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00:03what's up everybody welcome back to another edition of liberty lately dexter henry madeline
00:08kenny joining us from minneapolis minnesota following the liberties game one victory 16
00:14point victory over the minnesota links might be a bit of a shock to some people maybe a little
00:21bit of a shock to us and maybe it'll make some of the people happy maddie that were uh angry
00:25that
00:26you didn't pick the liberty to win this series i didn't either so how are you doing i'm doing well
00:31and what i'll say about the prediction thing is it's rooted purely on the fact of the matter of
00:38the body of work that the liberty have had this season and they seemed like they the links were
00:44much better regular season team than liberty and so it is what it is i stand by my pick and
00:50i hope
00:50they prove me wrong yeah i hope my pick is wrong too we we picked it on the pv show
00:55i hope my pick
00:55is wrong our jobs look at the information and be fair and balanced and this is what we try to
01:02do
01:02and so i think sometimes that gets misconstrued but i'm glad we got that out the way liberty with
01:06a upset victory 91 to 75 over the links here and alo that's where i'll probably start maddie because
01:13for those of us who cover this team as well as fans i will add too i think a big
01:18question was what
01:19version of the liberty will we see heading into game one then we see them go here to minneapolis and
01:25they win by 16 did what you see in game one do you feel like that performance is repeatable for
01:30this team again in the postseason i think so i think the biggest thing was is that they weathered
01:37the runs and like this you know basketball there's plenty of ups and downs and that second quarter was
01:43extremely rough for them they had seven turnovers and just the last 30 seconds you know the links
01:49hit those back-to-back threes and they take the lead at halftime that could be very uh demoralizing
01:54for a team and the fact that they were able to come together at halftime and then come back out
01:59make a few adjustments uh tighten things up on defense and play a good get good final 20 minutes
02:06of basketball i mean i think that speaks volumes about the the the mindset that this team has right
02:11now maybe even a little bit of the connectivity within uh players and the trust that they have in
02:16one another um so all in all i mean i think that this was definitely a great way to start
02:24your
02:24playoffs obviously there is a tall task ahead you still have to win one more um and you have two
02:30chances and so you want to do that in front of your own your own fans because having to come
02:34back to
02:34minnesota and try to win at target center again it's a place that the liberty have played pretty well
02:39there but it's that would be extremely tough yeah and there's no way you could talk about this game
02:47without talking about stewie um we talked about her so much in the playoff preview maddie
02:52she becomes first player in wma history with 30 plus points 10 plus rebounds five plus assists
02:57and two plus steals uh in a game so she finishes folks with 34 12 6 and 2 considering how
03:05this team
03:06has been so inconsistent that's a word you you've used a ton throughout the season maddie
03:11they've needed her time and time again when you look at her performance here in game one i know
03:16it's a game one but considering everything that went on this season is this at least one of her best
03:21performances in a liberty uniform that we've seen from her in the postseason it is her best like
03:27liberty postseason game that she's played i would say um she said 34 points when one other playoff game
03:32for the liberty but i think that this was just you know a master class by by brianna stewart the
03:37way
03:38that she set the tone early and she continued to sustain that it there's been so many other things
03:43that have been up in the air about this team but the one thing that you can always rely on
03:47is brianna
03:47stewart coming showing up and doing you know holding holding the fort down um setting the tone
03:55willing the team to a win and that's exactly what she did today i mean she her fingerprints were all
04:00over
04:00this game um she was getting to the basket she was getting to the free throw line she knocked down
04:04two threes um she blocked a major shot at the end of the third quarter that i think that maybe
04:11we
04:11didn't give enough attention to because if the piece of collier was to make that three it would have
04:15become instead of a five point lead by the liberty it would be cut to two and you know that
04:20could give
04:21a team a little bit of momentum and so i think that that block was huge at the end of
04:25the third um
04:26she had another one earlier in the game i just think that this was brianna's like just the total
04:33brianna master class and um i don't think it was a one-off thing i think that it almost and
