WNBA FINALS: LAS VEGAS VS. CONNECTICUT

September 13, 2022

A'ja Wilson

Kelsey Plum

Chelsea Gray

Las Vegas Aces

Game 2: Postgame

Las Vegas Aces 85, Connecticut Sun 71

Q. Kelsey, Becky said the difference was you getting downhill. Was that something you knew that you had to focus on more? I know A'ja apparently said something to you in Game 1 and 2. A'ja, if you want to share anything about that?

KELSEY PLUM: Tell her what you said.

A'JA WILSON: I told her she needed to get her s--- together. At the end of the day that's what she needs to do. Make sure she understood that we need her to make shots, and I know it sounds harsh, but KP is a pro and she went out there and took care of business. I think she understands that we believe in her and like I said in the last press conference, I have ways that I talk to my teammates to get them to understand where I need to be and where we need to be. Yeah, I cussed her out.

KELSEY PLUM: You don't want me to respond to that? (Laughter).

It's so funny, talking to my psychologist, I talk to him all the time but like the ways different people approach when you you're like, quote, unquote in a slump, I got people praying over me, I got people rubbing my hand, I got people trying to encourage me, I got people cussing me out. But everyone wants to win, you know, so really, actually I welcomed it very much and I felt I feel like you know what, we all want the same thing, and I appreciate that this organization believes in me, coaches believe in me, I believe in myself.

A lot of times I'm hard on myself and I feel like I've been a little bit frustrated how I've performed throughout the whole playoffs. I'm glad that they have been carrying it and I decided to join the party.

Q. Both games you guys have come out and set the tone early in the first quarter and you've been super aggressive right out of the gate. How much of a concerted effort is it to come out and set the tone and be aggressive early and really set you guys on that path?

A'JA WILSON: It's huge for us. It's huge for us because if you look back at all of our L's, that first quarter kicked us. It kicked us and we were playing teams pretty even throughout but those first quarters are so important because you never want to find yourself digging yourself out of a whole, especially when you're playing against a good team like Conn because they don't go anywhere. They are not going them anywhere. We are expecting them not to go anywhere.

If we can keep our mindset and composure in the first quarter and set the tone, it's helpful for us later on down the road. But I'm amazed how far we have really come throughout the season because there will be some fourth quarters where it's like wow, and others, what the world.

So I'm very happy where we are but we are not done yet. We still have to continue to push through and still have things that we have to take care of. It's very important for us to come out the way we do.

Q. There's only one player in WNBA playoff history with five straight games of 20 points and 10 rebounds. The woman to your left, the run she's been on, can either of you elaborate on?

KELSEY PLUM: You can say it's a run but she's just done that all season. I felt like she's been the most consistent player night in, night out offensively and defensively in this league and that's why she's MVP. It's tremendous. A lot of times when we are watching greatness, we don't appreciate it in live time. Like we have to wait until someone's done playing. But it's absolutely a treat for basketball people that are watching to see what she's doing.

CHELSEA GRAY: Yeah, I agree, and I think like we talk about her numbers offensively but she's holding it down in the paint defensively. Like a two-way player through and through: Rebounding, snatching her rebounds, blocking shots, having our back when I get beat. So like all that, and she's doing production on the offensive end.

In the last series, she played all but four minutes. So like being in shape, playing both ends, talking, being that person. Like it's all around. Like stuff is still not in the stat sheets that she's doing and that's when you start to start building a legacy for yourself.

Q. You guys are up 2-0, what do you have to do to close out this series and still remain balanced as far as mentality and knowing what you guys have to do on the floor in a hostile environment?

CHELSEA GRAY: I would say not look too far ahead. We have focus on winning that first quarter and winning that second quarter and the big picture will happen. It's the little things that gets the wins. It's not like at the end you try to go and out-score somebody. It's the little things. It's the rebounding. It's playing for each other, one more pass, one more play and that's what we have been doing all playoffs. So we have to be able to do that for Game 3.

Q. This Game 1 to Game 2 felt a lot like All-Star Weekend after you wanted redemption after hurking in the three-point contest.

