowing into the postseason. Okay. So team wise, first game against Toronto, man, I thought that honestly, and I think all of

us felt like we were feeling good and confident, but it was a little rocky, you know, when you bring A, B, and C back after them winning gold. I thought it was going to, like, flow a little bit more, but it didn't. And that's okay. We still got the dub. Washington, though, that might be one that our whole team is just wanting to flush, because that was probably one of our worst games of the whole season. And it sucks that it happened right now, but at least it happened now and not during playoffs.

And so I think you can still learn from it a little bit. I agree with you. And I think that it's important for people to realize it's only two games. Like, obviously, you guys won against Toronto, had a great fourth quarter. So it was like, okay, we faced some adversity, which is, actually going to help you guys in a playoffs. You want to face some of that adversity. Fourth quarter, you guys outscoring by 12 and you guys end up winning by 18. So I understand that you want everything to be perfect, but still winning a game by 18 points

in the WMBA is a good night. You know, there's things that you learn from and the adversity actually helps you along the way. Could I also say against that, though, with that Toronto game, I really do like how a lot of people just stepped up. Like you had Myesha Heinz Allen, who, you know, her minute sometimes does it play. And then she played the majority of that game. And she really, you know, went on a run for us and played phenomenal defense and had some good offense for us. And so I do think that break really did help some of us players who aren't starters,

gain that confidence. And we won that game because of kind of those other people, too. Which, again, is important. I think that sometimes you grow and learn from losses. Sometimes you grow and learn from wins. And gutsy wins sometimes are the best being because you get the good result. and you also get those same lessons that you just talked about. Now, against Washington, it was a different story.

You guys just came out so flat. And I was like, you guys knew how important that game was for the standings. You guys were trying to climb up in the standings. And it just looked like you guys came out with no energy. You know, I saw there was frustration on the court from multiple players on your team, including yourself, which we're going to get to in a second. But one of the things that I noticed, you know me, I'm a stat geek. And I wanted to look this up.

you guys are so reliant on three-pointers and making three-pointers. And your guys wins this season. You guys shoot threes. You guys make 11-3s a game at 41.3%. Really, really good. In losses, you guys make nine and a half threes at 35.9%. That's a big gap. And then I started looking because I was like, okay, is there's...

Wait, is that a big gap? Because it's only really two three-ish buckets, threes. Yeah, but if you think about it from it, and again, not crazy number. numbers wise, but you're thinking about basically five points each game, which is five points is a big gap when it comes to winning games and losing games because the spread of games against good teams is not that much. And then the other thing is I was looking at just like makes and misses. Like for you, for instance, in wins, you shoot 47% from three. In losses, 33%. Kalin, 41% from three in wins. Losses, 30%. Lexi, in wins, 36.5%. And losses, 32%.

So it is one of those things where you guys are very dependent on threes. One of the things I wanted to ask you, just because I haven't asked you this, is do you think you guys are too dependent on threes or is it just you guys kind of got to live and die by the three because that's kind of your fever basketball? Okay, listen, this is my point of view just being in it. No, I don't think we live and die by threes because we have had one of the best offenses in WBA history with the amount of points. that we scored the season in a stretch, right?

We were scoring over 100 points per game. Was it in July? Was it in June or July, one of those months? I think that my biggest thing is our ball movement. I think it's our assist. It's getting people involved. I think when we have anywhere from five to six to seven people and double figures and everyone's getting involved

or they're close to double figures, we're phenomenal. And yes, maybe our threes are opening up because more people are getting touches, more people are scoring. So that's allowing people to, you know, have driving lanes to the basket, to play one-on-one, to be playing in space.

Like, when you are getting people involved, especially floor spacers, it opens it up for everybody. It opens up for the post players. And so I don't think we live and die by the three. Now, do we have a lot of great three-point shooters? Absolutely.

