Dan Hughes - San Antonio Silver Stars Head Coach

Q: Any type of lineup changes for Game 2?
Dan Hughes: We’ll probably go a little deeper. We’ll probably bring an eighth player into our rotation. Typically we have gone with nine. I think we would do well to add another player off the bench.

Q: How do you try and get Becky any more engaged in the offense?
DH: If you’ve followed our series, I think this has been pretty typical. People will attempt to impede her, or hold her a little bit. Fouling her is a pretty good strategy. Obviously, a couple things have to happen. We have to make them pay a little bit for that. We have to get to the foul line, or get some better ball movement and attack in some other ways. Spatially, we need to work to get her in the most advantageous situation if they’re going to do that. If you go back and check our series, we’ve probably gone through this in each series to some degree, and our challenge is to move now with that knowledge and try to make them pay for that strategy.

Q: Taj [McWilliams-Franklin] and Katie [Smith] got a lot of open looks last night. How do you prevent that from happening?
DH: I think our sense of urgency and better utilizing some of our strengths – we have to play to those a little bit. I thought they both got too many catch-and-shoot opportunities last night. I think our close-out situations have got to be stronger, but to their credit, they made some shots, too. I think it’s our job to take away some of the things that they got last night. That will certainly be a part of our priority.

Ann Wauters - San Antonio Silver Stars Center

Q: What are your thoughts on last night's game?
Ann Wauters: It wasn’t a good one. I’m sure everyone was disappointed you know we wanted to start well since this is our first time in the Finals we were at home. But, on the other hand, it’s also like a wakeup call for us. We just watched some film and a lot of things that I saw it wasn’t us. I think we can do much better in defense that’s where it all starts for us. We’ve been successful the whole year through our defense. I think last night, I don’t know how it came if it was like everything going around, but our focus was not quite as it has to be for a Finals game I think tomorrow we will do a much better job on that. You know a lot of times if our defense goes well then you know we get opportunities on offense so I’m not really worried about that.

Q: Does it help to get Game 1 out of the way?
AW: I think it was kind of like a slap in our face and it was like, “Hey it’s the Finals.” Nothing is going to be easy. It’s not a rule that because we play at home, we are going to win. I think it was just like a wakeup call for us.

Q: Talk a little bit about the Detroit’s physicality and the problems that presents and what you can do to counter that.
AW: Detroit has Katie Smith and Deanna Nolan, two terrific guards, and we have to pay them a lot of attention on defense. Sometimes it opens up a little bit inside so we have to limit their touches. I think Taj did a really good job last night winning those open shots that we created while we were helping a little bit on Nolan and Katie Smith. So I think we may have a different game plan for tomorrow and just try to limit their touches inside

Becky Hammon - San Antonio Silver Stars Guard

Q: Can you tell me your thoughts on last night’s game?
Becky Hammon: They just outplayed us and I don’t think there was anything else to it. They came out more determined and we were evolving throughout the course of the game. We need to be able to get to the high level that we need to be at, right from tip-off.

Q: As a veteran leader on the team, what advice did you give to the younger players?
BH: I told them that you have to come with the energy and focus necessary to be able to compete at this level. This is the two best teams that are left standing. You have to know that they are going to bring their best game and we have to bring ours. We didn’t bring our best game, and when that happens, you lose.

Q: After making it to the Finals three different times with Vickie Johnson, how would it feel to win this year’s Finals?
BH: It would be great because we’ve been through a lot together, but right now we’re just focused on Game 2. It’s all about playing another day. Tomorrow we have a great opportunity and we just want to get it together. I think we have the team to do it this year. We have to be about us and our basketball team.

Q: Can you describe your role on the team?
BH: It can be many different things on any given night. Primarily I just want to get people in positions in which they can be successful and our team can be successful. Then, I can pick and choose my spots.

Helen Darling - San Antonio Silver Stars Guard

Q: What is your playing status?
Helen Darling: I’m still day-to-day. Today felt better than yesterday. I just continue to pray and do treatment and heal up.

Q: How do you perceive your role and contribution off the bench?
HD: For me, it’s really important to stay a part of the game, even though I’m not able to physically be out on the floor. I try to mentally stay in the game. I try to sit high up on the bench and talk to my teammates as they come in and out. I tell them what I see, what I think we can do better defensively, or offensively like “Hey, you’re open when you come off a screen here.” For me, I have to mentally stay in the game. I’m day-by-day, and I don’t want to lose it. I have to be in the moment just like they are, so when I come back I won’t miss a step.

Q: Your bench has had some injuries. How valuable has it been to have a bench that has contributed so much?
HD: We’re very successful when we get play from our bench. We have people on our bench that could be starters in this league, and they can come in and contribute right away. The bench can give us a different look – that’s what we do – from myself, to Ruth [Riley] to Edwige [Lawson-Wade] to Morenike [Atunrase], the rookie. I think we all bring something different. We can make a difference and usually it’s on defense. We don’t always need offense, but a lot of times we need defense. We pride ourselves on getting a stop.

Q: What is the significance of Game 2, being down 0-1 and playing on your home court?
HD: I think every game is important, and we’ve been down before. But it is very important to win here on our home floor and it would be good for our fans. That would be nice. Going to Detroit is a tough place to play, so we could really use one here, to even it out – and then hope to steal one in Detroit.

