Postgame Quotes/Notes - Storm 78, Los Angeles 70
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TONIGHT'S NOTES | |||
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ANNE DONOVAN:
On what changed from the Storm's June 24 loss in L.A.:
Defensively we did better; we did a much better job using the backboard compared to the last time that we were here.
On the key to the Storm's recent success:
Just getting them refocused. We are trying everything to get better defensively, better on the backboard and that’s been our problem in all these games that we have had recently. I think that is all it is, staying focused and staying confident. We know were a good basketball team, we’ve played some good basketball this far in the season, we’ve played some bad basketball but we’re getting back to the good stuff and hopefully at the right time.
On the Storm's spacing and 3-point shooting:
Well the Sparks went back to that zone, and we’re a good 3-point shooting team. It doesn’t show that on the stat sheet but we have finally been coming alive the last three games and really put it together out there on the court.
The 3-pointers by 
Lauren Jackson were huge. We have lacked that this year and just haven’t shot well from the 3-point line, but the last three games were starting to click again.
On the Storm's bench:
Playing back to back with a lot of minutes played last night, we used a lot of bench play tonight and everybody came in and really did a nice job for us. So I think this is definitely one of our better wins.
On 
Natalia Vodopyanova's performance:
(I'm) really thrilled with her. We have had to really mix up what were doing off of the bench to try to get something to lift, so we could play more of our perimeter game, and she’s getting more and more comfortable, so it’s a great step.
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SUE BIRD:
On the game:
Well, I think that we are getting comfortable and we’re finally putting our full game together, our complete game. I think the last couple of games we played well the first half and bad the second, second game the first half we played bad and the second half we played well so we finally put a complete game together. And I think a big thing for us was we could finally control the boards, as opposed to last time we played them down here.
On whether L.A.'s injuries changed the outcome:
Yeah, probably. Chamique (Holdsclaw) is a force out there; she is somebody who has a presence offensively, defensively and particularly in rebounding. I know that the Sparks were two men down tonight, but I don’t care. For us it was just a good win on the road.
On Coach Donovan's halftime speech:
(She said) just to come out and meet a lot of our goals; we wanted to out rebound them, we wanted to hold them on the offensive glass. And we’re a good transition team, that’s what we thrive off of, so we knew that if we just kept controlling the boards we would be able to get out and run a little bit more and hopefully convert a little bit more, and we did.
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On her back-to-back 3-pointers:
Well, we’ve been working on our offense all season and tonight and the last couple of games things have just started to flow a lot better, and hopefully we can finish the season strong.
On her goals the rest of the season:
To win every game and to win a championship again.
On fatigue in the second game of a back-to-back:
I felt tired, I felt really tired. But you just got to get through it and I did.
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HENRY BIBBY:
On the game:
We’re trying to piece it together. I think with the exception of four or five minutes tonight we played pretty good. I think we executed, played defense but we had some lapses.
I tell the girls stay together as a team, we’ve gotta come out and just play strong.
On his team's health:
Raffy (Masciadri) hasn’t played a lot, Mwadi (Mabika) hasn’t played a lot this year. We’re not totally healthy so we’re trying to piece it together. I applaud the ladies, they’re working pretty hard, working hard in practice; what we have we’ve just gotta go.
On the Sparks run to get close late in the game:
We picked the tempo up, played really aggressive defense, and they missed some easy shots. But we made them miss easy shots and we came down and made ours.
Lisa (Leslie) played very well in there, and we had a lot of people who tried to step it up when we needed it. But we’ve got to play 40 minutes like that, we can’t play 30 minutes of basketball and think we’re going to pick it up in certain times; we’ve got to pick it up the whole time.
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On the Sparks:
When everyone is healthy and in uniform we will be a lot stronger with our rotation. Obviously I am playing a lot of minutes; it would be nice to have all our players back.
Tamecka Dixon is very helpful for us and Holdsclaw is key for us as well. She is a good player who we miss. Our team has not come as strong as we can yet. Having eight or nine players consistently all year is not enough. Hopefully we can all get healthy and all be ready to play. Hopefully on the road you will see more camaraderie.
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On the game:
They just came out aggressive and they had so many good shots and we didn’t, that was the difference. They were just playing more aggressive than us. We were turning the ball over when they were executing and making shots. Our shots were not going in and that made it harder on us. We just played badly tonight. Chamique is the best rebounder in the league. She was sore today and couldn’t go. Whatever we have we just have to come out and play, but we didn’t.
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On her hamstring:
I will be ready to play next game. I hurt it last game, it was just really tight. I got treatment and Marco, the trainer, said I couldn’t go tonight. When the trainer says I can’t go, then I can’t go.