But I think it's getting other people involved and making sure that we have anywhere from five to seven people at double figures or close to double figures. because that's when we're at our best, only because our ball movement is phenomenal at that point. I agree. Just you know, you know me. I think it's mainly defensively where you guys are all over the place. I know that I even asked you, I was like, so can I please do a film breakdown on your guys' defense? You're like, no, don't worry. We're handling that internally. But like, for me, defensively is where you guys have your biggest gaps in wins and losses. And you could tell in that first half of the Washington game, it just wasn't there defensive.

And that's really, you guys scored 19 points in the first quarter. That's enough to be in the game, except for not when you give up 34 to the other team. So I want to take us. I will say, though, as a team in that first quarter, and that's something that we have got to get better out. And we talk about this all the time is like, we got to punch first. Like, we got to set the tone early. And if they do go on a run, which you know, it's basketball.

Like sometimes they're going to, we have to stop that bleeding. And I don't really know. I mean, we didn't stop the bleeding. And we've got to find a solution fast. maybe we need to call a time out. Maybe we need to get people in there, like switch up the lineup and get more energy or do something. But I do feel like as a team over there in that locker room,

we're collectively trying to figure out when we get punched first, how are we going to respond? What is our true character as a team is going to show? And I think we do have dogs in that locker room. And I think that we do have enough threats on the defensive end that when we work as a unit, that we can be pretty good. We've shown that at stints. But now we just need longer stints of that.

especially starting that first and third quarter, setting the tone. No, I agree 100%. Now, individually, I want to make sure that we talk about you because I know how much that you've been frustrated with the first two games, you know? I know, I know. Game one, it felt like the refs almost took away your rhythm. You had those three tiki-tack files, and I know you've been fine before for on a podcast, criticizing official.

So no comments, but I will re-go. Yeah, I re-watched this. and your hands were up. I did tell you. I was like, hey, listen, you can be a little bit more squared and maybe take them, but there were some ticky tack files. Second half, though, I thought you actually played well. You didn't score as much. You didn't knock down a bunch of shots, which is what I think people are accustomed to. But again, you ended up plus 20 and 20 minutes. So you did impact winning, especially in the second half, which I was like, hey, so I know you didn't score as much as you wanted. I know you didn't get as many shots as you wanted. I know you didn't

make as many shots. But you actually contributed winning, which is the number one skill of player can have. I will say, though, in that Toronto game, I mean, we talk about this all the time. And I think it's great that, like, you know, I am a shooter, but I also know that, like, I impact the game on so many different levels. And some nights, like, I don't get the opportunity to score like I would like to do. But for me, like, as a role player, that's, that's okay. Like, I can go rebound. I can go defend. I can go get loose balls. I can, you know, go get tips and do the energy plays that gets our team hype. And so I really hang my hat on that. And then when I get more than, you know, one to two to three opportunity,

then it's a good night for me. You know, then I feel like I'm flowing. But I think for me in that Toronto game, I stayed in it. And I really did, you know, raise the energy a little bit. So I was proud of myself on that one. Now, game two was a little bit of a different story. Obviously, you didn't play your normal minutes. And I know that's super frustrating as a player because sometimes what you do is you start

questioning yourself. You're like, why am I not out there? What am I doing that is impacting my role? And, you know, also, it's hard to get in a rhythm when you're accustomed to certain things. You know, I went in and dug in because I wanted to find out, is there any truth to you being in rhythm and playing better? In 28 games where you play at least 20 minutes, you're shooting 47.8% from three. That's really, really good. In 13 games where you don't play at least 20 minutes, you're shooting 25.7% from three.

Why is that? I'll tell you what. I, in my opinion, there's a couple reasons. One, because- That's a huge difference. That's almost 50% to like 25%. It's almost half, right? And I think that there's a couple of reasons.

I think the big one is frustration. Obviously, you're frustrated, you're on the bench, and you're thinking like, why am I not in the game? Why am I not getting more opportunities? And so instead of staying locked in and staying focused on what you can control, which is playing your best basketball when you are on the court, bringing energy when you are on the court, when you're off the court still being impactful as a teammate and as a leader and being able to

celebrate and push your teammates on court, it's almost like, and this is natural, this is every basketball player, every athlete at every level, you get into the like, why is this not going well for me? Why am I not getting the things that I'm used to getting? And so I think that's the first part is the mental side of losing focus on how you can contribute to winning an impact in the moments you do have. And then the second part of it is I think when you're out there, if you're not playing the certain minutes you are, you put too much pressure on yourself to try to perform in a perfect way. And sometimes that extra pressure hurts you.

