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WNBA FINALS: SUN VS MYSTICSOctober 10, 2019Mike ThibaultEmma MeessemanWashington, D.C. Washington - 89, Connecticut - 78 MIKE THIBAULT: Wow. The missing piece (puts arm around Emma Meesseman). I'm just so happy for all these players and the organization who bought into what I was selling seven years ago, that there was a path to get out of what was a pretty desperate time here. And if people would buy in, the path would get accelerated. This girl right here was one of the first pieces. One of our draft picks that -- the maturity and growth that she's shown since she showed up as a 19-year-old -- what the heck are you now, 26? EMMA MEESSEMAN: Yeah. MIKE THIBAULT: 26, and she's still a youngster. How much her confidence has grown, what a great teammate she is. I think one of the best things about this team is the camaraderie and the family atmosphere on this team. They love each other. They played for each other. When we had our toughest moment tonight in the third quarter, we banded together, played like we had all year. Obviously Emma and Elena [Delle Donne] and Kristi [Toliver] and others, Tash [Natasha Cloud], that group that was on the floor, Ariel [Atkins], both Ariel/Aerials. I didn't sub much in the second half. LaToya [Sanders] and I think Aerial Powers might have been the only other ones that played besides the group I just mentioned, and they just were warriors. We've talked about that all year, that stay in the moment, be who you are, and they were. They stayed true to character down the stretch, and I'm just so proud. I'm happy for our fans. I don't know whatever it was, 21, 22 years, I don't even remember, there's a lot of people that stuck with this group, and when we came here seven years ago on the heels of a 5-29 season, this thing was on the brink. To see what's happened, this building, everything else that's gone with it, I appreciate it so much. And everybody in this organization, the [Washington] Wizards, the Caps [Washington Capitals], everybody has supported us. You saw John [Wall] and Brad[ley Beal] there tonight, they've been on board with us, and this is a great feeling. This is what a family feels like. Q. Mike, you actually had some time to sort of think in the last 30 seconds there because it didn't come down to a buzzer beater. I'm curious what was going through your mind as the clock was running down -- MIKE THIBAULT: Making free throws. Oh, before that. The last 30 seconds? I turned and looked at my staff, Eric [Thibault] and Marianne [Stanley] and Maria [Giovannetti] and all those guys down there and all the work that they've done behind the scenes, I felt great in that moment because that's not what everybody sees. It's all the glamour part that everybody sees. But I see Natasha and Elena and those guys in the gym in January with Eric or Maria or somebody working on stuff, I thought about all of the little things that have to go into putting the team together and how happy I was for that whole group. And I was looking at fans who I'd seen since the day I came here. I looked across the way, there were people sitting in the front row who had been there since I came here, and to see the joy on their face -- that's what this is all about. We're an entertainment business, but entertainment and all that satisfaction was incredible. Q. Emma, during that decisive period of time in the third quarter where you had an opportunity to consistently drive the ball, score the ball, was this going to be something that would have been in your skill set and something you would have done as recently as a year ago? Or is this part of what we talked about earlier this year of finding a different level for yourself? EMMA MEESSEMAN: I just really, really wanted to win this game, so I just came on the court, and I knew that it was a moment that we needed some energy, and I was just going at the basket, and it was going in, so I just kept going. Coach has been talking about, if your shot is going in, or even if not, you just have to take your opportunity, and I don't think that I would have done this a year ago or two years ago in the past. I think that these playoffs were the moment that I really realized that I have to take my responsibility and I can play. So that's just what I did, you know. But it's really not something that I would have done the past few years. MIKE THIBAULT: She's one of the top players in the world. Q. From day one, from media day, the motto of this team has been "Run it back." I'm curious, now that you've achieved the goal that you all set out for, what that motto did to fuel each of you personally, if you could share something that you feel you improved on this year because of that motto and because of the team camaraderie behind it? EMMA MEESSEMAN: When I first came back from missing last year, I kind of knew in the back of my head that we were going to do it because I felt the difference the past few years. It was that being hungry to take that last extra step. So "Run it back" is the exact way to describe our team and our season this year. The team really changed by last year, by that experience of going to the Finals and not winning it. I think that motto was the perfect motto for us, just to motivate us to do that. MIKE THIBAULT: The only other thing about the "Run it back" for me was the coach is a little different than the players in that regard. When you say, "run it back," you're already thinking of getting to this point, and I think a coach's job, and I think our players followed along, is to stay in the moment, though. The worst thing you can do is think that because you got there, you deserve to get there again. I think this team was terrific in staying in the day-to-day process. There's a process to getting this done. It's individual work, it's teamwork, it's video work, it's scouting reports, and if you look too far ahead, you lose sight of the little things you have to do to get better, and I think the one thing that this team can say is that we got better all year long, and it's because they were able to not jump a month ahead or two months ahead. We had a goal to try to get home-court advantage. It ended up being a difference. And that work that we put in to get the fifth game on our court paid off tonight because this crowd was great, our energy was great, and so -- but you don't do that in the last two weeks of the season, you do that throughout, and I think they've been great at it. Q. Emma, of course you hear "missing piece, missing piece, missing piece" all season, especially in this series. Can you talk about how that was motivation and how that's just fuel for you to just continuously dominate throughout this playoff series? EMMA MEESSEMAN: Um -- MIKE THIBAULT: I needed to put pressure on her, to be honest with you. She was more nervous the other day than she was today, I think. EMMA MEESSEMAN: Oh, no, today I was so nervous. MIKE THIBAULT: You were more nervous today? Holy smokes. She looked more calm today. EMMA MEESSEMAN: I've never really believed that because I know last year I would not be the same player this year. I just think that I really needed that break and to be home. So I would not have been able to bring what I brought now. So I'm just glad that I got that confidence from the team, that they had my back, and they gave me the support. Without them I would not be able to do what I did today. So it was like my family, and I really mean that. Q. Mike, those of us who were at Elena's introduction news conference remember her talking about championships right away. To see her make good on that with a herniated disc in the series, did that reveal something about her grit that you may not have known before she got here? MIKE THIBAULT: Well, I always knew she had grit, it's sometimes you need the opportunity to display it. You know, she was injured in the Chicago Finals that year and a lot more injured, I think, than she was here. I credit our medical staff and our physical therapists for doing an unbelievable job with all of our players, her, Ariel, Kristi's injury coming back. We've had a lot more bumps and bruises and injuries and we've kind of -- not hid from everybody, but we just don't talk about it as a team. I think they did their great job. But you've got to want to play through something. You've got to love your teammates so much that you play for the person in the room next to you, and they're not playing -- no offense to anybody else, but they're playing first for each other, and I think that took precedence, and that's why their grit comes out, because that meant that much to them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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