Postgame Quotes/Notes - Storm 91, Phoenix 88 (Game 2)
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TONIGHT'S NOTES | ||
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STORM HEAD COACH 
BRIAN AGLER:
On the game:
We have had a lot of games with the Mercury like that, not just this year, but over the past three years I have been in Seattle. I think we have the ability to do two things with each other. We have the ability to bring the best out of each other. I also think we have the ability sometimes to bring out the worse, but in today’s game you saw a lot of good out of both teams. We knew with them being the defending champs that they were not going to go down easy, and fortunately for us we hung in there.
On the final play:
We had it drawn up the timeout before 
Sue (Bird) even called one because we thought that we might get the ball and not even use it and come down and just run it. We were going to put 
Tanisha (Wright) in a pick-and-roll and try to get some action on the back side with Sue and 
Lauren (Jackson) and we thought that one of them might get freed up. Fortunately Sue got freed up.
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STORM GUARD SUE BIRD:
On winning the series and reaching the WNBA Finals:
It’s definitely meaningful, especially considering the last five years we have not got out of the first round. For us it was almost a serious of humps. We had to get over the hump to get out of the first round and to be in the Western Conference Finals. I know I didn’t want to play Phoenix in Game 3. That would have been very hard even on our home court, so the best part about hitting that shot is that the series is over and we have a week to prepare.
On the final play:
We had a lot of time and we knew that we wanted to take the last shot. We didn’t want to even give them an opportunity to even get a look at the basket. Brian drew up a play and it was basically for T to come off the pick-and-roll and for Lauren to down screen for me. We ran it earlier in the game and Lauren actually got under the rim and was able to score that way. It was just one of those things, T had to make the read and they both had to run down to Lauren for a second and I had just enough time to get it off.
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STORM FORWARD LAUREN JACKSON:
On the comeback:
There have been numerous times this year where we have been down in the final quarter and sort of been able to work our way back into the game. It is just the confidence that I think we have in each other. They relaxed a little bit and we just took advantage of the opportunities.
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On the Storm's comeback:
We started making baskets and before what we were doing was we were getting stops and getting transition plays for us where they either had to foul or we had the momentum going to the basket. They got free throws, and-ones, which is even worse. The game slowed down and they hit some big shots.
On takeaways from the game:
I have to watch the tape. Right now, I told our players that it was a funny year for us. We started off kind of bad and I told them a lot of teams could have given up right there, but we didn’t. We kept fighting, got into the playoffs and they fought. Seattle is a good team, I can’t take anything away from them – they were a good team all year and they were a good team tonight. They stayed with it. We tried to really force the game on them up-tempo, but they hung in there. They’re a good team.
On how the Storm was able to make up ground so quickly:
The and-ones didn’t help. It stops the clock, gives them time to set their defense and they get three points out of it. In the end, I didn’t think they were really running their offense, it was more they were coming down and probing, trying to get something in the pick-and-roll. They’d get offensive rebounds, putbacks, another shot and you’ve got a scramble now and you’re not really in any defense where you can have something set and they hit shots.
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On the Storm's comeback:
They did a good job of executing at the end and getting to the free throw line a lot. Things like that get you back in the game and they did a good job of that.
On losing the lead:
That’s been the storyline of our season, really. When we’re tuned in, we’re really good and little by little, we lose focus. They’re a good team, they played really well this year and they showed it.
On chances to tie or win late in the game:
We had chances to win and we just didn’t get it done – not only tonight, but throughout the year we’ve been pretty inconsistent as a team and as individuals. That’s what it shows in games like this.
On the game:
We did everything we wanted to do, except for win. It just came down to getting stops and we didn’t get them when we needed to and Seattle came out on top.
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On the game:
We did everything we wanted to do, except for win. It just came down to getting stops and we didn’t get them when we needed to and Seattle came out on top.
On what the Mercury needs to differently to win Game 2:
Make shots. I think we need to run more. First half we didn’t run hardly at all and second half, we did a little more. We need to be more aggressive attacking the basket. We did that a little bit in the first half, but we weren’t necessarily getting calls, so we kind of went away from it. As long as we’re aggressive, we should be fine.
On her miss with the game tied:
Like Dee said, it just wasn’t executed. The play called had a couple of different options and we got to the hole and just didn’t finish it.
