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WNBA FINALS: MONARCHS v SHOCK

September 3, 2006

John Whisenant

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: Game Three

COACH JOHN WHISENANT: I'm obviously pleased with the result. We were disappointed in the way we defended them in the last quarter, last five or six minutes. As we said to the press early before this game, it comes down to us against them, and if we stay with our defensive system, it gives us a chance to win, tonight we did, and I'm happy with my team for doing that. It got a little ragged there late, but other than the last few minutes, I was really pleased with the effort of my team. And I'll take questions.

Q. Can you talk about your bench and just they overwhelmed Detroit's bench.
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: Well, you know, we've always been pleased with our bench. When you lose, you always wonder back as a coach what you did incorrectly. And I thought one of the things that might have changed out the outcome of the game in Detroit was when I substitute, I have to use my bench and I have to use certain combinations. I can't get too many inexperienced players without some veterans.
So long story short, I was very conscious tonight of keeping combinations, not letting anyone play to fatigue level before I got them out, and I was much more aware of that than I perhaps was at Detroit. I'm not taking all of the blame for the loss, but I take my part just with the rest of the players.

Q. It seems like we've seen 11 out of 12 quarters of Monarchs basketball in this series. Do you think their confidence level is going very high into what could be the fourth and final game?
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: My team?

Q. Yes.
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: I think my team believes that we can win, but I just told them, it's like playing with the rattlesnake, and you get too close, get overconfident, and they will bite you and there might not be any second chances.
Yolanda is in there with them, and she's reminding them right now, I'll assure you, that just because we won by 20 tonight does not mean one thing for Wednesday night. We still have to go out and beat them. Just because we're at our home court, it means nothing. We have to play the game. They will come, and I'm sure they will come at us, and we have to be ready.
But yes, I mean, it always helps to win. I mean, I think it does, and you always warn your team to not think because we won by 20 that it's easy, because we played this team before, and they have beaten us before.

Q. Can you explain, a blowout win in Game 1, a blowout win in Game 3, you had a sizable lead in Game 2, how do you explain all that?
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: I've got a good bunch of players that play good defense most of the time, and our defense is a weapon. It gives you great advantage in basketball if you play it. But, you know, we didn't play it in the fourth quarter in Detroit and they got 25 points to our 9. So it was a very good example of what would happen if we didn't defend. Our team, when we play, when we do it right, it gives us a great opportunity to win. And it's the kind of play that you have to have to play in playoff basketball.

Q. Can you talk about your playoff run, especially DeMya Walker early?
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: Part of our problem early was DeMya wasn't here. As you know, she had a child April 11th. She didn't come to the team until June 20th. It's taken the whole season to get her back in almost good shape. She still is limited in the number of consecutive minutes she can play. She's one of the players that can't overplay, or she will exhaust herself and not be able to recover later in the game.
So I have to watch that closely, and if I don't -- if I'm not paying attention, it affects her. But when she's sharp, she's 6-3 or 6-4, very athletic basketball player. You know, she's worked hard on her footwork stuff that we preach about in the post, and you saw some of it early when she was fresh tonight. She's hard to contain.

Q. Talk about the dominance here at Arco. 11 straight playoff wins at Arco arena here now.
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: It's a great home court. I mean, the Kings built for us a foundation that the Monarchs are growing into our own Monarch fans, and the enthusiasm is building. It's a great advantage to have that. It's a good sixth man, and we're happy to have them. That's why we wanted to be here, and we certainly don't want to lose that home-court this Wednesday.

Q. You mentioned Yolanda talking to the team right now, how valuable is she, not only on the court, but as a leader for the team and for yourself as a coach?
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: Couldn't have a better one. There's not a better one for my philosophy, for the way I preach defense, team play, unselfishness, hard-nosed, tough, never say die. I couldn't. There's not one that I know out there in the WNBA like her. So I lucked out when I got Yolanda.

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