Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Shocking WNBA Playoff Update: My Final Thoughts on the LA Sparks
28 Plays1 year ago
Season Here’s My Recap for the LA Sparks season and what we must look forward to next year, player by player. The #WNBAPlayoffs are doing EXACTLY what we thought the WNBA playoffs would do. I give you my thoughts on Week 1 - Round 1.
Check Me Out in Rebound Revolution Podcast hosted by Dr. Money Fun-damentals: Finals 101 with DJ Tricey Trice https://pod.link/reboundrev/episode/a0dc8b89594a3e1925a228f2cbd2bdf8
Subscribe To This Podcast https://www.trindimediagroup.com/show/the-spark-a-fan-commentary-podcast/
Full Video Episodes are Available On YouTube: https://youtube.com/@djtriceytrice?sub_confirmation=1
Follow Me On Tik- Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@djtriceytrice
Follow Me On Instagram: www.Instagram.com/DJTriceyTrice
Follow Me On YouTube: http://bit.ly/DJTriceyTriceYouTube
sportspodcast , reaction , commentary , basketballb , wnba , lasparks , basketballcommentary , losangelessparks , womenssbasketball , wnbahighlights , espn , wnbanews, wnbapodcast
Music Licensing (Soundstripe) MJF5FQQIY2WNV7JR, IOVNUBAW4KHZJZ3F, 2Z1GNFXPBVDMIMKW
Recommended
Transcript
WNBA Playoffs Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
The WNBA playoffs are giving exactly what we thought the WNBA playoffs were going to give with the exception of the Dallas and Atlanta matchup. And I got so much more to talk about that. Welcome back to the Spark, y'all. I go by the name of D.J.TreesieTrees, and this is your fan favorite podcast for the Los Angeles Sparks. Would you thought because the Sparks was out of the playoffs, I was going to stop? Unlikely. I got so much basketball to talk about. Stay tuned, y'all.
00:00:30
Speaker
I want to start this episode off with just wrapping up the Spark season. Thank y'all so much for keeping it locked with me on my YouTube channel. I'm just going through the Sparks season as well as a lot of the shorts that I've done. It's the first time I got a media press pass and was able to write articles and stuff and do all of the fun things that I've been talking about on this podcast.
Future Content Plans
00:00:50
Speaker
I really just appreciate y'all for being in a new format with me. I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to try to do some women's basketball, maybe some USC or something over the break. But I also want to hold this podcast to talk about the Sparks players as they play overseas. Carly Samuelson already is over in London practicing with her team. So I'm going to do a little bit of coverage about that, as well as just talking about some things that are happening around the W. So I'm not sure how long this cadence will stay around.
00:01:17
Speaker
I'll make sure that I keep this YouTube page updated. So make sure you subscribe and hit the notification bell so that when I drop a new video, you know what's happening around a W. I'm going to work very hard to continue coverage and get some players even to come on to the show.
00:01:32
Speaker
outside of this. And the same thing goes for the LA Sparks Weekly show. A lot of y'all have been watching me on Infinity TV. You see the encore show that we got. We will continue that next season, especially since we jumped in in the middle of the season. But me, Fredo Cervantes, as well as Michael Matthew, we'll be doing a wrap-up show here shortly, so I'll share that in
00:01:52
Speaker
the description as always. But that's another thing that I've got going on for the Spark. So actually being in crypto, being a part of it has really been huge and is really what is inspiring me to do the USC season and visit the Galen Center. They haven't released their schedule yet, so I'll keep you locked on
LA Sparks Season Recap
00:02:08
Speaker
that. But that might be something that I'm interested in, especially since we got the number one pick, Juju Watkins on the USC charges. But let's finish up the Spark season. The Sparks had a great season, y'all.
00:02:20
Speaker
Even though we finished out the season, let's see what we actually finished at. 17 and 23. Not a winning record. We technically placed ninth, which we lost to the Chicago Sky. They got the eighth seed, but they just got beat twice by Vegas. That was a lose-lose situation for anybody because the WNBA sees the eighth seed with the top seed for the first round of the semifinals, and it's best two out of three.
00:02:43
Speaker
man you gotta win that you gotta win i mean you can't drop two games in a row and that's what the chicago sky did so the las vegas aces are already pushed forward to the semi-finals of the only team so far looking forward to some basketball here coming up but that was a predictable end right whether it was us or if it was chicago it looked like the las vegas aces were going to clinch that there was no way that becky hammond was letting it go to a game three
00:03:06
Speaker
And leaving anything up for chance, Asia Wilson topped herself again for a franchise high for points. Pretty much put the whole team on her back. So how do we get back to talking about Asia Wilson? You see how I just start going right back into the playoffs immediately. I'm supposed to be wrapping up the Los Angeles Park season, y'all. Please keep me focused today. I got a lot of basketball on my mind. So going back to the Sparks, they did the best that they could do this season, right?
