WNBA FINALS: PHOENIX VS. CHICAGO

October 15, 2021

Sandy Brondello

Phoenix Mercury

Game 3: Postgame

Sky 86, Mercury 50

Q. This game just kind of went sideways right from the start. But there were a lot of shots that BG had and some of your other players that weren't bad shots, they just didn't go down. Then it just seemed like it completely got away from you in the second quarter and on.

SANDY BRONDELLO: Yeah. I mean, yeah. That's pretty accurate. We got our butts kicked tonight, which is disappointing. Like I said at the start, they were really, really aggressive, and the hedging went to another level. We still got some open looks and we missed them.

I think we just lost momentum, and obviously they grew on a lot of confidence. What they were doing was working, and it rattled us a little bit, to be quite honest. But we've got to be better. This is one where you're coaching, okay, we just flush that one because we're a better team, but it wasn't what we showed. But full credit to Chicago. They prepared well, and obviously Copper, who we talked about, was a handful in that first half.

Q. Obviously if you guys had Nurse it would have felt a little different. But with the way Copper is playing right now, especially when you want to give her open looks from three and she's making them, how difficult is it to come up with anything to stop her at this point?

SANDY BRONDELLO: Yeah, a lot of it was one-on-one. You have to rely on your team defense, and we allowed her to sweep it and go baseline way too much. Yeah, when she gets shooting it from outside, you've got to give up something, don't you? She was making it. She had a really good game, and obviously that took the life out of us a little bit.

We didn't execute well. Obviously they're partly to blame, for how they defended us. We've just got to go back and watch film and get ready for the next game.

I will say this: I knew coming in about the officials. We knew that no fouls were going to be called on us. I mean, all the fouls on us and now going to the free throw line and they hold their whistle. I'm not a coach that stands up here and goes, yeah, the officials and blame and blame, but they just need to be a little bit more consistent. That's how I look at it. They're hard hedging. Some of those running into, they're fouls. That's contact, isn't it? If you're going to call it down on the other end, you need to make sure you're being even. This is the Finals. I don't think we should get into, let's protect the other team because you bitch about the officiating and your free throw attempts, but here we are.

Q. What did you say to them in the locker room? Was there even a conversation?

SANDY BRONDELLO: Yeah, sure. I just said, we've just got to flush that one. That's the conversation. Because we're a way better team than what we showed tonight. Obviously, their crowd got into it and they did what they needed to do. Obviously, this is their home court, but we've played well on home court and we've been in this position before.

We just have to regroup, refocus and be better. That's my job, making sure that we're going to be better. They took us out of the way too much and we didn't have enough scoring options. When BG was missing early that kind of hurt us, obviously, because obviously we rely on our big three a lot for our scoring.

Q. Regarding the officiating, following up on that, how does the league fix this, and how long has this been a problem? There have been a lot of coaches who have spoken about this inconsistency that really has gone on the entire season.

SANDY BRONDELLO: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, that's not -- usually I say nothing because I know it's hard. I know I'm not perfect. But you know, I don't think they're always bad; it's just getting a little more consistency. I don't know. Maybe -- who knows. Keeping refereeing in our league, refereeing more games and not doing college, two different rules, I think that helps. That's one of them. You need money for that, too.

I'm not someone to put blame on everyone else, to be quite honest. If I blame anyone, it would be myself. That's just how I am. But yeah, officiating, some days are good, some days are not so good. It's more about just being consistently good or bad, I don't care.

Q. Now that you have two must-win games ahead of you, how do you dial in on the next game without getting ahead of yourselves?

SANDY BRONDELLO: Well, this is our season. This is what's on the line. We've played in a few eliminations to get here and then a Game 5 in Vegas, and we understand what needs to be done.

I believe in this team. We weren't very good tonight. The other team made us like that, but we still weren't sharp in what we needed to do. So we'll rise to the occasion. I mean, this is our knockout. We want to send it back to Phoenix, so let's take it to a Game 5.

Q. You mentioned trying to flush this one, put it in the past. You also said you're going to look at the tape. What kind of lessons can be learned from looking at the tape where so few things went right for you guys?

SANDY BRONDELLO: Yeah, just to see what didn't go right sometimes, you just have to relive it to piss you off a little bit, to be honest. That's all it will be. I don't think it's X's and O's now; it's just the attitude that we're going to come out and play in the next game. Like I said, just overall, just being a little bit better than what we were.

This team has great chemistry. I know that they'll respond. But we've got a big challenge ahead of us, because like I said, I have a lot of respect for Chicago, really good team. They're dangerous from so many positions on the floor, but so are we. So we've just got to hang in there.

Q. Taurasi and Diggins-Smith were 3-for-19, played 50 minutes. Is there anything about the arena that maybe affected them, the noise of the crowd, the baskets?

SANDY BRONDELLO: No, not at all. I think credit to Chicago, really their defense. We've played well on the road. We're the team that has won the most games on an opponent's floor. We don't mind that atmosphere. But the crowd was great tonight. It's great people of Chicago came out and supported this game, which is fantastic. That certainly gave them a lot more energy than it gave us.

We had a hard time scoring. Unfortunately we weren't scoring on offense, and it affected our defense. We've got to dig deeper on defense and hopefully we can get some easy ones on offense.

Yeah, but tough night at the office. Got another game, though.

Q. It looked like early on you were having success turning Chicago over, but could you talk about what they were doing against Brittney? Looked like they were playing more single coverage rather than doubling. Was she having a tougher time getting looks in the second half?

SANDY BRONDELLO: Yeah, we got her some good looks. I think we got her some good looks. She just missed them. They played in her space a little bit more. I think in the second half you saw her, she went to the right hook. That's a pretty nice little shot there, too. So I think that's when she realized that they couldn't take away her space a little bit. She still finished, what, 7-from-17, but she was about 1-from-8. When she's struggling, it's like, ooh -- I think it was like 20 points in the paint to two. That's hard when you can't just win from shooting outside.

But like I said, BG missed some, she made some in the second half and she's still someone we need to get the ball to as much as possible.

Q. You made a comment regarding the fans here at Wintrust. Packed house tonight. Obviously the Sky does not want to go back to Phoenix. If it's a tight game going down the stretch on Sunday, how do you offset that? In football they call it a 12th man, but here in Chicago, it's a basketball town. How do you prepare for the crowd aside from playing against the team itself?

SANDY BRONDELLO: Yeah, we just played a Game 5 in Vegas with 10,000 fans, so we've been in that situation before. Like I said, we have a veteran team, too, led by Diana. It's just playing with a little bit more poise and execution when it matters. That's the thing. And making plays when it matters. We didn't make too many of them tonight, but I know that we're capable of it.

Q. When Copper is going the way she's going and when Candace Parker is playing at the top of the key, does it make you want to change your defensive principles? I know you've kept Breezy out there all season guarding the best player, but does it change when Copper is being aggressive and Parker is at the top of the key making plays from that part of the floor?

SANDY BRONDELLO: They were all pretty dangerous tonight, but Copper, she was just a handful. They were isolating her. Like I said, we can't rely on one-on-one coverage. We wanted to push her back to congestion, so we didn't really execute what we wanted to do there. Copper made a lot of great plays. I thought Candace was really, really good, too, just her aggressiveness on defense, but her ability to score, as well. It was face to the basket and back to the basket, and BG was on her at times, too.

This is a team that can spread you. That's always tough when they can spread you.

But like I said, we've beaten them once. We have to regroup, refocus and get ready to beat them again. What day is it today? I don't even know. Friday. Sunday.