Seattle Storm vs New York Liberty | Climate Pledge Arena | August 30, 2024

Hey Joe it was a three-point game in that fourth quarter like just what happened um they outscored you guys like by 10 in that fourth there yeah I me they got some rebounds uh some putbacks um some foul calls went their way they scored more than we did um in this direct sh um obviously you you play Four games against two really good teams just your just your thoughts on the stretch just how are you guys approaching the stretch and what would you like to see from this team during the stretch and and like how would you like to finish it no I mean we we definitely um you know showed a lot of effort and fault uh thoroughly through this game so that's what you want to see the whole time is to to fight through that um you know and we're going to bring that fight when we go to um you know on the on this road trip we to have it constantly and um that's something that we we felt tonight and uh you need definitely going into playoffs and J just um you out rebound to 45 to 17 but despite that you guys had a 10 to win the game just how difficult is it when you have such a dispar rebound for you to gain some momentum get second shots yeah know need to rebound um you know uh all our everyone has a rebound it's not just the post players um it's guards as well so I got to do a better job of getting in there usually I do um sometimes it depends on match ups or shots or where they fall but I think you know we're all we're all there you know some of them are just bobbling in our hands some of them are just just not you know in the right place right wrong time things like that but the end of the day it's rebounding and other things just a little more effort and um I don't question anyone I for I to think like we just need like that one little right um maybe some sticky stuff on our hands to help it uh but other than that I think it's just more um just being more mindful of it and obviously didn't get the win but you guys do clinch a playoff spot tonight um just talk about being able to clinch that tonight yeah I mean it's hard to to consistently be in the playoffs um obviously for us coming from last year to this year um that was a big goal of ours to to be in the playoffs so um we understand and you know put things in perspective you know Victoria's first time in the playoffs so she's ecstatic right um to know that so you always got to find a positive in every day definitely um and just some thoughts on Stewie's game tonight and is it weird for you to like see her like playing in Seattle but not for the storm no I mean we played against each other for many years so that's I'm used to it by now um but yeah I mean you know Stewie Stewie you know um MVP um you know we know what she could do and when she gets going it's kind of hard to stop um stop her and stop anyone we understand that and um yeah I mean she's a go to player um you forced 18 turnovers and scored 24 points off those turnovers they got seven turnovers seven points off those turnovers um just how important what I know obviously the result didn't go your way but how important was that to your game plan and how did you feel about the execution of that throughout the game I I think this this lineup and this roster we super athletic so our ability to get in the passing lanes and and cause Havoc that's when we're at our best um I think when we relax on our coverages um it doesn't really fit this team I think we could be really aggressive and we have that lineup to do it I mean there's a lot of fast breaks I think anytime you're a ball screen and that get pressuring you it's tough for anyone in any guard and so she does a great job with that so for us this is constantly just being adding pressure any anywhere we can um denying things and it's been really active I think that's when things kind of start clicking for us and when you're trying to get going on offense that definitely helps you guys are two and four since re returning from the break there are you thinking think you guys are far off is it close is it just one little thing or is it maybe something that's bigger than that uh I mean I think that's more a coaching question uh I think for as players you know we we feel like we're we can win every game we feel like we're in you know this one you know we're couple stops away a couple shots that you know go in and time turns the tide but um I think a lot of it just it's just harder to win I this league is not uh it's not a joke it's hard these games are everyone's fighting for a position everyone's fighting to get into playoffs and also want to be playing well so for us like we know what we're capable of doing we we see it we understand that we have confidence in everyone on this roster I think it's just you know couple plays here and there um for us and uh we feel pretty good but overall I think you know we're we're staying really positive and we know what you know what's ahead and the pace of this game especially through the first three quarters was like really fast um I guess just kind of talk about that how do you think that worked for you guys I mean we like to play Fast um that's something that I think both teams like to do but you know like I said with this roster we we have a lot of athletes and we like to get out there and run I think we could do it more um I think may we kind of slow things down it's when things kind of get like bogged up a little bit um I think everyone here likes to push the ball ahead like to run and drag so um pace is good I mean luckily we're all in shape and uh we seem to be doing all right this all the time we go for right now uh we'll have coach in here in just a minute hey coach um uh the 45 to 17 in terms of the offense I mean in terms of the rebounding how much did that play into the outcome of this game it's the biggest thing it was one of our keys today um just can't win games giving up that many offensive rebounds that many points off offensive rebounds and and that's the name of the game right there then you know with that being said though it was a three-point game in um early in the fourth quarter uh in these past few games you've been talking about the second half defense just what's you know in sort of like in terms of uh the second half defense I think the rebounding aspect of it is the biggest thing because if you have possessions and you play it and you get to a shot clock and someone gets a rebound on the floor and makes a that's backbreaking debilitating um so defensively whatever it is we're flying around we're pressuring we're contesting we have to finish