Postgame Quotes/Notes - Storm 72, Minnesota 69
RELATED CONTENT | |||
| |||
TONIGHT'S NOTES | |||
|
|
|
BRIAN AGLER:
On the game:
I take my hat off to Minnesota. I’ve been listening to some of their televised games and they had a star next to this game. They felt like they could win this for them to have a successful season. In my opinion they’ll have a successful season as it is. I think this game was important. They had four or five days to prepare for us and it was going to be tough. I’m really proud of our team. We hung in there and made some crucial plays. We were kind of up and down with our energy.
On the importance of the Storm's defense in the fourth quarter:
We talk defense 24/7. They know. We had a small lineup in there and tried to stay as active as possible. 
Tanisha (Wright) had two or three steals, 
Sue (Bird) had a steal, 
Camille (Little) had some charges - just some huge defensive plays.
On the Lynx's hot shooting:
All teams have issues they have to address. I think Minnesota came in rested and shot the ball well. We’re like that. When we get rest we’re a lot more energetic. I think that was a big part of it. We had to steadily tweak our defense to get adjusted.
On Little:
Camille is just a gamer. She’s usually outsized, but the one thing you can count on from her is that she is an unbelievable competitor. She showed up tonight. She relishes those challenges and likes those things.
On off shooting nights for the Storm's All-Stars:
Even the best players in the world go through tough nights. They’re a little fatigued right now and we have a day off tomorrow. But instead of focusing on that, I’m focusing on people stepping up and making plays. We had people really step up when they had to.
|
On the game:
It was an exciting game and it’s always exciting when you get wins. We’ll take it.
On her game-winning shot:
Brian just drew up a play and told me to turn the corner. And if it was open, just take it. It had been there a few plays before that; I had just missed the layup.
On the team's mentality in the fourth quarter:
In the huddle everything was positive. We kept our heads up because we still had a lot of time to go. I think that is basically what we focused on because we still had a lot of time.
|
On defending bigger players:
I’m used to it. I’ve been doing it since college. The great thing about being smaller is that you’re a little bit quicker. You’re just trying to get around them.
On the team's mentality in the fourth quarter:
We just had to refocus. We had to get some stops and make sure we scored and executed. Then we did and it worked out for us at the end.
|
On the game:
That was a very tough loss, but I thought my team came out and had a better showing than when we were here last time. I do see some improvement and I’m happy for that. I thought we did lose our poise there at the end of the game and had way too many turnovers. But you kind of expect that from a younger team and hopefully this experience will just help us in the long run. This team (the Storm) is a very experienced team and they know how to play at the end of the game. Like I said, I think our team is coming along. We’ve got some players that just haven’t played with each other and they’re getting used to each other, but it’s still going to take time. I’m being very patient with them. Overall, I think they did a good job, both offensively and defensively. I hate the loss, but I did see some good things tonight.
On the final six minutes of the game:
We just didn’t take care of the ball. I don’t think it was really anything they did. Maybe we just got nervous or just didn’t execute like we did at the beginning of the game. I thought we did a great job of executing during the first three quarters, but the last six minutes we didn’t execute like we had been. Something I’ve been trying to emphasize with this team is we can’t play individually at the end - it has to be done as a team. I think we get caught up in that and people want to put the game on their shoulders and win it, but we can’t win games that way. It has to be a team effort. Other teams are going to try and stop our top players, so we have to be able to find the open people.
On Candice Wiggins' charge:
You know, it was questionable. I’ll just have to watch the film and determine from there. I don’t want to say it was a bad call until I watch it on film. I could be wrong. I didn’t have a good angle on it, but of course, the coach is going to think it was a foul (on Seattle).
