Postgame Quotes - Washington 64, Storm 52
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ANNE DONOVAN:
On the game:
Tonight’s loss broke our spirit. The turnovers decreased our energy level because we played very physical at the beginning of the game. Turnovers were not a factor during the first half; we made a good run. On the contrary, you can not win games with turnovers.
On 
Lauren Jackson and 
Betty Lennox being the only Storm players in double-figures:
We had 16 points from the rest of the team. You are not going to score 52 points and come out with a victory in this league. To win more games, we have got have more production from our bench.
On Sue Bird's condition:
She's coming along, trying to keep her morale up, but there is a possibility that she will have surgery on her cheek. I wish her the best and hopefully she will be with the team soon.
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On the game:
I’m pretty disappointed. We came off a really good win and we were out of it pretty early so it is disappointing, but we’ve got to move on from this.
On playing without Bird:
It’s always hard playing without her. She’s our point guard; she’s the best point guard in the world.
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On the game:
Nobody takes losses well; we need to get these wins. We bowed down and showed our weaknesses. We’re a great team and we didn’t play like it tonight.
On moving on:
We’re professional athletes; we’ve got to bounce back. We can’t go into other games thinking about the mistakes that we made or make the same mistakes. We’ve got to bounce back, we’ve got to give ourselves the opportunity to go out and just make it not about being champions. It’s about our identity, our character, the type of basketball that we play and what we’re capable of doing.
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IZIANE CASTRO MARQUES:
On the game:
We are very frustrated because we did not bring our best game, we did not fight for the game. They owned the game and fought more for the win, so we were very frustrated.
On the pressure of being defending champions:
We feel more pressure for sure. I think everybody has come for that and wants to be the defending champs, so you need to think like a defending champion. You have to think that everybody is coming for you. That is pressure, but you have to take it and make it positive and think that we were the champions for the last year and try to make it happen again.
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RICHIE ADUBATO:
On the game:
We had a very good effort here tonight. We had a good balance with four players scoring in double figures.
DeLisha (Milton-Jones) didn’t have a good shooting performance, but she worked very hard against Lauren Jackson, who is a great player. They throw her the ball a lot. So it was hard work on her (Milton-Jones) part, she played her the whole time. Jackson does not come out of the game she played 40 minutes. But we had good offensive execution when we needed it. Charlotte (Smith-Taylor) buried a nice shot when we needed it. Temeka (Johnson) got us started early, and really made some plays. Alana (Beard) is looking better and better each time. She’s looking more comfortable in the offense. She’s understanding how she can get open. She can still learn a little more because she became open four or five times and she didn’t shoot. We ran a couple of plays at the end for her, but it’s new and she’ll get used to that. We have go-to people. Chasity (Melvin) got in foul trouble in the whole first half, but she had eight rebounds in the second half. She made some nice post moves to get some baskets. All in all, we needed this win desperately. Needless to say, we’re at home and we don’t need the win-loss differential to grow.
On playing the Lynx tomorrow night:
Now we’re looking at a very difficult situation with back-to-back games as we travel to Minnesota. They have been off for three days and we have a 6:30 a.m. bus tomorrow, we fly all day and then get ready to play tomorrow night. A tough back-to-back, probably one of the toughest we’ll have all season. It’s easier to have a back-to-back when the other team is playing that night, but the Lynx have been off for three days. We’ll just have to suck it up and go to the bench a little more. We had a terrific game with them last game, we were lucky to beat them in a close game. They have a good team. Katie Smith is their leader; she really hurt us last game because she scored 20-plus points. Good effort tonight. Like I said, we really needed it.
On winning a close game:
Psychologically that is very important for us to know we’ve had two close games here (MCI Center) and to know we’ve been able to pull them out. Now you’re hoping you turn that thought process the other way for road games. In big games they know they can execute. I thought we played excellent defense tonight with their size on the boards. Everybody was in there rebounding for us. We stripped some people and we blocked shots. We had seven blocks tonight, which is an incredible amount. Most of them were offensive rebounds when they were about to put them back up. We must give everyone credit for the rebounding effort. We also had some situations where we tied them up for jump balls right under the basket. So we are talking about saving eight to ten points under the basket with our defensive effort.
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On the game:
Coming in and beating a team that has caliber players like Lauren Jackson is a great confidence booster, so I feel really good about it.
On tomorrow's game:
I think teams play their best under adversity. We are facing a little adversity now. We have to get up and catch a plane at 6:30 and then play a game at 7:00. I think this is when teams play their best and are more focused.
On Katie Smith:
Katie is such a great player. She is a vet. She has been in this league for a long time and playing ball for a long time. She knows the rules. She knows the tricks and trades of the league. You just have to defend her and whatever happens happens.
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On the game:
We dug really deep and executed in the final minutes of the game. I think that was very big. In the last few games, we haven’t been executing in the clutch so I think we did a great job of doing that and I think we did a great job of trying to contain Lauren. Even though she had 18 points, she had to work hard for those 18 points.
On tomorrow's game:
I think we play pretty well on the road, probably just as well as we play at home. We are definitely looking forward to the game. We just need to pray for strength and a lot of rest overnight to get a win on a back-to-back.
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On the game:
I feel good about the win today. Obviously, they were missing their starting point guard and that hurt them. For us mentally, it has been hard for us because we haven’t won games that we should have won. Any win is a confidence booster so I am excited whether it was the champs or whoever it would have been. I am glad we got a win tonight.
On tomorrow's game:
I feel really good. Obviously it is going to be a hard game because we are coming in from travel, but collectively as a team if we go out there and hustle and give all our heart and soul and play hard together, I think we can come out with a win. Obviously they have the advantage tomorrow night, but we can do the little things like we did tonight. I think we got some great hustle points and that’s what we need on the road.