plays with rebounds period um and I can live with mis coverages I can live with mis cues um but you know with a team like New York you have to be sharp you can't have a lot of my my bads and miscommunications and um in those crucial moments we had too many uh coach some overall thoughts just on Skylar's game and then also Stewie and Sabrina I want to talk about Sky um I think that you know she set the tone I think that she was aggressive um when she's able to get downhill get a paint and be very efficient um she's better the Distributing is has been very consistent she top five and assist this year and um we're going to need her to play at this aggressive level um for the rest of the season and obviously didn't come in a win but you guys do clinch a playoff spot um just talk about that you're proud of our team going from 11 wins to now being able to say we have postseason play very proud and just overall thoughts on the pace of play I thought especially in the first half and and probably first three quarters you guys were really running up and down Court just overall thoughts on the pace of play um there's something about Pace that I I just want you know us to understand our Pace isn't necessarily like the temple but I want us to be efficient in that and I think um for portions of the game we were um also pace for us is how we run into Sprints how we cut um what we're doing in um with that Cadence and so I don't want to just have a High possession game without efficiency and I thought I thought today we're a little bit better in that area in terms of what you need to see in efficiency is it off ball movement when the ball's coming down the court to be able to distribute the ball I think so um or even efficiency when we get you know we had 24 points right off of turnover so efficiency and when we play off of our our defense uh efficiency and transition to get those easy buckets um efficiency when we do get in a half court set um to be able to take proper shots on goal and and hit our open shots what did you uh make of your off ball defense I have to take a look at the film um I don't think I can specifically pinpoint um either breakdowns or it was pretty good just because the rebounding so glaring so no matter what we did from a a scheme point of view we didn't finish plays and so it's hard to say what those breakdowns look like is it the off ball defense that then affects the rebounding so there's nobody there or I know you haven't looked at it but basic 101 basketball yeah and also you know because we have to you know dig and at times show bodies um to their elite players um you're going to be in rotations um and so you know today if you guys noticed we had to put a guard on Stewie and so eie is guarding Feit and you know sorry I don't know how to pronounce her name but um she's guarding um other guards and so those rotations are a little bit different but this is good getting reps like this and working on this um because we're going to see them again um offense was flowing quite well bit better than maybe we've seen since the the break but it seemed like in the fourth quarter it might have stagnated a little bit did you felt feel that way and um was there anything particular New York did uh yeah went Zone I think their Zone threw us off a little bit um especially atto and um their length in general you know so when you get you know possession by possession game when the game slows down you're going to have problems with a team who presents length uh presents um matchup uh you know ability to match up uh differently um you know the the thing is you know we're getting the shots and we were hitting them you know we haven't been hitting our open shots and I thought today we did a better job of that um but you know in portions of the game is going to come down to kind of slowing that that game down and execute and I don't think we executed as well today got time for a couple questions from Zoom um Christian go ahead and then Andrew we'll have you wrap up hey coach uh besides the rebounding advantage in New York had is there anything else that you saw on the sideline that you think that could have turned this game in your favor a couple of those replays Jes we won we were successful but then it was their ball that was interesting um the other thing uh I think you know just our our timely possessions again I don't think our execution was as strong as the other day I would kind of point to that to being better you know I like you know seeing the group that we had and just moving people around and seeing us execute there it showed me a lot about our group today so um you know this this New York team been playing together for now two seasons let me get some Grace this year and I one more if I can um you guys shot 81% at The Rim this season New York is one of the best teams at liming teams from shooting pretty efficiently that area he just speak of the efficiency that you guys had and also kind of um when New York was imposing The Zone Skyler and other guards ability to kind of you know poke holes in against the r yeah I think um that's kind of been our efficiency around the rim has kind of lacked so it's good to see you know that high today against a team who's like top in the league with defending it because they have R protector so again we I learned a lot I know you know we didn't come out with the win but a lot of lessons to be learned in this one um as far as like how we can continue to execute and you know find ways to um you know you know like that zone we we'll attack it better the next time we see it um but yeah good things but we still got a lot of work to do and last question for Andrew Andrew go ahead thank you very much coach just want to ask you with Mercedes being out um I mean yeah against the Liberty team it is something with her size would be very beneficial to help eie you want to see eie show that presence more when you against and Dan Hughes was calling the national game tonight if you had a chance to talk to Dan right there um s for you thank you yeah I talked to Coach um he's been here this week so I've seen him all week um it was really good to see him super encouraging just a light so it was good to see um him back in Seattle uh yeah we miss sades today for sure because of her size her length um you know IR talk about how smart she is as a player uh so and then eie picked up two quick ones and so you know right away their size their length um showed up against our our small lineup um so that was tough so hopefully Sadies can get back with us and we'll be okay all right thanks coach appreciate your time e