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I disagree. Compromise the defense. Compromise it. Make somebody else beat us. Okay? It's not going to be that girl. That girl is on a mission. She's tired of finishing second. So, if it's Veronica Burton going for 30, if it's Kia Stokes going for 30, if it's Kyla Charles going for 30, if it's Janelle Salon going for 30, that's on me. Welcome to Chana today, the heartbeat of hoops. And after eight long days between the rounds, the 30th edition of the WNBA finals started in Bala with a bang, y'all. Because once again, Golden State comes up clutch. Game one of the championship round. Now, throughout the finals, I will have a surprise for the neighborhood. Okay, y'all. I will have special guests. But
before we get things started, I think we can all sense that this is truly going to be a series. Bay Area snatched game one, but Atlanta played with a lot of heart on the road. So, we have to show love to the A as well. And you know who still believes? He always knows what the is going on. Hey, look this Belly Gang Cush, man. You watching Chennet today. Yep. No one that I would rather break down the WNBA finals with than my sis from another miss. Okay. Ashanti plumber. Ashanti. We had another banger in the postseason. How's your blood pressure, girl? Ha.
Especially because this game came down to one freaking possession. So, I mean, it's exciting. There's a lot to talk about, but it's good as a final should be. My goodness. Popcorn, cinema, all the words. I was literally on my couch like this is crazy. So, let's break it down. The Golden State Valkyries held off the Atlanta Dream with a final score of 68-64 in game one of the WNBA finals. And how perfect is it that it came down to two teams known for their defense, elite defense at that who could get a stop. That's what the game came down to. And of course, when you look at the score, no surprise, there were a lot of shots,
but there were also a lot of misses because game one of the WNBA finals had 46 made shots, 47 missed three-pointers. The Dream and the Valkyries shot a combined 32%. The second worst field goal percentage in a game in WNBA Finals history. And normally when people see a percentage that bad Shanti, people are like, "Oh, the game was bad." It wasn't. It was a really good game. You could just see the players, first of all, early in the game, you could tell, at least on Golden State side, they were a little bit nervous. Some of them shots clanked, but still the passion was there and it was just an amazing start to finish despite a couple of bricks.
No, definitely. Uh well, give a shout out to Atlanta who's what number one or number two. You know, this is one and two team uh defensively holding uh Golden State to shooting 9% I believe from the three in that first quarter. So, yeah, the misses in the beginning, I don't know. Let's just call it the final jitters or something because the girls were not shooting it well. However, even though you can see a percentage like that, it was still a really good game. Super competitive throughout. Yeah, it was a great game. And how did Golden State end up the victors in this one? Well, the saying that I keep thinking on the front of my mind, Ashanti, is that you create your own
luck. because when you are missing a lot of shots and I was like if Golden State loses this game they're going to be so sick because they got a lot of attempts. You know, I love to crunch the numbers. So Golden State had 78 field goal attempts whereas Atlanta had only 64. They also did really well on the offensive board. So the game the offense was kind of clunky but they did get spurts and in those spurts I think Gabby Williams emerged in those moments. We talk about that 15-point second quarter or even closing the game, knocking down free throws. I want to salute Gabby Williams because you could tell she was
in pain. She was rubbing her leg after that collision in the fourth quarter, but still she went out there. She knocked down her free throws. She had to switch and defend on the other side of the floor. She had to run and initiate the offense to sort of keep her team in it. So despite the pain that you could see was all over her face, she still showed up when the Valkyries needed her. She showed exactly why she is an elite player that she is. Not only defensively did she show up and get multiple stops, but to explode the way she did in that second quarter for 15 points. My goodness, this girl continues to carry
