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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. There's a lot of bemoaning the state of New York pro sports these days. The Mets and Yankees didn't make the playoffs, the Jets and Giants have losing records, but guess what, there is a New York team that's not only winning, it's made it to the finals. Yes, I'm talking about the New York Liberty, in case you didn't know, a super team that's living up to the hype and is about to face another super team in the WNBA finals, the Las Vegas Aces.
More than New York bragging rights are on the line. The WNBA is reportedly announcing an expansion with a new team in the Bay Area today with the sense that the WNBA and women's sports in general, maybe, are finally getting some respect. To talk about the Liberty and preview the matchups with the Aces, like if you've never watched a Liberty game, maybe we're going to help you get ready to watch the Liberty go into the finals, I am joined by Barbara Barker, Newsday sports columnist and features writer. Hi, Barbara. Welcome back to WNYC.
Barbara Barker: Hey, Brian. Great to talk to you.
Brian Lehrer: Listeners, in most sports media in this city, there's a lot of complaining about the Jets and the Giants and the Yankees and Mets and not much talk at all about the Liberty, so this is your opportunity here. Let's hear some crowing from Liberty fans. What are you watching for as these two teams meet on Sunday? What do you love about any of the Liberty players in particular?
Give our other listeners a viewer's guide and maybe we'll get a few more into the house. I don't mean physically sell tickets. It's going to be on Channel 7. 212-433-9692. If you can't get through, you can text that same number, 212-433-WNYC. Let's start assuming ultimate interest, zero knowledge. How good is this team?
Barbara Barker: These are the two best teams ever to face each other in the WNBA. They're both super teams from the beginning of the year. This is what the league wanted because super teams drive interest. People thought it would end up this way and it did. It's the one time when you want the preseason script to turn out and it has. This one series features the MVPs from the last three years.
Breanna Stewart won this year. She plays for Liberty. Jonquel Jones also plays for Liberty. She won two years ago. A'ja Wilson has won it twice including last year and was really close to Breanna Stewart this year. Just the level of talent has never been seen in this kind of playoff series.
Brian Lehrer: Breanna Stewart, the biggest name among the big names. What makes her great?
Barbara Barker: Maybe because I cover a lot of men that-- If you were a sports fan, to me, she's like a female Kevin Durant. Her shot is beautiful, absolutely beautiful, but she also does everything. She can play defense. She played at University of Connecticut, which is a powerhouse. They have more than 10 women currently in the WNBA probably, maybe even more than that. She does everything. She came here to the Liberty specifically, took a pay cut. She should have gotten the maximum, but she wanted to be here. She was a part of them forming this super team.
Brian Lehrer: She's this season's league MVP, which I gather has already been announced. Then there's the forward who you mentioned, Jonquel Jones, who is the 2021 League MVP. What do you look for from her? Give our listener a viewer's guide on how to appreciate Jones.
Barbara Barker: She's very easy to appreciate because she's huge. She gets rebounds with-- people look like ants around her, hanging off of her. She plays really hard. Other than A'ja Wilson who's huge too, she's usually the biggest person on the court, and she can also shoot three-pointers. In fact, everybody, all starting five, can hit three-point shots, which makes their-- The Liberty offense has an incredible attack. Jones is really emotional. She's very fun to watch. She's one of my favorite players to watch actually.
Brian Lehrer: One more before we take some phone calls. Point guard Courtney Vandersloot, she was also brought on this past offseason, right?
Barbara Barker: Yes. She is a veteran point guard. She's one of the best guards. I think she's 33, 34. I'm not saying on the downside of her career, but she's been great for years. She was brought in. Tons and tons of experience there. Sabrina Ionescu, who maybe some of your readers have heard of because she has tons of commercials, she was a draft pick a couple of years ago, had some injuries, things weren't so great, and now it's really become a three-point threat, and it's pretty exciting to watch too.
Brian Lehrer: Former Rutgers star Betnijah Laney, right?
Barbara Barker: Yes. Betnijah Laney can hit the points and score. It's really a talented, especially on offense, a talented five, which will be going up against the Aces, which are a much more physical team, which means that JJ or Jonquel Jones, she may be the X factor as far as she has to have a great game to counter some of the physicality, there's a good sports word for you, Brian, of the Aces.
Brian Lehrer: Yes. We were talking about the X factor in our last segment, but that's another story. Rebecca in Bayonne, you're on WNYC. Hi, Rebecca.
