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00:03what's up everybody welcome back to another edition of Liberty Lately Dexter Henry
00:07with my good friend Madeline Kenny we are at the FIBA World Cup break Liberty still four
00:14games left in the season we got a lot to get into Maddie how are you doing I'm good we
00:18made it we
00:19made it to the break it's not really a break but it's a break for some people I'm glad you
00:26said
00:26that it is not really a break right still still work to do Maddie's going to be doing some USA
00:31basketball coverage there still will be hopefully some Liberty news coming here and there but the
00:37Liberty unbelievably four games left in the season cannot believe it we are here already
00:42let's start with the latest game that we saw from the Liberty Maddie the response from the Liberty
00:47against Chicago they scored a season low with 60 points against Golden State and then they bounced
00:53back with a 85 to 50 excuse me 66 win over the Sky at the Barclays Center were you impressed
01:01with how
01:02the Liberty bounced back against the Sky after what we saw from them against the Valparais a little bit
01:07yeah just because I felt like you know it was very possible to look at the Sky a team that
01:13the Liberty
01:14even though that they've played all the games Liberty have played with the Sky have been tight games that
01:19they've won and then obviously Cloud had that career night the last time they played and so coming
01:24into this game you feel like you're the better opponent or you know you're the better opponent and
01:30you it's right about that break like people are already starting to think about their national teams
01:35and packing to go to Berlin or maybe you're like JJ and you're going to the Bahamas I don't know
01:41if she
01:41was thinking about but you know she's going home you know Sabrina's got a going home like you know people
01:47are
01:47going to about disperse and so it would be very easy to overlook this type of game like this game
01:53could have been a trap game but I think that overall they responded really well like Han shoes rebound from
02:00a poor game against the Valkyries kind of and then having a season high 19 points like that kind of
02:07personified the entire team's like bounce back this feeling of like your confidence got rocked a little
02:16bit against Golden State but you were able to come out stronger make a point and overall like it was
02:23a
02:23you know a good a win that you can feel good about heading into the break or most people can
02:28feel good
02:28about but we can talk about that yeah most most people could feel good about it yeah we'll get into
02:34listen it's better to go into the break with a victory no matter how long the break is as opposed
02:39to a loss at least you have some good vibes around there we talked about how New York they now
02:43four games
02:43left they played 40 of their 44 games on the season here's the question though Maddie because
02:49I think we've been trying to find out the answer to this all season and this is with any team
02:53that
02:53you look at what would you say is the identity for the Liberty and at this point in the season
03:00do they
03:00have an identity that you feel they can consistently rely on in the playoffs or do you feel like we're
03:06still trying to answer that question this late into the season I do feel like we're still trying to answer
03:12that question um you know we know what they want to do we know style of play is that's something
03:18that's been discussed in length but I feel like this team like they don't really hang their hat on
03:24defense and you don't really like their offense when it's clicking and it's good and the ball is
03:27moving and everything it's you know that's something that like can be their identity right um but when the
03:35ball gets stops moving and the offense gets stagnant then what do you have to fall back and rely on
03:39and so I think it's just this this need for a consistent like full game effort from start to
03:46finish um you know I don't think we there has not been many games where it's like from the jump
03:51to
03:52the end of the game you felt like okay this was against a good opponent like a a hard 40
03:58minute
03:58effort um and so I think that that's something that like they're still kind of doing some soul
04:02searching on um and I think you know with the new coaching staff obviously there was going to be
04:07these types of growing pains and um it's really hard to start from scratch especially with a team
04:14that already has won together and played together for a long time um or or like the core pieces have
04:21I guess is what I'm trying to say um it's really hard to you know okay everything you know we're
04:28gonna
04:28kind of like break it down and we're gonna rebuild it you know and so I think that's kind of
04:33been
04:33part of this rocky season is you know there's people are trying to you know the coaching staff