this offensive load while also maintaining her defensive like tenacity. And that's why we love Gabby. She's the X factor and the reason why Golden State, one of the reasons why Golden State won this matchup. Yeah. And if we're going to list the multiple reasons, it was Gabby showing up despite how, you know, up and down her offensive performance was still when you need her, she always answers the call. But it was also getting to the free throw line because they iced the game from the free throw line. I just thought it was fascinating. Kia Stokes had to go up there and make a free throw and she made a free throw. all of those little things, you know, stacked up for
Golden State to be able to swing back towards them in getting the win. But also, there were other factors to me and I think, you know, I always go back to the late great Pat Summit. Offense sells tickets, defense wins games, rebounding wins championships. We saw in um, you know, over the course of this postseason, the Golden State Valkyries, they outrebounded, I think the Las Vegas Aces, I'll never forget this, 52 to 25. They are capable of doing that on any team and doing it against Atlanta deserves major salutes because this is a team that also Atlanta is known for being great on the Oboards. They only had I believe, let me double check this
out rebounding. Let me see. Yeah, on the offensive boards they themselves, the Golden State Valkyries had 12 O boards whereas Atlanta was limited to seven. This is a team with Angel Reese on it. And on the other end of the floor, they were really good defensively. They contested 45 of the Dream 64 field goals. So on both ends of the floor, they were doing the nittyritty things that may not shine and be super sexy, but when it comes down to a possession, Ashanti, that's why they won. Absolutely. Listen, one thing I'll tell you, especially with the matchup against Angel Reese, who has had freaking 26 rebounds in a game before,
doing the things you're supposed to do defensively consistently, and Kia freaking Stokes. My goodness, what a freaking game by her guarding Angel Ree, making it difficult because, baby, when anyone else was guarding Angel, it was almost like barbecue chicken time. I'm not going to lie. But Kia comes out there and she consistently shows you why she can guard the best post, the best big that the other team has. I want to dive into that. I want to focus in on that matchup because that was my probably my biggest takeaway from Atlanta is that they have to continue to make Angel Reese a threat because when everyone was missing shots left, right,
and center out emerged in the first quarter, Angel Ree and it looked like no one could guard her because the moment Kia Stokes went to the bench, she was out here. You saw what she said uh in the closeup saying, "They can't touch me. They can't guard thee. They can't." And she was right. Kayla Thornton had opportunities on her. They just sent everybody not named Kia and she just had a field day. She feasted. She went through their chest. And my biggest takeaway for Atlanta is that they have to keep Angel Reese going because she did not score in the second half. And to me, there was a play when they needed a bucket. They went to Angel. She ripped through around the
free throw line. I think this was on her right side, her off hand, and she attacked and went straight. And it was an easy two. How do you stop going to that? They have to continue to feed her because her aggression just puts Golden State on their heels. But we have to put respect though as you mentioned on Kia Stokes. She got to stay on the floor because like at this point she just has to stay on the floor. I know Natalie when they were struggling with offense wants to bring in Janelle Salon the reigning sixth player of the year. But what you trade off with offense is the lack of physicality defensively and Kia has always helped them win by being on the floor. Let me tell you this. The Valkyries had 10 blocks. Kia Stokes had four of them.
