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00:03Welcome back, everybody, to another edition of Liberty Lately, Dexter Henry and Madeline
00:07Kenney. We are here at the Barclays Center for this episode, this following a big win
00:13for the Liberty over the Indiana Fever, 109 to 102. It was a really good one. This felt
00:21like a big game, especially what we saw happen earlier in the week in Chicago, disappointing
00:26loss for the Liberty. This felt like a big one. Look, there's a lot, I'm going to be honest
00:31with you, there was a lot going around this game, outside of this game. There's a lot of
00:35subplots leading up to it. Yes, to this game, but the energy in the building, it felt playoff-like,
00:40I would say, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Liberty knew that this was a big one coming
00:45in, but then they responded as such. Were you surprised a little bit about that, considering
00:50the magnitude of this game? It felt like they really needed a win, but were you surprised
00:54by how they responded tonight? I don't think I was surprised at how they responded, just
00:57because they knew what was at stake tonight. All the talk out of practice yesterday, which
01:02is Friday, the day before the game, was all about the fact that this wasn't just another
01:08regular season game. Like, Indiana, the two previous times they played in Indiana, Liberty
01:14got embarrassed. Both of them were like demoralizing losses that the team really had to look at itself
01:20in the mirror. And now they're coming into your territory, your house. Let me tell you,
01:27when the teams were warming up, there was a lot more Fever fans in the arena than there
01:32were Liberty fans. Like, I would say, potentially, three Fever fans to every one Liberty fan. Now,
01:37obviously, that evened out as the whole entire arena got filled. It was a sold-out crowd,
01:43and there was as many cheers for, you know, both teams. And as Sabrina said, we were quick to silence
01:49those Fever fans. This is true. Yeah. Yeah. And so, it was a huge win. They needed it. They proved
01:57to themselves that they can beat, you know, title contender. They can hold on to a win. And we're
02:03going to talk about, like, a lot of different things about this game. Yeah, there's a lot of
02:06different things about this game. You said that, you know, they proved something in this one,
02:10right? That they could beat a title contender, a team that's ahead of them in the standings that
02:14had kicked their butt the last couple of times, put up 106 on them. And we know how good the
02:18Fever
02:18offensively put up 102 here in this game and in this win. Do you think this was sort of a
02:24pride
02:24check for the Liberty here? Like, kind of, let's see where your heart is at in this game, especially
02:30after what they did to you last time. And do you like how they responded, particularly defensively
02:34in this contest? Liberty led for the entire second half until Kelsey Bitchell,
02:40buttery three that she just sank, tied it up at 100 apiece. Yeah. And the Liberty could,
02:48it could have gone one or two ways with this team. And we've seen it go the not so great
02:52way where things just start to unravel and they struggle to close out the game. But this
02:57time they really buckled down. There were, and they managed to just, you know, put, impose
03:03themselves. And the entire game they were playing the way they wanted to play. They weren't playing
03:07to the Fever style. They were really dictating the way that they wanted to play, which I
03:11think was a big key heading into this game. And defensively, because you mentioned it,
03:16you know, the whole team felt like this was a really connected effort, which hasn't always
03:20been the case for them. Some, they've talked about, you know, going on these islands and
03:25sometimes separating when things get tough. And today it felt like they were very connected
03:29as a unit, obviously getting Leonie Feebich back really impacts things on that end of the floor.
03:34And it's, it's funny because you're like, it was a great defensive game. The Fever still scored
03:40102 points, but in general, I would agree with them that they, they just seemed a lot more locked
03:46in on what the game plan was. And, you know, the rotations were crisper. And so I think, you know,
03:51were there mistakes that happened? Yeah, but that's bound to happen. It's a basketball game.
03:55You know, these, there's ebts and flows to it. You have to maintain runs, but I think overall,
04:01you know, today was a step in the right direction, you know, something that they can really build off
04:06of, you know, heading into the Fever break. It feels like it. I need one more game before
04:10the Fever break. We'll get into that in the schedule too. We talked in the last episode about
04:14what does it look like if they get healthier, right? If they get Leonie Feebich back, if they get
04:19Satsu Sabli back. Well, we don't know when Satsu Sabli is coming back or if she's coming back,
04:22but they did get Leonie Feebich back in this game against the Fever. And boy, she looked good.