04:41i wrote
04:41about this in my column that it feels almost like a warning like she's she's here and she's ready to
04:48like lead this team this team that has championship aspirations like the only way they're going to get
04:52there is through brianna stewart did you you know because you're there in the press conference and
04:59you know you have the column we talk about it being a warning did you get that sense from her
05:02that somebody's been around her covering her on a day-to-day basis maddie that you know we know
05:07certain athletes they can turn it on not they're just level of going that they care but just get to
05:12another place in the postseason do you get that kind of locked in sense we've been around some
05:17athletes where we've seen that is is that the kind of mode you're talking about that you just see that
05:21focus with her right now totally i even think about yesterday at practice you know i got her
05:25one-on-one and um even the way that like you know she sits down on the chair she's taking
05:30off her shoes
05:31mentioned that it's playoffs best time of the year right and she said no doubt and she said the biggest
05:35difference between last year and this year is the team's overall confidence they feel a lot more
05:40confident heading into this postseason they know that there's still another uh level to their team
05:45effort that they have not yet unlocked last year they obviously got off to that really hot start
05:50and then they started stumbling and then they couldn't really ever get back to how they started
05:55the season and so she thinks that this team has the potential to peak at a right time and again
05:59that
05:59all the the liberty go where stewie goes you know like she can drag this team through a deep playoff
06:07run
06:07um and she might have to she might have to in some some ways and jj even said that i
06:12had a great quote
06:13from jj let me pull it up because i actually i don't want to butcher what she said but it
06:16was
06:16it was really good she said uh when brianna stirrup is playing the way she's playing tonight it's
06:25either get on board or get pulled along so that's that is a great quote get on board or get
06:31pulled
06:32along and that is that is a great one and she listened she lifted it now i think ideally you
06:38and
06:38i both know it's like as dope as this performance was you don't want to rely on it all the
06:45time other
06:45ladies come to step up and we'll mention other ladies because other ladies did step up tonight
06:48i don't want to act like it was just the stewie show but when it came to put the team
06:52on her back
06:53as we've seen time and time again and you've mentioned she is more than capable of doing this
06:57and did this in a game where they needed to set the tone for the series so i want to
07:01ask you because
07:02the liberty get off to a fantastic start in this game just go to first 15 points of the game
07:07things kind of go down in the second quarter you mentioned earlier the turnovers it's seven
07:11turnovers in the second quarter what changed for this team both in your eyes both offensively
07:15and defensively in this game after halftime i think defensively they were just like a little
07:21bit more locked into their game plan and they were a little bit crisper i guess with certain things
07:26uh communication was better in the second half um they just felt like they were more in seek
07:32in sync in general and aggressive and um i think i've already used the word disruptive that's just how
07:38they were playing it seemed and offensively the ball was moving a lot better and leo
07:42was probably the biggest sign of that um she knocked down four threes in the second half and
07:49she attributed that there was nothing that was said at halftime to her about like you need to
07:53shoot the ball more but it was more so that the ball was finding her and that they were making
07:57the
07:57extra pass and that the it wasn't being so stagnant run this one thing and then pop you know take
08:03a shot
08:03and so i think there was just they weren't settling as much they were being a little bit
08:09more intentional with the way that they were playing they had some patience um and in general
08:15i think also cutting down the turnovers was a huge thing for them yeah i'm so glad you mentioned leo
08:21because after we did our playoff roundtable and i apologize for forgetting the fan's name who tweeted
08:25at us and said that you know why didn't we mention leo as an x-factor and when like leo
08:29always
08:30i even responded leo's always an x-factor in my eyes and maybe that's why we all didn't mention
08:35her we talk about the 16 points to eight boards the fantastic defense she played in this game and
08:40in the four threes in the second half and then after the game when i heard head coach kristen
08:44marco talk about the fact that the ball found her in the second half and i think about the offense