Exactly. They were all in one. Yes. Major ones in that beginning because you had Angel Reese who's going off in that first and then you block her a couple times. Maybe it kind of messes with the confidence and changes the game. So yeah, she had four blocks. I know I saw two in the first. Um and I think they were game changers. They were absolutely game changers. And sticking with the Atlanta dream, what before we came on, we were talking about like we could literally break down this game quarter by quarter. And another big takeaway for Atlanta is they will need to show up in the fourth quarter because they have talent enough to lead. So for example, the first quarter was owned by Angel Reese. She went to work. She had
11 points in that first quarter. The second quarter, Alicia Gray came alive. And I'm going to put a little bit of a pause in here. Shout out to Alicia Gay for showing up because they showed I don't know how she shoots with her hands double wrapped on or like her fingers double wrapped on her shooting hand. And on top of that, didn't she get like a procedure? I'm looking at her hand. It looked like she had two little I don't know, maybe like metal dots or something. Something's going on. And she still showed up. I saw that, too. I know I'm not a doctor, which is why I didn't say anything. But the fact that you noticed that as well, first of all, her hand looks swollen still. So that's just
what I'm this is just my observation. Her hands still look so and I did notice the two metal circles or tiny little dots on the top. The fact that she's out there competing and still more importantly she's still getting buckets. Okay, it is wild. They needed her. Let me tell you, they needed her. But there is something and we're talking about the second quarter because that's when she started making her shots, getting downhill. Also paired with that second quarter, Gabby Williams came alive. The Valkyries scored 28 points in that second quarter, but focusing and honing in on Atlanta when Alisha is going I the one issue I have is that Ryan Howard has not had Ryan Howard was has not been able to be integrated as
we've seen her in the regular season this postseason. Angel's going to do her thing. Anytime Alicia, you know, Alicia steps on the floor, she's going to do her thing. But for some reason, it's been a little bit slower to get Ryan going. We saw her in the third quarter as we move over to the third, you know, get a couple of buckets, but it hasn't been like she's been that consistent uh threat or been producing consistently where that takes them over the edge. Have you noticed that too, Ashanti? Yeah, I think that in order for Atlanta to be able to beat this Golden State team, they're going to need everyone stepping up offensively. period. And it's really important when you have she's either leading the team
in points or second in points for Ryan Howard to see shots go in early. And I think that's really what the difference makers is. She get she sees a couple misses, maybe gets down or doesn't see the ball again or maybe, hey, she sees that someone else is hot and she's giving it up. But we they need her to get an offensive rhythm and to stay in it throughout the game. And I think that is the differencemaker. Can you imagine Alicia, her, Angel, the big three essentially, and even Jordan getting in an offensive rhythm, they're unstoppable. I already commend them because to even show up the way that they showed up in Bala is difficult. But if they were able to get Ryan going, like you said, early
and often, that would have, you know, increased their lead. And also Jordan Canada, this was probably her first real uh game in which she wasn't able to make as big of an impact as we had expected. And that's largely because she's looking at Veronica Burton on the other side. I mean, the ladies that just get down and in a stance, it's not going to be easy on both sides of the ball to break through. Which is why I was very impressed with Gabby. I was impressed with Angel. I was impressed with Alicia because it's so hard for both sides to get offense going. But I um you know I just still think that this is like before I was like okay maybe this could be five six I think we're probably going to get seven games.
All right let's talk about adjustments ahead of game two. So if I'm the Golden State Valkyries and let's let's start with the Golden State Valkyries. I'm feeling like we stole one because we didn't play our best version of basketball and we did we protected the home floor and now if I'm in the locker room and I'm Nataline Aassi I'm looking at us like we can play so much better and we can go up to zero. But I do think that they need to figure out how to keep the ball moving from side to side. Their offense was way more stagnant than I than we were used to. After watching the first quarter, I said, "Oh, that might have been the worst offensive quarter that we've seen from them this postseason." Not
surprised when you had about 51 days in between the semiis and the finals. I knew some teams would have to take a little bit of an adjustment. But if I'm Natalie, I'm looking at how they played us defensively. They did such a good job of limiting the drives and limiting penetration. Moving the ball from side to side will help. What adjustments do you think the Valkyries will make? If I had to make it into three different adjustments, I think one, Golden State Valkyries need to get more offensive production beyond Gabby Williams. You talked about it, but we need Veronica Burton hitting some shots, Tiffany Hayes hitting some shots, and Kayla Thorne doing what they do. That's what they've done to get themselves