04:2820 points, five rebounds, five assists, second on the team and scoring. It was like you saw her
04:34impact immediately in this one on both sides of the ball. But to me, to me, maybe you felt the
04:40same
04:41way. The most impact you saw from her was just defensively. Her being on the floor seems like
04:45it connected everybody else. What did you make of her impact and how big do you think it would be
04:49for
04:50this team down the stretch? Yeah. I mean, Leo said that the last week she was suffering
04:53because she felt like she was good to play. Obviously, the performance and medical staff
04:58felt like maybe she should hold out for a little bit longer. But she was itching to get back out
05:03there. And you could tell just by the way that she was playing that she looked like somebody that
05:08had not played basketball in seven weeks, but really wanted to. She did not have any rust,
05:13which she even kind of said she was surprised at how good of a night she had. Because obviously,
05:18a player coming off a long layoff, you expect maybe a little bit of a feeling out period as
05:22the game goes along. But, you know, her first she had the she assisted on the first points of
05:28Liberty game. She had a hook shot to score the second points. I mean, she, her fingerprints were
05:34all over tonight. And her defensive efforts on like Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark in particular,
05:39when I saw that Alexa Philippou from ESPN tweeted this out, but when Leonie Feebich was the primary
05:46defender on Caitlin Clark, she held her to two of seven shooting.
05:50I didn't see that stat. That's a really impressive. And we talked about that before, right? How they
05:54just, well, the team before she came back didn't have the players to stay in front of elite guards,
05:59offensive guards, like Kelsey Mitchell, like Caitlin Clark. We saw that tonight.
06:03Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, definitely. I mean, Leonie Feebich is your best point of attack
06:07defender. She, and she is such like a connected tissue to this team in the sense of the way that
06:14she impacts both ends of the floor and she can kind of have like an underrated game.
06:18It was great to see her show a little bit of emotion. She had that and one layup and she
06:22like
06:23roared is the best way to explain it to the crowd. And it was kind of, you know, yeah, yeah.
06:27She's
06:27more, she's usually like stoic and doesn't really show her emotions. And it was kind of,
06:31you know, fun to see, but I think that was also like, uh, I'm back. It feels good to be
06:35back moment.
06:36And you heard it from the team, you know, after this game, they really talked about how much they loved
06:40having her back. They loved the impact that she brings to this team. Everybody said it sad,
06:44talked about it after the game. And I think another woman who had a fantastic game in this
06:48one was John Paul Jones, very strong first half, uh, had another double, double with 19 points.
06:54And how many boards did she have here? 19 and 10, sorry, 19 and 10. She had 19 and 10
06:59in this one.
07:01You've talked a lot about JJ establishing her presence down low and we can wax poetic about our
07:06offense and how she attacked the Leo Boston in this game. But defensively, I thought this was
07:11one of her sound performances defensively of the season. Would you agree? Yeah. I mean,
07:15it felt like from the get go that she was like emotionally locked in and you could just tell
07:20she was kind of being ferocious with, uh, or maybe ferocious isn't the right word, but just,
07:25she was locked in like a play, like playoff JJ. It felt like there was a next level of like
07:32just
07:32intensity and intentionality on defense, um, effort wise. She was putting in a lot of effort.
07:38She made a Leo Boston work for all of the points that Boston got tonight. And so I think, yeah,
07:43this was one of JJ's better, you know, defensive efforts, maybe even the best one of the season,
07:47but it also, you know, goes into that whole thing that we were just talking about. Like this was a
07:52very connected defensive effort tonight with the team in general. And so I think,
07:56you know, um, again, building block game, this is a game that you, you celebrate,
08:02you feel good about, you savor it, but also you want to take that next step. You don't want to
08:06take a step backwards. And that was also kind of the, um, resounding message from the team
08:11afterwards. Yeah. It seems like they really want to build on this one. One other play I want to
08:14highlight in this one to me was Pauline Ashley. I know when people look at the stat sheet in this,
08:18I'm looking at it right here, eight points, two assists, um, you know, three total rebounds,
08:25two or five from the field. But when you look at how she's playing recently, she's closing these games,
08:29um, against elite guards, her pressure, even against Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell in
08:33the final quarter, which Liberty did not have a good offensive fourth quarter. Like we can say
08:37that, but defensively, they got the stops when they needed to. And she was a big part of that.
