2021 WNBA COMMISSIONER’S CUP

August 12, 2021

Noelle Quinn

Seattle Storm

Postgame

Seattle Storm 79 - Connecticut Sun 57.

NOELLE QUINN: You know, I thought obviously for the league and women's basketball, I thought this was a very cool environment to be in with a formidable opponent in Connecticut. I thought that the environment, the energy was amazing. The fans are great and it was a very good opportunity for our team to be a part of another first of something, and I'm just glad that we pushed through mental fatigue, physical fatigue and played some great basketball tonight.

Q. You played Stewart the entire first quarter, is that your idea, let's get those legs out there to see what they can do early on and give you a jump start to the whole game and then take it from there?

NOELLE QUINN: Yes, trying to set the tone in a way, but not really knowing which way that was going to be. You know, I was asked questions about how we would approach this game, and my biggest thing was we have competitors who want to win. So there was no really handcuffs in a way or minute restrictions in a way. It was kind of a feel for what we saw and as you guys see, Sue was rolling, Stewie was rolling, and we got a big enough cushion for our other players to chip in.

So I think from jump, it was kind of a toss-up to see how they would look and they looked great.

Q. Did you expect (indiscernible) to play as much as they did or is it what you expected? And when Breanna gets going like that in the first quarter, what's it like to watch her?

NOELLE QUINN: The first part of your question, looking at the stats, I like seeing 26, 18 and 18 with a big win. I think my plan, our plan as a staff was winning the game and getting a feel from the players, they just wanted to win and it didn't matter how we got it, with the mindset that we are going to go on a tough road trip, so trying to get a feel for that.

As a teammate of Stewie's watching her in the group, I was amazed. We see it every day. You understand why she plays the way she plays, and as a coach, to me, it's the same, it's just another level that she gets to mentally that I think differentiates her from a lot of other great players that I've played with, and obviously that's a characteristic of the best players in our league -- that mental focus. When Stewie sets her mind on something, it's amazing the outcome, and good, bad, indifferent, she always gives her all, and to me, as a savant of basketball, a fan of basketball, not her coach, not her former teammate, I think it's amazing to watch her play.

Q. Congrats on your first title as a coach.

NOELLE QUINN: Thanks.

Q. You've won titles as a player. What's the locker room like? What does it mean to you and the franchise to get the first Commissioner's Cup?

NOELLE QUINN: Honestly, it's different, because you don't know how to feel. It's not anything against your record but it is something big in the mindset of what our players just achieved, being the first of something, what we achieved as an organization, being the inaugural winners, the money involved in that, and it's just kind of -- so much has happened to this point, and you know, again, we're in a situation where the first part of the season, where we had the All-Star Break, Olympic break, and now the Commissioner's Cup game.

A lot of things are happening and I don't know if we take an opportunity to have a time-out and celebrate what this means because we are thinking big picture and we have such a tough road ahead. I think me personally, it's amazing to be a part of this. I love the confetti, I love the trophy, I loved the picture. It was a playoff atmosphere and I think it's very cool for our league to add this.

Q. What Stewart did offensively in the first quarter was otherworldly, but defensively, she really focused on Jones and Jones only made one shot, the rest were put-backs. What can you say about how you were game planning Stewie on Jones?

NOELLE QUINN: To Stewie's credit, her length, she has some knowledge of how to play Jones because they were teammates overseas. She did miss a couple of chippies, but she was very active on the offensive glass. I think once we tightened that up, we took her out of her comfort, her sweet spot. Stewie was attentive to that but our entire unit was attentive to that. A lot of times when we're playing elite players, it's not just relying on one player to contain that player but it's a team defense and a matter of being locked in. I think that's what you saw defensively with our entire unit, with our entire team.

And JJ is an amazing scorer. Jones is an amazing scorer -- I'm not her friend -- I should say Jonquel, not call her JJ. But she is an amazing scorer.

But if we are able to be attentive to detail on things that are her strengths, I think we locked in on that and did an excellent job.

Q. Probably makes your heart sing a little bit --

NOELLE QUINN: It does. The interesting part of that is we we're trying to play very solid and not disruptive as much today but it gives us information on how we can continue to move forward playing our defense. We have a good mix of disruption, a good mix of just playing teams straight up and that was good information for us, against a team who doesn't turn it over a lot.

Q. What was the message coming out of halftime, and then what were the big differences, because a 22-5 third quarter, that kind of was the game changer there. What did you say coming out of halftime and what did you see out on the court?

NOELLE QUINN: The biggest thing was the rebounding. They had nine offensive rebounds at half and Jones had five of those. They had eight more shots attempts at the rim because of that, and I think once we solidified that a little bit, cleaned that up a little bit, limited them to one shot, we were able to get out and run, move the ball and get really good looks. But I think it just started out on the defensive end with finishing off plays.

Q. With your big three getting that playing time in the Olympics, there was a lot of talk of jet lag and being tired, but did that benefit them because they had been playing so much basketball lately?

NOELLE QUINN: Yeah, two things that come to mind, when you think about fatigue, sometimes it becomes mind over matter, and you know those players are so elite, they can put their physical in a space where they are able to just perform at an amazing level.

One benefit from playing in Tokyo is that they are still in game shape. They are still in the comfort of playing, and no matter whether it was with the Olympic team or with us, that just, I guess feel for the game, was still there. There was no rust, really, because they had been playing for the last few weeks.

Q. How important was it for the bench to finish off what the starters started and how does this play into the last 11 games of the season you have?

NOELLE QUINN: It's huge. The message for the past three weeks or so for the players who were here was the importance that they will play with the stretch coming up, in particular, our road trip.

So the focus was to get them individual work, to get them playing together, to get their chemistry together, to tighten up the nuances of our offense and our defense, to make sure they are on same page, and the benefit of that is -- the benefit of that time is what you saw today, an ability to go to the bench and have players make shots, make plays and have fun out there.

Q. I don't want to take you away from the moment, but you have a game in a few days. How do you manage that?

NOELLE QUINN: I've been kind of waving the white flag around this time here, understanding this Commissioner's Cup game was very important for us, but also this road trip is very important. We have to set the tone and this game did for us. It was a tune-up for what we can do on the road.

I think our focus is now Chicago and getting game plans for that, and understanding we can't fall into hole on a road trip and we have to leave that road trip with more wins than losses.