00:03:33
Speaker
can't anticipate injury, hardship. We knew that we had a new coach. So the coaching change as well as just weird things like Lexi Brown just came on for the players interviews, the exit interviews. She was talking about how she had this infection and she was septic and it's like, oh my God, we didn't know any of these things were happening. You couldn't make this season up. There was no plot. A lot of people on the internet to talk about the script. You couldn't write a script for this version of the LA Sparks season. So with
00:04:01
Speaker
What we had, especially with Leisha going down with plantar fasciitis, we also had Ziya Cook, who was a rookie, so we knew it was going to be some time adjusting there. Nia Clouden didn't even get a chance to play this whole season. De'Erika Hamby just had a baby. We knew she was coming back. She really started to cook later in the season as she got adjusted, but we're looking to see more from Dee next season. Ray Burrell ended up, you know, this is her true rookie year.
00:04:27
Speaker
At the end of the season, Rae started to cook and really find her place. So I hope that the LA Sparks can bring Rae back because she has that athleticism. I think she brings a lot of energy on the floor. I'm not too sure how sold they are on Rae, but I think Rae adds a lot of grit and hustle to the Sparks team. And I would like to see more from Rae.
00:04:47
Speaker
Janae, I'm not sure what's happening with Janae, you know, she went out with that injury and she's still been on ESPN. I really wish Janae all the best and if this is her time to step away from the game and go into media broadcasting full time and I don't think anybody would be upset at her. I think she's had a successful career. Her sister has had a successful career as well.
00:05:07
Speaker
And we can see that she's up, she's trending up on her commentary. If she decided, I'm not forcing anybody into retirement, but if Janae O'Goon McKay decided that this was her time to step away from the game, nobody would blame her. And we would support you. Janae, I love your commentary before the games. I think you have a different perspective that you bring to the game, of course, because you are a great player.
00:05:31
Speaker
And you played on a
Player Highlights and Changes
00:05:33
Speaker
couple of different teams and played so many different parts. So I think that really helps. Janae, we'll see what we got there. But honestly, the Sparks need that roster spot for somebody who can really come and affect the game. And if that's Janae, wonderful. If it's not Janae because you want to get into your bag and do your TV dreams, girl, we understand that. We just need a player. That's it. Jasmine Thomas, she was coming off of that knee injury. Really never found her stride this season, but that is OK.
00:06:01
Speaker
I think that is OK. Jasmine is has one history with Kurt Miller, the coach, Kurt Miller. So she has that, but she's also had a lot of experience in playoff situations and just a vet all around. So Jasmine Thomas with 12 years in the game recovering from a knee injury, you know, is like.
00:06:19
Speaker
We want, we were rooting for the best here, but the output really hasn't been too great this season. But again, coach Miller has talked about that a lot. You know, how much can you expect from somebody coming back from knee injury and you're trying to get them into rotations and get their minutes up, but we also need to win some games. So that's what happened there. JC21, can you do something for me? Man, I mean, in my eyes, Jordan Canada is the most improved player in the WNBA.
00:06:46
Speaker
I don't care what the voting says, I'm sure you know the team standing has a lot to do with it, but Jordan Canada has really played basketball this season, right? She's gotten better at that three points, she's gotten better off the ball, still leading an assist, doing her thing, making sure that the ball can get passed around, but with Leisha Clarity, Jordan Canada and Leisha Clarity do something great together because both of them are not afraid
00:07:09
Speaker
to drive into the interior and make plays for themselves. So I'm excited to see what more we can get from J.C. Hometown hero here playing for play for USC. Next year will be her sixth year in the league. So a little bit of veteran status. Avina Westbrook was a hardship player. I don't know if we'll get Avina back. We didn't really see that much from Avina, so we'll just keep posted on that. Azaray Stevens, the same. I kind of want to say she's most improved, but Azaray been putting up numbers, so it's like
00:07:37
Speaker
Now most improved, she's just a rainmaker going into year six of the WNBA. Azaray really turned it up, started to spread the floor, hitting the three ball, playing some great defense, blocking some shots, just bringing that intensity to the game and changing the game. So excited to see much, much more from Azaray Stevens.
