WNBA FINALS: MONARCHS v SUN

September 18, 2005

John Whisenant

COACH JOHN WHISENANT: It's a lot more fun to come up here after winning than losing. And I'm happy with our effort, our intensity was back. We had lost some of that in the second night at Connecticut. We felt we were just half a step slow at times in that game. And Connecticut played hard, got to give them a lot of credit. They're absolutely an awesome shooting team that's just really hard to defend. That's why they are where they are. And we make our living with trying to stop teams from scoring and making it hard on them and they really put us to work. So we have to have all of our defensive intensity. We outrebounded them a little. We got more turnovers, 15 to six on the turnovers. That was an issue. That's something that we're supposed to do when things work for us. We beat them in the paint, which is what we're supposed to. That's our goal. For us to win, those are ways. We can't beat them in a game of H-o-r-s-e; they will outshoot us. From top to bottom they will. So we have to do it our way and our ladies did it, yet Yo was in there telling them, "This doesn't mean anything." Winning two means absolutely nothing if you can't get the third one. So she was correct. As usual, I don't have to say anything; she tells them. They have to get ready to, I mean, to win this third game will be a war. Connecticut didn't win that championship in the East by fading into the sunset. They will be out there battling. I'll answer any questions.

COACH JOHN WHISENANT: It's hard to maintain the level. They increased their defense. Number one, everything, as I said, is built around our defense. If you'll notice, they got 24 points in the second half. That's when we built our lead. We were getting stops, there's not a lot difference in their scoring. In fact, we shot worse in the second half than we did the first half. But the defensive end is where we changed the game. And that's what we have done all year. Now, we get stops and we figure out some way to throw one in once in a while. Then we get a lead. And when we quit getting stops, sometimes our fault, sometimes because they're really executing and getting, making baskets is why we lose the lead. And that's what we did. Maybe I played people that were too tired. It's a substitution thing for me. I have to keep the right people in there, I have to keep the right combinations. If I get wrong combinations, we don't mix well. So I have to stay on top of who is going in for who and how long they play and that's why I'm so tired right now.

COACH JOHN WHISENANT: Well, I wish we already had it wrapped up and I would be on the golf course tomorrow. But we don't. And if -- I think the best-of-five is the best. I think that the longer the series, the more likely you are to get your true champion of your league. And that's what we're really after. We're trying to show who is the best WNBA women's team in the world this year. And the more games we play would do that. So I like five better than three. I like seven better than five. I'm glad we don't go seven, but...

COACH JOHN WHISENANT: I don't know what the free throws were. Mistake, turnovers, as I said, that's part of what our defensive intention is. We hope to get more shots than them, limit their shots, make their shots harder, limit their assists and just because we're making them do that doesn't mean we have to do it. Sometimes we do. The second game up there in Connecticut we made as many turnovers as they did but tonight we didn't. That's all part of being alert and intense. We would rather get some shot than no shot. That is just our goal. Our goal -- everything we do is built around our defense, our whole game, from start to finish.

COACH JOHN WHISENANT: Glad she's on my team is all I can say. Sure glad when she thought we were going to rebuild and she didn't -- she thought that she was too old to rebuild but I didn't listen to her and trade her. She's a hell of a player is all I know. She's a warrior. She's not afraid of anything and she plays right through to the end. She accepts it when I yell at her if she's messed up and she is just a heck of a player. I guess she wasn't MVP and there were a lot of other good choices, but I just, for our team, the way we play, you couldn't give John Whisenant, for his system, his defensive system and style of play a better, give me one pick, who it would be, it would be Yolanda. I mean, she fits what we do perfect. She's the first pick in all of the women in the world for our system.

COACH JOHN WHISENANT: We don't want to think too far ahead past the first two minutes. It's going to be a hard game. They're a very talented and competitive team and Thibault is experienced. He's been all over the world, NBA, CBA. Done well in all areas, and he's a great adversary, and they have a great team. So I don't want to think past what we have got to do in practice tomorrow, but obviously you start the season, you expect to be here, get here. We have always been successful and gotten there with this defense. This defense is an awesome defense. I mean, it gives you a chance to win. And it does it in every level. So, but, it doesn't guarantee -- there is nothing guaranteed. There's a great team over there that doesn't -- wants us to go back to Connecticut with them and we don't want to go back. So we're just going to face it like it's a war and Yo might hurt somebody if we don't win that game. I mean, she was warning them the minute I walked in practice. We hadn't won anything yet. We play the way we practice, tomorrow's practice is just like a championship game. We got to practice hard and alertly.