here, and absolutely, they need them to step up in game two. The second thing, improved perimeter uh shooting and shot selection. That first quarter, my goodness, it wasn't like just misses. They were bad misses, girl. And I'm talking seven for 33, okay, from the three. You can't have that. You guys have to knock down those shots, get cleaner looks, move the defense, and generate better catch and shoot opportunities. And the last one, establish defensive intensity from the opening tip. It was almost like ATL came in and punched them straight in the mouth. Can't have that. They have to be the aggressor. This is their, you know, last home game for a while till they go
on the road and they have to establish their dominance from the beginning. Okay, now let's go into the dream locker room. If I'm Carl Semeco, I'm probably telling the dream, hey, we went into Bala and we played a really good game. We just need to win the final 10 minutes. And I think we addressed it before, we need to make sure everyone eats. It can't be us taking turns like, okay, Angel's cooking in the first. All right, Alisha is cooking in the second. Ryan, we're going to make sure we get you good cooking in third. Everyone has to be involved in the attack. So, like it can't just be looking for the hot hand. It needs to be everyone involved in making sure that you maintain that um
integrity of holding your defender honest because otherwise it's easier to just sort of say like, "Oh, they're going to pass it to her. They're looking for her." Everyone needs to be a threat. That's what I'd say if I'm Carl Mesco. What would you say? I would say continue to establish Angel Ree and Ryan Howard early and keep them involved late. You can't have one of your star players like Angel Ree having zero points in the sec second half. You just aren't going to win that way. It's something about her being involved in each player, you know, in general that gets that offense like that gets their offense going, gets that team going.
Another thing I'm telling them is contain Gabby Williams by all costs. Now, do it in a way that doesn't compromise their defense. However, you cannot have this girl beating y'all by herself. Figure it out. I don't know what it is. You guys did a good job in the first quarter. I disagree. What? Compromise the defense. Compromise it. Okay, make somebody else beat us. Okay, it's not going to be that girl. That girl is on a mission. She's tired of finishing second. All right, she's on a mission right now. So, if it's Veronica Britain going for 30, if it's Kia Stokes going for 30, if it's Kyla Charles going for 30, if it's Janelle Salon going for 30, that's on me. I'll take that on the chin. If I'm call I agree. Listen,
I agree. definitely contain Gabby, right? But we ain't going to throw two at Gabby and leave the team playing for that. That go to state team is tough. Okay, before we go and before we get to someone who else is going to hype up, you know, the A, uh, let's talk about our player of the game, uh, play of the game, and then moment of the game. Player of the game, of course, goes to Gabby Williams, who had 26 points, eight points in the fourth quarter. And one thing I love about Gabby's performance, she was not afraid to shoot that rock. I think she shot like 13 times in the
first half or so. And great players know that they have to stay aggressive until they find their rhythm. And that's why we saw Gabby do her thing. Play of the night was uh there was just there were this was a in the mud out the trenches game. So there weren't many like stellar plays, but there was one moment where I was like, "Oo, dang, that was nasty." Gabby hit a crossover, shook her defender, and then hit a mid-range. So, I'm gonna say that was play of the game. And also, I want to commend Balhalla because they have great benery. Anytime someone scores, it looks like just a celebration on the bench. So, Benery is bench energy. And I learned that from Stanford under Tara Vander
because anytime we're playing, she would say, "Oh, our Benery, I went back and watched video. Our Benergy was not there." So, Benergy matters. The energy in Balhalla, I just wanted to give a nod to them. Last but not least, the moment of the day is gonna go to Alicia Gray because to fight through her injury, to work hard over these eight days to be ready for her team and then to be able to show up and knock down shots when your fingers look like dinosaurs. You know what I'm saying? Moment of the game goes to Alicia Gray for suiting up and fighting with her team. Again, we agree, Ashanti and I, that this is going to be a series. I mean, you could not have asked for a more fascinating
game one. Okay. Yeah, it might have been in the 60s, but if you watch the game, it was so entertaining. Ashanti, I love you. Thank you so much for hanging with me postgame. Also, I am coming to New York and I will hopefully see you y'all. Stay tuned. If things work out our way, we're going to do it together. We're going to do our show together. I've been working on it and I'm GOING TO BRING MY MARTINELLI'S. NOW, y'all know we had to do it big with a special guest for the WNBA finals. He's a rapper, songwriter, was named Billboard's hip hop rookie of the month earlier this year, and he's a freshman on this year's Double XL list.
