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WNBA FINALS: MONARCHS v SHOCK

September 9, 2006

John Whisenant

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Five

COACH JOHN WHISENANT: I have to compliment the Detroit Shock. They proved to be the best team in this series.
That's why you play the game. And they've beaten us. They deserve the credit for doing that.
I was proud of my team's not giving up, even though we struggled in some areas that you cannot struggle against a strong, physical team like Detroit. They exposed some of our areas of weakness and defended our deep shooters and doubled in on our post, to make it difficult for us to score.
And then on their offensive end, they exposed our inability to put pressure on the ball, like we did in our championship year, and were able to execute their offense and, therefore, take advantage of their strength inside. And I have to give them a lot of credit. They did a good job.
We lost our serve in Sacramento, as we've already discussed. We had our chance. And again, I'm pleased, happy with my team. They never threw in the towel. They were back swinging. We still had a shot to win. Katie being the great player she is, leading scorer of all-time, hit the big baskets in the end. We had them in a position to tighten up and get us back in and win it at the end, which is what you normally hope to do on the road, and she didn't tighten up. She jumped up and shot it right in the heart.
And, again, I've gotta give them credit. With that I'll take any questions.

Q. Could you talk about the Shock's early run in the quarter where they outscored you 16 to 3 and Nolan made 10 points.
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: Well, they were good. I mean, I was disappointed that we weren't able to get any stops there. At the same time that was happening, we were missing some wide open looks.
We had three or four positions where they were doubling off and keeping it out of our post hands, and then guarding our two shooters, and so not only did we not stop them, we didn't score.
So that's how you lose an 8-point lead and get behind six or eight points or whatever it was at that point.

Q. Could you talk about Nolan's performance especially during that time, though.
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: I mean, she's a great player. She's extremely talented, can jump waist high and shoots the mid-range jumper as well as anybody in the WNBA, and she's hard to stop.
It's hard to take all things away from them. And we made it tough again in this game on their inside scorers, but that leaves somebody open, and they exposed some of our spots that we're not as athletic as them.
So I mean, again, I give the staff, Bill and the staff, compliments because they exposed those things that we knew we weren't going to tell anybody about 'em. But they exposed it and took advantage. And, you know, we would have had a much better chance if we would have played with this kind of intensity and effort in Sacramento, we might have gotten away with the win there. But, unfortunately, when you're playing for the championship of the world in your sport, you don't get a lot of second chances.

Q. Was fatigue a factor in the second half at all?
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: No, I don't think so. We weren't tired. I mean we might have gotten winded, but I played in the first half, I played ten players, and, you know, everywhere from eight to 14 minutes. That should have been no factor. I was disappointed in a couple of players for not warming up properly at halftime.
But that's something we'll work on in the future. It's too late after the fact to go out a little bit stiff because you don't get out of the locker room soon enough.

Q. John, did you think about going to Haynie a little sooner because they left two (inaudible) open, and the offense is the big issue.
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: Haynie played well offensively. I had, you know, it's a chicken/egg for me, because the first three times Nolan had the ball, with Haynie guarding her, she scored.
So Kristin's got to be a better defender. That's all there is to it. She's going to be a good player in this league. And offensively she is already a pretty darned good player in this league. And she just, she has difficulty with our defense. But Nolan's tough on Ticha and DeMya, too, who are better defenders. So I can always look back and say should I have given Haynie more minutes and Ticha less to get the scoring. You know, it may be something I'll second-guess myself for later.
But right now I don't feel that way.

Q. This is the second largest crowd in WNBA history and certainly one of the most enthusiastic. To what extent do you think that affected your team, especially in the second half after the Shock got on their run and started generating some momentum?
COACH JOHN WHISENANT: You know, you never know. That's why home crowd teams have so much better records at home. For example, we were 7-7 on the road and 14-3 at home. So obviously home crowd has a difference, makes a difference. There's no logical reason other than the fans that make it different, unless it affects the officials. And they did have 10 more free throws, by the way, a big physical team like them, and 8 more points at the free throw line.
But the fact is that this crowd is a -- the Detroit Shock deserve it. I'm happy for the WNBA. I'm happy for Detroit.
And you know, certainly home crowd affects emotion. Makes the emotion for the home team greater and the downer for the opponent worse. So I don't know that that was a factor with us. But they beat us.
I mean, I'd rather just give them credit, Detroit Shock credit for being a good basketball team that outplayed us tonight.

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