Rothstein

Rothstein opening statement: We played them three times this year with two of the games being very close. If you look at the stats over the three-game series, again pretty close. This is our first time in the playoffs and hopefully we'll have some idea of what to expect: The Liberty being the defending Eastern Conference champions the last two years and they've been there. They've gotten it done in the playoffs and they know what expect. I think that puts us at a little bit of a disadvantage but we are just thrilled to be there and we are going to go in and give it our best shot.

Q: Talk about the matchup between Debbie Black and Teresa Weatherspoon.

Black

Rothstein: I just think you have two great competitors. Neither one wants to take a step backwards. They'll fight you tooth and nail and they have a history of going at one another over the years and it's just very, very intense basketball.

Q: Do you feel you have a veteran-laden team?
Rothstein: I think our roster is & we have some young players and we have some veterans. If you look at our frontcourt, our starting center is a rookie and now with Marlies Askamp out, our first player off the bench up front is Kristen Rasmussen, who is a second-year player. Of course we start Elena Baranova, who is a veteran player, but has never been in the playoffs in the WNBA. If you go to our backcourt, yes, we do have a veteran backcourt in Debbie Black and Sandy Brondello.

Baranova

Brondello

This will be Debbie's first time in the WNBA Playoffs. We have some young players. We have some veteran players. One of the things we tried to do when we put our team together was not get too old or too young. So, I think we've able to accomplish that and we've got a pretty good blend. We are not neophytes in the game of basketball but I think we are in terms of WNBA Playoffs. Anytime you step into something for the very first time, there is a learning curve. I think that's reality.

Q: What's your opinion on the playoff format with you hosting Game 1?
Rothstein: I don't know if it's an advantage. This is new to me. I've looked at the history of the WNBA Playoffs and over the years, this format for the most part, it seems that the home-court advantage has held up, or should I say, the team with the higher seed has been able to hold serve. If New York loses to us Friday night, they go home for two, which puts them under a little bit of pressure but they are still going home.

And they've been through this before. I think they lost on the road the last two years, the first game, and came back and won the next two. If we don't hold our serve Friday night then we've got to go to New York and win two and that puts us in deep, deep jeopardy. I think probably it's more incumbent upon us to win Friday night than it is them. But if you ask Richie Adubato, he'll probably turn it the other way around.

Q: How disappointed was the team to lose home-court advantage?
Rothstein: At one point during the season we were 5-8 and going nowhere fast. We finished out the season 15-4. If anybody would have asked us when we were 5-8 -- and I know a lot of people have talked about Charlotte's turnaround and rightfully so, because I think they have done a magnificent job -- haven't heard that many people talk about our turnaround and it's a little baffling to me. But so be it. We did have a chance to get the home-court advantage. But you know what? It's over and done with. So we look forward to the start of the playoffs Friday night and hopefully we can make do with what we have.

Q: Charlotte was 1-10 and the Sol was 5-8.
Rothstein: They finished the season I think, 17-4. We finished the season 15-4 from that point in time. We played a very, very good team last night and got beat. I don't think we didn't win the game. I think they beat us. And I give them all the credit in the world.

Q: Is there one thing that allows a team to be successful in a short format?
Rothstein: I think no matter what venue you are in -- whether it's the NCAAs, whether it's men or women, the NBA or the WNBA -- the bottom line is your best players better play well. Your stars need to shine and if you can do that then you have a chance to win. If your better players don't play well and don't produce you are going to go home.

Q: Talk about the Miami-New York rivalry.
Rothstein: There is a history, starting with the Knicks and the Heat and in the two short years we have seemed to develop a pretty serious rivalry with New York and players like playing against one another. They compete real hard, the games have been very, very hard-fought. New York and Miami, you have so many New Yorkers in Miami and so many people who live in Miami travel to New York and do business there, that it is sort of a natural rivalry.

Q: Any parallels with the Heat and Knicks?
Rothstein: I sure hope not.