08:41How impressed are you with her closing these games as a rookie? And I know Leonie Fieber
08:47actually said, she's not a rookie. I don't look her as that she's played in big games. So maybe we
08:51shouldn't be that shocked with what we're seeing from Pauline Astier, but how big is it for this
08:55Liberty team that how impressive she's been all season to now be closing these big games for them?
09:00Yeah. I mean, talk to anyone around the league or within the Liberty and they'll all tell you,
09:05Pauline Astier is not a rookie. She has been a pro overseas for so long. She's played Euroleague. And
09:11so, um, this wasn't a huge adjustment for her. Uh, obviously there's areas of her game that she has
09:17room to grow and improve. And I think we've even seen where she hit that rookie wall, like in late
09:22July, um, where there was fatigue setting in from playing year round. I think also defenses
09:28tried kind of figured out how to, uh, stop her from getting to the rim a little bit. And so
09:33she's,
09:34she, that's an area of growth that she has to continue to work on. But I think today, you know,
09:37she did a good job. She's done a really good job with her composure and not allowing, um, mistakes or,
09:44or, you know, challenges get to her. Um, and I think you see that with like her poise and the
09:53way that she plays and she plays with a lot of confidence and, you know, the team is really
09:57confident in her. And I think that kind of allows her to, to excel in like big moments.
10:03Yeah. And we're really seeing it now. I can't believe that we are here. It feels like we just
10:07did a season preview two days ago, but it's not that we've six games left in the season, Maddie,
10:14six, six games left in the season at the time of recording this. So I wanted to look at the
10:18schedule, right? Because we've got the value. You get a little bit of a break. I'm happy for
10:22you with that. Well, Maddie's always working. We're always, yeah, I mean, no games to go to.
10:26Yeah. Yeah. I should say, let me be clear. No, the team, the team gets a break from me.
10:30It's probably, that's more appropriate. That's probably more appropriate. And Maddie still will
10:33be working, doing coverage on the team. Not like she's just going away, but get to breathe
10:38for some games. Liberty don't play again until Thursday when they host the Valkyries, number
10:42two team in the WNBA right now in terms of standings. Then they host. Best defense too.
10:46Best defense in the W, right? Then following the break, they've got the Sky at Minnesota,
10:54at the Lynx, at the Tempo, and in two games to close out the season here at the Barclays
10:59Center against the Dream. So six games left. The time of us recording this, they're a game
11:06behind the Dream in the standings. Dream we're playing at the time of us recording this.
11:10This could be very interesting, I think, for fans thinking about, can they move up, right?
11:16Can they go up in the standings right now? Can they leapfrog? Can they get from where they
11:21are at five, possibly to three? Is that possible? How do you look at this schedule for the Liberty
11:26as it plays out right before the World Cup break and then when they come back? And do
11:31you think this team can close the season really strong and win a majority of these games?
11:35I mean, it's not going to be easy, obviously, but you're going from playing the best offense
11:39to now you're going to, you have a few days, more than a few days, several days, to prepare
11:45for the league's best defense. And the offense tonight was, as I think I said earlier, just
11:50really the ball was zipping and things were going in their way. So many, like Sabrina's,
11:56Kansas to Brianna Stewart in transition, which is just such a beautiful thing to see.
12:01Oh, yeah.
12:02But I think their offense is obviously going to be really tested and their defense, you
12:07know, they feel like they've made a step forward today. Fever still scored a lot of points.
12:12Fever also have, you know, Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark on their team, two elite scorers.
12:17I think Kelsey Mitchell, best scorer in the WNBA.
