Postgame Quotes/Notes - Storm 68, Minnesota 64
RELATED CONTENT | |||
| |||
TONIGHT'S NOTES | |||
|
|
|
STORM HEAD COACH 
BRIAN AGLER:
On the game:
We had to dig down and really do some good things in the second half. We cut the lead there in the third quarter, gave ourselves a chance, then had to make some plays at the offensive end and the defensive end.
T (Wright) got to the rim a few times, 
Swin (Cash)'s basket at the rim, 
Lauren (Jackson)'s three on a broken play in the corner was big, 
Camille (Little) rebounding the ball was huge and then we had a series of multiple stops in the fourth quarter. I think they scored eight points in the fourth quarter. We gave ourselves a chance.
On the first half:
We were sort of dysfunctional in the first half. We were getting frustrated with ourselves; it wasn't good. But we worked through it. It came to the point in the third quarter where we just had to let them play through it and see if we could get it going, and we did. 
Svetlana (Abrosimova) was really a big spark for us there in the third, hitting some shots. I think everybody contributed in a fine way. 
Sue (Bird) statistically shooting the ball wasn't great, but she played big minutes. Sue hit a big shot when we needed it. That's how she is. She's going to be there.
|
STORM GUARD SUE BIRD:
On hitting a key shot late in the game for her only field goal:
We needed a shot to go in, and luckily one of mine finally fell. Sometimes, you've got to play through games like that. You've just got to stay with it; you can't stop shooting. Your whole life, you're told that. That's what that was.
On the problems the Lynx created defensively:
They did a good job. They switched their defenses well and they would mask zone to man. More than anything, they were switching back and forth. For our team, it's important for me to get everybody in position. It was difficult at times - either not calling the right play or people not getting into the play. It is frustrating. I probably let it get to me a little bit too much. In the second half, we talked a lot about what we wanted to do. There are things we can do regardless of what they're doing. We really stuck to those and it paid dividends.
|
STORM FORWARD SWIN CASH:
On her go-ahead score:
It was a great pass by Lauren. I saw the mismatch inside and tried to post up and take advantage.
On staying undefeated at home:
It was talked about, I guess, a little bit. We knew we were undefeated at home and wanted to keep that going, but I think we talked more about just getting back on a roll playing-wise, using these three games to get prepared for the playoffs.
On her defense against Seimone Augustus:
Brian highlighted that as something that needed to get done. Obviously, Seimone's a tough guard - she has so many different offensive weapons. I just tried to make it tough for her - stay in her space and make her take tough shots. Tonight, she wasn't hitting them.
|
STORM FORWARD CAMILLE LITTLE:
On the importance of bringing energy when the team's offense isn't clicking:
It's major. I wouldn't even just say me and Swin. It's our entire team. Any given night, it could be anybody who brings intensity to our team. I think it's something we all have to have within ourselves. Once we all get it and start clicking, I think defensively our intensity gets up, our offense comes easier to us and that's how everything starts for us.
On the crowd's role when the team is playing well:
It's huge. We have the greatest fans in the league, I think personally. To have them behind us when we're down, when we're up, it's a good feeling. You don't want to lose in front of them. You play hard for the fans; you want them to come back and support us. We really take pride in making sure they're happy.
|
On the game:
We’re pretty disappointed. We’ve played them four times now. Last time we were here, they made some big plays down the stretch, much like today. I’m disappointed that we didn’t have a better offensive showing. We have some pretty good players that couldn’t make shots tonight. I’m glad that on nights like this when we have one of the all-time greatest scorers in the WNBA in Seimone Augustus go 2-for-18, and our two-guard go 3-for-12 that we still had a chance to win. We played hard; we defended hard; we rebounded fairly well. They outrebounded us, but we gave a lot of shots available to them with our field-goal percentage. It’s not much fun coming up short after you put that much into a game.
On Charde Houston:
Charde is playing really hard. She was a part of a number of loose balls. It was difficult for her on the offensive end. She was drawing a lot of attention. Our players that established themselves early on, the Storm started paying more attention to, like Lindsay (Whalen) and Charde. That’s when we need Seimone and Monica (Wright) to do a little better. But we just couldn’t get it done.
On Whalen's game:
We got our wheels rolling in our early offense, playing off our defense and getting clean rebounds and outlets - that’s when we’re really good. Whalen can get down the court in a hurry. I think Whalen and Bird enjoy playing against each other. It is a fun matchup, and they each have confidence.
On her team's defense:
We had some mistakes, but 68 points and 39 percent, I’m not disappointed in that. They fouled 25 times, that were called. We shot 27 free throws. The story of the game is plain and simple: 29 percent (shooting).
On being outrebounded in the second half:
They increased their energy, which they obviously do in this building all the time. I think they tried to do that in the first half, but we answered each time. They threw more punches in the second half than we did. We didn’t have answers for those. We did not get our transition game going in the second half.
On the KeyArena crowd:
It affects the home team more than the away team because they feed off the energy, just like when we’re home and our fans get into it. You can be tired and suddenly forget you’re tired. You defend harder, deny harder, drive harder to the hole.
Officials change the way they call their game; they go with momentum. This is a great place to play. We actually love playing here. I don’t know how other teams feel, but we enjoy it. We like to silence the crowd. We take great pride in that and I feel like we did that for a fair part of the game.
|
On the game:
We’re disappointed that we didn’t get the win. We knew it was going to come down to be a close game. They have a great team and a great crowd, and we knew it was going to come down to a couple of possessions at the end - and it did. They made a couple of big shots and it was enough to win. It’s a tough loss. We defended well enough to win, but we didn’t score enough points. Hats off to them.
On the rebounding differential:
We missed a lot of shots, so they had a lot of opportunities to rebound. Defensive rebounding percentage means more than total rebounds. They have some great inside players and great rebounders. We worked as hard as we could.
On her aggressive play:
We’re in a playoff push and I want to set the tone. I felt that I could get off the bounce and get things going. I tried to be aggressive and take it to the basket. Things opened up a bit.
On defending Bird:
I tried to fight over the pick-and-roll. She hit a big one at the end.