Then you end up like over trying. Like I even saw some of the back doors where you gave up when I was like, you were over aggressive and over denying because you were trying so hard instead of just playing your normal basketball. So those are my opinions. Yeah. I think I agree with maybe the pressure one of like when you're out there and you, maybe when your opportunities are limited,

which is like, it's okay. like in our system, A B, C, C, A, B, like, they're going to get the majority of the shots and they should, truly. Like, I have said that over and over because I truly believe that. Now, when we're at our best, I think all of our attempts go up and maybe we just have to get that rhythm back from being back from break, you know. But I will say that I think my mental side of things, I've worked really hard that like, you know what, if I only get two shot attempts, yeah, maybe I put pressure on those. if I miss those and I kind of get frustrated. But I try to really make sure that I am impacting on rebounding or like making sure my defense or my talking like I really try to control what I can control because I know that as a

role player, you do impact. Like that is why I'm on this team is because I am an energy player. I am a leader. They need my voice out there on the offensive and defensive end. And so I know my role and I play that role very, very well and I hang my hat on that type of stuff. But I will say like when it comes to maybe not hitting. that 20 minute mark or that close to 20 minute mark.

Sometimes I think it's just hard to maybe get in rhythm. You know, I don't think it's anyone's fault. I think maybe it could just be a choppy game. You're only out there for so long with a certain group. And you know what? I will say like in the in the Toronto game, I feel like there was a, it was like me, Kelsey, Thai, myisha, Heinz Allen, and then Mercedes Russell.

And that group, you really don't see on the court out there together very often. But that group was killing it. You know what I mean? And I think like when you find a group that really has that rhythm, let them ride. Let them ride until that other team can stop them. And I think sometimes we, you know, we just get back to our normal rotations, which is totally fine. But I do think sometimes when I don't hit that, you know, 20 minute market, it's just hard.

And the minutes are choppy. So it's hard to really get in the float for me sometimes, I feel. So maybe that's an area where I can get better of like, hey, you have XMMM, amount of minutes, make sure you get a deflection, you get two boards. You know what I mean? Because if I can focus on everything outside of just knocking down my shots, then like it's easier for me to just go out there and have fun. Basketball is back, folks, and you need to change the way that you invest in the NBA and the WMBA this season. It's finally time to ditch your old sportsbooks apps because Polly Market is here. Polymarket is a legal prediction market,

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Dejardin, proud partner of the Amazing Race Canada. Watch Tuesdays at 9 on CTV. Stream next day on Crape. It is crazy because I have an old school coach that used to always say, like, let's say, for instance, you go 0 for two from three, like last game. Those two shots maybe took up four seconds. And the old school coach used to always be like, you're really going to let four seconds impact the whole rest of the game and the whole rest of the way you play. And I'm like, obviously, when you put it in that perspective, like, I shouldn't. I should snap back and do the things you just mentioned of can I be a good defender?

Can I, you know, be somebody that still has gravity and opens up space for other players that maybe have it going on those certain nights? Can I get more rebounds? Can I do all the other things that impact winning? But one of the things that I think would be cool to share with some of our audiences, I sent you some film. And I basically said, hey, I'm going to be like overly, like, critical and share everything that I think you could have done better because I do think that it's important that people understand that you should point your finger at yourself first when things are going bad. And I love that you have. You've been like, Drew, listen, I know as a team, there's a lot of things that we have to do better if we want to make a run in the playoffs,

which is what we all want. But individually, I need to know how I can contribute so that I can be the best version of myself so that I can, you know, ultimately impact winning. And so I think that's important for people to know, too. Yes. And if everyone is doing that and looking at themselves in the mirror first, and you're really learning and watching film, I think film is huge. When you're, when you're talking to your coaches or your, I would say like advisors, you know what I mean? Like are people who know the game.