00:07:56
Speaker
Leisha Clareton going into year 10 of the WNBA of her WNBA season next year. She went down with a plantar fasciitis injury and came back with a vengeance. The team plays 60% better when Leisha is on the floor, y'all. There are statistics that back up that we need Leisha Clareton on the LA Sparks and they have been doing a great job with locking down defense, being a playmaker, getting those getting those shots, offensive rebounds, really that scrappy, grittiness, right? Leisha is always on the floor battling with people
00:08:26
Speaker
You know, that has really, really helped to add some extra energy to our game. Nekka Ogwuma-K going into her 12th season next year, our All-Star man. Nekka had a pretty consistent season, actually topping herself. She went through a lot of milestones this season. It seemed like every single press conference, they were coming in and telling us some kind of new milestone that Nekka hit. And I love that for her. Girl, get to your bag, continue. She just topped Lisa Leslie for all time points on the LA Sparks franchise.
00:08:56
Speaker
She's truly a LA legend. A lot of people are speculating about NECA not extending her contract. But I think that NECA does business here. She's a smart, Stanford woman. She's a LA Sparks legend. And she wants to retire as such. I don't think that there will be any indicators that she needs to go to any other team. There's no other opportunities, in my opinion, that are more promising than the one that she's in. If not, they're all the same. You got this mixed bag of things that might happen because the W is very competitive.
00:09:23
Speaker
as well as that super team thing. I don't know if it's turning out to be such a great kind of thing. If we look at the New York Liberty, as I'll talk about in my, in my playoff, uh, recap, but NECA hope she said that, uh, excited for next season, Zaya is the future. Love this for us. I'm excited to see more of NECA next year.
00:09:42
Speaker
Katie Lou, Katie Lou has been out with the baby. She had the baby. I'm excited to see her play next season. I'm not too familiar with her game, but I know that she's going to bring some change going into year five into the WNBA. Carly, I hope they keep Carly. I think we should, you know, if Janae is not going to be a player.
00:10:00
Speaker
We need some sister-sister action there. So Katie, Lou, and Carly. Carly has been a lethal shooter in the WNBA. Let me see where she actually ended up on the three-point shooting. Let's see if she made top five. She didn't make top five. Three points made. Diwana Barna, Kayla McBride, Kalia Copper, Bridget Carlton, and Alicia Clark. So, but I know for sure she had to be close. Wait, let me go down the season, hold on.
00:10:28
Speaker
I love the fact that y'all can see how I'm doing this research. Three pointers made, Sabrina Ineski led the whole, just the whole world. I love that for her, Rike Jewel. Okay, so, but her free throw, I mean, I'm sorry, her three point percentage, Karlie's three point percentage is what was the most impressive stat. So kudos to Karlie, I'm gonna be following her in London and let's start talking about
00:10:55
Speaker
the playoffs.
Playoff Predictions and Analysis
00:10:56
Speaker
But before I do that, I want y'all to check me out on a podcast called Rebound Revolution and it's hosted by Dr. Money. I just recently guessed it on that podcast and made all of my playoff predictions. So as y'all start to hear me talk more about the W, you'll see me guessing on other people's shows to talk my shit. And I'm just talking
00:11:14
Speaker
You know what I mean? They're like, do you read the questions? I'm not that kind of person. I'm just literally coming from the perspective of a crazy LA Sparks fan who also loves the game of basketball and watches most of the games in the W. So check me out on rebound revolution podcast hosted by Dr. Money. I'll make sure that I put the link down in the description. It's called fundamentals finals one oh one DJ Tracy trees. And the link would be down there will be a pod link.
00:11:38
Speaker
Loved the show, had a great time, a lot of my predictions are here. But I'm gonna give y'all, now that a couple games have passed, I might change it a little bit. I don't remember what my exact predictions were for them, but I've got some things that I want to talk about for the playoffs. Mostly, the lower and higher seeds are doing exactly what we saw, what we thought was gonna happen, right?
00:11:58
Speaker
The Las Vegas Aces have secured their spot in the semifinals with knocking out the Chicago sky again. So glad that that wasn't us, because I feel like it didn't matter who played the Las Vegas Aces. Somebody was getting scrapped, and that's not our fault, right? So the Aces are 2-0. Dallas leads the Atlanta Dream series. Game two should be, is it tonight? Game two's coming up this week.
00:12:24
Speaker
and Dallas leads now the Atlanta dream this season have confused me so much because not that I don't believe that the Dallas wings could could pull off that win but they were trailing it seems like Atlanta season has been
00:12:39
Speaker
up and down and up and down. And if it's going to come down to grit or any of these things, it just seems like, you know, a loss. You would think that Atlanta would want to lock in one game early, especially when the Dallas wings have a player like Enrique Agumawale and Satu Sabale, who can just go off at any moment for 30 or 40 points.
