WNBA Finals Practice Report: First Round Of Adjustments

Brian Martin

SEATTLE – The Storm and Mystics were back on the practice court at Seattle Pacific University on Saturday to make the first round of adjustments following Friday’s Game 1 win for the Storm.

Both teams watched plenty of film, walked through new offensive and defensive schemes and met with the media to discuss their preparations. Here are some of the key takeaways from Saturday’s practice.

The Word Of The Day Was Energy

Just about every player or coach you talked to Saturday used the word energy to describe the difference between the teams in Game 1. For the Storm, it’s all about maintaining their level of energy to fuel not just themselves but also the raucous KeyArena crowd. For the Mystics it’s about finding a way to match or exceed Seattle’s energy in order to give themselves a chance to head back to D.C. with a split rather than an 0-2 deficit.

“I expect a ton of energy from them right out the gate,” said Seattle’s Sue Bird. “I re-watched the game and I heard [Mystics coach] Mike Thibault saying he felt like his team was casual and they were out there going through the motions, so I’m sure that’s what they will be talking about in their practice and going into Game 2. We just have to make sure we don’t get complacent.”

“We know they’re going to come out aggressive and want to play better than they played last game and so are we,” added Breanna Stewart. “We’re going to come out just as aggressive and there were things that we needed to do better and we’re on our home court and need to protect it.”

For Thibault, he hopes his team learned its lesson from the Game 1 loss and will be ready from the opening tip of Game 2 in a tough environment.

“Key[Arena] has always been a tough place for a lot of teams to play,” he said “And I think going through the first game will be for a lot of our players, hopefully we’ll be a little more in tune with the energy that is needed to win a game like that.

“In a playoff series luckily you can adjust, it wasn’t the one game and you’re done situation, but we have to adjust quickly to it. Part of that is energy and part of it is will to work a little harder than the person that is guarding you to get open or to make the extra pass or to see things on the floor. They mixed their defenses on us, they trapped some, they switched some, they played normal, but you have to on the floor recognize it and I just thought we were slow on those things, we were a step behind on everything.”

Adjustments To Be Made For Both Teams

The Storm led Game 1 by as many as 27 points and cruised to a 13-point win that did not indicate just how lopsided the game actually was. While it’s easy to think just rinse and repeat from Seattle’s perspective, it’s never that simple in a playoff series.

“That’s the challenge right, you can’t get too fat and happy over one win,” said Bird. “It’s just one win. It’s a series and you have to keep the same focus.”

“Yesterday it looked like we played a flawless game and in reality we messed up on a lot of things, but because we were aggressive it kind of covered up the little things,” added Jewell Loyd. “So today we watched film and talked about different things that we need to do better. Obviously we went through a lot of their schemes and what we think they’re going to do, but at the end of the day it really comes down to rebounding and executing.

“We know that for us rebounding is really big and when a team loses like they come out more aggressive and they’re going to crash more and be a little bit more aggressive, so we know that so for us its really about film and walking through their sets here and then kind of getting our bodies ready to go and hopefully recover for tomorrow.”

While the Storm can’t get too high off of their Game 1 performance, the Mystics can’t get too low after their subpar outing on Friday night. Whether the loss was by a single point or 50 points, it still counts as just a single loss in the series with another game to be played with a chance to tie things up.

“For us, it’s just a matter of bouncing back, getting back to our identity and who we are, and certainly not panic,” said Kristi Toliver. “There’s a lot of games to be played, a lot of minutes left. I think we feel good, regrouped and will continue to get better as the series goes on.”

When it comes to today’s film sessions, the Seattle film room was a much happier place to be than the Mystics film room. But there were lessons to be learned by both teams.

“You’ve got to learn from it,” said Elena Delle Donne. “As much as you try to forget about it and get ready for the next one. You have to sit back, watch film and take some keys away. Defensively we weren’t communicating right. We were a little sloppy on that end, and then on offense we just weren’t able to get into our sets. They played really aggressive, and we have to make some adjustments today. We watched a ton of film and now we’re here to clean stuff up.”

“They changed some things up defensively with their coverage – surprise traps, over helping, really congesting,” added Toliver. “Obviously there’s ways to counter everything so we’ll find our counters and find our gaps that we need to hit, share the basketball, move the basketball and get them moving, the more mobile we can be offensively, the harder it will be for them to guard.”

A Lesson From The Past

Both Toliver and Thibault brought up Washington’s loss to Connecticut on July 24 in the final game before the All-Star break as a comparison point with their Game 1 loss to Seattle. The Mystics lost that game 94-68, but responded by winning their next eight games coming out of the All-Star break.

“Honestly its kind of like how we entered into the All-Star break,” said Toliver. “We had a very rough game against Connecticut and we were able to regroup [as she snaps her fingers] right after that and won eight straight. So I think we just have to get back to committing to what we do and we’ll be all right.”

Thibault added that there are two key lessons to take away from that Connecticut loss and his team’s response then that can be applied to their current circumstance.

“I think the first thing you learn is that you can turn it around,” said Thibault. “It’s clear that there doesn’t have to be a carry over from that. The second part is, after that loss, they committed themselves to some things on the defensive end that we have to go back between now and tomorrow and recommit ourselves to. If we do those things well, then we give ourselves a chance but if you don’t do them well, you’re just going to be mediocre.”

Adjusting To Limited Delle Donne

When she was asked about how her knee felt following Game 1, Delle Donne responded with an honest and blunt answer about where things stand at this moment.

“We can talk about my knee after this series,” she said. “Excuses are for losers. If I wanted to be 100 percent, I wouldn’t have come back. I knew coming into this thing I was going to have to figure out a different way to play. It might not be the same basketball I’ve been playing all season, but I still feel like I can impact this game. My teammates like Ariel, she’s got my back, she can carry me on the offensive end, but we’ve got to be better, and we’ll find a way. We’ve got to watch some film and figure it out.”

When Delle Donne said she had to “figure out a different way to play” that also extends to the Mystics team as a whole and provides a challenge for Thibault to figure out how to best maximize what Delle Donne can offer in her current physical state.

“She’s not 100 percent – she’s not going to be 100 percent – so she’s trying to figure out what she can do and what we can do with her,” he said. “And yet they’re still going to pay a ton of attention to her too. I thought we made one good step last night is we got Atkins involved in the offense. We need three or four people to make an impact in a playoff game and they had more of those than we did last night by a lot.”

Toliver does not believe Delle Donne’s injury should keep the Mystics from attaining their ultimate goal.

“That’s why it’s a team game,” she said. “We have five on the floor that can all contribute and do things and [pause] we’re good enough to beat Seattle.

“And I think that’s the overall message and belief we need to have. Obviously, we wish Delle was 100 percent but she’s not, so there’s always ways around it and it’s not time to make excuses.”

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