And you're seeing it from their point of view. Like it just, it's a growth mindset and it's healthy. And if you're getting better and your teammates are getting better, that is great for everyone. That's great for the team. Like everyone's got to do that. And then when you come back collectively,

you know, maybe yeah, we didn't run that set correctly or we messed up on that defense. Or we did really good that time. You know what I mean? But I do think for all the young bucks out there, I think it is truly easy to always point the finger when things are going, you know, bad or not where you wanted or you're losing it or it just didn't feel good.

But like, I'm my biggest critic. I'm hard on myself because I know I'm a, I love to compete. I want to win. I love to win. And I want to be the best version of myself, not only for myself, but for my team because it matters. And I think if we're all doing that and you're really reflecting on your play in the good, on the good days when you're winning on the, on the ones that don't feel so good. Like that, that's a growth mindset right there that's going to get you places.

And so I think that's good advice for everyone listening. No, that's great advice. And I think it's important also for people to understand that when you are not feeling great about your play, when you are in a quote unquote slump to kind of almost zoom out instead of zoom in. Most of time what you do is you zoom in on the problems instead of zoom out and look at kind of your body of work. And so some of things that I'm telling, you know, Soph is I'm like, hey, Soph, you're shooting this season, 42.7% on the season from three. Just so you know, Steph Curry, his career percentage is 42.4. This season, you're shooting better than Steph Curry as a career. So that means you're really good. Steph Curry is the best shooter ever. You know, the other thing is like when you look at it, Steph Curry, 43 games without making a three-pointer in his career. He's went 43 games where he had zero the best shooter ever.

He's went 237 games where he shot 25% or worse from three, and 457 games where he shot under 33.3%. And you're going, 457 times Steph Curry has had a game where he shot 33.3% or worse.

Like that doesn't even make sense because it feels like every time he shoot it's going in but he doesn't start overthinking and he doesn't start overcorrecting. Overthinking and overcorrecting

are the two causes of slumps in my opinion. You know, you got something that works, you start over correcting, now you go away from what works. Or you start overthinking,

you start doubting, you start wondering if it's going to go in, you start putting too much pressure every time you catch and shoot that it has to, It has to go in instead of just hunting threes. What does Steph Curry do when he misses? He hunts the next one because he feels like he's going to make the next one.

This is like the perfect time to just trust the process. Like if you are truly getting in the work, you're getting in your extra shots, you're getting your daily vitamins, your daily deposits, stacking those breaks, you know, day after day, it's going to happen. Like you got to trust that. You got to trust all the work that you put in. And so when it's time to go play, you know, you're ready and you're excited. It's okay if you go over two.

you always say you're like the law of averages. And I'm like, yeah, you're right. And so I am due for a damn game. And once I have that damn game, we're going to be lit on this podcast. And it's coming. I feel like these shots, you know, I'm only shooting to a game. Like it's the last couple games. And so it's, I am, I'm good.

Like my headspace is good. And when I'm open, like I'm shooting that thing. Like that's what I do. That's what I put in all the work for. And so I know that it will happen. But it is funny when you do break down Steph Curry's, you know, career games almost 460 times. You know, he shot worse than 30%.

But what did you say? He still hunt shots because that's what he does. That's what he works on. So why would he do anything else? So I'm going to go hunting. Not for bears, not for birds, not for deer. I'm going hunting. You know what the crazy thing too is when you look at these last two games,

which right now in your mind feel like it's such heavy weight on your shoulders, you're like, oh my God, Drew, I'm not playing the way that I want to play. I'm like, so you're one for five since we came back from break. If you would have made one more, you'd have been shooting 40%. You'd have been two for five and you would have been 40%. And we'd have all been like, oh, her slumps over. So like you're that close. I know, I just love to score them.

I just love to hit my threes. It's just so much more fun for everybody. You're just saving them for the playoffs. I like it. There we go. You know what? Actually, hopefully we save them for the next games and then, you know, keep that momentum riding in the playoffs.

