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POSTGAME QUOTES
AUGUST 6, 2002
COMETS COACH VAN CHANCELLOR
On Tina Thompson’s injury:
"Tina has a contusion to the right hip. It doesn’t look like it is long term. You get hit like she just got hit, you don’t know how long that is going to take to get back. But knowing Tina Thompson, if there is any way in the world she will be back pretty doggone quick. If she’s healthy, I’ll feel real good about Thursday’s game; if she’s not healthy, I won’t feel real good. It (Tina’s playing against Sparks) would be made about game time Thursday."
On the game:
"It was a good win for us. The Rockers are so physical. I thought the big adjustment for us was that we put Tina (Thompson) on (Chasity) Melvin in the second half; she just did a heck of a job on her. Kind of shut her down. I thought we did some really good things. We really hurt them on the boards, we shot 50 percent and scored 67 points. When we score 67 points, we’re going to be pretty tough to beat. We just did some good things tonight. The Big 3 were the Big 3, they were really dominant. For a disappearing act in the first half, I thought Michelle Snow had a really good second half; she really helped. Sonja Henning had a really good offense tonight and if there’s any team in the world that needs that, we do. We won tonight by 13 points - really won by 15 - and we got to play a lot of people a lot of minutes. We got a real good look at Kelley (Gibson), Grace (Daley), we got Rita Williams some really good minutes, then Sonja Henning makes some big time baskets. Her two 3-balls really hurt them."
On Cleveland’s use of the zone:
"I really liked that because it let us rest and we didn’t have to work so hard."
On the upcoming conference game against the L.A. Sparks:
"We’re playing good and I think that’s fine."
SHERYL SWOOPES
On Tina Thompson’s injury:
"Obviously any time one of your teammates goes down like that, especially when you don’t know what is going on and they have to roll her out on a stretcher, you are thinking the worst. But I think they were all just the precautionary measures. She’s going to be fine and sore, and obviously we want her to be OK because we need Tina and I think everybody knows that."
On the game:
"It was a good win for us. We can’t really enjoy it and celebrate it as much as we would have if Tina hadn’t gotten hurt. We were very concerned with this game because Cleveland is a very physical team, and as the Coach said earlier, we’ve had a harder time beating them here at home than we have beating them at their place because of the way they play. We overcome it whether it was ugly, pretty, whatever; we are walking out with a victory. Hopefully we will be ready to play on Thursday."
On the play of Cleveland:
"Regardless of whether you play them here at home or on the road, you always know what you are going to get from Cleveland. We didn’t want them to take us out of our game; we wanted to focus on the things we knew we could do, focus on the things we wanted to work on. And try to get some momentum going into Thursday’s game (against the L.A. Sparks)."
ROCKERS COACH DAN HUGHES
On the game:
"I thought we competed very well. I thought when we were successful, we were able to bring out our post game and in the second half, I thought we had more difficulty getting the ball in situations to bring out our post game. But I thought we had a really good inside-outside type of play, we shot the 3 (pointer) well today, and that was created by our ability to go inside, but Houston is a good basketball team, they create a lot of difficulties for you. I thought in the second half when they jumped out to that 7-8 point lead that gave them the cushion. They got some (points in the paint) off some steals, but when you’re paying a lot of attention to Sheryl (Swoopes) and Tina (Thompson) it opens up some of those situations. I thought we did a great job rebounding. They didn’t have an offensive rebound the first half; the second half they got a couple, and you just can’t give a good team like Houston those type of things where they score the easy basket off the turnover or offensive rebound."
On his team’s play:
"I think that we played very positively and upbeat out there, but I would have liked to see us convert offensively at the rate that we had, because defensively I thought we picked up as the game went on and competed. I like seeing that, but against a team like Houston, you simply have got be able to be efficient offensively. I think they’re the best defensive team we played all year."
CHASITY MELVIN
On the game:
"It was a competitive matchup; pretty physical. We didn’t execute in the second half like we did in the first half and Houston always plays very physical in the first half and then takes it to their opponent in the second half. We knew they were going to come out playing a little tougher in the second half and we needed to take care of the ball better."
On how they’ll play the remainder of the season since they’re out of the playoffs:
"I just try to get better each game and improve each year of play. So as a team we just want to finish the season on a positive note."
JENNIFER RIZZOTTI
On the game:
"I think the key was that we were trying to make them play on a halfcourt game, and every time they were able to run and transition, we had a hard time stopping them. We just tried to bear down, get some good shots and when you make shots it’s easier to play defense because you have time to set it up. But when we were missing shots and they were flying, that’s when it really hurt us. The key is to take as many shots as you can to play the Comets in the halfcourt, because they’re so good in transition and that’s what hurt us. We didn’t start the second half as well as we wanted to and you can’t give a good team like the Comets momentum especially when they’re at home. They’re a second half team. We needed to step it up and match them, but when you’re down and fighting back, it’s a lot harder to have the energy to actually push over and win when you’re on their home court."
PENNY TAYLOR
On how she feels physically:
"I had a week off, so my back’s not 100 percent, but it’s feeling a lot better than it has. It was good to get out there and just get up and down again and help the team out."
On the game:
"The first half we really took it to them, we were playing good basketball and it frustrated them a little I think. In the second half, they got a couple of easy baskets and you just can’t give up easy baskets when you have a long fight ahead of you. They’re a good team down the stretch and they proved that again tonight. They were making baskets and we weren’t."
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