WNBA FINALS: STORM VS. ACES

October 4, 2020

Alysha Clark

Seattle Storm

Game 2: Postgame

Seattle Storm 104, Las Vegas Aces 91

Q. Looking at what Sue and Stewie have done since 2018, they have gone up considerably even over the Championship run. Are they better? Are you seeing a difference and what are you seeing that's different from the two of them?

ALYSHA CLARK: Yeah, I'm seeing the same thing y'all are seeing. You know, they are definitely better, and I think that just comes with having time to get their bodies right. Having time to get in the gym and work on their craft.

As WNBA players, that's something that we don't really get a lot of because we are going so much, and so when you get a chance to kind of take a break and really just be able to get in the gym and do those small things, you see a growth in [their] game.

So that's what you're seeing this year, you know what I mean. It's fun to play with. When you have those type of caliber of players as your teammates, you have this sense of confidence when you step on the floor night-in and night-out.

Q. Just talk about, I wrote in a story about how I thought a key to this series would be your ability to score, because obviously going against Angel, you know she's going to score a lot of points, but if you're able to score, that's going to take a lot of that away. Just talk about your performance today, having the 21 points and what you were seeing out there.

ALYSHA CLARK: You know, just being aggressive. Taking the same shots that I took last game, and just having confidence in that. My teammates have confidence in me to score the ball.

And you know, after last game, I didn't overthink it. I didn't change my routine any. I did what I've been doing all season long, and you know, when your team has your back like mine does, you know, they just all kept telling me, they are like, next game, shake it off, Game 2 is it and we believe in you. When you have that kind of support behind you, it helps keep you focused.

To your point, when you don't have to guard on the defensive end, you have a lot of energy for the offensive side, so I want to make sure that I'm doing my part in being aggressive and just being involved in plays; it doesn't necessarily mean scoring. It could be rebounding, running the floor, setting screens, making right reads, those type of things, just to keep Angel engaged and active, and you know, tonight, my shot fell and that's great.

Q. Just being in this moment, exact same moment two years ago up 2-0 in the Finals against a good team, anything that you can take away from that, that you can harp on and say, yes, we've been here before and we know how to close things out?

ALYSHA CLARK: Yeah, it just understanding that it's not finished. Nothing's done yet. No title. No trophy has been handed out after tonight's game. Just knowing coming in Tuesday, being down 2-0 they are going to come in and leave it all out there. Just coming in Tuesday with the mindset to be able to weather that and knowing that our job is going to be even tougher come Tuesday night.

Q. I think I asked you yesterday about Sue's assists and she said it takes two people to get an assist, so to speak and someone has to score. You hit a record tonight with 33 assists; did you just have the offense flowing so well that every time there was a pass, someone scored on it, so to speak?

ALYSHA CLARK: For us, that's just I guess the makeup of this team. We want the ball moving around. We are going to find the extra pass and we are going to find the open shooter. So having high assists isn't something that's abnormal for us. Thirty-three obviously is amazing but that just goes to show the unselfishness of everybody that's out there on the floor, and the confidence we have in one another, to pass up a good shot to get a great shot. When you do those type of things, 33 threes just happen. That's the bomb.

Q. Do you get a sense when you're playing a team and you guys have so many weapons, and obviously this goes back not just this year, that you're just wearing them down; that they can stop one thing but they just can't stop all of it? And also, if you can talk about the ability to keep Vegas off the line today.

ALYSHA CLARK: Yes, you know, for us, that's something I think that we realized a few years ago, just the strength of this team and this year, we're even deeper than we were in 2018. And so when you have a team that anybody, any night, it can be anybody's night. That's tough to guard.

You know, it goes to show just the caliber of players that we have.

And your second one was about -- what did you say?

Q. Just keeping Vegas off the free throw line.

ALYSHA CLARK: Yeah, I mean, they led the league this year in getting to the free throw line because they are a power team. They all use their body really well to draw fouls and that was a point of emphasis coming into the Finals and making sure we are in legal position keeping our hands up, and if they finish over us and make tough shots that way, we can live with that, but not trying to block shots and bail them out by getting cheap fouls. I think they got to the line five times today, which is really impressive with the type of team that they are. They are a great team, and so we are just going to have to keep that same focus for Tuesday because we know they are going to come even harder, so it's going to be even more important.