Yeah. One thing I think that also is important is for people to understand. that when you are going through slumps, you individually or as a team where you guys just, you don't feel like you're in that flow. You don't feel like you have that confidence. How do teams adjust? Like the conversations you guys have in your locker room right now, the practices that you guys are having, the individual workouts you're having individually so that you can get your confidence back, what do those look like so that people can get a little bit of the inside of like, hey guys, we're trying to turn this thing around. I'm trying

to individually turn this around. What are those conversations like? What are those kind of mechanisms like to get back rolling? Yeah, you know, I don't think anything should drastically change. Like, I think the W season, yeah, it's the longest season we've ever had in history, but it's also a very short season. And you don't have time to mess around. And that's why these playoff standings, like, we could be anywhere from four all the way to eight, right?

So like you've got to approach pretty much every game and you want to win. As competitors, you're trying to win every game too. I know sometimes NBA correct me if I'm wrong. Like sometimes they rest players, sometimes, you know, it's kind of like, this where the WBA, you don't have time for that. And so I don't think a lot changes. Um, you know, I do think when you, when you're talking about playoffs and maybe how, um, you dial in a little bit extra, I think, um, you know, you're in a series now. And so you can really, um, manipulate maybe how they're playing defensively. Like let's change up how we run two of our

set so we can get not our first side action, but we're really looking for the second and third. Like you can manipulate how they're playing us. I think defensively, too, keep switching it up, like making sure that they're staying on their toes. They're not knowing what we're going to be doing. I think that's huge. But I also think playoffs is a different animal. And it's a different type of beast. And that's when experience truly does matter.

I think that it's, you can't take a possession off. And you shouldn't really take a possession off anyway. But the possession game matters when it comes to how many shots they get versus how many shots we get. Free throws. How many attempts are they getting? How many attempts are we get? like all of that stuff matters. And so you don't have time to just kind of throw the loosey goosey pass or just kind of

throw up some shit because maybe you're open. Like our shot selection matters. And so I think it really boils down to the little details. But I think that's the really fun part. I think that like it shows the mental focus. It shows the details and where people are willing to shore up on and really adjust. I think it shows your coaching staff, you know, kind of how good they are and the little changes that they make.

because it might not be anything massive, but it's the little inches in these games that truly matter. And so I love the playoffs. I'm a very high IQ player. I love that part of the game. I love the film breakdown and throwing different things at different teams. But I also love us seeing them on defense and what we can do to manipulate them on offense.

And so I love playoff basketball. Playoff basketball is the best. And it is. It is truly one of those things where it's like some of it is, this is what we do well and we're going to keep doing it well. And then the other part of it is, okay, we know what you do well. We're going to try to make adjustments and change our schemes and tactically make, you know, adjustments so that you guys kind of have to beat us in a different way.

You can't beat us with your best punch. You got to beat us with a counter or something like that. So it is fun to go back and forth and understand that, like, you don't want to overcorrect until you see if your best is better than their best. And then if they do do something that, you know, on film gives you guys trouble, then that's when you make the adjustments. It's not over-correcting or over-changing things before you know if what you do best is going to work.

Wherever you're headed, Dejardin is here to assist, helping you with investment, insurance, banking, and business services. Dejardin, proud partner of the amazing race Canada. Watch Tuesdays at 9 on CTV. Stream next day on Crape. I also love playoff basketball, too, because the stars are going to do what the stars do. Like, that's just what it is. I love that the role players, you got a no player personnel.

Like, those are the people who win kind of these close games, right? And so I think it exposes people individually on tendencies on, you know, when I say tendencies like, do we want to force this person left? Do we want this person to, instead of getting a catch and shoot, make sure they dribble at least once or twice before they shoot? Like I love that type of breakdown. And that's what playoff basketball is too. It was just like knowing your personnel, knowing what we want them to get to.

And I think when your team is all in on that and you're all on a string, like that's some fun-ass basketball to watch. No, 100%. And I also think, I don't know if it's like this in the W. I know in the NBA, because obviously I'm way more ingrained in the NBA. But there's teams that literally have been practicing things all season long, that they've been saving them for the postseason because they know they're going to throw something at a certain opponent that they think they're going to see.