Rebecca: Hi. We went to a--
Brian Lehrer: Oops. Rebecca's line just dropped out. All right. Let's see if Julian in Boerum Hill is there. Julian, you're on WNYC. Hello.
Julian: Hello. Yes. I love the Liberty. I live right by the Barclays Center. We started going to games because my son is a basketball obsessive. We also get to run into some of the players sometimes. We ran into Dolson at the dog park and it reminds me, when my dad grew up in Bay Ridge, he used to talk about running into Duke Snider's son. I love they're a community team in a way. They're like the high-paid NBA players you don't see so much.
Also, they've done a great job reaching out to our school P.S. 261 to get a group of tickets as a fundraiser for the PTA, so we were able to take a big group of students to their playoff games. It's a good time. They're fun, and they're competitive, and they feel a lot more accessible than some of the big star teams in the city.
Brian Lehrer: That's an awesome story. Rebecca in Bayonne is back. Rebecca, don't press off.
Rebecca: [chuckles] Hey. Sorry about that. We went to see the Aces play them in the Barclays Center. It was one of the most exciting games I've ever seen. The thing that was so great about it was the crowd. Not only did you have a whole bunch of guys there, but the young women. There were groups of maybe 8 or 10 teenage girls or pre-teenage girls all with their t-shirts, their shirts on, cheering together, just losing their minds over the team. It was one of the most empowering women events I've ever been to.
Brian Lehrer: Barbara Barker from Newsday, want to talk about either of those two calls, bringing up the crowd and bringing up the team's relationship with the neighborhood?
Barbara Barker: Well, I will tell you that the crowd, and I mostly cover the NBA, so there's a big contrast of who goes to both, this crowd is so representative of New York. It is multicultural, it is families, it is very LGBTQ friendly. It is New York. Part of it is it's also reasonably priced as opposed to-- A not very good ticket for a Knicks game is $160 or maybe there's one's cheaper than that, it depends on who you play, but there's tickets available.
They expanded to the upper bowl, so they have a bigger capacity just for this playoff series. Because of that, there's tickets available. We're talking $80. I bought really good tickets for my daughter and her friend, talk about young women going, well, she's going with a guy, but really good tickets for $100.
Brian Lehrer: That's Sunday at 3:00 at Barclays, by the way, for Game 1 in these finals. Daniel in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Daniel.
Daniel: Hi, Brian. Love the show. I'm so happy that you're covering the Liberty today. I just wanted to say that I think it's so awesome that the team is doing so well this season. I saw your screener. It's the same level of marquee signings in the offseason as the Mets had a few years ago, but the Liberty are actually living up to all of the hype.
Brian Lehrer: [laughs] It actually worked.
Daniel: Yes. It's come together so beautifully. She's talking about Laney just being the glue that holds the team together and really propelling them over the top. Every time these two teams have met together, the Aces and the Liberty, all season has just been electric to see them. Battling for the championship is going to be amazing with former Liberty star, now Aces coach, Becky Hammon. Forget the Jets and the Giants this weekend, this is where everybody needs to be.
Brian Lehrer: Daniel, thank you very much. Daniel makes a great point. The Mets, the Jets, the Nets had all these big-name signings. Sports fans know who they are and they all crashed and burned. The Liberty managed to do it right. One last thing. I was struck by what I read that Sandy Brondello said after the Liberty won the last round. She spoke of how important this is to the league, not just New York or her players. Coach Brondello, is there a sense that the league, women's professional basketball is on the verge of maybe breaking through that attention barrier?
Barbara Barker: I think absolutely. I've been following the whole sports scene for decades and I've never felt this way. Women's sports, in general, is doing much better. This, in particular, the interest is rising. You talk about expansion. They're going to San Francisco and that hasn't-- It's going to be reported soon, I'll break news here for you, that they're also going to be in Portland probably. They're going to add two new teams. They've done a great job of marketing.
They have a commissioner who used to be the CEO of Deloitte and knows how to tap into corporate. They're in a much better financial position than they've been in in years, and it's-- I see it as a real tipping point for women's sports where it may not get a lot of reporting on WFAN all the time, but there's a lot of interest in it.
Brian Lehrer: Barbara Barker, Newsday sports columnist and features writer. Liberty vs. Aces WNBA finals Game 1, Sunday at 3:00 on Channel 7 and at Barclays. Barbara, thank you so much.
Barbara Barker: Thanks, Brian. Great talking to you.
Brian Lehrer: That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our Daily Politics Podcast. Juliana Fonda at the audio controls. Stay tuned for Alison.
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