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WNBA FINALS: FEVER v LYNX

October 9, 2015

Maya Moore

Indianapolis, Indiana: Game Three

Minnesota Lynx - 80
Indiana Fever - 77

Q. Maya, a two‑part question: When was the last time you hit a buzzer‑beater to win a game, and just what's your feeling in that last 1.7 seconds and the shot you made?
MAYA MOORE: I don't think I've hit one on the Lynx. There was one close when I was overseas this past winter in China, but it wasn't necessarily a buzzer‑beater.
So that was pretty, pretty close today to not making it. That was pretty fun. Pretty fun just to finish it that way. I guess high school was the last buzzer‑beater. I was 16, to win an AAU championship, so exactly ten years ago today. Yes, yes.

Q. You got into foul trouble early, but it didn't seem like you panicked at all, even when you got the fourth foul early in the third quarter you seemed to keep your composure. What was your thought process in continuing to play as aggressive as you did?
MAYA MOORE: Well, I've been, unfortunately, in those situations before. It's not a situation that I want to be in. I don't want to put my team in that situation. They thankfully played through my lack of good judgment for those moments, and it's really stepped up. Our bench played wonderful. I think coach said 20‑‑ I don't think it's on here, but 28 points to help me when I was out. So that's huge.
I was just trying to make sure whatever I did, it was something that was going to help my team move forward, so I was trying to be the loudest one on the bench, trying to make sure we were communicating and connecting. Then when I got on the floor, just trying to stay locked in and focused.
I'm still not satisfied with what I did for the whole game. I want to be better. Our team wants to be better, and we're going to bring that mindset into Game 4.

Q. Cheryl was saying that early when she coached you were not very good in late, late game situations, or last‑shot situations. Would you tend to agree with that? Do you think you've become a better player in these kind of final shot situations?
MAYA MOORE: Yeah, absolutely. The closing out a game with a few seconds left is a really hard thing to do. There's a lot of pressure. People are definitely going to be focusing on me because I am an offensive threat. So year by year, Reeve has put me in those situations in practice, and I've gotten a little bit better, a little more poised.
Getting a chance to watch Seimone do it. She put me in a situation and I'll not do so well, and she'll put Seimone in a situation, and I'll watch the poise that Seimone does it with. And I remember those memories from rookie year, my sophomore year, second year. Just really admiring. Especially Seimone is one of the most poised shot makers, so I have a little bit of an advantage to learn from her, and that's exactly what you saw today. After four seasons under my belt, coming into my fifth‑year in the playoffs, I'm hoping I would have picked up a few things from Seimone.

Q. For either of you, how do you bottle up a huge win like this, getting one on the road and carrying it over to Sunday to try to finish the series on the road?
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: Knowing that it's going to be more of the same. Indiana's been playing great, Briann January has been carrying the team tonight, and Shenise Johnson came out and had an efficient scoring night. They're not going to give up. And Tamika Catchings led. The team is not going to give up. But this gives us the momentum and the energy to know that five minutes to go, ten seconds to go we can close out a game and pull off a win. So it gives us a lot of confidence going into Sunday.

Q. Maya, 1.7 seconds left, do you have some sort of internal chronometer that you know you have time to make a pump fake? And can you tell me what was going through your mind as the ball was going through the air?
MAYA MOORE: Well, 1.7s a lot of time. I'm a basketball junky. I watch basketball all the time. I've been playing almost my whole life, so those situations you see so often; and, again, having coaches that prepare us for those moments as well, putting us in end of game situations, but everything kind of fell into line. I did what I could. I can't say I completely mastermind the whole situation. It was just a basketball move, and I was able to get it off.
Fortunately I have a pretty quick release, so it worked out where I didn't actually‑‑ I haven't seen the replay yet. I couldn't see it from the court, I don't know how close it was, but it felt pretty close. When I let it go, I knew I got it all.

Q. One thing Lindsay was saying, she said for great athletes sometimes things slow down when they're really fast for everybody else. I'm wondering when you talked about the evolution, watching Seimone and everything, do you feel like now that sort of you don't rush even though it's 1.7 seconds?
MAYA MOORE: Yes, and no. I think 80% of the time I have that poise and I have that feel. And I think my natural state is to go really fast. That's just my personality, and that's just the kind of kid I was playing. Just go really fast, play really hard, and ask questions later. So I've had to kind of grow step by step, you know, high school, college, pros, changing your speeds, knowing when to go fast, when to go slow, when to turn it up, how to move my body, change directions. Again, I've got great leaders around me that have demonstrated that. You have Taj McWilliams‑Franklin, when I'm a rookie my second year, she was the master. She would get people going five miles an hour because she just took her time, deception, finding that poise and that rhythm. So there are moments where I have to channel my inner Taj to really get my feet under me, get balanced. It's part of the evolution of, I think, a lot of players and just coming in and learning how to play with poise. Fortunately the last shot today was an example of progress.