Do you guys do that in the W-2? We do a little bit. I think it's more we hold on to plays and keep those in our back pocket for playoffs. It's kind of hard for us to know who we're going to be playing because I'm not kidding. Like we could be anywhere from like fourth seed to eight seed. We don't really keep it in our back pocket for different matchups. But like our end of game situations are freaking phenomenal. We have Austin Kelly, he's one of the coaches.

He draws all that stuff up. Steph is really good at that as well. and like we're known for that. And so that type of stuff is really fun. But I think we defensively, man, I just think we're all just trying to shore up and find three to four coverages. I know that sounds like a lot,

but maybe it kind of is that like we can just dial in on and be on the same page. I think for us at the fever, we just got to be on the same page and be on a string and have a low eye help, have gap help. And when we have that, I think we can really help ourselves and not always trying to outscore the opponent.

Like defense matters and we got to shore up on, you know, on that before playoff start. Yeah, no doubt. I definitely think that the defense is the biggest thing. Obviously, you guys got to make shots, but it's, that's not an adjustment. You can't just say, okay, we got to make shots. Like, obviously we want to make shots.

But if you guys truly want to win a championship defensively is where you guys are going to have to tighten things up. Speaking of the playoffs, Minnesota is an overwhelming favorite to win the championship this year. Not only are they the number one overall seed, but as we're recording this on Monday, they are heavy favorites on Polly Market at 48. It's no surprise that Golden State, Las Vegas are also in the top four. You know, when I look at those teams, not only do they have the best regular season

records, but they also all have one thing in common, which is star power, which really matters come postseason time. You know, we mentioned last episode how dominant the top seeds have been historically in the W, so it'll be interesting to see if that same trend continues this year. Remember, the only team in WMBA history that has won the championship outside of being the one or two seed was a 2021. Chicago Sky when they were the number six seed. And a reminder, if you guys are going to pick a champion on Polly Market,

make sure that you use our code, which is no-haz, so that you can get a $50 bonus when you deposit just $10. That's promo code, N-O-H-E-S. And that is the perfect segue to this week's film breakdown segment because, my gosh, I'll tell you this. I was trying to look up how many championships Breanna Stewart had won in the W, and she has won three. but when I was reading off her resume, she has won everything.

Like, right now I'm on Wikipedia, three-time WMBA champion, and that's just the start of it. Then you go the four national championships. Then she's won the Commissioners Cup three times. Then she's also been an unrivaled champion. She's won FIBA multiple times, EuroLeague. She's won Turkish League, Russian League. I'm like, she has won everything. And so, you know, recently she just moved up into the top eight of all-time lead to score.

So I was like, this is a perfect segue to just highlight her because she has been one of the best winners in women's basketball at all levels for a long time. And so I was like, we got to break her down. We got to show some love to one of the all-time greatest players. You know what I mean? I think something that's underrated about Stewie when people are just watching her, a lot of the times your best player might not always be. your best leader. But the way that Stewie leads and get people, her teammates prepared,

especially in playoff basketball. Like, we talk about the inch game, right? We talk about the advantages and seeing plays develop before they even happen. The reason why Stewie is so great is because she's great at that. Like, she brings her teammates along with her.

She's a great leader. She's a great voice for them. And I just think that she really sets her teammates up to be successful. And when it matters, those people have the confidence to knock down the shot because of her. She's giving and beating her teammates that that confidence. I think that matters. And the more that you break down film and the more that you watch the WBA, Drew, I'm telling you, you're going to freaking love Stewie. She's a beast and she's just a good human. The thing that stood out to me when I

was breaking down her film was her versatility. You know what I mean? Because normally when you go on and, you know, you go on synergy, you start looking and there's a high dosage of ball screens or a high dosage of post-ups or a high doses of isolations, hers were like equally spread out where she has no category that's over 20%, which means she's literally beating you in different ways. And so that's what I really wanted to highlight with this week's breakdown. Hey, we know. So it starts out with her driving ability. You know, she gets downhill and she is a bully. She knows how to use those angles and she knows how to use her shoulder. And you can see right here, she's clear in space, but every single time she gets downhill, she's going right at the defender. She's not shine away. She's not rounding