08:50maddie it you know i was going to ask you how did new york create those opportunities for
08:53it didn't seem like they were seeking her necessarily running plays for her but
08:58the use the word crisp before and i tweeted this i felt like the ball movement was crisper in the
09:03third quarter and that stood out to me do you feel like that christmas allowed allow them to find leo
09:08in the second half and get those opportunities for her yeah i think that's exactly it like she told me
09:14that she didn't change her mentality you know she it wasn't like she was seeking she was hunting a shot
09:19or like trying they need to get the ball to me right now it was just the ball came to
09:23her and she saw it
09:24was wide open and she took the shot and it went in you know um and i think leo could
09:28be an x factor
09:29for a variety of reasons and i don't think anyone excluded her as an x factor because of uh nobody
09:36saw her as that i think maybe it was just a little bit of a mission that you know happens
09:40from time to
09:41time we're all human but i do think that um her size and length in this series is it gives
09:47the liberty
09:48an edge um and i think we definitely saw that today and so leo you know she stewie willed them
09:56to this win
09:57but leo's performance definitely helped them seal it yeah so the other day when we had miles and lucas
10:03with us for the round table we talked a little bit about rotations and how this would look for chris
10:09demarco um maddie and we talked about what would they do with the bigs and han ju really really good
10:16minutes of this one i thought of you at a point during this game because she had a block and
10:21i
10:21said wow that was as good as i've seen her look on defense and then stewie singles her out after
10:25the
10:25game she talked about her confidence on offense and then her disruptiveness word of the show on
10:30defense what did you like about what we saw from han and i don't want to just single her out
10:35but the
10:36entire second unit that they were able to give new york a boost here in game one what'd you like
10:41about that yeah i mean this is probably han's best playoff game that we've seen um you know the way
10:46that she was was playing like she it just seemed like she was really in tune with the game plan
10:52and
10:52what was being asked for her she was in the right spots um she was minimizing errors and mistakes i
10:57thought she played a really sound game um han deserves her flowers for sure but i think that
11:02this was one of those games especially when i look at like the start of the fourth
11:05um jj and sabrina were on the bench and you know it was that some of those reserves that helped
11:12get
11:12a team going a little bit right and so i think rebecca gardner deserves her flowers for what she
11:17was able to do um there it was like a full as much as it maybe feels a little top
11:23heavy we're
11:23talking a lot about brianna and leo um you know even pauline had her moments um jj you know didn't
11:31necessarily have the to impact the box score by any means but you know her physicality inside um
11:37you know getting nafisa collier and natasha howard into foul trouble early in the third um they're like
11:44this was a full team effort and i think um if they can continue to string together
11:51efforts like this then they do have a chance to go far in the playoffs but i hate to be
11:57the
11:58person that has to add to this but you know we haven't seen them necessarily be consistent so
12:03that's i think where some of the hesitancy comes is it's like okay they had this great first game
12:08they won game one last year laid an egg in barclays and then went back to phoenix and lost in
12:13overtime
12:14and nobody wants to repeat that and so they gotta take care of business on tuesday yeah we're gonna get
12:21to that in one second so i'm glad you brought that up because i feel like for us covering the
12:26team
12:26last year we're like i kind of saw this movie before in in another way one last thing i think
12:31this was key in this game and you talked about the foul trouble that natasha howard got in and fee
12:37got
12:37in in this one as well too but we also talked in the preview about the liberty slowing down rookie
12:42sensation olivia miles miles 11 points 3 of 12 from the field just one dime in this game what did
12:48from
12:49what you saw what did the liberty do again we saw this last friday when they played and were able
12:53to
12:54what did they do to make her playoff debut so difficult here i mean again i think like the
12:58pickup points were really high um they're they're hounding her well beyond the half court uh pauline
13:04sda deserves her kudos for the way that she played against olivia um so do everyone else that took turns
13:11on her um i think that they were just really frustrating there they were really physical with
13:15her um she was you know getting upset about some calls not being called as a few other links players
