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WNBA FINALS: FEVER v LYNX

October 11, 2015

Stephanie White

Indianapolis, Indiana: Game Four

Minnesota Lynx - 69
Indiana Fever - 75

COACH WHITE: Just extremely proud of our team. The heart that they've shown all season long, the unselfishness that they've shown all season long, the togetherness that they've built throughout this season, it's just been incredible to watch this team go from where we've started to where we are right now.
It's been a lot of fun. We came out tonight again with our back against the wall, and for 35 minutes we did everything we needed to do to put ourselves in a position to win. Obviously, not happy with the last five minutes, but it's a growing experience. It's a learning experience for us, and we're just lucky to be able to escape and be able to live to fight another day.

Q. I don't know about your halftime speech, but your first time‑out third quarter speech must have been pretty good. What happened there in that stretch where you guys really took control?
COACH WHITE: I just really challenged our team. I felt like our energy was terrible. Our attention to detail was worse. We were fumbling the ball. Nobody was sure about anything we were doing. So I just challenged them. Do you want to see the opponent hoisting up a trophy on our home floor, or do you want to fight, and do you want to compete, and do you want to do everything we've done to put ourselves in this position?
Fortunately, they responded. It's tough. You're playing against a great opponent. You can't afford to have moments like that because they capitalize and they make you pay for that, and we can't afford to do it.

Q. Stephanie, talk to us about the character of this team, a team that most folks outside of the city of Indianapolis didn't believe could get to this point, especially during the middle of the season. Talk to us about what you've seen, the growth and development of this team.
COACH WHITE: Well, I've seen a team that, first and foremost, has a hunger to play for each other. There are games where some people don't get in. There are games where players play more than others. There are games when players play different positions. There are games where we've faced so much adversity with injuries.
And this team has been so unselfish throughout this entire season, and they're in it for the greater good of the team. That's why we're here‑‑ because of the selflessness, because of the sacrifice, because of all 12 of our players. That's why we're here. Had we had one or two that complained about not playing or get a little bit selfish throughout the season, then we're not here.
And Tamika Catchings has a heart of a champion. And Tamika Catchings refuses to lose. And this team has really taken on that identity, and this team, every single player on this team has improved dramatically as the season has went on.

Q. Steph, if someone told you you'd have one basket in the fourth quarter‑‑
COACH WHITE: Is that all we had?

Q. That's all you had.
COACH WHITE: Oh, my God.

Q. Would you have thought you'd have won this game?
COACH WHITE: Never, never, never.

Q. Coach, could you discuss Briann January's ability to get to the line tonight.
COACH WHITE: Yeah, we wanted to be aggressive. We wanted to be aggressive going north‑south. The last game, we were too much east‑west. So we really challenged Bri to be in attack mode. Her decision making for most of this series has been very good. She's attacked to score. She's found her open teammates.
She really did a good job tonight. She wasn't shooting the ball particularly well. Had a couple of decisions at times that were a little scary. But she did attack with an aggressive mindset and so allowed herself to get to the foul line.

Q. Coach, one thing that you and Minnesota have in common is tremendous local support. If there's a person in Indianapolis who's unaware that the fever were fighting to stay alive for a championship tonight, I've been yet met them. How do you cultivate that kind of support, and what can other teams do to bring that?
COACH WHITE: Wow, that's a tough one. I just think that our fans‑‑ first of all, our organization does a tremendous job with outreach‑‑ Pacers Sports and Entertainment, Pacers Cares, Fever Cares‑‑ I mean, we're out all the time, and we really value our community.
And having that outreach, having that value‑‑ and I can tell you another thing that really helps us. There's not one person in the Pacers organization that says the word Pacers without saying the word Fever. Everything that we do, it's Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever. From pregame in the Pacers broadcast, if we have a community event for the Pacers, it's Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever. From our president and our owner going out and talking about Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever. Never mentioned without mentioning Fever.
So from the top, you've got to be valued. And when you're valued from the top and you're included from the top and every message that you send out, whether it be from a community relations standpoint, a public relations standpoint, every message that you send is that we're together in this, fans embrace that. We call the Pacers our big brothers. We're there for them, and the players that are in town, our staff when we're here, and they're here for us. And it's a unique cultivation. Same thing with the Colts really.
And I think it's unique to our communities. I think Minnesota's fans are awesome. They have been, gosh, for as long as I can remember. But it's also a team that‑‑ Minnesota Gophers had great fan support. I remember when Whalen and McCarville were playing there. When you have two communities that love the support, when you have two organizations that are on par with their message, I think it just breeds success.

Q. Steph, this postseason will go the distance for you guys, 5‑0 in elimination games. You mentioned Catch. I know a lot of people, a lot of teams would fold in those type of situations. Is it as simple as her or more to it?
COACH WHITE: I don't think it's as simple as her. A lot of people were asking me about Tamika Catchings numbers. I'm like, no, it's not the numbers. She's tricking all you guys because it's not the numbers. It's the way that she creates for her teammates whether it be through her hard‑nosed play, whether it be through her extra possessions and toughness, whether it be through her spacing, whether it be what she's saying in the huddle, the way she's been coachable all season long.
I challenged her with a couple of her turnovers, and she responded, and she took it. So there are a lot of things that Tamika Catchings does that don't show up in the stat sheets that we value as teammates and that allow her teammates to be coached the same way that I coach her.
The other thing is that‑‑ I mean, no, it's not as simple as that because everybody on our team is so much better today than we were whatever day we started training camp. So much better. And that's a tribute to them. To them getting in the gym, getting better, sacrificing, doing not only the work that we have to do in practice, but the extra work, rising to the challenge, being able to be coached, and then coming out and sacrificing for one another every day.
And it's just really a unique team, and I'm just so proud to be a part of it.

Q. Stephanie, you guys seem to extend your defense quite a bit today. What was the thought process behind that? What were you trying to accomplish?
COACH WHITE: We wanted to try to keep them out of an offensive rhythm, probably much the same reason they were extending their defense against us. Make it difficult for them to bring the ball down the floor. Make them run offense with less time on the clock. Make other people initiate offense besides their lead guards. And just put a little bit more pressure.
We feel like we have the depth to do it. We played our bench a little bit more in the last two games than we have pretty much the entire playoffs. We wanted to use our bench to try to wear them down and use our bench and use our defensive energy to try to create some turnovers.

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