Dishin & Swishin 09/26/13 Podcast: Dissecting the conference finals with players who have been there: Katie Smith, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Monique Ambers and Chasity Melvin

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Last week we broke down the WNBA conference semifinals with some of the best that cover the game: writers and broadcasters.

This week, we kick it up a notch and dissect the conference finals with four players and coaches that have been there, have been in the conference finals and seen the pressure that impacts a team first hand. They have multiple championships among them, All-star appearances, and reputations as being some of the hardest working at their craft. This week’s Dishin & Swishin panel consists of:

• Katie Smith, WNBA champion with the Detroit Shock
• DeLisha Milton-Jones, WNBA champion with the Los Angeles Sparks
• Monique Ambers, assistant coach on WNBA champion Sacramento Monarchs
• Chasity Melvin, WNBA conference finalist with the Cleveland Rockers and multiple other playoff appearances

Together the pedigree of this group is undeniable, and they helped provide insight into the two conference finals series that kick off tonight, the Atlanta Dream hosting the Indiana Fever in the East, and top-seeded overall Minnesota Lynx playing the Phoenix Mercury. At times when they got started, they moderated themselves, adding more and more observations onto those of their colleagues.

Topics covered on the Atlanta-Indiana series include:

• Tamika Catchings versus Angel McCoughtry, who can and will take over the series.
• The matchup between Erlana Larkins and Erika de Souza, and its importance.
• The emergence of Atlanta’s backcourt this season and their role.
• How Fever coach Lin Dunn manages to get that little bit more out of her team come playoff time.

After that, the panel delves into the Minnesota-Phoenix series including:

• Who is more important to their team, Diana Taurasi or Lindsay Whalen?
• How important is it for Phoenix to take advantage of the Brittney Griner matchup versus Minnesota’s posts, and how the game winner versus Los Angeles impacts this series.
• Candice Dupree versus Rebekkah Brunson, two of the most unsung superstars in the WNBA.
• Taurasi and Maya Moore, the UConn connection and how coach Geno Auriemma helps set his players up to be superstars in the pros.
• Seimone Augustus being overlooked sometimes by media and fans, but definitely not by opponents and coaches.
• Phoenix under Russ Pennell, and how an attitude change can alter the game, if not the stats.

In addition, it is impossible to get this group together and not go “off topic” and onto other aspects of the game including:

• How the expression a player is “dirty” is really an unfair and frustrating moniker.
• The ability (or inability) of many guards to be able to feed their posts where they can do something with the ball.

This was definitely one of the most fun podcasts to record, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we all did making it.

A fast paced, serious but often very humorous dissection of the WNBA Conference Finals on today’s Dishin & Swishin podcast.