00:13:00
Speaker
Another 30 or 40, 20 or 30 points. So I'm just, I don't know what's happening in Atlanta. I saw their coach at one of the press conferences saying that they just needed to grow up. It just seems like with all of the Ryan Howard dropped 40 points and they still lost. How does that happen? I just, I don't know. It's not looking good for Atlanta. So I'm, I think I'm favoring the Dallas wings over the Atlanta dream and that matchup. And then New York is playing the Washington mystics game too is coming soon. Um,
00:13:29
Speaker
I don't think New Yorkers gonna let Washington get a game. If they let Washington get a game, that gives me the indicator that they might not make it to be Vegas, to be honest, because you would need to stomp out the Washington Mystics totally and completely, which I understand that's hard to do because the Washington Mystics are one of those teams like
00:13:48
Speaker
Not that they don't have a star player, they've had some injury and hardship as well, but anything can happen with them. They're going to play hard every single night and you really don't know what can happen. So I'd be shocked if New York gave up a game to the Mystics because they wouldn't want to go play in Washington State there.
00:14:05
Speaker
And then the most shocking matchup for me, the Connecticut Sun and the Minnesota Lynx. You couldn't pay me $100 last week to make me believe that the Connecticut Sun would give up a game to the Minnesota Lynx. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a crazy Sparks fan because I am and you will never hear me root for the Minnesota Lynx.
00:14:25
Speaker
But it was crazy watching the Connecticut Sun get beat by Nafisa Collier. Just one player. Nafisa Collier single-handedly changed that game so much that now they have to play in Minnesota at the Target Center and I can't believe that.
00:14:40
Speaker
Alyssa Thomas seemed to be playing really sluggish. Dewanna Bonner went down with a bunch of blood on her face. Y'all it was crazy. That game was like a smack down or as the commentator said, the hunger games. It's like you got all these crazy things happening. These women are fighting for this spot. I cannot believe that the Connecticut son lost the game to the Minnesota Lynx.
00:15:02
Speaker
Based on a lot of averages, I don't think that the Minnesota Lynx would be able to pull in a game too, but that would be stunning. And even if they do pass up the Connecticut sun with some freak, you know, just chance of something happening, I don't think they'll go much farther because then they would have to play the New York Liberty, which is so hard to do with Sabrina and Esq. Shooting your lights out, she is now the season holder of all the WNBA seasons for Three Point is Made, so.
00:15:29
Speaker
Man, there was so much that was happening for the WNBA playoffs. Let me make sure I hit everything on my list. Alyssa Thomas kind of rolled her ankle too. And after that play, I think she came back kind of sluggish. I saw that. So let's see where that goes and what's happening there. But again, yeah, I said everything on my list. Major kudos to Chicago Sky for going up against the Giants of the Las Vegas Aces. Real sorry to see y'all go. Just happy it wasn't us again.
00:15:57
Speaker
So let's continue to tune into the playoffs. Let's see when the next games are. I keep y'all on the beat.
Growing the Channel and Audience Engagement
00:16:04
Speaker
I try to go live on my YouTube. This is something that's new. I just recently passed a thousand subscribers off of a short and it kept going and kept going. So I'm now at almost 2,500 subscribers. So I want to start to get my watch times up and be on my channel more. So that's what this is.
00:16:21
Speaker
Today is Monday the 18th, but tomorrow is Tuesday the 19th, and the games that are going down is the Washington Mystics versus the New York Liberty. That'll be at 4 p.m. on ESPN, and then Atlanta Dream are gonna play Dallas at 6 p.m. If Dallas can squeeze out that win, they completely eliminate. This is do or die for people who don't know. The first round of the playoffs for the WNBA is best of three, and then the next round is best of five. So it's, hey, you drop a couple games, you have a couple missteps, and you completely out.
00:16:49
Speaker
Thank y'all so much for tuning in to The Spark. I go by the name of DJ TreacyTrees. Make sure you like, subscribe, check out my shorts, tell your friends about my channel. I give funny, hilarious sports takes. I love basketball, but most of the time I'm just talking shit on the internet about sports. It's a fun place to be. And I know y'all just watch a lot of the sports and stuff because you go, you at work, you got a lot of different hobbies and stuff.
00:17:12
Speaker
Rock with me, you feel me? I'm online talking shit, looking up stats. NBA, WNBA, G League, doesn't matter to me. Drew, you know, any basketball player I'm interested in. So I thank y'all for hanging out with me. I'll see y'all on next week's episode of The Spark. Stay tuned.