He's also a friend of Atlanta Dream superstar Angel Ree. And of course, he always knows what the heck is going on. You see what I did there? From Atlanta, Georgia. Give it up for Belly Gang Cushington. Belly Gang, thank you so much for stopping by. I'm a huge fan. Your song goes crazy. We appreciate you. I'm I'm a huge fan of the WNBA. We know you are because I love seeing you perform at the Atlanta Dream game. Was that your first ever WNBA game? N I went to uh I went to one a couple weeks before that. What was your experience? I ain't going to lie. Like them folks got some real competition going on.
Yeah. I like watching the girls like go back and forth cuz they be dead serious about them about winning. We don't play around in the WNBA. What was your experience overall though? Because I know you were in the arena in the postseason and it felt like every Atlanta celebrity had pulled up to support their squad. What were the vibes like? Man, everywhere I looked it was a rapper celebrity. Like it was crazy. I went in the uh like the little room where you get the food and stuff. Even more celebrities, you know what I'm saying? But no, it was cool though.
No, that's that's amazing. And we appreciate you supporting. You also performed, right? Yeah, I performed too. Honestly, I follow all of the WNBA teams on social and I thought one of my favorite moments was when you joined Angel on that wind cam. WHAT THE HEY, LITTLE Angel Dream. What the good man? I love Angel, man. She going crazy. Like I had to join with her. What do you admire about what she's brought to Atlanta? I ain't going to lie. Like she kind of remind me of myself cuz like no matter what they say about her, she show up and show out. You know what I'm saying?
What's also been great is seeing how music and sports just sort of come together and it just represents the culture. And there's no perfect example of that than what's going on with the Oh, I Yeah, I said it. What's going on? I'm going to always do a double take when I say what's going on. What's going on with the Atlanta Dream? What's going on then? Okay, so these What's going on then? Let me tell you, it's Disney Airwaves, but you can say it. I can't. You can say it. So, you get all the permission. That's That's your bar. What the going on? We going to say it twice.
What the I got a pocket full of money. I got a phone. You have the hottest song right now in Atlanta. I mean, it's like and it's like an anthem in arenas. Did you know that this was going to be a huge record? No, I didn't. Savage knew though. He said it like that the first thing he said. It's a hit. What's the story? How did the beat come? How did the words come? How did you know that this was like you were about to slide? Yeah, for sure. You know, I always take a liking of like them nostalgic Atlanta flips, which is, you know, it's a shot of low sample. So, um I had already had
the beat in my phone. Then a couple guys around me was just like, "You need to do this one." So, we did the song. Then, um I snippeted it on Instagram. Like, I just dropped the snippet. I ain't dropped the song yet. Savvy DM me like, "Hey boy, who getting on there?" you sign the verse made history. Absolutely. I look I got you all up on my Spotify. Okay. So, I know that hits are going to keep coming. But you touch on something that's really important because it's not about just like one record or one song. It takes so much work. It takes years of belief to get there. Can you talk to me about your journey, man? No, I can't. No, I was just playing. Um cuz that you know you just can't give up man. Like I was saying the other day like keep going.
Everybody be like what's your advice? Oh just keep going but like whole time like keep going really mean like when it start working now you got to have the discipline to even keep going some more. You know what I'm saying? So yeah man long journey but we here though. and not being afraid to pivot because I can't explain again this is Disney airwaves but we can learn a lot through your name. Okay. But you pivoted through the help of a friend who was also in the industry. Can you talk about like having someone that believed in you before you even believed in yourself?