04:41implementing new things and trying to implement what they want to do in their identity players are
04:45learning it and and embracing it and um there's just bound to be growing pains right so that's kind
04:52of what we're seeing yeah the problem is the fan base some people impatient you know time for the
04:58growing pains it's also been the health factors into this too with this team and it's been up and
05:04down I agree I I don't know what their identity is I couldn't tell you right now that's probably
05:10problematic going into the playoffs um I guess my follow-up to you is do you think they can figure
05:17that
05:17out in the final four games or are we is it too late for that no I think that there's
05:23still time
05:24you know to figure out what they want like I think it's all coming together but look I mean we
05:30all knew
05:30it was a huge risk to fire a coach a year after um she had won you the championship even
05:38if there was
05:39this disconnect that was happening or or like maybe if the front office felt like Sandy was not able to
05:45maximize the talent on this roster but bringing in a new coach a new staff like there were high
05:52expectations there was championship expectations and Chris DeMarco's first season and the team just
06:00hasn't lived up to those expectations like we've seen flashes of greatness and yeah they've been
06:06marred by injuries Leonie Fiembe just missed a lot of time Satu Sabali hasn't played since the end of
06:11June Sabrina Unescu's been dealing with you know was missed 12 of the first 13 games and then
06:18you know had that back issue and now it's you know she just wrote she hurt her foot the other
06:23day or last week or two weeks ago um and missed a game for that and then she tells us
06:28last night
06:28after the Sky game that you know um as much as she's dealing with the general wear and tear of
06:34the
06:34season that's what she said she's feeling right now she also hinted at like this back issue that she
06:39is continuing to deal with on a daily basis and so you know how much of that is impacting her
06:45play and
06:45so I think that there's just been a lot of adversity that this team has had to weather and
06:49that's not an excuse that's just like the reality and I think um yeah I I do think that there's
06:56enough
06:56time for them to string together um some momentum heading into the playoffs I don't necessarily know
07:06if this is a championship team based off of this now 40 game sample size that we've seen I just
07:14don't
07:14know if they have that connectivity um and you know we've talked about chemistry being better now
07:20with like Leonie Feebich back in the rotation but I just feel like there's some deficiencies
07:25um within the roster and inconsistencies within the play um and I look at like the depth chart and stuff
07:34and I'm like is this is this the championship roster it's so funny because at the beginning of the year
07:39we both felt like there was a chance for it we thought there would be some groan pains but I'm
07:44with you I look at the roster right now and I feel the way they're playing it doesn't feel like
07:49a
07:50championship roster could they be a dangerous team in the playoffs maybe but I still need to see a
07:57little bit more now you mentioned sab Maddie um rough shooting game for her against the sky right
08:030 of 10 she's now 8 for 53 from downtown over her past eight games so a rough stretch from
08:11her to
08:12the point that you just made we know that she's been dealing with the back issue she even acknowledged
08:16as much how concerned should the Liberty be about her now that they're heading into the break or should
08:22you look at this as hey the break's a good time for sab to really reset maybe rest this back
08:28work on
08:29some things where are you with sab as she heads into the break yeah I think that maybe nobody need
08:36this break more than Sabrina um and this like eight game slump that she's kind of been has actually kind
08:41of lined up with the announcement of the USA basketball roster started the on the eve of before
08:46they announced it and I don't know if that I don't I'm not gonna like I don't know yeah like
08:53you know
08:54I'm just acknowledging that that's a fact that she's obviously not playing on USA um but I think
09:02this break is an opportunity for her to as much as it sucks because you know she wants to be
09:06in
09:06Berlin it's an opportunity for her to get her legs fresh to you know just have this like mental and
09:13physical reset of sorts um it's kind of a little bit of a gift right that you have two and
09:19a half three
09:20weeks off where mid-season right before the playoffs like that is pretty unheard of I don't
09:25think that's ever happened in the WNBA history and so um I think it's it'll be really beneficial
09:31for her to have that reset you know you know Sabrina like she's she said she's not affected by
