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Playoff Sound-Off: Diana Taurasi vs. Sue Bird
| The Storm never seem to lose at home. Why's it so tough to play at Key Arena? | |
| "It�s just a really great environment for us, just the way the building is, the energy of the fans. You can really feel it. When they start getting into it and the cheers get louder and louder, it gets so crazy in there that you can�t even hear play calls. And if we can�t hear anything, I�m sure the other team can�t." | "Probably because they have a small lower bowl, so it gets crowded really quick down there. It�s more of an old-school arena, where the crowd�s a little closer to the court. It really gets going down there." |
| Does a crowd like that ever get intimidating? | |
| "I�ve been the opposition in buildings like that, and it can be pretty intimidating. I just think that it�s not just us playing against the other team, we�ve got our entire crowd." | "Nahhhh, I�ve played in Turkey � nothing intimidates you like Turkey." |
| How about your opponent? You guys have been going back-and-forth for years. What makes them so tough? | |
| "They�re a very difficult team to play against. The way they can put up points, it�s never easy. The other day Diana had like 28 in the first half against us, and we were still able to pull out the win, but it�s always difficult against Phoenix." | "They have a very tough-minded team -- people who have been there, and that�s what it takes to win in the playoffs. They know their strengths and weaknesses, but we can take a lot from what they do and try to use it against them." |
| The Storm have won 10 of 11 against the Mercury. What do you have to do to win? | |
| "I think generally speaking, each team � I know our team does � has strengths and weaknesses, and you just try to play to your strengths and weaknesses, and you just try to play to your strengths and hide your weaknesses as much as you can. And for us, one of our big strengths is defense. "We always want to get off to a good start on the defensive end and make things hard for other teams and hopefully have that kind of lead in to our offense. " |
"When you get to this point in the season, they obviously know us really well and we know what they do. It comes down to determination, and who�s gonna ball-out the most. And we have the ability to do that, we have to play a tough 40 minutes to beat them because at home -- I don't know what their record is over the past few years, but they�re pretty unbeatable. "But you know, it�s always nice [playing in Seattle], because they get to pay for dinner. That�s the one good thing about Sue having home court advantage � she has to pay for dinner twice." |
| Closing Thoughts | |
| "I think if you were to compare this year to last year, it�s definitely been different. We�ve had a lot of ups and downs, whereas last year was kind of this magical season where everything seemed to go right for us ... This year, we�ve had to overcome losing a little bit more than we did last year and that kind of thing.
Point being, it�s been completely different � it�s almost been a new challenge. And for all of us, when presented with a new challenge, it�s easy to keep that hunger." |
"You have to enjoy [the Playoffs.] You have to enjoy the moments. I know very well how it is not to make the Playoffs. First-off, you have to enjoy the moment, take it in stride, but when it's time to play you have to put all your effort into it. The last thing you wanna do is wake up the next morning and say I could�ve done more." |
