WNBA FINALS: STORM VS. ACES

October 2, 2020

Gary Kloppenburg

Seattle Storm

Game 1: Postgame

Seattle Storm 93, Las Vegas Aces 80

Q. Talk about Stewie's game. They tied it up and you had a short lead at the end of the third and then Stewie took over. What did she bring to you guys tonight.

GARY KLOPPENBURG: Yeah, she got that look in her eyes like I'm just going to take over. She hit some threes, got a couple from inside, got to the line, and she just was fabulous down the stretch. I thought we kind of -- we kind of lost our focus that third quarter, got into more of a half-court game. They picked their defense up, and I think we just didn't respond that third quarter and let them all the way back in.

I'm proud of the way we kind of refocused, regrouped, got our defense solid in that fourth quarter and got a run going to stretch it out for the win.

Q. Coach, you kind of talked about it yesterday, about Sue's impact in this series. Obviously, she didn't play those first two games against the Aces, but if you could talk about how she controlled that game from like start to finish.

GARY KLOPPENBURG: I mean, yeah, 16 assists and three turnovers is just unbelievable. I mean, she just really did a good job getting the ball moving -- bringing it up, getting the ball moving, finding the open person, and we shot the ball really well. We shot 50 percent and 38, 36 from three, so she was just doing a really good job of finding shooters, getting into their defense, the different ways that we do that, and just tremendous floor game for Sue.

I think she's going to hit a couple of those threes once we keep moving on. She's too good a shooter, she didn't take a lot of shots tonight really, but she found open players, and they knocked them down.

Q. Can you discuss Jewell Loyd's offensive performance tonight, and in the 2020 WNBA Playoffs in general?

GARY KLOPPENBURG: I mean, she's been just spectacular all the way through. She's just been a scoring machine for us in the Playoffs. Tonight was no different, 11 for 17, 4 for 4 from the line, 2 for 5 from three. She had four assists, four rebounds, a couple of steals. She just really was a complete impact player tonight. She and Stewie were just the two best players on the floor tonight.

We needed her. We needed her scoring tonight, especially when we struggled during that third quarter.

Q. Talk to me about how important it was to take Game 1, especially after Vegas had the hard-fought five-game series, and then to follow up on that, how important is it to get off to a good start in Game 2 to kind of take that commanding 2-0 lead?

GARY KLOPPENBURG: Yeah, absolutely. No, it's huge. A five-game series you desperately want to get that first one, then we can go see what we've got to do to adjust to get a little bit better for the second one and really come out and try to get this next one. I think that's what you really want to try to do, especially against a team like Las Vegas. They're a very good team. They have a lot of weapons. They shot the ball really well tonight from three.

We can't rest on these guys. We've got to really get prepared, make some adjustments and see if we can really come out really tough and get the second one.

Q. You certainly have had no shortage of great players in great moments that you've coached throughout the years, whether it's Tamika, whether it's Diana. The list goes on and on. Stewie had 37 and 15. No one has ever had 35 and 15 in a Finals game. Where does this rank for you among great performances you've seen in great moments in your career?

GARY KLOPPENBURG: I mean, yeah, it's got to be up there. I can't think of another one that I've been involved with. And in a crucial championship. I mean, I think that's the separator with her is she's just a big game, big-time performer. When the pressure is on in a situation like that, it just seems like she gets to another level, another gear, and I think that's what she did tonight. I thought her defense was really good inside. She was in on every rebound. And then she was knocking down her open threes out there.

She kind of did it a lot of different ways. She got some inside stuff, she hit threes, got some put-backs. Just a really complete game, I think, at both ends of the floor. Just a pretty amazing epic performance, and in a championship no doubt.

Q. As a coach, what is the comfort level of having two proven big-game performers at your disposal in Sue and Breanna, so many titles on their resume?

GARY KLOPPENBURG: Yeah, they've been through it. They've been through the wars. They've been through those championships. So that experience is invaluable. I think Stewie, you just look at -- not as many championships -- she's got the one championship in our league, but you look back at her college career, and I think she set that precedent how she's going to be going forward. And then Sue is just -- you know, she's just an orchestrator. She's like a maestro out there directing traffic, finding open people. She just makes your offense flow a lot easier, and she gets everybody open shots in their sweet spot, and I think that's what happened tonight, especially down the stretch that fourth quarter.