09:35this um she doesn't think it's that big of a deal she said she was even laughing at some of
09:40the
09:40misses that she had in the sky game because it felt like it was just like toilet bowling out is
09:46the way
09:46she put it and you know um couldn't hit the water if she fell out of a boat type five
09:52and so
09:52uh I I'm not worried about Sabrina um because there's this break and a chance for her to get
10:01like right but if it continues on the other end then yeah there's gonna be like conversations I'm sure
10:08yeah there's gonna be sorry I take a sip of water there is gonna be conversation about that too
10:14you look at some of the shot selection it some of it she's just been missing some wide open threes
10:19right and I think that's where you look at players they're gonna be slumped sometimes she's a great
10:23she's you know I'll say great she sometimes can be a little bit of a streaky shooter but we've seen
10:28her find her way out of these slumps before so I wouldn't be too concerned about this now I gotta
10:34talk about your girl Hanju career high 19 points on just eight shots against Chicago when you look at her
10:42and the backup five position has kind of been unsettled for this team all year right you kind
10:48of not know where Chris Amarco is gonna go Raquel Carrera has seen some minutes there we've seen
10:53Hanju there um do you think Hanju's earned a larger role with the way she's maybe played recently probably
11:00more so in the second half of the season okay wait really quick on Han like can we just appreciate
11:06the like pump fake one dribble step back three that she hit that was like that was crazy that was
11:12crazy yeah that was crazy um no I my thing with Han is I offensively I have a lot of
11:21confidence in her
11:22I feel like she she plays within this offense well um defensively is where I have a lot of question
11:29marks um revolving around her uh just sometimes like her her awareness or um you know uh she's so
11:39tall and so long and then you have these like little scrappy guards coming up and with rebounds when she's
11:45in the paint and it's like you know using just being in the right position and and knowing you know
11:51where
11:51to be when and um using your size to like as an advantage you know to shot block and um
11:59grab
11:59rebounds and so I think that's that's the biggest area of concern that or have that I have heading
12:06into the playoffs is is she a defensive liability um and how does that like does her offense outweigh
12:13the defense but obviously you really need her to be good on defense as like you know the center
12:19position's pretty important on that side of the ball and um so that's that's like one of
12:25that like I I think that she'll be part of the playoff rotation of course because they're so thinned
12:31out on front court depth but um it'll be interesting to see how they play her minutes and if you
12:38know
12:38we're seeing her play alongside like the three big lineup with Han, JJ, Brianna or how they're gonna
12:43navigate that it's gonna be interesting yeah sometimes on defense she's looked
12:48yeah you know you said awareness sometimes she looks a little bit lost on rotations and like
12:52you said sometimes not necessarily just boxing out the way she should to use her size um to get
12:58rebounds but all that being said I know a lot of people like offense she's been really intriguing on
13:04offense she's looked more confident on offense as the season's gone on you just talked about that
13:10step that's uh pump fake and step back into the three she's been fantastic are there so we'll see
13:16she's a play she's a very intriguing player because of her size and a wild card for the liberty
13:21and we also know she can be a really good defensive player just she can we've seen her come up
13:26some
13:26good blocks the year in her overseas league so that's a good point yeah that's a good point you
13:33I'm sure the coaching staff was wondering this too you've seen moments from her defensively you
13:38talked about her playing overseas being good defensively I'm sure they're wondering when is
13:41this going to translate to the wc you know the skills are there you decide you can't teach size
13:46right you know the skills are there it's just when could she put it together defensively that's a good
13:50note by you that we've seen the good defensive moments from her overseas so that's that's a really
13:55good note speaking of defensive good defense can we just go back to the golden state game earlier
14:01this week because we know how good the valkyries are defensively but here's the thing they've held
14:07the liberty to three of their lowest scoring games this season total scoring totals this season just
14:12to be clear in terms of total points in a game um what is it about the valkyries defense right
14:19because
14:19we know they've got the physicality is switchable um they can switch everything they don't want to
