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On the game:
I felt better for the most part on how we were playing defensively (in the second half). Offensive boards have been our nemesis and something we have to clean up especially against a team like Minnesota. So other than the offensive glass, I thought we really stepped up against them.
I think we kept our composure, we stayed after it. Lauren (Jackson)’s offensive rebound, she’s in tons of traffic, she’s been getting hit all night and she scores that. Our bench was huge. We got 20 points from our bench. Alisa Burras coming in to that other post spot. We were able to find someone to convert and gave us great minutes. Rita Williams, same thing. Our key was our bench and how well they played.
On using the bench more:
Right now when Sandy (Brondello) struggles we’re going to go with Rita. When Sandy steps on the floor and does real well, she’s going to stay out there. It takes pressure off Sandy to know that she doesn’t have to be the only one. Same thing for Kamila (Vodichkova). We have Simone (Edwards) and Alisa who are ready to go. And we finally have some help from Amanda which has been a long time coming. She’s struggled to find her groove but she played some good minutes for us tonight.
On getting balanced scoring:
We knew going in it was going to have to be that way. They were going to try to shut Lauren down, which they tried to do. Sixteen points is well below what she’s been doing. So that was their focus and we knew that other players were going to have to step up.
On playing well at home:
We enjoy playing in KeyArena obviously. They really helped us tonight, the comforts of our own home.
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On the game:
It was a hard fought game and we won. We made some big plays in the last three minutes. We made some stops and Rita made a huge shot. Amanda (Lassiter) was so mature about those last two free throws.
On Burras’ play:
Alisa really hasn’t played that much all season but for her to get out that and play like that was huge for her. She’s amazing, she’s aggressive, she works hard. She works the hardest out of all of us.
On her teammates:
The good thing about our team is that we can really pick each other up. If one person isn’t playing well another person steps up until everyone gets going.
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On beating the Lynx:
This is a team that, for whatever reason, we couldn’t get past them. It was nice to do that, on our home court, in front of everybody and it put us two games in front of them now which is huge for the playoffs. This is tough team and we can’t underestimate them at all. The WNBA is a game of match-ups. Each team has something different to bring.
On the momentum shift:
We changed our offense at one point. We went from our regular offense to a pick-and-roll like thing. I scored off that, Rita got that lay-up, they had trouble guarding that. We were able to get that four-point lead at the 10-minute mark.
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On the game:
Once again, it was a great game. It came down to the last minute and they came up with the offensive rebound when they needed to and hit their free throws. We just couldn’t convert when we needed to, but it was just a hard fought game. I thought their bench stepped up and gave them a great deal. They hit key shots when they needed them. I’m very proud of the way we fought for 40 minutes. Down the stretch, we didn’t come up with the big defensive stop we needed. We had opportunities, but didn’t capitalize.
On containing Jackson:
She’s a great player who draws a lot of attention. One-on-one, she’s very difficult to stop. We sent double teams at her and tried to keep her off the boards. We did that for the most part, but she came up with a huge one at the end.
On turning things around on the road:
Right now, it’s mind over matter going back-to-back tomorrow … getting our confidence back and going 40 minutes against a good team (Sacramento), who’s probably one of the hottest in the league. It’s a mindset right now that we have to go and play with a little more sense of urgency knowing the situation we’re in.
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On the game:
It wasn’t pretty. It was a back-and-forth, see-saw battle. They got up four or five, and that makes it tough, especially in the last four minutes of the game. They ran, they executed, made some big plays. Defensively, we just didn’t get any stops and rebounding was the key there at the end. They had some bodies in there and took advantage of it. We didn’t get the job done when we needed to so it’s a tough one. We put ourselves in a tough situation. We have a big game tomorrow night (at Sacramento) so we can’t dwell on this very long. We have to move on and try and get out there and get a “W”.
On fellow MVP candidate Jackson:
LJ is great. She’s versatile. She’s similar to Lisa (Leslie) in that she can step out and also play down low. She’s strong and is always a defensive presence inside. She has that little attitude about her and gets her team fired up. She just can do a lot of different things and is hard to guard. She’s doing nice things for her team when they need it. Her and Sue (Bird), that’s a 1-2 punch right there.
On containing Jackson:
Yeah, we did a nice job of doubling her, but she passed out of it. When she puts the ball on the floor, you just have to stay between her and the basket and make her make some tough shots, which she did. We didn’t allow her to get off and shoot threes, but our posts did a nice job.
On turning things around on the road:
We felt pretty good tonight, but defensively we weren’t on the same page and we made some bad decisions. Just a few things here and there and it could’ve been a different story. I think we’re still confident in what we can do. Last time we lost at Sac … they beat us pretty good and we didn’t play real well. Hopefully that’ll be some motivation, on top of that, trying to keep ourselves in the fourth playoff spot. There’s a lot riding on tomorrow night’s game so hopefully we’ll go in there with a lot of excitement, pick it up and go.
Notes:
