Mercury 100, Silver Stars 92

Postgame Quotes: Mercury vs. Silver Stars, Game 3 - Sept. 21, 2009

Corey Gaines	Diana Taurasi	Penny Taylor	Dan Hughes
Sophia Young	Becky Hammon

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Mercury Head Coach Corey Gaines

�I guess the home court came into effect, it was a good game. I commend San Antonio, I respect Dan Hughes, I have stolen some of his plays, stolen some of his defensive philosophies, so that�s the best way to show respect for someone. Becky had a great game. I knew she was going to come out and take it in her hands. We tried everything we switched defenses three or four times on her and she still got the three off, she�s one of the top point guards in the league.�

(On the Mercury�s style of play tonight)
�It got to the point where I took out Temeka, our floor general and I told Cappie no play calls, get the ball every time, it is going to be a drag play with the pick and roll in transition, and just do it every time, I don�t want any play calls you get it and go, fill the lanes so you can�t have a set defense against it, and we just attacked, and I wanted them to attack it every time down. You miss it, you miss it.�

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Mercury guard Diana Taurasi

�That�s the way we want to play, we want to play unselfish, we want to make the extra pass, we want to create problems for people and you can only do that when you have people who are confident in taking and making shots and today was a perfect example of no matter what point in the game, whoever was in, those are the people we had confidence in. There were five people in double figures tonight, that is the way we want to play.�

(On the third quarter)
�The wheels were falling off, we were riding on one wheel and we had to find a way to get that momentum back and get back to what we were doing so well in game two. They came out and made some great adjustments with their pick and roll offense making it very difficult for us to guard them. So going into the fourth we made a concerned effort to make things more difficult for them and that�s why we had an opportunity to go up.�

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Mercury forward Penny Taylor

(On fourth quarter)
�We stepped it up. We have amazingly mentally strong people that hit huge shots. I mean Tangela hit some huge shots. I think we were very aggressive in that fourth quarter in both our offense and our defense.�

(On Los Angeles)
�This is a great way to prepare for L.A. This is a tough, tough team but LA is a different team in the sense that they�re bigger and have other threats. But this team loves to play basketball, we don�t like resting, we want to play more games. We want to go out there and get it done.�

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Silver Stars Head Coach Dan Hughes

�It was a good basketball game. We [Silver Stars] had some people do some things. They [Mercury] had players that did some things. You�ve got to give the Mercury credit. I think we created the type of game that we wanted to play. I thought the Mercury were still affective late in the game to get the separation that they did. I�m really proud of my team though. They did a lot of things well in this game it just wasn�t enough. That�s the type of team that Phoenix has. You have to hit the mark in a lot of ways to beat them. We got close but we couldn�t get it done. Give Phoenix a lot of credit.�

(On Vickie Johnson)
�The loss tonight is going to sting me. But the way she played tonight is going to enrich me. I�m a better person and coach because I have had four seasons with her. To see her play the way she did tonight that�s the way I wanted to see her career end. I�m so privileged to have been able to coach her. She looked like she was 23 years old on the court tonight. She did some marvelous things for us.�

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Silver Stars forward Vickie Johnson

�I spoke to the team before the game and I told them that Game 2 wasn�t our style of basketball. I just told them to come out and compete tonight. Let�s be there in the end and see what happens. Unfortunately though we fell short tonight. Their whole team [Mercury] made plays and our team didn�t. You can�t win like that. We gave effort tonight but what else can you do?�

(On her career)
�I just wanted to go out there and give everything I had. To leave everything on the court and just play hard. I think I did that, I have no regrets. I hope that the fans of the WNBA know that I tried to play the game of basketball the right way. I tried to come in everyday and give 110% and be a role model for young girls and boys. I just hope I left it out there for the WNBA.�

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Silver Stars guard Becky Hammon

(On the fourth quarter)
�They have a lot of great players, that�s what happened. I thought we did some things well but we had a couple of back-to-back turnovers down the stretch and they really hurt us Phoenix will hurt anybody that doesn�t take care of the ball because they�re immediately coming back at you the other way. It�s a shame; one or two possessions here and there and it might have been different.�

(On Mercury)
�I wish them all the best. They are a very talented team that is very well coached. I think Cory is one of the best young coaches, not just in women�s basketball but in all of basketball.�

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