14:23just say the liberty it caused problems for a lot of other teams but what do you think about them
14:28gives the liberty so much trouble and do you look at that as maybe take away the fact that the
14:35liberty haven't been as good as we thought they could be on the defensive side of the ball handling
14:40a defense like the valkyrie someone who's physical switchable is that the biggest vulnerability for
14:45the liberty in the postseason or do you see it as something else i think the the thing with the
14:50valkyries what they do really well is they slow you down and they make you play like at their speed
14:54and
14:55for a team like the liberty who like to play fast that can be very like jarring and think about
15:01the
15:01liberty and they all said this was that they didn't want to play they wanted to impose their
15:06own style on the valkyries and that just like didn't happen and so i think you know you have
15:12like veronica burton and gabby at the point of attack um and then you have all these like other
15:17players that can kind of fill the gaps and it's just really hard to get easy baskets on them like
15:23they're all so when you talk about defenses like being on a string the golden state valkyries are like
15:29a prime example of that like everyone is so in sync and they also have different coverages that
15:34they can throw at you the zone really gave the liberty a lot of trouble i just think um they're
15:39so committed to that end of the floor and at a time when the league is shifting to such like
15:43an
15:43offensive focus because offense is so fun and um you know we had all the freedom of movement stuff
15:49that like allows shooters to you know um just favors them favors the offensive players what i'm trying
15:57to say um a lot of teams are focusing more on like that offensive end and you know the valkyries
16:04are on the opposite end of the spectrum where even the way that they play on the offensive end
16:09feeds into their defense and so i think um it's not like the sexiest style of play but it's extremely
16:17effective and it's been extremely effective against the liberty and i think that's kind of what
16:22makes the valkyries such an interesting you know team in terms of like the title contention
16:27conversation because the valkyries don't have a top you know 10 player right like in the league um and i
16:37don't mean any disrespect to any but like usually we're in an era of like big threes you know like
16:44the valkyrie or the aces have their big three the liberty have their big three you're starting to see
16:50like the links have stars they have nifisa collier and and the live or the valkyries like don't
16:57necessarily have that but they have players that are all really good at committing to their roles
17:04and playing within their roles and it's kind of an unorthodox like roster construction approach to
17:12have all these like extremely talented role players but it's been again really effective for
17:17the valkyries and so it'll be really interesting to see how that works in the playoffs for them
17:23like whether it works in their favor or you know sometimes in the playoffs he's like you know what
17:27it is you gotta you just gotta get like gotta have that star that can just like get you a
17:32bucket
17:32yeah and they have bucket getters you know um veronica burton can do that gabby you know is having
17:39an incredible year um but yeah i just i just wonder if they're like one player away in free agency
17:47you
17:47know like if you go and get like nifisa collier free agency does that you know but i also think
17:52it's
17:53crazy that they're the number two team in the league right now in their second season and like joe laca
17:58put
17:58out that you know memo of a championship within the first five years and they are in that they look
18:04they
18:05look on they look on track do you do you because you brought up it's funny because i was talking
18:09to
18:09somebody else about this about the valkyries and washington play i love their physicality and how
18:16they play defense i do have concerns about them being able to get buckets late right they have like
18:23you said they've got veronica burton they've got gabby williams who can who's having like you said a
18:28fantastic year and can score but they don't have that elite level scorer right is what i'll say that's no
18:34shade to those ladies they don't have that elite level scorer that she's at the top 10 player
18:39do you still look at them as a dangerous matchup because the liberty could still face them in the
18:42first round it could be that two seven matchup um if the liberty get that is that a dangerous
18:46matchup for the liberty or would you feel like you know what the liberty may be able to figure some
18:52things out by the time they play the valkyries put like this i wouldn't overlook them based on what
18:57we see no no i wouldn't i you know when if we were like listing order of
19:04most favorable matchup to least favorable you know i valkyries like as your your number two least