Yeah man. Like my manager Monday he when he met me he was like man you know you got to stop. You know what I'm saying? And like I took it lightly at first, but then like just seeing him how he worked and like man like you know I'm really like still to this day like learning how to be a regular citizen. Like that's how deep in the streets I was. So like that actually was the hardest thing I had to do in my career so far though like retrain my mind how this world work. You know what I'm saying? Like and not do that. But you know it was rewarding for sure though. What was that transition like though when you started really investing in yourself, believing in your voice, believing in your creativity for your
It was like a catch 22 cuz it was like I was feeling so good about like having something positive going on, but I was feeling so bad by like missing all this money. Like so yeah, it was like a catch 22. But yeah, I it all worked out though. Yeah, for sure. I chose to just become a better person. You know what I'm saying? And we're glad you made that choice. Okay. I told you right now got you got the anthem. You're like the mayor of Atlanta right now. Yeah, for sure. The song is good. Look, when we go in there and do that song, guaranteed win. I mean, look, the dreamer in the finals.
Yeah, for sure. Look no further than that. All right. I want to have some fun with you because you're Atlanta all the way through. And so, you know, in sports we do Mount Rushmore, right? So, like the best list. So, the top four. I know it's going to be hard, but I'm going to ask you if you can do your Atlanta sports Mount Rushmore. Atlanta sports, Michael Vic, Dion Sanders. Uh, I'mma probably say who that picture was. Chipper Jones. Um, dang, that's a good question. There's Trey Young. There's Dembe Matumbo, Dominique Wilkins, Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Anthony Edwards. Like, we claim Oh, okay. Cool. Anthony Edwards. I
thought you mean played for Atlanta, but yo, for sure. My boy Ant. And then we'll throw Angel in there, too. Yeah, Angel, too. Okay, so your list, Michael Vic, Chipper Jones, Dion Sanders, Ant Edwards, and Angel Reese. Yep. That's a crazy lineup. That's a solid list. All right, this one is going to be a little bit more difficult, I think. How about this? Mount Rushmore for Atlanta artists. Uh, so like no type of genre. Just no genre. Okay. I'mma go future. I like Andre 3000.
Classic. Love that. Uh, Ti and uh Monica. For real, you're speaking to my soul right now. That's a really, really solid list. Good. You got like, okay, most people can't do that off the top of their head. That's even know what I did with the white. I'm going outside. You teamed up with Big X on his new single Light, bringing together two of the coolest artists from the South. What was that like?
Man, that was crazy. He sent the song, I did it. I was just like, he probably just rocking with me a little bit, but I did the song. He, you know, making it his single like doing a full roll out and everything like, man, that X, man, for sure. Why do you think it's so important for you to be in the music industry? Take up space. What makes you so unique? everybody trying to make a head or everybody trying to be like this and be like that. I'm just being authentically me. You know what I'm saying? And then for me to also look different and be different. I think that's just a crazy cross up to like overly unique.
Authenticity is so important. And I'm not going to lie, I know people probably question like, "Where are you from? Let me see. Let me see your parents." Does that get old for you? I mean, it do, but not really. Like that shows me like, "Okay, cool. We gaining new fans. Like we gaining new pub. So like let's get it. What is your message to the Atlanta Dream? My message to the Atlanta Dream, I love y'all so much. I know for a fact we going to win. I know for a fact we going to bring it home. What the going? Yeah.
You were so good. You bleeped it out so we can keep that in the show. Well done. You're the best. Congratulations on your success. your music goes crazy and you've got a forever fan in me. Thank you for showing. Game one was in the Bay Area. So, for a code word, it's not a code word, but what if we want you to say, "Okay, who you think your favorite Bay Area artist is?" If you refuse to support the Bay Area because you're that deep with the Atlanta Dream, you can write lip gloss in there and we'll we'll be like, "All right, respect." So either you drop your favorite Bay Area artist or you write lip blocks because you standing 10 toes down with your squad.
