Postgame Quotes/Notes - Storm 90, Los Angeles 67
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TONIGHT'S NOTES | |||
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ANNE DONOVAN:
On the game:
I thought we played very well. Our bench came to play. I thought we had some areas of lapses in the first half defensively but we brought people off our bench, particularly on the perimeter, to give us a lift and they did. It’s a luxury to have that many people to come off the bench to give our starters a blow. We have such good players coming off the bench that offer us so much versatility, not just talent.
On 
Wendy Palmer's value:
She’s been so outstanding for us in so many ways. She’s just phenomenal, a true veteran who gives us everything we need from the statistical category. Her energy, her spark, her leadership is invaluable.
On 
Sue Bird's performance:
Nine assists and seven steals, that’s the kind of defense we want from Sue Bird. In order to play that kind of defense she needs more rest. I thought we were able to get her in and out. Our bench lets us do that. Sue doesn’t always have to come up as a scorer; just her finding gaps and really aggressively getting in there to finish it or if she can’t finding someone else. She played the perfect game for me. That’s exactly what we need from Sue Bird.
On the Storm's defense:
It is just a great start for our defense. I think a lot of the goals that we’ve set for ourselves this season we’ve met; defense being the first thing. We’re not going to be at the bottom of the league defensively. We can score but we also need to defend. Turnovers were a concern tonight, if you’re looking for something on that stat sheet that really stands out that (LA) created. We’ve got to clean that up. But other than that I was really pleased with the game.
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On her seven steals:
I think defense is something that we’ve focused on this year, pressuring the ball and not letting it go inside easy, all those little things. I wish I knew the magic formula or we’d do it every night. I just tried to be as aggressive as possible.
On the game:
It felt good. We felt comfortable. I think the reason for that is that we have a lot of the players from last year’s team back. Playing in KeyArena is just a place we’re comfortable. Our fans are great. They make you feel like there is a million of them in there, and I know it intimidates other teams. We just try to feed off that energy.
On Palmer:
Wendy is like our rock right now, and she really set a tone for our team. Defensively, because 
Lauren (Jackson) was in foul trouble, she had to take the Lisa Leslie assignment, which is tough. You waste a lot of energy on that. So for her to do that on both sides of the ball, we just fed off that performance.
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On the game:
It’s fun to get out there and play. Just to get out there and run around. I didn’t have any restrictions on time except for in the first five minutes I get two fouls.
The girls played awesome. It was a real team effort tonight. Hopefully we can continue it throughout the season. It was a nice opener, that’s for sure.
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JOE BRYANT:
On the game:
I didn’t like that our bigs didn’t finish. A few times we got bumped and we were bumping on them, but they were finishing the play. That’s the difference. I had a talk with our bigs and told them despite what the officials are calling, you still have to finish the play and score the bucket.
Also the wild card for them and someone who stepped up and played like she was 18 was Wendy Palmer. For her to get 18 and 12, that’s really the difference in the game. We can’t allow that. Even though she’s an old-school player … she was the difference. (Betty) Lennox, Bird and Jackson – we pretty much kept them at bay so it wasn’t like they took the game over. But Wendy Palmer was the wild card that went in there and did an old-school lesson on us.
On Seattle's run to start the third quarter:
During that period at the start of the second half, we had some shots that we should’ve made – layups, 10-footers. We have to make those if we’re going to be successful. Even if we do miss, we have to go out and guard and play defense. We did some positive things on defense, especially when the game was out of reach. We stepped in and took some charges. We have to play a little smarter because we’re not the beefiest team so we have to move our feet and play with our quickness and athletic ability.
On what he takes from this game:
We have a lot of new players here. We didn’t read the offensive play the way we should. We hold the ball too long. At times we took it a little too personal going one-on-one with players. I’m not mad, but like I said, the wild card was Palmer. She really set the tone for them.
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On the game:
I thought our overall effort was better. I’m glad that we have a much more athletic team. We played hard, fought hard. There are certain things we have to work on – transition defense, our help defense. We definitely have to do a better job of once we shoot and the other team gets the rebound, going down and getting in our transition defense.
On how long it might take the time to mesh together:
I don’t know, but I’m still optimistic. I’m really happy with our team. We have a lot of good players. Everybody is working hard and we’re together. When you have that, that’s a huge step already. We’re trying to build chemistry. We’ve had one week together with all of these players. We’re going to get better, but we gave a good effort. Obviously Seattle has more of a core team than we do right now, but we’ll be better, I guarantee it.
On the KeyArena crowd:
I don’t remember much past the announcements. The rest of the time I don’t hear it. I’m used to it - it’s not the only arena, believe me.