19:10wanting to play team maybe if the links are number one right right um and you know i've i know
19:18lucas
19:19kaplan and i were talking a little bit about this and he he felt like the fever maybe are a
19:23scarier
19:23opponent than the valkyries are um i i really think the valkyries given the fact that too there's
19:30like a little bit of a mental component with this as well because it's the only team the liberty
19:35haven't beaten this season um and that travel is gonna suck yes that's a great point and you're if
19:43you're playing them in the first round and it's a 1-1-1 series and you got to go all
19:48the way to san
19:48francisco to go all the way to new york and then if it is a game three you got to
19:52go all the way
19:53back to san francisco that is not ideal for either team of course because obviously valkyries would
19:59have to do that cross-country flight twice but for liberty you would potentially have to do that
20:03one two three three times so yeah you know who you know who doesn't want that series to happen
20:09folks madeline kenny she doesn't want she she doesn't i love the day i love well you do you do
20:15but do you want to do those flights you know if the series was a little more spread out i
20:24think
20:24i love the bay too yeah if it was like if it was a more like a bigger series you
20:29know like i would
20:30yeah i would love for the wnba to get away from the three game series but i also understand
20:35why they do it because if you have a 44 game season it would be a little crazy to have
20:41a 20 a
20:41potentially like what 21 game playoff playoff you know if you go seven seven all three rounds it's
20:49so i understand that but um the three gate three the best of three series are a little killer i
20:56think
20:56especially when you don't have conferences and it's very like there's potential for you to have to fly
21:01across the country yeah i yeah that's that's all i think i agree valkyries are a dangerous matchup
21:09liberty should it's a great point by you about the travel so we'll see what do you think the
21:14liberty should do to prioritize these final four games right is it a should it be about improving
21:19their playoff seed trying to move up they're in the eighth spot right now but there is still
21:23potential they can move up as high as four um or five do you or should they use those games
21:29to just
21:29hey let's let's get the rotation right let's get healthy how do you think they should prioritize
21:33these final four games this season i think it's getting the rotation right and getting help like
21:37being healthy um you know i think because of the way the standings are and how congested they are
21:46and knowing that the liberty have to play like the the links and then they have the dream twice like
21:52that's three of your last four games um it is going to be
21:59like i don't know how much you can really like play the system you know what i mean in the
22:04sense of
22:05like we want to finish at this seat this is what we have to do to get it done because
22:08there's going
22:08to be a lot of other factors that you can't control you know like if the wings went out what
22:13does that
22:13do for the standings and or or you know another team or or whatever it might be and so i
22:18think
22:20the liberty's priorities should be just themselves in terms of like getting the rotation right you
22:25figuring out like an identity um play getting the reps of like chemistry and and playing together as a
22:33unit i almost wonder if you know does chris look at tinkering with the starting lineup again you know
22:39do you see rebecca allen like plugged back in the starting lineup move leo to the two type situation
22:46um those are some that lineups look pretty good when when they've had minutes together that lineup
22:52we have beck allen in there with leo to two that that lineups look pretty good yeah yeah like i
22:56don't
22:56have the advanced stats on it i haven't looked at like the net rating of that five player lineup but
23:00but from the eye test yes i agree with you um and i think then like having a pauline come
23:05off the
23:06bench and you know provide like be the leader of that second unit type thing like i think that that
23:10could be potentially really effective um and so yeah that's what i think you have to focus on is just
23:18like figuring your own stuff out before the playoffs start don't worry about the standings you can't
23:24really affect you can't really like control it because there's so many like factors beyond their control
23:29yeah that that's where the drop in the golden state game was kind of huge it would have given
23:34them you know they would have been up on dallas still by game they've lost that now dallas is a
23:38tiebreaker there's a whole bunch of tiebreaker situations um in there and we'll see what happens
23:43with liberty so i guess the last thing for me is you and i both look at this team we
