2022 WNBA COMMISSIONER'S CUP

July 26, 2022

Candace Parker

Kahleah Copper

Emma Meesseman

Chicago Sky

Postgame

Las Vegas Aces 93, Chicago Sky 83

Q. What did you learn about the team tonight playing through that sort of adversity in a championship setting?

CANDACE PARKER: I mean, listen, we've faced adversity. I'm not worried about our team when we face adversity. I'm worried about us getting into adversity. We've had some slow starts against this team and had to claw our way out. So I think it's more so not facing adversity; I think we're built for that. But it's not getting ourselves into it.

Early on, I feel like we were very passive. Credit to them -- they came out and threw the first punch. But for us to get down 33-14 in the first quarter, I don't know what it was, 14-0 or something, I don't know, but that's not the way we wanted to come out and play.

Q. Kahleah, you and Chelsea Gray had a really interesting third quarter going back and forth. She was making some tough shots. What were you seeing from her on the offensive end where she was able to get a slight edge as the third quarter progressed?

KAHLEAH COPPER: I think we've got to focus on tendencies down the stretch. I think she was getting to her spots. Just got to lock in on tendencies at that point.

Q. This game obviously was similar to your guys' last matchup against this team in Las Vegas. Did you feel like late in the fourth you still had it within yourselves to pull it out, or was there exhaustion setting in? How would you describe that fourth quarter?

CANDACE PARKER: No, our team, we're used to running, playing up and down. We're not going to make excuses. That's one thing we're not going to do.

I think we were like one or two shots -- there was a shot I had in transition, there was a shot Sloot had in transition, where we could have cut the lead to five. At the end of the half, if I would have hit that layup, that was a four-point swing.

So those are ifs and all that stuff. But really it boils down to that first quarter, getting outscored like that 33-14, because honestly from that point on we outscored them by nine. I mean, we've got to go back to the drawing board. We've got to get better. We knew this.

Like I said, they're a good team. They came out and threw the first punch.

Q. Going into this game and then the game on August 11 when you go back out to Vegas, outside of just the first quarter, what can you draw from the way that Vegas utilized their rotations in a different way than in June, the way they utilized their bench? How do you use that information, and kind of use that not just against Vegas but to close out the season?

CANDACE PARKER: Listen, Vegas, they're going to use different schemes, as did we. They're going to switch defenses. They're going to switch personnel. That's what good teams do in situations like this, in playoff atmospheres like this. We have to adjust.

I'd hope down the stretch in August we're able to adjust in the game. But we're going to go back to the drawing board. Nobody said that we're playing our best basketball right now. We know that we have to be better, and Vegas proved that today. We have to be a better basketball team.

Q. You guys forced them into a lot of tough twos, which seems like it's a principle of your defense in general. How would you grade in the sense the defense as a whole outside of the first few minutes of the first quarter?

EMMA MEESSEMAN: Our big key for this game was tendencies. I think we didn't do that the whole game. We were trying to be aggressive after that first quarter because we know when we do that, it's easier for us on offense.

I just think, like Candace said, the last three quarters we won, so we did something good, obviously. We just have to do it 40 minutes.

Q. A'ja Wilson was able to get six blocks tonight, one was against you. What were you thinking about competing against her?

KAHLEAH COPPER: Good.