out her angles. And she can go right and she can go left, which makes her super hard to stop. and you'll see crossovers, change directions, and then if you cut her off on a drive, she also has the ability to change directions with spin moves and get to the basket. So the first thing is, if she's got somebody that can't move her feet on her or somebody that can't stay in front of her,

so take you to the perimeter, and she's just going to basically drive you and take you to the basket. Second thing, if you try to slide to cut her off or you rotate over, she's got mid-range game. I mean, look at all these times where she sees helpside defenders

rotate over or pull in, and what does she do? she just stops on a dime and either goes to turnarounds, pullbacks, or stepbacks. But again, a mid-range package. So now you're going, okay, wait, so she can get to the basket and she's really, really strong. So the only way for us to stop her is to kind of hollow out, which means give her some space and basically take away the basket. But now if she does that, what does she do?

She gets to her mid-y and her mid-range game is automatic. Dude, she just has great counters, too. Like, no matter what you take away, she has a counter and she's nailed that down. Like I found it since being in the lead, the best way to really kind of stay on her is like stay in her pocket and don't let her get to the counters. Like you got to let her like make her force contested twos, tough twos. But she's still probably going to hit a lot. You have to live with a lot with Stewie. But it's it's tough man.

Her package game is nice. And here's what I love about the versatility because you're talking about, okay, how do we stop her from the perimeter? Well, when she gets somebody that she thinks can contain her or slow her down or force her, into those contested twos. She is a bully when it comes to getting deep seals in the post. One of the things that I love is just when players make the game easy, and she always makes the game easy. You see right here in transition, just deep seals, getting as low position as she can. And anytime she has a mismatch, she just starts pointing to her teammates and telling them where she wants the ball to go so that she can get an angle and ultimately take advantage of it.

But so again, if somebody's on her that's bigger or stronger, she just takes them out to the perimeter and can drive or pull up to those mid-range. Now she's got somebody smaller. She's like, nope, I'm not playing you out here. I know that you can move laterally with me. I'm going to take you down to the post and use my advantages. Now, if she can't just get these seals, she still gets great paint touches. And this is where she goes into turnarounds over both shoulders. Half spins, full spins. You don't really know what you're going to get, but you do know that she's going to always remain on balance, which I love. Like you can see, it doesn't matter how physical the defense is. She's always keeping her feet wider than her base. And that's the big thing. You want your feet

wider than your shoulder base so that you can be on balance. You can take bumps and then also you can turn over either shoulder. Some people will give one shoulder instead of having your back to the basket. Like right here, you notice when she pops her butts to the basket. So she can turn over both shoulders. And again, with that defense is just basically hoping that she misses. Now we go to spin-offs because again, she's just so talented. She has so many different options. And spin-offs just means that if she catches the ball and notices that you're relaxed, so you can just spin and get to the basket. Or if you take away the spin, what does she do?

She's just going to bully you right to the middle. She's got a right hook. She's got a left hook. But if you can spin off and you can go middle, the defense has to play you straight up. If you play you straight up, then she can use her back downs. And again, then she can turn over both shoulders. It just gives her so many different options. So because she broke even higher on the all-time scoring list,

I thought we had to give a shout out to Stewie because not only, only is she one of the greatest winners, but she's also one of the best players, and she can score in so many different ways. That might have been my quietest film breakdown so far, but it's because- You're just admiring her. No, I was. Like, I really genuinely love watching Stew play. I just think she plays the right way. She really takes contested bad shots. Her shot selection is phenomenal. She has a great feel for the game. I know we didn't really talk about it here, but I know that she's shooting maybe

low mid-20s on the three-point range. And so maybe you want her to shoot the three. Maybe that's the shot you're willing to give up. But the thing with her is like she's a winner. She can, and she's in the WMBA. She can knock down wide open threes. And so you don't want to give her any wide open threes. But then if you're trying to defend her out there,