Ruth Riley - San Antonio Silver Stars Center

Q: After the loss last night, are you someone that teammates come to for advice and guidance on where to go from here?
Ruth Riley: I think that we’ve done a great job of self-correcting this season. We’ve been good at looking at what we need to improve upon, and making the necessary changes to get over the hump. For me, that means watching game film and looking at what I can improve upon. My teammates do the same, and that’s what will help us in this series.

Q: What is your role going to be as this series progresses?
RR: My role will be the same as it’s been all season. That means giving our starters time to rest, grabbing timely rebounds, and other stuff like that.

Q: Do you have any friends or family in town to watch the games?
RR: Because I’m from Indiana, I’ll have friends and family there in Detroit to watch Games 4 and 5. It’s much easier for my friends and family to be there to watch the games.

Sophia Young - San Antonio Silver Stars Forward

Q: Can you talk a little about last night’s game?
Sophia Young: I don’t think we came out and played like we usually play. I thought we were on our heels the whole night, and definitely in the last couple minutes of the fourth quarter – that’s definitely something that we have to work on. Detroit came out really intense and we just came out flat. We were flat the whole game. I give them credit, they were knocking in some shots but our defensive definitely needs to be picked up.

Q: At the end of the night, you had a good statistical game. How would you rate your performance even though you struggled a bit in shooting?
SY: Whenever you don’t lose, your performance doesn’t really matter, that’s how I look at it. No matter how good I play, if I don’t win then it doesn’t matter. My performance was poor.

Q: Were you caught off guard by the Detroit’s physicality by Taj [McWilliams-Franklin] and Kara [Braxton], Detroit big players? How did that work out?
SY: I don’t think I was caught off guard by the physicality. We know that they were going to play physical. I think we did a lot of stuff in helping us. Taj had some wide open shots and she knocked them down. But I don’t necessarily think we were caught off-guard. We knew that were going to be physical. It’s Detroit. Everyone knows that about Detroit. That’s just something that we have to know and be ready for. I just think we came out really slow and were on our heels the whole time.

Q: What do you think of the WNBA adidas i-design shooting shirt?
SY: It was really neat and really neat idea. I like it, it’s different. I like colors and everything that matches together with the one person (the WNBA logo combined with all the individual logos).

Sandora Irvin - San Antonio Silver Stars Forward

Q: What are your thoughts after last night’s loss?
Sandora Irvin: I think that after last night’s game, we need to take a look at it and not feel like we just lost the whole (series). It’s the first time we’ve been here, and so it was unclear how a Game 1 loss will make us feel. Now that the game’s over, we’re ready to move on and we know that we need to play our game.

Q: What is it about Detroit that you as a team are going to have to address in order to win these games?
SI: Detroit is a great team, and they do a great job in this situation because they’ve been here before. They know how to win in this situation. We need to do a better job of playing San Antonio basketball, which we didn’t do well last night.

Shanna Crossley - San Antonio Silver Stars Forward

Q: How much does it frustrate you to be on the bench?
Shanna Crossley: I’m not going to lie, it’s extremely frustrating. But this is where we’ve been all season long and this is where I’ve been at all season long, so I’m not going to start complaining now or put my head down now. This is when my team needs me the most. Like I told them, my role this year is to keep high spirits up and laugh. This is what I’m going to do all throughout, game days as well.

Q: What do you have to do for next game?
SC: I think a lot of the adjustments that we’ve made, just today, offensively and defensively primarily knowing who we are. A lot of things that happened, they were able to take us out .We are known so much for playing together as a team with ball movement and sharing it and we got away from that tremendously offensively and defensively. We just got to continue to persevere and fight. I think we made some key adjustments that will hopefully give us a better shot.

Q: Did it throw you off your game plan at all losing Game 1?
SC: No, I don’t think so. You know you never really anticipate which games you’re going to win and which you’re going to lose. I think it’s just the character and the perseverance that I was talking about earlier that we continue to exploit when we’re on the floor and next game just know that every game will present a new and different challenge so we’ve got to take it one game at a time.

Q: Aside from last night, is there any reason why you guys are so good against the East? You guys were 14-0 before last night.
SC: I honestly don’t know. This team is so perseverant. It doesn’t really matter what team we play. All whole year has been a tournament for us. We take it one game at a time whether it’s the East or the West. I know that we can match up so well against any team because we can play more physical, which is what the East is like and we can play more finesse and more athletically which is what the West is like. As far as why we were undefeated [against the East], it’s just a credit to their hard work.

Q: Do you think the team was caught off-guard at all by Taj [McWilliams-Franklin] and Kara [Braxton] banging around there since they are big and physical?
SC: Yes, they are big, but I don’t necessarily think we were caught off-guard. We know the type of talent they have. We know the physical presence that they bring and Taj has been playing extremely well. She carried [Detroit] through the Eastern Conference Finals and [Taj and Kara] both play extremely well. We just have to adjust our game defensively.

Q: What did you think of the adidas i-design shooting shirts?
SC: (Laughs) I didn’t know what to think of them at first. Then a lady came up to me and told me that her daughter came up and created them. I thought it was a good idea. It just caught me off-guard at first, but they are nice.