Hughes

Hughes opening statement: I think this is about as competitive a field as I remember in my time in the WNBA. Obviously, Charlotte is playing extremely well right now. You have the matchup of Miami-New York on the East side. You go over to the West, you see similar things. I just see a lot of equity in the games in this first round. Obviously, the stakes are going to be pretty high. The quality is going to be right there, so there's going to be some great games.

Q: Talk about your matchup with Charlotte. You lost to them recently. What did you learn from that loss?
Hughes: You look at what Charlotte has done in their last three games -- they beat us, they beat New York, they beat Miami, that's pretty much the Eastern playoff field right there.

What we learned is that this is a good basketball team that is playing well on both ends of the floor. The thing that most impresses me about them right now is the guard play they're getting. They're very efficient. Andrea Stinson is really playing well right now. Allison Feaster is shooting the ball well.

They cause you a lot of difficulties because they're able to execute and have a very veteran approach from the guard positions. When you're looking at the matchup, that is something we have to do a good job of dealing with. Stinson, especially in our game, was extremely effective and was able to make shots. She's also a very good one-on-one player and has the ability to create. She presents a lot of problems defending her.

Q: Are you concerned about your team's lull? They have not been playing particularly well in the past week or so.
Hughes: Obviously, you want to be doing the types of things that got you to where you are at this point. In the last two games, we haven't been, especially defensively, quite at that level. That's something we're addressing in practice. I also know that you kind of roll in the playoffs. Those games have their own characters. I think you have to be ready to play on Thursday. That's really where our emphasis is, to be honest with you, it's getting ourselves mentally and physically ready to play this game on Thursday. The playoff season is one unto itself.

Q: Do you have any concern about getting your team up for these games?
Hughes: No, I don't worry about getting them up for the game. You worry, in my case I have a very active team, a team that works hard, I want them to play on a level where they achieve as opposed to just emotionally wanting to play well. That's the battle I fight in some cases with this basketball team. It's getting them to understand the execution it will take in the difficult moments and the persistence it will take. They want to play very hard; they have the enthusiasm that comes with it. My job is to help them bridle that enthusiasm, kind of putting it in a channeled way toward something we can achieve.

Q: Charlotte is playing extremely well. How will you combat their size?
Hughes: The other thing I've seen is their ability to win defensive games as well. Their defense has improved. You look at the Miami score from last night, you view our tape from a few days ago when we lost by two to them at home, defensively they're playing very well. They're very sound. They can tempo it very well with their defense. They've got good depth in the post -- you look at Tammy Sutton-Brown, you look at Charlotte Smith who is back now. Shalonda Enis can really shoot the basketball, and she has been effective offensive rebounder as well. And you go to Clarisse Machanguana, they've got four post players that I think give them quality play.

They have the depth you need to be successful and they're getting really good veteran play at the point and at the wings. They don't beat themselves. They execute well, so you have to match that when you play them because they're not a team right now that is doing anything to keep themselves from being successful.

Q: That sounds a lot like what you guys were doing before you hit this little stretch down at the end.
Hughes: Exactly. That's why when we play them, we had the type of game we had at home, to be honest with you. But I also think that's the type of play that sometimes serves you well in playoffs. So you're going to have two teams going at each other. It'll become a little bit of a war to see who's going to persist and come out ahead in that situation. Obviously, I see this as a really key matchup. In the last week, they're playing really well and we haven't played at quite the level we had before. It's going to come down to what happens on Thursday, Saturday, Monday if needed. Once the regular season ends, the playoff-type atmosphere takes over.

Q: What do you think about the 1-2 playoff format? How important is it to win the first game?
Hughes: The difficulty I see with our format is, take a team like mine, I've had four out of the last six games on the road and specifically I've had two in a row -- I played at Washington and played in Detroit last night -- and now I'm here in Charlotte getting ready for a Thursday game.

The turnover is pretty quick, especially if you're a one or two seed and you're on the road, you're basically coming from that last away game immediately to the site and you're getting ready to play the next day. That's our setup, but it would have been nice to be able to go home and gather yourself, either have a game or at least have the ability to be at home then fly to your site. We don't have that and I don't believe L.A. has that. I think they're playing in Houston, so they'll be going through the same thing.

That's the disadvantage I see in opening on the road, but it's certainly nice to have that last game at home if you need it. It's important to win that first game. But a year ago, we didn't win it. We went to Orlando and lost. Quite honestly, last year we had a similar situation. We lost our last two games on the road, much like we did this year, then went down to Orlando and lost the first one but then came home and won two. With equity, you need to grab every opportunity you have to win. If that opportunity is on the road, you better grab it. Teams are pretty equal and teams have won on the road against each other. You have to take care of business when you get that opportunity.

Q: You used to coach Charlotte. What are your emotions going back there?
Hughes: Quite honestly, Dawn Staley, Stinson, Charlotte Smith, they all started for me when I was in Charlotte. What they did when I coached them gave me an opportunity to continue to coach in this league, so obviously I have feelings toward them. But we're all competitors and we all want what's best for where we are now.

I'm sure they and I both will be digging in hard for our teams. To be honest, I liked Charlotte when I was there. It gave me an opportunity to be a head coach. There's a lot of people in Charlotte that I have a lot of good feelings for, including those players. But that's part of our business. If you're in the business long enough, you'll be in situations where you're competing against people you feel strongly about. There's some emotion because I feel good feelings toward a lot of what happened to me in Charlotte.