she's just going to blow right by you. And then if you send help, then she just has a counter move. And so she is one of the toughest guards in our league. And I think everyone can say that hands down. But I really was just quiet because it. I just love it's like it's magic. Like it's just, it's so fun watching her play. And the way that her team rallies behind her,

the way the team or she leads her team, yeah, I'm just a big fan. I love it. All right. So I want to finish up this episode because right now when we're recording it, it's Monday. So you guys have two more games. But by the time this episode is released,

you guys have already played one game. These next two games, because, you know, as the time we're recording, what do you guys have to do these next two games so that you guys can make a strong playoff push. Like, what is the thing that you guys have to do? If I said, the fever need to do this before the playoffs so that you guys enter the playoffs on a high, what would you answer that question with? Okay. So my first one would be offensively. I know this sounds so silly,

but just move the ball. I think, like, we have got to get our rhythm and our confidence back of, you know, and I'm saying, like, if they have a wide open, and, you know, shot, take it. But if we don't have anything, like, let's move it. Let's get to the second action. Let's get to the third action. Like, I think that is so important, especially going into playoff basketball,

you're never going to get your first action. Every team is always going to take away your first option. And so I think it's really important. Just get that ball moving, get in paint touches, kicking it out. I know we are recording on a Monday. Our last two games is against the Minnesota links. They're number one. They not only lead pretty much every category offensively,

but they're also very high up there defensively. And so this is a great challenge for us. It's very doable. We played them on a back-to-back earlier this year and barely lost. And so hopefully we can get up a lot of shots, a lot of open threes. They're heavy paint help, their heavy gap help. And so that's exactly what we do. We want to get those threes up like you mentioned earlier in this podcast.

And then defensively, I really do think it just comes down to trust. It comes down communication. It comes down to just, you know, executing our defensive schemes and being on a string. And so I really do think it's just getting back to trusting each other and getting on the same page and trying to get that rhythm like we were in July when we were, you know, kicking ass. And so I believe in us.

And I do think that we're a scary team. We're never out of a game when you have the offensive threats that we have. But we really do need to get that chemistry going. No, I do think you guys are almost completely opposites when it comes to defense in the aspect of they overhelp, crowd the paint, takeaway twos. You guys are the opposite. You guys almost never help. no gaps, just basically take away the threes.

And so it will be interesting to see kind of how that looks in a game because I'm going to be interested to see, do you guys make adjustments? Do you guys pull in more? Do they kind of fan out more because you guys are playing against each other's strengths? So it'll be fun games. At the end of the day, too, like, just go out there and be a fucking dog. Like, sometimes I think we all get so technical and, like, go out there and fucking play.

Go get the ball. There's a loose ball. Go get the damn rebound. I think there's like, you can put pressure. you can get all, you know, statistical and technical. By the end of the day, like, go out there and fucking ball out. That's what we do best. That's what we all do best.

So stop over thinking and go play some basketball too. So that was just my two cents at the end. I love that. That is like a mic, a mic drop right there. You know what I mean? That is a mic drop. Just bring the intensity, do what you can do, control what you can control, and ultimately get the wins.

I like it. You simplified winning in a very, very elegant way right there. It was just basically like be a dog. Be a dog. So you guys, listen, I know that Sof has not played her best basketball. I know that she is hunting for answers, but she's going to get back to hunting for threes, as you guys saw. She believes in herself. She's been working it out.

She knows that both the fever and her both need to find her flow going in this postseason. So hopefully next episode, we will be celebrating that you guys did find that rhythm. Your shots back rolling, you're back flowing. So, you know, as always, make sure you guys are like and subscribing, commenting. we do look at all the negative tweets. I told you guys I had to block somebody. He does. He does. I don't. Listen, she's got to be locked in.

For me, I'm always trying to give you guys one on the show. So keep making sure you guys tell us how we can make this show even better. Keep subscribing to you guys stay up to date with all things. No hesitation podcast. We'll see all next week. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.