Postgame Quotes/Notes - Houston 75, Storm 72
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ANNE DONOVAN:
On the game:
We talked last time we played them about one of the things that was successful was that we didn't put them on the free-throw line and tonight they ended up with 31 free throws. 10 probably came down the stretch, but it's still too many opportunities for them. There were moments;
(Sheryl) Swoopes didn't start the first 4 minutes of the second half and we didn't take advantage of that. There's things we could have done differently and things we should have done differently, but overall we took a step in the right direction. There's some positives from this trip that we need to hang on to. It's not like we need to put our heads down. We're still in the hunt and we still feel good about the position that we are in. We have to hang on to the good stuff - to have that look at the end of the game, to go into overtime is a good thing.
On Michelle Snow's play:
Snow had 20 points and that's way above her average. She has confidence against us. The last time we played Houston up in Seattle, she had the same kind of day against us. 
Janell Burse struggled with her and in all honestly we didn't give help where we could have given help from off of their non-shooters and Snow made us pay for it.
On 
Sue Bird's last shot:
I'll give Sue Bird that shot every night of the week and she will make it nine out of ten times. Tonight was the time she didn't make it. It was a good look. I thought we had a great second half. To me we looked like a team that didn't know where we were. It wasn't like we were playing on the road. We were really focused and I thought we were competitive and strong. We weren't the typical road team that we've seen.
On the importance of the game:
It's somewhat big. We still feel like we are going to be OK as long as we take care of these next games. We've got this road trip, the one in Minnesota and being competitive tonight gives us confidence for the next road trip we take. We still control our destiny here. I think we all feel good about being competitive on the road and having a shot at the end to go into overtime. We had a good look at it, I think we've done good things in the stretch. Going 1-1 at this point isn't bad.
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LAUREN JACKSON:
On the last shot:
I thought it was going to go in just like everybody else, but unfortunately it didn't. I thought we were playing a lot better than we have been playing on the road. We had more intensity and more energy. We just went out there and played our normal game. We want to get home-court advantage in the playoffs and prove ourselves so we can win back-to-back. Right now we are just playing with everything we've got because we don't have
Betty (Lennox), so we have to.
On Snow:
I think she got a couple of open looks. She's a good player and she's got to be respected and I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions about her is that people think they can play off of her. You can't ... she's a good player. I think that next time when it comes down to the crunch, like when we play Houston in the playoffs, I don't think she'll get those sort of looks again. You have to guard her, bottom line. You can't sag off of her and help somebody else, you have to play her. When her and Tina (Thompson) have games like that, I doubt any team will be able to beat them.
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On the game:
I think every loss is kind of disappointing. I think there's definitely spots in this game that you can complain about. Michelle scored six straight points and yet we still were only down five and six and still able to put ourselves in a position where we could tie the game, so it is kind of disappointing, but these are very good teams and both of us are fighting for the same spot right now. We both want to be second. We are both fighting for home-court advantage in the playoffs. Neither team wants to give it up and I'm sure they thought they had a good opportunity in Seattle and we thought we had a good opportunity to win here. It would have been nice.
On her last shot:
It was a good look. We made them switch out which is a good thing. I had to throw it a little bit higher because it was Tina, but it was right on line and I thought it was good. I guess I just threw it a little bit long.
On Snow:
She just did a great job. Once she made her first one or two layups, you could hear Coach (Van) Chancellor on the side lines calling her number, calling her play. He wanted to get the ball down there because he saw that she was doing well. You have to give her a lot of credit. She made some really good moves and got some really good shots.
On Sheryl Swoopes' game:
Sheryl Swoopes is obviously the Houston Comets. Just look at what she does, both offensively and defensively. She really had an effect on the game. When she wasn't on the floor, it was an opportunity for us to take advantage of it. Sometimes it's easier said than done, but it's unfortunate that we didn't do it.
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VAN CHANCELLOR:
On the game:
All four times we've played Seattle, it's been just that close ... it's been unbelievable. What a second half of basketball ... 46-46. I thought it was just a great game and we were fortunate enough to win. I thought Michelle played outstanding and I thought that was the difference. We found a play to go to her and that made them adjust and that's what you have to do in professional basketball. This is a really big win for us. We beat a really good team. Lauren Jackson is just a handful for us and also Sue Bird. We changed defenses on them and found ways to kind of help us overcome their abilities.
On Dominique Canty's return to the starting lineup:
It's just a question of playing well and playing down the stretch. Dominique made 2 big free throws. I'm really pleased for her ... she has struggled offensively and to step to the line and make 7-of-8 free throws was really pleasing.
On Snow:
In the second half, we went to Michelle Snow and Sheryl Swoopes and they just made a difference. They could not stop Michelle and that was major. Michelle Snow was really unbelievable in the second half. Any time you're 8-for-11, you're pretty good.
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On the game:
It was a great win for us coming off of a hard three-game road trip where we couldn't get a win on the road. To come back here and the fact that we played for 40 minutes was a great feeling. Seattle is a very good team and if the playoffs were to start tomorrow, then I'd have to say we wouldn't be playing. To come out here today and beat a very good team that's playing very well right now makes us all feel very good about what we're doing. We were a little bit surprised the way Tanisha Wright shot the ball. Our gameplan was to double down on the post and make them miss some shots. Lauren is a very good player ... she's the kind of player you're not going to be able to stop one-on-one, so you've got to get some help from somewhere. We needed to get some rebounds and defensive stops ... I thought we did that. It was a great team win.
On the Comets offensive gameplan:
We didn't want to take a lot of shots from the perimeter. We wanted to attack them, be aggressive, try to get to the paint and draw some fouls on them, and try to get their big post players into foul trouble. I thought we did a great job in doing that the entire game today.
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On the game:
We had to fight and we had to play hard. One thing we wanted to do was push the ball today and force Seattle to get back on defense, see who was going to be open. When we did that in the second half, we got layup after layup and it forced them to start fouling. When we put the ball inside, they had to double down and that gave us open shots, backdoors and easy shots.
On her performance:
We had to have somebody scoring inside so we could draw the double-team and they could be easier for Sheryl, Tina and J ( Janeth Arcain) out there on the perimeter so they get easier shots.
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On the game:
I thought the effort was awesome. We got two, three great practices in a row and I think that kind of set the tone for the game today. We did what we needed to come out and get a win. Seattle is a solid team, but the next five or six games are very important to us now as we push towards the playoffs. We want to be in a good position; whether we get home-court advantage or not, we still want to be playing at a high level.
On the Comets defense:
We feel like if we're going to win a championship or push towards our winning one, I think we need to push it up defensively. When we're playing well as a team defensively, it generally tumbles over into our offense. If we can continue to play defense as we did tonight, we're going to be okay.
On Snow:
Michelle Snow stepped up and her going inside and being so effective opened up so much for us. We had the opportunity to get to the basket a lot more because they were out of position because they were trying to stop and hold Michelle. She definitely set the tone for the second half ... it allowed us to get a lot of things going.