A'JA WILSON: Dang.

KELSEY PLUM: Y'all see how people come at me? People wonder why I'm feisty, dodging bullets here.

Q. What has been your mindset over the past 48 hours?

KELSEY PLUM: You know, shooters shoot. Just stay aggressive. I don't think anything necessarily that I've done differently, you know, just my same routines. I eat the same thing. I go to bed at the same time. Sometimes shots fall, sometimes they don't and for me I feel like it's been a growth opportunity to how I can impact the game in other ways besides shooting the ball.

So I feel like in years past, I might have dropped my head and just gone deeper into a hole but through a lot of the things that I've been through throughout the years, it's just taught me that I'm always going to bounce back and I know that about myself, and just going to keep shooting.

Q. Becky Hammon said that your IQ is ridiculous, and just trying to again see the efficiency in which you're shooting some of these very tough and contested shots, and just overall your impact of the game, how do you think the mental side of the game and your IQ can help separate you and help you be successful in these big moments?

CHELSEA GRAY: I think like when you start talking about IQ, it's not just about yourself. It's about the bigger picture. There's moments in the game where I do not have the ball in my hands, but I'm orchestrating or calling something just because I see it in a different view. And I've just worked, like just watching film, I've what happened other players play. Watched a lot of basketball. I rewatch our games all the time. Especially in these playoffs, it's the little, little details that make the difference on how we can get an easy touch, how we can get an easy score, defensively how we can make it difficult.

But I think what just sets me apart is my willingness to be great, not just like the points and the assists and the rebounds and the nice passes, but how do I make the next player next to me want to play with me? How do I want them, like my legacy to be, like when somebody talks to me, you want them to be your teammate.

So far, people have wanted to play with me and I think that's the biggest thing for me to make others better.

Q. A'ja, there are a couple times when you got to the nail area and you found just lanes, a strong hand, your left side, were you surprised by that? I think this was one possession in the first half and you turned around and nobody was there and it was a floodgate for you. Were you excited, also, about your ability to get downhill? I know Coach Hammon said Kelsey's ability to get downhill was a big plus for the team?

A'JA WILSON: Yeah, for sure, I was very surprised. Those opportunities don't come very often. I can't remember the last time I saw a clean basket. I really want to capitalize off those moments, not just for myself but for my teammates as well. It does kind of catch me off guard but I always trust my teammates putting me in the best situation to score the basketball. So I take what they give me and I live with it.

Q. Saw you talking with Ja Morant after the game, a couple of South Carolina folks. How cool was it to have his support along the way?

A'JA WILSON: Super dope. Ja is like a little brother. Like he's killing it in the league and he takes time to come out and show some love, so it's always something special. He was just telling me, it's one more. One more. We can sit up here and say the job is not done but we always know.

Like Chelsea said, we don't get too ahead of ourselves as at all because anything can happen in this league. He just said one more, keep going and be blessed.

Q. What were you seeing X's and O's-wise in terms of getting to the basket?

CHELSEA GRAY: They really want to congest the lane, so I think we play higher, wider, set good screens, have good angles and make good reads. A lot of times they are going to put two people on the ball, and how do we deal that once we see that and play out of those actions. Once we have good spacing, we can get a lot of different things in the paint or kick out for shooters. There were some wide-open threes we still missed but we are making the right play, and that's the difference is making the right play and making the right read time and time again.

Q. Your rookie year, this was the worst team in the league, the franchise was. Being that you're one of the OGs from San Antonio, how could you contextualize the way the franchise has transformed itself the past five years to now you are up 2-0 in the Finals playing before a second consecutive sellout here in Vegas?

KELSEY PLUM: I try to forget the dark days in San Antonio, no disrespect to San Antonio. Just what the Aces have done here is tremendous. Mark Davis, the support, the front office investing and bringing in Becky and bringing in a coaching staff that has a ton of experience and bringing in players, top tier players, went out and grabbed Chelsea, Riquna, Kiah, obviously done great in the draft with A'ja and then Jackie. You just can't say enough because in this league, there's not a lot of young teams that are successful. It takes time and it's been building for years.