13:21were and leone phiebus told me that she felt like that when you see a team that starts to
13:26talk to the refs about talks to the refs more and more about like missed calls or frustration with
13:31the physicality and stuff leo said that like that's how you know you're in their heads and so that
13:36that's when you start pressing it a little bit more and i think that that's something that the
13:39liberty did really well and it'll be really interesting to see how olivia miles responds right
13:43because this is her first chance at you know playing the team again in two days and
13:49sherry after the game called this kind of like a learning experience and so you know i think this
13:53is something where you know fee and some of the other veterans in that locker room are going to
13:58have to you know go to olivia and just make sure that she knows that they still have they still
14:02have
14:02trust and belief in her and that um you know she she'll be better in game two the links hope
14:08she'll
14:09be better in game two obviously um but i think that the liberty were really effective in slowing her down
14:14yeah they really were in this one and then that'll bring us to where we can wrap here
14:18we got to talk about game two and you just mentioned it and after the game stewie gave you
14:24know a bit of a warning that i thought was fair stealing game one doesn't give the liberty room to
14:28relax here in game two what's the one thing you're going to be watching we'll both be there barclays on
14:34tuesday night that's going to tell you whether the liberty are ready to close this series out or is it
14:40going to look like last year where i don't say they played with their food but look like they were
14:44not ready for the moment in the least to say that what's the thing you're going to be watching for
14:48on tuesday night that's going to tell you they're ready to close this out i think that just the tone
14:52that they set from the beginning of the game um are they playing physically and and aggressive and are
14:57they being disruptive on defense and are they moving the ball and you know i think that it's it's all
15:02the things that we've already talked about what made them win today and what contributed to success
15:07um it's got to carry over and i think that you see that it's going to start with brianna
15:12of course but um you know jj could do more sabrina could do a lot more um i think that's
15:19something that
15:19maybe we should have talked about but but i just think that there's um it's it's it's just going to
15:25come down to who makes fewer mistakes because again the margin of error in this series because it is a
15:30one one one and because you only have three shots at this like you don't get to play the chess
15:37match
15:37of a multi like a five seven game series and so um i think there's there's an added pressure with
15:43that but if there's anyone who rises to the moment it's brianna stirrup she says she lives for these
15:48moments so yeah we're not we're not worried about her what would you like to see more from from sab
15:53sab and also jj and i do think i agree with you jj was instrumental particularly on the glass and
16:00her
16:00effort in getting other ladies like fee and natasha howard into foul trouble i did think that mattered
16:05but what would you want to see from both jj and sab uh here on game two yeah i think
16:12just for
16:13sabrina in general it's just settling into her shot and being able to like read just rediscover the flow
16:18like remember who sabrina unescu is um and hit those you know timely shots and stuff like that
16:25um today was a rough outing for her um it's been a rough season for her obviously she dealt with
16:31some
16:32injuries and all of that but um i was wondering if she would even enter the game again in the
16:37fourth
16:37quarter because she didn't check back in until i think like four and change left in the game and at
16:43that point the game was kind of over um but it you know she's got to flush this and game
16:50one for her
16:50starts on tuesday and so yeah i'm so intrigued to see how the liberty come out in this one um
16:58we talked
16:58about how leone fieber was bothered by the loss last year to mercury and so i'm really intrigued to
17:05see because when we were game two last year in the first round that was uh that was not a
17:09happy
17:10happy uh team after that game and then it didn't carry over when they went back out to phoenix so
17:15hopefully the liberty are able to take care of business game two tuesday night at the barclays
17:20center i will be there along with our fantastic women sports reporter madeline kenny who does such
17:23a great job covering liberty maddie uh i appreciate you for doing this post game you had a lot to
17:29do
17:29we i will see you on tuesday night uh we will see everybody on tuesday night safe travels back my
17:34friend thank you anytime that's the great madeline kenny i'm dexter henry we'll catch you next time
17:40on another edition of liberty lately peace