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WNBA FINALS: SPARKS VS LYNX

October 20, 2016

Los Angeles, California

Sparks - 77, Lynx - 76

BRIAN AGLER: (Plays "Rocky Top" on mobile phone.)

I had to do that, and it's nothing other than I've never been around somebody that has been critiqued so hard, and I've not ever been around anybody that I'm more happy for than Candace tonight, for what she's gone through this season. It's been unbelievable. She stayed on the high road, fought through everything, stayed with it, was persistent, and sort of like -- she went through sort of like what our team went through, the ups and downs. We're really happy with how we played tonight, showed a lot of resiliency and perseverance and made plays down the stretch.

Q. Candace, immediately after the game you were saying this was for Pat. Can you put into words what that means tonight for you?
CANDACE PARKER: Well, I think it's ironic -- well, not ironic. I think Coach has been telling me this all year, that this series really was about defense and finishing plays rebounding, and I heard that for four years at Tennessee.

I wasn't upholding my end of the bargain in this series for my teammates. I think in years past maybe I was doing a lot and maybe I could have used a little help, but this year it was on me. My teammates were doing their part, I had to step up and do mine.

You can't control if shots go in or if shots don't, but what you can control is defense and rebounding, and that was kind of my mindset tonight, that I had to keep Sylvia off the boards and I had to do that not just for myself but for my team, as well.

Q. Candace, over the years I've seen you after playoff games, and it seems like every range of emotion from anger to sort of just despair, defeat, whatever. Can you just tell us in your own words when you were lying there on the floor at the end of this game tonight what was going through your mind and what was going through your heart?
CANDACE PARKER: I can't even describe this journey that this team has been on. I mean, everybody on this team has a story, and this last year has been really tough for me personally, and my teammates and my coaches were always there for me.

I think I'm excited because we won a championship, but the journey to get here, I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anybody else, with any other team, any other coaches. It's amazing when you surround yourself with great people how fun it is and how exciting it is when you get what you want.

Q. Could both of you comment on the atmosphere tonight and the quality of play in the series?
BRIAN AGLER: Yeah, Minnesota is three-time champions, that core group. They've built up something extremely special here, and I give credit to their ownership, Glen Taylor, Roger Griffith, to their coaching staff, Cheryl, players, that core group. They've just built something special, and they deserve the attendance they got tonight. They probably deserve it consistently, and they do well.

But when you get out there on the floor and you're playing for these stakes, and then you focus on the moment, it sort of -- it doesn't matter where you're playing, and I thought our team really did a good job. I was really impressed with our poise down the stretch because we got up nine, and that lead evaporated in a hurry, and then it went back and forth, and we continually made plays.

Much better poise tonight than in Game 4.

Q. Brian, for you personally, you started off your WNBA coaching career here; how does it feel for you to win a championship here in this building?
BRIAN AGLER: I mean, I've got friends here. The people in the organization are friends of mine. I really have a lot of admiration for their staff. I've worked with Shelley. I've watched Cheryl, Jim build this program, and just a lot of respect. We've had a lot of battles against each other, in LA this season, last year in Seattle, and just the ultimate respect for what they've built.

It's not going to go away. I know they're getting older a little bit, but they're going to be extremely competitive. It wouldn't shock me at all if they were right back in the same spot next year.

Maya Moore is just -- she's an incredible player, and not to slight anybody else on their team because they've got a bunch of really good players, great players, Olympians, but she's special. She's as good as there is, and probably will stay at that level and make everybody raise to her level as time goes on.

You know, they talk about Houston, they talk about Minnesota, and is it good for the league to have a team like that. Yes, it's good, because it makes everybody else better, and when we were putting our team together this year, it was about what do we need to do to beat Minnesota. How can we play with them?

I don't have any feelings of any other way than just respect for them. That's it. I enjoyed my days here. My kids grew up here, and there's a lot of good people in this area.

Q. Candace, this is such a career-capping win for you; what other types of goals do you have for your career moving forward?
CANDACE PARKER: I mean, I had a moment with Magic Johnson after the game where I was like, you did this five times? Like you felt this feeling five times? This is how it is? And I mean, the journey is difficult, but once you get here and you feel this feeling, it's like you want to do it again.

I do want to say one thing. I remember last year being here in that locker room and things being a lot different, and Coach telling us that if we just stayed with the process and believed in each other and got time on the court and practiced and did it the right way, that we would be where we wanted to be, and I think it's very ironic that we're here in Game 5, in the same locker room spraying champagne. I can't even believe it.

Q. There were times during the game when you seemed physically frustrated with the play, and there was one time you got an elbow to your mouth, I think. How physical was the play today compared to other games, and how worried were you guys about foul trouble, especially going down the stretch?
CANDACE PARKER: Well, I told Nneka after the first half, you've had a lot of rest, you should be able to run up and down the court and not get tired. No, it's always physical whenever we play Minnesota. You know, even before Sylvia got here, now it's 10 times more now that she's here.

In my buck-seventy soaking wet, I've got to bend my knees and do the best I can and depend on my teammates. That's kind of what happened tonight, and I'll use Game 4 as what will happen if we don't do that, if we don't rebound.

Q. Candace, could you take us through your view of that sequence that led to the winning basket?
CANDACE PARKER: I don't even know. Like I remember Maya hit a jump shot, then we came down, Nneka got -- we called time-out, Nneka got doubled. She threw it to me, I hit a lay-up. We were up one. Then I remember, came down, Maya hit a jump shot, and we didn't have any timeouts left, so I'm screaming at my teammates, do not call time-out, because I just didn't want anything to happen at the end of the game.

We got the ball, came down, and Nneka, I saw when she let it go, it was good, and so then I was like, okay, they have three seconds left, no timeouts, and then it's like -- I can't breathe until the ball hit the backboard. I still was like, there's a possibility Lindsay could make this half-court shot with our luck. So I was just like until the last moment when there was zero on the clock and I had the ball, that's when Kristi just tackled me, and it was amazing.

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WNBA FINALS: SPARKS VS LYNX

October 20, 2016

Brian Agler

Candace Parker