So it's just a testament to the organization, really.

Q. Last game of the season, I asked if you had a message for Vegas and you invited the president, the mayor, everyone in Nevada. Three straight games the attendance record has been shattered and it's been loud as hell in the building. How did it feel to get that support and how loud it was throughout the game and the support?

A'JA WILSON: It was great. It was great. Like we really needed that. We always try to push the momentum and the crowd is always behind it. So we always greatly appreciate them coming out. Night-in and night-out, even when we were in a little slump going into All-Star Break, they was still there.

It was super, super loud in the arena and we need that. Whether they can travel to Conn with us or not, we are still going to feel it. We really appreciate it honestly. I joked about inviting everybody and I should have invited Usher, but no, we really appreciate everyone coming out and supporting us because this is big. We have some of the best fans in the world, so I love them.

Q. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that I believe when Mark Davis was thinking about buying the team, and you him sat down and had a conversations; is that true? I wonder, could you tell us about that, what did you say? Did you feel like you were trying to talk him into it?

A'JA WILSON: I don't think so. We went to a Rams game and it was during COVID and the Rams and the Raiders were playing. It was just a casual conversation. I didn't even think he was actually going to, I guess, buy us, is that the right word to use? I didn't think he was going to buy us. He was trying to pick my brain on the sport. And one thing I love about Mark is if he doesn't know, he tries to understand and he wants to know. He doesn't think he's a know-it-all. He understands this is a new world for him. He's used to football, and for him to open up and get to know us and how we can make our league and team better, I think that's really what the conversations was. And I let him understand that you're coming behind an MGM owner that was all behind us, so you have to continue to back us up. He came back with 100 percent all-in and yeah, now look at us.

Q. Chelsea, you've talked about the disappointment of not making the All-Star team, can you describe a little bit about what exactly you did after not making the All-Star team? And Kelsey, somebody brought this up on Twitter the other day and your response was people are idiots. What is it like to see Chelsea have the postseason that she's having, really kind of showing people that she definitely deserved to make that All-Star team?

CHELSEA GRAY: I went to go visit my younger brother and his fiancée, and then we just relaxed and I took a break from basketball, from social media and everything, and just reset. I got hungrier and got in even better shape than I was before All-Star Break. I was in the gym. I was locked in to film. Just made it -- just went to another level mentally and then I let my -- my work ethic bring it along.

We've been working. We shoot after practice. We shoot after shootarounds. Like the work is behind it. So that's pretty much what I did after.

Q. Curious if you can speak on how you think tonight represents Kelsey Plum's growth over time on this franchise?

A'JA WILSON: This was a huge, huge deal because I don't want to say you was in a slump but she wasn't KP. I felt it in the locker room. She wasn't herself.

But today, I saw KP, and I realized even in myself, like, I haven't been talking to trash to KP lately. So that's what got me to say what I was saying.

It's just the growth that you see in KP is incredible. The story that she has, it's crazy to even think about. She's such a strong-minded, willed person that is not going to stop until the job is done. I'm so glad she's in our locker room because she would be a pain in the ass if she wasn't.

But this is a huge -- this is a statement game for KP. I don't care how she sees it. It's a statement game and it puts a lot of people on notice. I think within herself, she understands that we need her and for her to come out and do the things that she did is really good for us. So the growth in her, the sky is the limit when it comes to KP and the growth she has in this league.

CHELSEA GRAY: One thing I will add, there wasn't points being added but she was getting assists. She was guarding Courtney Williams, like, dynamic scorer. There were things that she was still doing that kept her on the floor and I think that's the growth, too, not just like, she's back and she's hitting shots. She's been like who we needed her to be. We need her out there on the floor. At the end of the day you can't help off of her. I don't care if she's 1-for-20, 1-for-8, you can't help off of her because you know it's going to come back around. And she hit a big shot for us the last game at the three-point line in the slot in the second half and we have confidence in her with that.