00:00We have the WNBA Final Four, the Valkyries and the Aces,
00:05and we got the Dream and the Liberty.
00:08Golden State actually beat Las Vegas in Game 1.
00:12The Valkyries basically doubled the rebound.
00:15They out-rebounded them 52-25.
00:17Gabby Williams, 25-11.
00:20It's their first career playoff double-double.
00:22Asia Wilson, 24 points but only four rebounds.
00:26The Aces' 60 points were the fewest they had all season.
00:30And it's crazy because Las Vegas is in its eighth straight semifinal, John,
00:35and the Valkyries just won their first playoff series in franchise history this year.
00:40And this Valkyries team, we've seen what the Bay does for the Golden State Warriors.
00:46How crazy is this that a team like Golden State,
00:49who their first year was last year, by the way,
00:52and now they are going toe-to-toe with the champs.
00:56Just kind of crazy to me.
00:57Well, this is what happens in hockey all the time.
01:00The expansion team somehow magically goes right to the NHL Finals.
01:05I don't think – look, I've watched the Valkyries last year
01:08when I thought they were pathetic, and I'm like,
01:10I can't believe this is what they rolled out for the first year of the expansion draft.
01:13There must not be no talent in this league.
01:14So now, they're extremely well coached.
01:17And the thing about the Valkyries, they play defense.
01:20When the Aces won and when somehow the Dallas –
01:24The Wings.
01:26Wings pushed the Valkyries to the limit,
01:29one of the things I looked at was the matchup of the Valkyries with the Aces.
01:35Because they've got bodies to throw at Asia Wilson.
01:37She's going to get her points,
01:39but the trick about how she dominates is points and rebounds.
01:43And right now, they're keeping her off the boards
01:46because they've got two or three women that they can throw at her physically.
01:49And this is what the Indiana Fever didn't have.
01:52They didn't have enough bodies to constantly throw at her.
01:55Again, they're the defending champ.
01:57They look tired.
01:59Chelsea Gray looks tired.
02:01And these young – the young legs of the Valkyries,
02:04they look ready to go.
02:05They're putting pressure on them.
02:07Gabby Williams looks phenomenal.
02:09But they have people who can come off the bench.
02:12Like, in the Dallas series, the previous one,
02:14they had women come off the bench going,
02:16who is – now, I'm not that in-depth on the rosters of the WNBA,
02:20but I know enough women to know when one of them comes in the game
02:23and gets you 20, and I'm like, well, who is this?
02:26Who is she?
02:28Like, you know, I think they're going to give the Aces a run for their money,
02:32and I wouldn't be shocked at all if they beat the Aces
02:35because the Aces, from a leg perspective, they look tired.
02:39They really look tired from an energy perspective.
02:43And Asia Wilson, in the second half of this game,
02:46she really looked like she didn't have much in the tank.
02:48And I'm interested to see how she responds in the second half of tomorrow's game
02:52because if she looks the same, they're in trouble.
02:54Yeah, and Jewel Lloyd left early in the third with a left leg injury.
02:58Stephanie Talbot missed the game.
03:00So, the Aces, listen, like I said, eight straight semifinals.
03:04And Talbot was a late scratch.
03:06Yeah, yeah, late scratch too.
03:07So, it's just cool.
03:10I just think it's cool that the Valkyries are doing this early in their franchise.
03:14I think that's really cool.
03:15And their head coach is actually an NBA coach.
03:18I think she was a part of the Clippers organization,
03:20so that's pretty cool to see.
03:22The Dream and Liberty, that's the other matchup.
03:25Atlanta leads 1-0.
03:26Now, I covered the Dream last year for Sports Illustrated.
03:30We did a lot of pieces on it.
03:31So, I knew how good Atlanta was.
03:34I knew how good Alicia Gray was.
03:36I understood that they maybe needed one or two more pieces.
03:39Their head coach, Smesco, is awesome.
03:42Like, he incorporated that college-style offense into them last year.
03:46And now this year, putting it all together again.
03:49Jordan Canada had 25 points.
03:52Off the bench.
03:53Off the bench.
03:53She had 20 in the second half.
03:55They beat the Liberty 92-82.
03:58DeJuana Bonner, off the bench, 23 points.
04:01Nine rebounds in her eighth game.
04:03Great pick-up.
04:03I don't know how the WNBA lets these women just, you know,
04:06leave teams and go to other teams that late in the year.
04:08But DeJuana Bonner chose the right team.
04:1039.
04:11She's 39 years old.
04:13Look at 29.
04:14She had 23 and 9.
04:17What do you got on this Dream-Liberty matchup?
04:20Because, obviously, the Liberty, everyone knows about them.
04:23But the Dream, I feel like this team, they're kind of underrated.
04:27I don't know.
04:28The one thing that they added to this team, and you were right,
04:31they needed a couple things.
04:32Natasha Howard has been fantastic for them as well.
04:36Angel Reese being Defensive Player of the Year,
04:39I think she is now underrated on the basketball court.
04:44She gets a lot of coverage for, you know, the Me-Bounds
04:47and all this other silly social media stuff.
04:50But on the court, defensively, there's no one else like her in the WNBA.
04:56As magnetic as other players can be offensively,
04:59she has a level of energy about her defensively
05:02that she brings every single night.
05:05And no one wants to box her out.
05:08No.
05:09Now, this series is going to be –
05:11Jonquo Jones is a tough cookie in there.
05:12And so it's going to be tougher for her against Jonquo Jones.
05:15Her rebounds are going to come down.
05:16But her blocks and her steals,
05:18she took the ball from Brianna Stewart at the top of the key last game.
05:21Smoked the layup.
05:22But took it right out of her pocket.
05:24And so I think Angel Reese has been so underrated
05:27to this point on the basketball court.
05:29Her being Defensive Player of the Year
05:31has really kind of shown her true value level.
05:35And I'm glad people are actually seeing her play
05:37at this ability to see what she really can do.