12:20Okay. Um, and yeah, um, I don't think that's a hot take, but I think it's going to be a
12:28huge, it's going to be another big game for them, obviously, because you also don't want
12:31to go into the break with like that sour taste of, ooh, we dropped the last one. And so I
12:36think, again, it's going to be another, um, got to treat it like a playoff game. Got to
12:41prepare for it. Got to take it seriously. You got to put your pride on the line to a certain
12:44degree. The Valkyries are the only team the Liberty haven't beaten this season. And so I think
12:49that's another thing that, you know, you got to consider. And so, and then out of the
12:54break. Yep. Uh, Chicago. Yeah. You got a little appetizer with Chicago. I mean, but
12:59look, Chicago's like Chicago's played them well all season. Like the Liberty's two wins
13:04were both by one point. So, um, and then you have Natasha Cloud just go nuclear and have
13:09a career night. I mean, that was personal. That was personal. Maddie, I was, you were there
13:15in the building and I'm watching from home and I was like early on that game, Tasha,
13:19it's a couple of shots. And I was like, she's looking at the bench. I said, Oh, okay. I
13:22knew, I knew what kind of time she was on that night. So that was personal. So you, to your
13:26point, you could never discount a team like that with a player like Tosh and how she's
13:29going to play. And Sidney Taylor. Sidney Taylor and how they're going to elevate their
13:32game. You're right. Are they playing for the playoffs? No, but they still want to get
13:36wins. Pride. Those women have pride, right? Yeah. And they are going to play hard there.
13:41And then we talked about the links. That's an interesting game because what will they
13:44have to play for? They could have the number one seed wrapped up. That is very interesting.
13:48Those games against the dream. Are they resting people? Are they resting people or not?
13:50Not really Cheryl Reeves get down and how she. Yeah, yeah. I don't anticipate her doing
13:54that, but. But interesting. And then those games against the dream who at the time of
13:58this recording this are a game ahead of them. Those can be huge. Both those games are
14:02here. That could give the, it could be for Liberty and the dream playing for home court
14:06in the first round. Could be for them. They could still have a chance at three. It's, there's
14:09so much to be determined. You'd like to see the Liberty play good here down the stretch.
14:13I mean, definitely. Cause you always wanted momentum heading into the playoffs. But I
14:17think that like, it feels like they haven't played the dream in forever, right? Like maybe
14:20June. June. I think it was early June. Yeah, it's been a minute. And these two, both these
14:25teams are not what they were when they did play each other. And so I think that's like
14:29the other thing heading into those games is it's kind of a question mark on what it's
14:33going to look like. Right. Because we haven't seen them match up. And so, you know,
14:37Liberty have been a really good rebounding team all season. Dreamer known for the rebounding.
14:42They have Angel Reese who leads the league in rebounds. And so I think that that's going
14:47to be a battle inside. It's going to be a fun, fun two game series. It's kind of going to
14:53have a little bit of a playoff feel just because you're playing them back to back, you know?
14:59But I do think, you know, as you start to look at seating, if you're the Liberty, obviously
15:04you want to win as many games as you want. But also, where do you want to be in the
15:09bracket?
15:09You know what I mean? Yeah. And so that's kind of something fun to start like looking at
15:15because it would be, do you want to avoid playing the Lynx all the way until potentially
15:20the finals? You know, I think I looked at it the other day and there was a potential that
15:26the Liberty were going to have to play the Fever and then potentially the Valkyries. And
15:30then if you made it that far, it would be the Lynx. That would be not an ideal route
15:35to the finals. But that's kind of like the fun of all where we're at now. And the uncertainty
15:41within the standings is we can look at all these different maps and brackets and what
15:45is it going to be?
15:46You don't know. That's why they play the games. We've got to see what happens when they
15:49play the games. It's going to be interesting for the Liberty. One more game before the break,
15:53then they come back five left to play, six games left in the season. But this is probably,
15:57I could say the most inspiring win of the season. You could argue it's one of their best
16:01wins of the season with everything that's come back with Leone coming back. We'll see
16:04how it goes from there. But it's going to be really good. Some people are going to look
16:08at your fit and they're going to say you were out here wearing Fever colors today.
16:11People might say that, but also Christmas.
16:14Yo, that's it. Christmas came early for the Liberty in August. So Maddie and I got the green,
16:19Maddie had the red. It feels like it's too early to be talking about Christmas.
16:22Hey, here we are. Maddie's going to have a couple of days off before she has, not days
16:29off. I shouldn't say that. A couple of times before she doesn't have another game to cover
16:33on Thursday against the Valkyries. Let us know in the comments what you think about the Liberty.
16:37Do you think they can close this stretch really well in their final six games? And what do you
16:41think about their big victory over the Fever here at the Barclays Center? For the great
16:46man, LaKenny, I'm Dexter Henry. We'll catch you next time on Liberty Lately.
16:52Bye.
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