Q. Back to the buzzer‑beater. Was it the Jordans?
MAYA MOORE: The shoes?

Q. Have you had a moment to just let that shot, what you just did sink in in terms of what it means for a Finals, a Finals match and what it speaks to, just the level of talent that you have and also the league?
MAYA MOORE: Well, one of the first things Coach Reeve said when she "W" walked into the locker room, that was a great game. One of the best Finals games ever. It was just so competitive. Both teams are probably not as satisfied with their defense because we both shot very well from three and from two.
So it was a lot of scoring, a lot of back and forth, very competitive, no team was giving up plays made so, again, it's just another play. It just happened to be in the last two seconds. But this is a long series, and no one's won anything yet. So we're looking forward to Sunday, but glad that we were able to do it with this game being ours.

Q. Tonight you played the most of anyone on the floor tonight. Do you feel like you're back from your injuries and time off and getting reacclimated?
MAYA MOORE: Yes.
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: Yeah, I just thanked the trainer. As a matter of fact it was a hard process getting back on the floor. And going into HydroWorx®, and doing drills on the floor, but you said, I was thankful that I'm back at the best time of the year to be able to play. Did I expect to play 37 minutes? No way. But things happen. Maya got in foul trouble and I had to step up. Just like Anna had to step up and Renee had to come in and play great minutes because Whalen was out. That's just what we do. That's our motto, that's been our motto all year long. Man down, man up. We don't make excuses. We just come out and do what's necessary to keep our team together, keep our composure, keep our poise, and pull out victories.

Q. If you look at these two teams superficially, the Lynx have a lot of star power, three Olympians, the Fever one and a lot of very good utility players. What is it in your opinion that these two teams have in common that makes this such a competitive and really exciting series?
MAYA MOORE: Chemistry. I think it's clear to see both teams are very connected and very much about each other. They're tough minded. We're both tough minded teams. We're both physically tough teams that are willing to do the dirty work. At this time of the year your chemistry and your will to win is really what's going to separate you, because everyone's talented. Whether they've been to the Olympics or not, everyone who is in the Finals is a ridiculously good athlete who knows how to win. So I mean, that's why this series has been so phenomenal. It's two teams that are tough‑minded, who really want to win and are very talented. So we'll see what happens on Sunday.

Q. Besides all the excitement with Cheryl Payne, a little tribute to Renee. The last couple years Renee has struggled and taken a lot of criticism. How close was she to vintage UCONN tonight?
MAYA MOORE: That was fun. I had a flash back for a second. She's even talking to me like we were in school again. But she's a baller. She's a competitor. I remember really being connected to Renee when we were in school together because we were the two most competitive people everywhere we went. We were never on the same team because we'd kill the other team, so we always had to be on opposite teams and we would just Duke it out because we were competitors, and she's brought that to the Lynx. Her coming to our team wasn't part of her plan, but she's embraced it and really taken on her role and made some huge plays. When she doesn't hit that three to tie it at 77, we might have needed my three. So it was just Renee locking into Renee, and we know she can do that. I think it's only going to help us, it's only going to help her mentally going into Game 4 knowing that's what she's capable of and remembering that. So it was fun to watch. It was a huge three, huge.

Q. You said you knew the shot was good time‑wise. Did you know it was good and it was going to go in?
MAYA MOORE: It felt good. It felt good. There's not much you can do after it leaves your hand until it goes in the rim other than hope it goes in. But it felt good coming off my hand. It felt a little off center, but not so off center that it couldn't go in. But I'm just glad it went in.

Q. Also the defensive possession before that, they had the ball with a chance to win it with 25 seconds left, and you guys came up with a tip and a shot and also the rebound. Just talk about the defensive play that got you a chance to win at the end?
MAYA MOORE: Right, right. Just team defense, pack the paint, make it hard for them to score easily. It was a weird miss, and I think it kind of got batted around a little bit. It eventually went off them and they reviewed it to make sure and it was our ball. We knew we had a chance to win. That's all we were thinking about at that point. It was, all right, let's put the ball in the hole. We've got 2 seconds. That's plenty of time.

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WNBA FINALS: FEVER v LYNX

October 9, 2015

Seimone Augustus

Maya Moore