23:47do not think that
23:48they are a champ or at least we're not sure if they're a championship roster right now when they
23:53return from the world cup break what's the single biggest question that you feel like this team has to
23:58answer for you to believe that they could actually make another championship run what would you say
24:05that is that's a hard question because i feel like four games versus like the 40 that we've seen
24:12like you know like if you buckle down on these four games sure yeah like i'll be confident like you
24:18have momentum going into the playoffs if you look like a team that is playing a full 40 effort and
24:24uh things are clicking and you're locked in on defense and and defensively the team hasn't been
24:30better with leo obviously no brainer why um but i think i think the yeah the biggest thing is just
24:39like putting it all together now and doing it on a nightly basis as opposed to like you know we
24:45have
24:45a good first half of not the great second half or like vice versa or maybe it's whatever it might
24:52be
24:52uh maybe it's this quarter good this quarter not great or this game good this game not great and so
24:58i think it's just about like finding that consistency that they've been in search of all season yeah i i
25:07don't know if there's anything it's gonna sound bad they would have to be a real force in the final
25:15four games for me maddie like like you need to drop in 20 and yeah brianna with like you know
25:24a double
25:24jj with double doubles and brianna like 25 8 and 6 or something like that yeah what i do think
25:33that's
25:33interesting that happened for them is you know they'll get the links coming out of the break and
25:38i was wondering how much that game would matter um the links at the time of us recording this they're
25:45three up uh for the one the one c i think could it was a chance they could have wrapped
25:49it up it's
25:50not wrapped up yet what that game is going to mean something for them so they're going to play a
25:54competitive game likely well depending on what shall reeve and krista marco do in terms of resting
26:00players to coming back from the break that'll be interesting that so keep an eye on that uh right
26:06that game is going to matter how are they going to get up for that game they have the tempo
26:10and then
26:11they have two games against the dream which could matter for the liberty if they want to move up
26:16there's a chance they could try to pass or catch the dream i just want to see the focus is
26:22going to
26:22be important to me maddie and then how they play in those games defense is going to be the number
26:30one
26:30thing how are they connect are they more connected defensively if i see that that's good now we could
26:35say all that and they can play good and then it's going to we'll be talking about this in a
26:38couple of
26:38weeks i'm sure and we have a good idea for the fans we'll do like our playoff preview and be
26:42like
26:42this can go all the way well if you say that i'm going to be shocked if you say that
26:48i'll be a little
26:51i'll be a little bit shocked yeah um we it could change but i would have to see a lot
26:57for me it'll be
26:58more connectivity defensively and if you see that then i'd be intrigued but what i was going to add is
27:04well it also will depend on the matchups we just talked about how we think golden state is a
27:08tough matchup there's a possibility they could play the links in the first round and they've
27:12looked like the best team in the league all season i'm sure we'll talk about this more in a couple
27:16weeks but it'll be like are the liberty primed to truly upset one of those teams maybe but hey and
27:24there's also a world where maybe you have the fever in the first round and if you make it that
27:28far
27:28then you have the valkyrie so you're facing the league's best offense and then the league's best
27:32defense are you you know yeah there's a lot of it'll be an uphill battle yes it'll be one of
27:39the toughest battles there's no easy path right there's no easy path for them at all but this is
27:45why they play the games we'll see what the liberty do four games left in the regular season they are
27:49at
27:49the world cup break maddie gets sort of a break which is good so everybody she look she might need
27:56the break in case she has that first round series where she's got to go to the bay and come
28:00back to
28:00new york in a very short period of time which is a lot you'll survive though maddie you'll you'll
28:05you'll be okay uh we will see how the liberty uh handle things hopefully get some good rest over
28:10the break maddie will be covering uh some of team usa we'll see how they do at the feeble world
28:15cup
28:16that is going to do it for this edition of liberty lately for the great madeline kenny i'm dexter
28:20henry we'll catch you next time another edition of liberty lately peace
28:24you
28:27you